Dream Gliders

by KRKCxForever

What makes dreams? Scientist will tell you a long list explaining what your brain does to make them. Well…that's not totally true. They are brought to us by the Dream Gliders, those who live in the realm dreams in the land above the stars. Things have been pretty much the same forever…until three Dream Gliders meet three very special humans. For 2013's Big Bang Challenge!

Golden eyes shot wide open as the male shot up sitting straight up in bed panting for air his head scraping against the bunk that rested above him, a shiver running through his whole body. Cold sweat dripped off his cold pale skin onto the blankets that covered his lower half which he clutched at tightly. The darkness of the room and the steady breathing of the others in the same room was the only calm thing at the moment for the male. As the male placed a pale shaking hand onto his face covering the x shaped scar that sat in between his eyes he attempted to make his heart quit pounding so fast in his chest by taking deep calming breaths. Breathing heavily he shook his head slightly making his blue hair that was long and slightly spiked in the back brush against his temples gently, the nightmares couldn't hurt him here in the realm of the awake. Looking around him the others in the room were sleeping soundly on their bunks not appearing to have been disturbed by his little moment of panic, the male panted for a while longer before laying back down to rest his eyes for a bit. His breathes slowing to a normal pace has he laid there just listening to the stillness that came with the night. Other than the steady breathing of the other people in the room a single clock ticked away counting down to when the sun would rise over the mountains to fill their world with light, no sound was heard other than the occasional snort from one of the bodies.

His eyelids were heavy with his need for sleep however sleep eluded him for yet another night, this little sleep becoming some kind of routine thing. As the ticking of the clock was on the verge of being annoying a buzzer went off, the loud noise compared to the stillness of the dark room caused the male to sit up straight in bed again this time slamming his head against the upper bunk "Son of a bitch!" he yelped rubbing his scalp a bit. Groans and moans were emerging from the once peacefully sleeping bodies that filled the room around him; the male watched various people slide out of bed or climb down the bunks. Pulling the sheets back from his body a gush of cold air hit his legs a bit. It was only because of his sleeping pants he didn't shiver, that and he had gotten kind of used to it. Swinging his legs to be on the side of the bed his sock covered feet hit the floor with a soft pat to the bottom of his feet. Stretching a little the male reached under the bunk to retrieve his boots before slipping them on quickly tying the laces up. Standing up (Careful to dunk under the bunk so he wouldn't slam his head again, he didn't need to start the morning with a roaring headache) he watched the other people in the room line up in a single file line by the foot of their beds on either side of the room. Standing in position he watched the two lines form before a loud bang occurred.

The metal door having been opened a male walked into the room, his white trench coat barely touching the floor was outlined with a deep blue color that sparkled a little. His black boots hit the ground making a distinct sound as he walked down the center of the pathway made by the two rows. His silver hair flowed a bit before it remained still has he stopped in the center of the pathway, acid green eyes looked at both rows before he moved a single pale hand in front of him making a clipboard appear after a swirl of blue magic. His eyes moved to the clipboard before his lips parted "E-1 Private Richard!" he called loud and clear a male voice responded with an equally loud and clear 'Present!' "E-1 Private James!" was the next name announced 'Present!' was called out again. As the male continued to read off names in order of ranks slowly moving up the male slipped into a slight trance listening to voices call out 'Present!' after the silver haired man called out a name "E-8 First Sergeant Saïx!" the male's voice called out. The bluenette snapped out of his trance

"Present!" he called, once the roll call had been completed he waved the clipboard away with a swish of his hand

"Stand at attention!" he called. Everyone's posture straightened up, the male walked down the pathway a bit before stopping again "You have an hour to get ready for breakfast. I suggest you use this time wisely."

"Yes sir!" the people called out

'Not like this isn't any different from any other day.' Saïx thought to himself. The man raised his hand in a salute the others returning it, once he dropped his hand he walked out of the room. The moment the metal door slammed shut the room relaxed to a degree as the people in the room moved to retrieve their things or sit on their bunks to talk with others, Saïx didn't know anyone in his room. He might have known their name and rank but he knew nothing about them personally such as what they liked to do or other such things, walking to the foot of his bunk he opened the metal chest retrieving his clothing for the day and his wash room gear. Walking out of the room and to the wash room, which was only a few doors down, Saïx watched others stumble out of their rooms half headed for the same destination. Walking down the hallways he kept his head down looking at his feet as they hit the floor, he could feel his shoulders brush against others has they hurried past him. Eventually reaching his destination he reached out a pale hand he gripped onto the handle of the door opening it feeling a blast of heat hit his face making him look up. Several of the showers ,which were built into the walls and only had a thin white curtain hanging in front of it to prevent people from looking at the others while they bathed, were already pouring out stream.

He didn't figure he would be the first person in the room but it was still a surprise, walking down the tile covered pathway he found one of the empty stalls entering it shutting the curtain behind him clipping it to the small clear clip that kept people from grabbing it and pulling it open…most of the time. Slipping off his boots, sleepwear, undergarments, along with his change of clothes and tucking them into a clear container that sat under a stone ledge meant for sitting on, he clicked the lid into place before sliding it back under the ledge and turning on the shower. At first he left it on cold hoping the icy water would help wake him up from yet another night filled with an un-restful sleep. The icy water hit his chest area first and he shivered instinctively at the feeling, once his body became more used to it he pushed his face under the streaming water shivering again before pulling back and rubbing the water out of his eyes. Once his eyes opened he reached over adjusting the temperature to what he liked before washing himself off, once the soap was off his body he sat on the ledge letting the water pound onto his body as he watched the soapy suds go down the drain swirling a bit before they vanished.

As he sat there he stared at his feet thinking, his eyes sliding shut still tired. Flashes of his dream made them open once more, he sighed ever so quietly before reaching over and turning off the water. Retrieving the box he opened it pulling out a white towel beginning to dry off his body, once he was dry and most of the water had either been drained from the shower or evaporated he dressed himself in his uniform. The uniform was fairly simple and was standard for all of the cadets in this building; the outfit consisted of a white shirt with unique designs done in dark blue to each of the shirts (The only part of the outfit that was different between them) dark demi colored pants and black boots. The only difference for his uniform was the coat that reached his mid back that was the same blue as his designs on his shirt and had white designs with sleeves that were fairly wide. He sighed a bit before walking over to a sink running a brush through his hair and brushing his teeth, if he was quick enough he wouldn't taste the mint flavoring when he ate breakfast. Or maybe he should taste it; the food wasn't anything special here.

Leaving the room he walked back to his room briefly to set his dirty sleepwear into the dirty laundry area along with his bathing robe. Leaving his sleeping quarters once again Saïx walked into the large hallway again heading for the food area. Countless people passed by him that he didn't know, he really only knew about two or three people even remotely well but none of them he saw. Not even the people in the same room as him did he know personally, Saïx's eyes stared at the floor making a few glances to his left and right to mumble an apology to those he might have accidently bumped into. Walking towards the eating area he eventually reached the room entering it (Seeing this particular room only had an archway leading into the room) he looked at the set up being similar to a typical high school cafeteria with long tables with blue plastic chairs. Walking to one of the two tables near the edge of the room Saïx sat down pulling out a study book flipping to a page he had marked with a bookmarker reading over the material he was to memorize. His eyes gracing the pages to read over the words before moving to the next one eventually he heard a friendly laugh and felt someone sit next to him giggling "Still going over the same material?" a friendly voice spoke. Saïx chose to ignore the voice and continue reading as he flipped the page of the thick journal, the boy giggled again before a soft laugh happened

"Saïx you won't make any friends like that." Looking up finally Saïx saw the two people who were now sitting next to him. The first one who he knew was bugging him was a young looking male with bright teal eyes with a blond haircut that Saïx could never decide if it was a mullet or Mohawk or perhaps a combination of both. Next to him was a taller male who had blue eyes and feathered hair that was a deep mauve color, neither one of them had a coat like he did showing they were different ranking than him but a slight smile tugged on his lips

"What if I don't aim to make friends?" Saïx asked. The blond laughed

"Come on Saïx you should at least make one friend!" he told him. With a soft smile on his lips the bluenette shook his head his hair slightly brushing against his face, the pinkette laughed softly

"Come on we should get in line for food." He rose from the table alongside of the blond Saïx following shortly. Picking up a tray from the stack of them the three stood in line occasionally asking for something or picking something up from the hot trays, the blond reached over picking up some of the cereal offered to the people

"I'm surprised you even eat that. It's tasteless." Saïx stated

"Yeah but if I eat then I'm not starving during my normal flight path." He told the bluenette picking up a small container of milk set aside for those who wanted cereal or just a small amount of milk. Once they had their desired food the group returned to their previous seats only Saïx moved to be facing the two males instead of sitting next to them. They chatted about a few things while they ate; the pinkette sipped his fruit juice

"Perhaps we'll end up on a similar flight path tonight." He pondered for a moment

"Doubt it Marly. Last time that happened was when you and I were training." The blond boy shook his head

"So? We're the same rank except for Saïx." Marly pointed out, the blond boy shook his head again

"I've…never mind." He looked at his cereal a little sadly

"Aren't you both due for a rank up?" Saïx asked

"I think? I forget when we rank up most of the time." The pinkette admitted. It seemed like everyone did, most of the time when they announced you ranked up you were pretty surprised by the announcement. As breakfast went on a small ding occurred before something garbled over the intercom before another ding, looking at the archway from the corners of his eyes several people entered the room with a few crates that moved slightly when they hit the ground. Saïx went back to his mostly untouched breakfast before a weight happened to hop onto his shoulder, long ago this might have startled him but he was used to it by now.

A soft chirp occurred in his right ear causing him to look to his right; a little oddly colored creature was sitting on his shoulder. Its long ears seemed to be made up two diamonds before they morphed into what reminded him of tags seen on presents, large eyes were a sky blue but they were outlined in black with some of that outline moving to be in its eyes. It almost seemed to be wearing a hat with a small circle on top of its cone shaped hat that had three diamonds the same colors has its eyes along with a pink and purple cape with a purple stone holding the cape together. Overall the creature almost reminded him of a bunny; it chirped again waving its left ear slightly

"Hello Crescent." Saïx greeted which made it chirp happily. Looking back to his companions they both had a small creature with them now, his pinkette companion had a flower looking creature with a heart for a base almost giving it the appearance of being a large plant in a heart shaped flower vase with the addition of a pair of pink and yellow antenna coming from its forehead. The creature was mostly pink with yellow on its tips and center of the flower with green leaves that had three slightly pale pink circles going down its leaves moving to a yellow tip leaf that faded to pink. The blond boy had a cat creature that was mostly white with a dark purple swirl design by its feet that had three green bans just before one of its six white paws (Yes this cat had six legs, that had thrown him off the first time) with two white balls sitting on top of its ears with green insides the only other remarkable thing was the music note for a tail along with its red eyes that were dashes. The cat meowed (Though it sounded distorted and almost like it was echoing in the cat's mouth) lightly as the blond petted the cat

"Hello Arpeggio. You happy this morning?" the blond asked scratching under the cat's chin making it purr. Marly rolled his eyes a little but stroked the flower creature

"Their odd aren't they the odds ones aren't they Bellflower?" he asked the plant who kind a combination of a whistle and a coo noise

"Oh be quiet Marly! You nearly fainted when you meant Bellflower for the first time!" the blond teased gently. Marly frown and stuck out his tongue at the blond

"Like you didn't? May I remind you Demyx that you fainted when you met your precious Arpeggio!" he teased right back. Saïx snorted a bit at their conversation, Crescent peered over Saïx's shoulder to see his mostly uneaten breakfast it chirped, Marluxia and Demyx looked at the male

"Not hungry?"

"Sorry nightmares again…" Saïx told them. Crescent moved to be sitting on the table and used a bit of magic to lift the spoon out of Saïx's oatmeal "What? You want to..?!" Saïx was stopped mid-sentence as Crescent lifted the spoon and shoved it into Saïx's mouth. Marluxia snorted a bit choking on his juice while Demyx giggled hiding his giggles behind his beloved cat, swallowing the oatmeal Crescent was about to do it again when Saïx snatched the spoon away from it "Okay, okay I get it." He told it a bit sternly but he smiled a little at the bunny like creature. It chirped happily and moved to be sitting on Saïx's shoulder again happily humming some nameless tune that he would never know the name of seeing he didn't speak the creature's language. Marluxia held up a small piece of apple to Bellflower

"You think they would just let us sleep with our Dream Eaters by now." Marluxia commented watching the creature open its tiny mouth to bite off part of the apple

"It's apparently a safety thing." Saïx stated once he had cleared his mouth of the food he had in it

"How? All they do is eat the essences of dreams that are no longer needed." Demyx stated having to stop his cat from pawing at one of the plant's leaves. Saïx shrugged continuing to eat his breakfast

"Fear of them eating our dreams?"

"In your case Crescent should if you don't quit getting nightmares." Marluxia told him watching Crescent pat Saïx's head randomly, the bluenette shook his head

"They don't happen that often…" he told him but even his own voice didn't convince him. When the breakfast time had went by the group went to listen to a long lecture of various information usually dealing with reminding others of the rules, any changes in ranking, before eventually reaching the part everyone was interested in. A white screen would come down and a projection of a large map with multiple colors seemingly drawn in random places would be shown, these were the flight paths. The paths they would take tonight when the time came, Saïx's eyes scanned over the paths locating his relatively quick seeing he had been doing this for quite some time now. Once he memorized his path he looked for Demyx and Marluxia's paths partly for the fun of it but also because they might cross paths, a slight smile tugged at his lips seeing that they would meet up at the very end of their flight and it looked like they would be together for maybe twenty minutes in the beginning.

Looking back a few rows Demyx smiled at Saïx and Marluxia seemed pleased, Crescent chirped a bit which Saïx quietly patted Crescent mouthing 'Shhh' to it gently to keep it quiet despite multiple other Dream Eaters letting out soft cries and such. Eventually the meeting ended and the group were sent to collect the things they needed for their paths, as they left the room they were handed a note telling them their assignments for this night. Saïx nodded once he received his walking towards the room he needed to, Marluxia and Demyx happened to catch up

"Looks like we get to leave together and come back together this month!" Marluxia told him Bellflower chirping a bit. Demyx nodded

"Yeah, I mean I have to go pretty far away from you guys but according to the path there is supposed to be an awesome jet stream that will get me back in your guy's local area fast!"

"Lucky!" Marluxia laughed "I would love to go farther out but I guess my distance times are terrible."

"It took you four hours to get to the first marker and back when it took everyone else two hours!" Saïx teased

"I told you! I…got airsick." Was the pinkette's response

"Nope, you just don't want to admit you got lost." Saïx smirked entering the room as Crescent hopped about looking at all the different colored bottles that glowed slightly the pinkette groaned

"Okay I got a little turned around! I wish they would give me another chance though. I mean the in town area is cool but it gets stale after a while." He told him reaching over and picking up a basket along with Demyx and Saïx picking up various bottles setting them in once in a while checking his list. Saïx smiled

"You may get your chance one day, just don't get lost next time." He snickered picking up a bottle Crescent was holding out to him. Marluxia just groaned quietly but he had a smile on his lips. Night fell quickly, the runway was a lit with bright shining lights guiding the recruits to their spots as they looked at the sky awaiting for the sign. The recruits of any level wore a simple wing gliding outfit minus the bits of cloth that made the flying-squirrel like image to the suit, goggles rested on most of the recruit's faces a few wearing them around their necks or atop of their heads. Anyone who had long hair like Saïx or Marluxia's was held back in a low ponytail as they looked to the skies. Saïx looked over his shoulder seeing Marluxia strap Bellflower into her holder which was on his chest like a typical baby carrier that strapped to the chest, Crescent was in her's already on Saïx's chest while Demyx was still struggling to get Arpeggio into his mostly because of a few complicated straps. Saïx sent Marluxia a quick look and he nodded reaching over to help Demyx who thanked him.

A large eagle like Dream Eater flew across the sky suddenly holding a light in its talons, there it was. The sign! Like that the front row move to be in position, one knee firmly on the ground and the other slightly bent arms fully stretched out to touch the ground in front of them holding them in place the second and third row following the same. With another fly by and a cry from the flying Dream Eater the front row ran forward falling off the ledge of the runway before reappearing as they flew upwards towards the skies. Saïx was in the third row, watching the second row vanish within a few minutes waiting for the bird to fly by again. He closed his eyes feeling a slight tingling sensation occurring on his arms as the wind blew by his ears making all sounds vanish. When he heard the sound of wings beating he mentally counted to thirty before the cry happened and he ran forward. Eventually he felt the ground vanish beneath his feet replaced with the feeling of falling and the wind blowing against his face as his arms folded against his body the tingling intensifying, as he fell for a bit he suddenly opened his eyes his arms moving out to spread themselves like children's do when they pretend to be jets the tingling released with a bright flash of colors Saïx caught a updraft and he was gliding.

Looking at his arms for a brief moment he saw the bright colorful light trail being left behind him like a plane that makes smoke trails. Grinning he looked to Crescent who chirped excited, he barely saw Marluxia and Demyx begin their assentation before they were pretty much right next to him "Woo!" Demyx cheered laughing a bit as he spun a little before straightening out, of all the things they had to do with being part of this group this was the best. Flying in the night sky, it almost made up for the boring routine that happened daily for them. People below wouldn't be able to see them. The winds carried them where they needed to go, Marluxia looked down before grinning

"Updraft!" he announced diving down before shooting straight up really fast, his Dream Eater whimpered slightly

"She really doesn't like being in the air does she?" Demyx asked referring to Bellflower

"Yeah…but she's wonderful when I'm on the job." Marluxia told them. Saïx laughed a bit looking at the river below them

"Crescent can you show me the map?" Saïx asked, Crescent squirmed a bit has she raised an ear to cast a spell making a map appear on Saïx's goggles that at some point between standing and taking off he had moved to be wearing them. He was right on track "Thanks." He told Crescent who made several chirps in reply, Marluxia laughed

"I swear Crescent is like the most useful of all the Dream Eaters I've met." he told the bluenette as they flew

"She's an illusionist so of course it's useful!" Demyx laughed as well. He looked to his left for a few moments before he waved "This is me and Arpeggio's stream! Good luck!" he called tilting towards the stream before disappearing into the distance. Marluxia looked over the area before he nodded

"I'm off! See you later." He told Saïx before diving down disappearing into the darkness of night. Saïx nodded continuing his path until Crescent chirped making him slowly glide down to a house, landing on the roof he helped Crescent out of her holder watching her climb up to his shoulder. Slowly inching down the roof Saïx saw Crescent wave one of her eyes making a window open leading him into the room of a sleeping child, slipping inside of the room he made his way to a young boy who was sleeping soundly. Crescent reached into Saïx's backpack and handed the desired object to Saïx who popped open the bottle coating his hand in the glowing liquid, sitting on the edge of the child's bed he pressed his glowing hand over his eyes gently blowing against the glowing light gently.

With a little flash the boy shifted in his sleep a little smile appearing on his lips, Saïx smiled standing up pulling out the piece of paper he had been given earlier that day crossing off the name on the top of the list "One down many more to go." Saïx whispered to Crescent who chirped. Slipping back out the window Saïx flew into the night sky, delivering dreams to those who deserved them along with bad dreams to those who deserved them was his eternal duty along with anyone else at the building. Delivering the dreams was a quick thing and hardly took him any time to clear off all but one name on his list, resting on the roof of his last delivery he stretched a bit feeling Crescent move off his shoulder onto the roof hopping around a bit, looking around the neighborhood that was soundly sleeping Saïx sat down looking over the various lights that passed by on the roads below, he had a bit of time before he had to return to headquarters. Looking up to the sky he could barely make out the thin lines that made of their flight paths of other Dream Gliders (A name that Marluxia and Demyx had come up with shortly after meeting the bluenette) who were either still working or headed home.

Saïx laid on the roof staring at the moon which was barely beginning to dip back down to the horizon, for some reason he lifted his left hand looking at his palm to stare at the marking on his hand. All Dream Gliders had this marking on their hands, a circle with some sort of design in the middle that was to tell them what they would be destined to do while they lived and worked here, different designs meant different things. For instance Demyx had a diamond with a sun behind it meaning he was to be a dream deliver, however not everyone accepted their fate. Marluxia was one of those people, he had a symbol that said he should be a potion or dream creator (A flower petal shaped object on top of five other ones and some swirls) but he went along delivering dreams to people. Maybe one day he would accept it but maybe not, Marluxia was stubborn like that. Sitting up Saïx stared at his design, a six pointed star with a sun behind it. For some reason on all the official paperwork done at the headquarters it was drawn like Demyx's which he had tried to correct a few times but he gave up after a while. Crescent chirped several times suddenly the chirps making the male look at the rabbit like creature "What?" he asked. Crescent chirped again gesturing to the entrance of the last room he had to do that night. Saïx stood up "You just want to get back so soon? Normally you don't mind if I relax for a while when we're pretty much done." As Saïx went to float down Crescent chirped several times, the chirps sounded worried "What? You just in a chirpy mood?" he asked.

The rabbit like creature hopped down pointing to something in the room, Saïx peered in through the window that had been left partly open to see the figure asleep in his bed "What? Their always like that when we do this!" he told Crescent. The Dream Eater chirped and pointed into the room again where Saïx barely saw two people enter the room "Probably just some of his family." Saïx stated slipping in through the window since they wouldn't be able to see him. The two figures looked at the sleeping male before one man pulled out some sort of white handkerchief that made Saïx stop. The cloth went over the male's mouth and the two figures attempted to tie it around his mouth behind his head but the body had woken up and was squirming flailing around blindly in the dark room. Saïx felt his body tense up as he watched them force the man up and attempted to tie his hands behind his back, Saïx looked at Crescent who chirped nodding at him. The bluenette ran forward reaching into his pack pulling out a black bottle, popping the lid off he pour some of the black smoky substance into his hand before stopping a little bit before the men and blew the smoke off his hand that ended up going straight into their eyes.

One of the men cussed something under his breath before toppling over, the other one looked at his fallen partner about to say something but he was stopped by his eyes drooping closed falling to the ground. Saïx looked at the male who was panicked, clearing the substance off his hand he poured on the normal color light placing a hand over the male's eyes. Just as the male began to fall asleep the figure looked at Saïx directly in the eyes. The bluenette jumped back a little surprised by this but the male tipped back falling has eyelids covered his eyes, Saïx was about to adjust the male but a hallway light turned on making Saïx back out of the room. Someone entered the room and adjusted the male mumbling something about 'A nightmare?' but Saïx took off his heart racing. Once he made it a good distance away he landed on a roof gasping for air "No…no…" he mumbled to himself.

When a human was just falling asleep they could see the Dream Gliders and Dream Eaters for some reason, if he had been seen he was sure to be reprimanded for his actions or worse. He had only known one Dream Glider who had been seen and Saïx had never seen him again after the Dream Glider had been called in by the superiors, his Dream Eater also vanished mysteriously. Saïx panted for a bit before a hand was placed onto his shoulder, Saïx spun around golden eyes wide in fear but relaxed seeing it was only Marluxia

"Geez man! Why so jumpy?" he asked with a slight laugh in his voice. Saïx took a deep breath

"Sorry…just had a close call." He told him Marluxia tilted his head

"Hm?"

"I was delivering a dream to someone, when I entered their room two men attempted to abduct him…just as I had given him the dream…he looked at me directly in the eyes…" Marluxia tensed at that knowing what could possibly happen to his friend. They were quiet for a bit

"Do you plan to tell the superiors?"

"I have to or something really bad could happen to me if I don't tell them the truth." He told him. The two remained quiet until Demyx arrived meeting up with them about ten minutes from the headquarters, once they landed on the runway they left for the changing room where they told Demyx what happened

"Wow! I figure that would happen to me or Marly! Not you!" Marluxia gave Demyx a look

"Thanks Demyx glad to know you have faith in me." He snorted

"I do! Just Saïx is like the most responsible person ever! So it's really weird to hear that coming from him." Demyx told him. The group sat in the locker room that they changed in for a while before heading outside to go to their assigned rooms. As Saïx was about to turn to the hallway he was meant to a higher ranking man appeared in front of him and the other two his face covered by a blank mask

"You've been summoned to the council's room. You're Dream Eater will be dropped off for you." The male stated. Saïx blinked noticing he hadn't dropped Crescent off nor had Demyx or Marluxia with their Dream Eaters. Saïx nodded watching the male pick up Crescent "Don't you two have somewhere you should be going?" the masked figure asked. Demyx nodded nervously swallowing

"Yes sir." Marluxia and Demyx told him walking towards the drop off area, glancing over his shoulder Marluxia watched Saïx walk through a portal into a dark room. He swallowed nervously for his friend.

As Saïx stood in the council's room he found he was looking up at the ceiling where he could barely make out six people staring down at him

"Do you have something you want to tell us?" one person asked. Saïx swallowed nervously

"Yes sirs."

"What would that be?" Saïx swallowed again

"I was accidently spotted by a human while delivering dreams." He stated hoping his tight throat wouldn't crack in front of them. He refused to show a sign of weakness in front of them, a large crystal orb floated down in front of him. Confused Saïx looked up at the council

"The human you were delivering a dream to was Xemnas , younger brother to Ansem St. Peter and uncle to Xehanort Jr St. Peter, making you are a very lucky individual. Do you know why?"

"No sirs…" the orb lit up showing various images to Saïx who watched as the images faded from vivid images that he saw every day to ones with distorted colors, to grey scale images, before slowly but surely the images faded to black.

"Xemnas St. Peter as of age ten…is completely blind."

"He's blind?" Marluxia asked at the breakfast table the following day Saïx nodded

"Ever since he was born he had sight problems, you know like he needed glasses and that sort of thing. However at three he began to lose his ability to see colors and by age five he had lost the ability to see colors totally, after that he was slowly losing his sight little by little. At age ten he noticed he was having trouble with depth perception then day after he turned ten boom!" Saïx snapped his fingers "He goes completely blind."

"How is that possible?" Demyx asked as he sipped his drink

"He had a rare eye disease that slowly ate away at his sight. They figured he was going to keep his sight until he was around thirteen but that didn't end up happening." Saïx told them as he nibbled his toast. Demyx nodded

"What about the two men you said tried to kidnap him?" Marluxia asked

"According to the council after I left the elder brother noticed the men and called the police. They've been arrested but that's all they know." He told them

"You certainly know a lot about this person who you met last night." Marluxia commented. Saïx snorted

"I asked similar questions of the council last night and that's why I know so much."

"Well to any extent I'm glad that you're okay Saïx!" Demyx smiled at him

"Thanks. Hey where did you have to go to last night for your distance?" Saïx asked no one last night had been in the mood to talk about much more than what had happened to Saïx who had been panicking. Demyx nodded

"Oh yeah! I had to go to a war sight."

"That sounds rather dangerous." Marluxia commented watching Bellflower try to eat his apple slices again

"It wasn't that bad, I had like three people I had to visits. All where people who were sick or badly injured."

"That makes sense; you always seem to bring calming dreams." Marluxia nodded

"Well those are the ones Arpeggio likes the most." Demyx laughed a little stroking said cat who purred a bit "What about you Marly?"

"I was in town."

"But did you meet anyone neat or go anywhere cool?" Demyx asked. Marluxia shrugged

"My entire flight path except for five dreams was in a hospital." He told him

"Oh wow."

"Eh it wasn't that interesting." The male shrugged again, Saïx could feel the minor jealously from Marluxia towards Demyx but he didn't bring it up seeing he wasn't that worried. If it honestly bugged Marly he would have let him know, the conversation moved away from their flight paths for a while just talking about random things but somewhere in back of Saïx's mind the male he met last night was still bugging him. It was like he felt bad for the guy but there was more to it but he couldn't put his finger on it. The day moved on like it always did eventually night and the three went to their flight paths accordingly; Saïx got done faster than normal sitting on the roof of the tan man's house for a while again. Sitting there he thought about the man before he sighed shaking his head

"I just pity him. That's all." He muttered to himself before he slipped into the room, the male was sleeping soundly a new lock on his door was there along with the window (Which didn't matter to him seeing Crescent could easily open them) as Saïx placed the dream in his hand sitting next to the man on the bed he couldn't help but stare at the man for a while, his face looked peaceful. Shaking his head Saïx set his hand over the man's eyes giving him the dream; once he was done he stood up leaving the room. Having a large amount of time left over Saïx decided to do some free flying when he spotted Marluxia going into a window, Saïx glided over watching the male land. Crescent chirped loudly waving at Bellflower who returned the gesture, Marluxia jumped about a foot into the air turning around but breathed out a sigh of relief

"Oh my gosh thought I was going to have a heart attack! What are you doing here?" Marluxia asked. Saïx shrugged trying to play an aloof card

"I have a lot of left over time so I thought I would do some free flying and saw you so figured I would check in on you." He told him. Marluxia nodded

"Last few people, these ones were in a different building than last night and they added someone to my route." The pinkette told him "You can follow if you want." Saïx nodded deciding maybe it would take his mind off Xemnas. Following the male the pinkette eventually entered a small room where several people laid in white beds, Bellflower pointed towards one of the beds on the very edge of the room. Marluxia nodded walking over to the male pouring the liquid onto his hand, Saïx looked at the male in the bed showing a sickly pale man with really long blond hair. As Marluxia gave the man the dream the bluenette glanced at the clipboard attached to the bed, he didn't read much of it before he noticed the diagnose 'Brain tumor' it said a lot of things after than but Saïx didn't understand most of it once Marluxia was done he looked at the man briefly before walking across the hall. Saïx raised an eyebrow at Marluxia's actions but shrugged following him as the male finished up his route.

Heading home Marluxia seemed distance

"Is everything okay?" Saïx asked worried about the pinkette. Marluxia gave him a weak smile

"I'm fine."

"But you've been really distant…" Saïx pointed out. Marluxia was about to say something when he looked over a bit

"Isn't that Demyx?" he asked, the boy was flying loops like he liked to do when he was off. Saïx nodded watching him for a bit when he blinked

"Why is he looping so much? Normally he would have stopped by now." Gliding over Saïx floated in front of Demyx with Marluxia close by quickly "Demyx?" he called, the boy stopped looking up. He almost looked like he was exhausted or was sleepwalking somehow; Arpeggio looked just as bad having the same expression "Demyx?" Saïx called louder. Demyx barely moved his head to look at the two fellow gliders

"Oh…hey guys." He mumbled. Marluxia glided over closure to the male looking at the vacant look in the male's eyes

"Demy? You feeling okay? You seem kind of out of it…" Arpeggio gave a weak cry before passing out in the little carrier

"I think…" Demyx's eyes slid close his light trail vanishing before beginning to fall towards the ground. He didn't get very far seeing Marluxia and Saïx caught him quickly each having their hands holding onto one of Demyx's arms

"Oh no." Marluxia whispered

"Let's get him back to the infirmary! Quickly!" Saïx looked slightly panicked and the pinkette nodded taking Demyx fully in his arms the two flying faster than they had ever flown before.

Landing on the runway the two ran for a medical officer who was on the runway seeing sometimes the newer Gliders felt kind of queasy after their flights for a while. Saïx's rank made the lower ranks step aside as he and Marluxia ran for it, arriving where the two men in typical doctor gear sat on some folding chairs they looked up gasping seeing Demyx in his arms

"What happened?" one asked the other quickly spreading out a blanket on a stretcher for Marluxia to lay Demyx on

"We don't know! We were on our way back from our paths when we saw him flying in circles for some odd reason. We went over to him to see if he was alright and he looked really vacant when we caught up with him. After a few words he just passed out and so did his Dream Eater." Saïx told them watching one doctor get a pulse on the boy

"He has a strong pulse he seems to have just fainted from exhaustion…oh what's this?" the doctor asked turning the boy's left arm revealing the fabric of his suit having been tore open with multiple scrapes and cuts on it

"How did I not see that?!" Marluxia shrieked scared the doctor ignored the male's question moving Demyx a bit to see more scrapes and some sort of rock fell out of a few when they were touched

"Oh dear…this is serious! Prepare the medical room's surgical table! Get a surgeon there too!" the doctor ordered a helper "We've got a badly injured male! Also send for the Dream Eater's keeper! I don't know the condition of it." The helper disappeared in a flash as the two doctors moved to grab either end of the stretcher Demyx laid on

"Is he going to be okay?" Saïx asked scared

"Don't know." With that the doctors ran off. The two gliders ran after them but were forced to sit outside of the medical wing where the male was, eventually a door opened both looked up at him "He'll be fine. Looks like he got a lot of cuts and scrapes mainly though one rock cut pretty badly and he might have to be taken off of the paths for a while but he's resting. Probably fainted from blood lost seeing the cuts had stopped bleeding a few minutes before you arrived here we're guessing. We won't know what caused the damage until tomorrow when he can tell us." The doctor told them

"What about his Dream Eater?"

"I guess the thing was suffering from a loud noise or something I don't really know. Guy was spitting out gibberish to me. I think it's going to be resting for a few days." He told them

"Can we see him?" Marluxia asked

"Sorry but he's sleeping. Probably won't wake up until late tomorrow. You both should head back to your rooms anyways it's late." The doctor left after that not giving them a chance to speak again.

The night was restless for both males who worried for their companion and when sleep came it was dreamless and lead to a pounding headache for Saïx who was suffering from lack of sleep anyways. Walking into the eating hall after his morning cleaning ritual he was surprised to find Demyx sitting at their usual table

"Demyx!" Saïx called running over, the boy moved to wave his left hand (His dominate hand) but flinched halfway and switched to his right. Sitting across from the male Saïx sighed a breath of relief tossing aside his books "You're awake!"

"Yeah it surprised the doctors this morning too. I guess they finally drilled the wake up time into my brain or something." He laughed weakly still remembering the lectures he had received when the boy had first join seeing he somehow never managed to get up earlier enough. Saïx nodded

"How are you feeling?"

"My arm hurts really badly but it's better than last night."

"Demyx!" Marluxia called running over to sit next to him (Though on the opposite side than normal seeing he normally sat on his left for whatever reason)

"Hey Marly, good morning." He greeted sounding just the slightest bit tired

"How are you?"

"Like I told Saïx my arm hurts really bad but its better."

"That's good." Marluxia sighed a breath of relief

"How's Arpeggio?" Saïx asked, Demyx sighed looking really sad

"It's a bummer but he'll be okay in a few days. I won't be able to see him until then." He told them

"I'm so sorry." Marluxia looked down. Everyone knew much Demyx loved Arpeggio and getting to see him was a joy for the boy, Demyx smiled very weakly

"Well it's only a few days. I have to take off a few days too seeing my arm has limited movability. Besides you're required to have your Dream Eater with you at all times." He told them. Both nodded

"What happened last night?" Saïx asked. Demyx nodded

"Well remember how I told you the area I went to was a war zone in the medical area?" both males nodded "Well I had delivered the dreams to the people and was on my way out when I heard a siren going off, when I looked a bunch of people had rushed out and where running to a truck with a bunch of injured people in it."

"Oh! That must have been that camp's Mobile Army Surgical Hospital or something to that extent. They come out when there are newly injured people I think."

"I thought that was the strung out name of a TV show." Saïx pointed out

"Yeah I heard they changed the name to C.S.H which is short for Combat Support Hospital or something like that." Demyx told him

"Oh that's news to me…anyways what were you saying Demyx?" Marluxia nodded

"Oh right. Well I was watching the men load the injured into the tent I had just left and I decided to leave seeing looking at all the blood was making me queasy. On my way out I saw a man who was crawling to the camp, at first I thought he might have been the enemy but the others saw him and rushed to him. He started to say something when a bomb went off near the camp!" Demyx told them both men gasping

"What?"

"A bomb went off and I got hit by some of the air debris. I didn't see what happened to the camp because after that the world kept spinning and I flew off. The last thing I remember was flying in circles then you guys showed up and I passed out after that." He finished. The two nodded

"You're lucky you survived that." Saïx told him

"I know…" Demyx looked saddened by that. Saïx smiled slightly ruffling his hair a bit making Demyx laugh a little

"At any rate I'm glad you're okay." That got Demyx to smile.

That morning as the duties were given out and Saïx was fighting to stay awake (Though Crescent's occasionally taps on his head helped a bit) the announcer began reading off a few promotions "For his work on the battlefield and for surviving a small incident it has been bestowed upon me by the council to give E-2 Private Demyx a purple heart." The announcer read. Demyx jumped a bit as they applauded and awkwardly walked on stage to receive the pin. A few people snorted behind Saïx

"He shouldn't even get that. He got hit by debris of a bomb! He had nothing noble."

"Dude that's a little mean don't you think? I mean the poor kid is younger than over twenty percent of us and a bomb is a pretty serious thing." Saïx glared at the men who were arguing before he hushed them both squeaked looking at Saïx

"It is rude to speak during this and also rude of you to assume that you know the criteria for being awarded a medal." He hissed to them returning his attention to the stage watching Demyx awkwardly walking down the steps. As the ceremony ended Saïx and Marluxia walked over to the boy who was looking at the medal

"Congrats Demy." Marluxia smiled at him

"Congratulations Demyx." Saïx nodded. Demyx blushed just the tiniest bit

"Thank you." He laughed a little "I wasn't really expecting this. They say I can't wear it on my uniform but I think it looks prettier in this little box it came it anyways." He told them showing them the clear lidded black box, inside was a medal with a golden lined purple heart and it's ribbon a matching purple. Marluxia smiled

"Wow it's a little different from mine or Saïx's." he remarked

"I believe this is the newer version." Saïx commented

"You guys have one?" Demyx asked

"Yup! Got mine after a was delivering a dream to a kid who was sleeping in a car and the car he was in got rammed into by a car going the wrong way. I got hit by the car; I was fine other than one heck of a sore back and bruise."

"Oh my gosh!"

"Hey the family was okay too so all good!" he laughed

"You had to stay in the medical ward for a month. You learned basic potion making while you were there." Saïx pointed out

"I know, I know. My mark says I should be in there making the potions and dreams but instead I'm gliding." Marluxia mumbled a little annoyed. Demyx nodded

"What about you Saïx?"

"I was giving a man in a college dorm room a dream when his roommate, a sleep walker, stabbed me." Saïx told him

"Holy crap! What was with him?" Marluxia ask this being the first time he heard of this

"He was dreaming he was being stalked I think? I don't know because I left after he stabbed me." Saïx told him. Demyx nodded

"Wow both of yours sounds way more noble than mine." He told them

"Hey yours is more exciting to me!" Marluxia told him. Someone called Demyx's name causing the boy to look over his shoulder

"Coming! Sorry but the doctors want me to get another check up on my arm then I have to go to bed." He told them. Both nodded

"Well we will see you tomorrow then." Saïx told him

"Hope you get to feeling better soon." Marluxia nodded. Demyx smiled nodded before running off though he seemed a little lower in spirits than normal which makes sense seeing he wouldn't be able to see his Dream Eater for a while. Watching him leave with the medical team Marluxia sighed "Let's hope they can heal him quick. It won't be the same without him." He muttered getting a soft grunt from Saïx in agreement.

For two days Demyx didn't fly with them having to rest, both Marluxia and Saïx felt kind of awkward flying around without Demyx seeing even though Saïx was higher ranking and they hardly ever flew nearby each other the three had some odd little bond with each other. However the day he returned it was almost like he hadn't been gone at all being the springy happy boy that he was like always which made them sigh in relief internally. They were lucky that the magic potions that they were given if they were sick or hurt worked very fast, of course they had to Saïx supposed seeing those who had to take time off were unable to deliver their dreams to the people who then would have no dreams for however long they were out. That could lead to some…issues for them.

The group found this particular evening they had all finished up very quickly and had plenty of time to spare before they needed to head back, deciding to just rest atop a random house the three seemed distant somewhat as they talked about various things, Saïx finally sighed looking at Demyx and Marluxia "What's going on with you two?" he asked. Both looked at him

"What do you mean Saïx?" Demyx asked attempting to smile at him

"Why do you both seem so distant?" he asked

"Like you're not?" Marluxia snorted. Saïx's eyes narrowed

"What does that mean?"

"Easy, ever since you save that dude's life you go there and hang there for like an extra five minutes just lying on his rooftop. If you ever used to have that much time you would say you felt like you did a crappy job the next morning. Have we heard that once since you first met him? No!" Marluxia told him, Saïx returned the snort

"Maybe I felt that I was complaining over nothing like you always tell me I am." He told them

"Then why do you care if we're being distant?" Marluxia asked. Saïx was about to say something when Demyx sighed

"It's the man from the bomb incident." He stated. Both of the other two men looked over to Demyx who stroked Arpeggio gently "I saw him again today. He was added to my roster when I came back from medical leave." He told him "But every time I see him he is having terrible nightmares, I know that's really common for people who were in wars but they scare me and even Arpeggio a little." He paused letting it sink into the other's thoughts "But after I take the nightmares away I can sense great sadness coming from him…" Demyx finished looking at his feet. The other two remained silent for a bit the stillness of the night surrounding them

"I…I guess it's the same for me." Marluxia admitted. Saïx looked at him "There is a man I see towards the end of my run who is very ill with a brain tumor. He has nightmares of himself dying a lot. But other than that I feel…" he paused seeming to think a bit "Like I know him? I have no way in explaining this for some odd reason." He told them "So it's being bugging me a little." He stood there silent, both Demyx and Marluxia looked to Saïx. After a while Saïx sighed a bit

"I…I don't know if it's pity or what but that man…I'm concerned for him. He doesn't dream naturally." He stated. Demyx and Marluxia looked surprised "It's weird but I always give him dreams and he never makes any on his own." Saïx told them. The three turned quiet for a bit before Saïx glanced at the sky "We need to head back or we'll be late." He stated beginning to take flight

"I…I wish there was something I could do for him….that we could do something for them." Demyx sighed beginning to float a bit

"Aren't we already doing something by delivering dreams to them?" Marluxia questioned

"I mean…something more." Demyx told him. The other two nodded not looking at the others

"We can't do anything but deliver dreams. You know the rules Demyx." Saïx stated before taking off, the next day it was like there was a rain cloud over the three's heads throughout the day. No one else seemed to really notice or they simply chose to ignore it, it was two days later when Saïx walked into the eating area did he notice Demyx reading a thick book "Last minute cram session?" he asked a light smirk appearing on his lips. Demyx looked up from his book with a weak smile

"Yeah got some test I gotta take today to prove I'm still capable of flying properly." He stated as he flipped the page of the book looking over the contents

"Anything they want you to know in particular?" he asked. Demyx shrugged

"Just the in general stuff from what I can tell." He told him as he read the words. Saïx picked up one of his own books to read over the contents "You have a test too?"

"No I was just in the mood to study." He told him opening it, Marluxia came in with several books "Okay is there like some big test going on for the lower ranks?" Saïx asked seeing the man never studied. Marluxia smiled weakly

"No mine's in a few days apparently but I'm having trouble deciphering a long section of this book for one of my studies and was hoping one of you was better at translating than me." He told them showing them the passage. Saïx slid the book closure to himself before setting his finger on some of the words

"Isn't that a potion making book?"

"Part of my deal with the uppers to be a dream glider, I have to learn the basics and whatever else they throw at me." Marluxia stated. Saïx nodded squinting a little as he read

"'Combine Charming Fantasy, Dulcet Fancy, Intrepid Fancy, seven Lofty Figments, let simmer for twenty minutes before adding eight Brilliant Fantasies along with three cups of Wondrous Fantasies and thirteen Vibrant Fantasies before….'." Saïx squinted at the text, the ink having faded over the years "Something about pouring into a vial of some kind then….that's odd." Saïx leaned back

"What's odd?" Demyx asked interested in the translation

"It states to place it on the target's eyes then your own before shutting your eyes and repeating something…."

"Repeating something?"

"Yeah like a chant or something. Um let's see…' Omnis quoque tempore cum somno evigilans de te sentiant. Nihil autem melius opto tibi. Nescio quae ... foret. Quia te vidi, quo turbine facta est anima mea.'?" He sounded out each of the unfamiliar words a small spark occurring from his fingers making the group jump a bit from the random spark

"What was that?"

"I'm not sure…" Saïx stated looking at his fingers, a faint glow coming from his mark on his palm the other's glanced at their own before looking at Saïx's

"Why is yours glowing?" Demyx asked

"Maybe because I read the chant?" Saïx suggested still looking at his palm. Marluxia slid the book towards himself looking at the words

"' Omnis quoque tempore cum somno evigilans de te sentiant. Nihil autem melius opto tibi. Nescio quae ... foret. Quia te vidi, quo turbine facta est anima mea.'" Marluxia read aloud loud enough for only the three of them to hear. Another spark occurred only from Marluxia's hand this time his mark glowing as well "That is freaky…" he told them both the lights fading away. Saïx stared at his marking before looking at the spell again

"What is this even for?" he asked

"I have no idea. Let's see…the effect of the spell should be towards the bottom of the page….ah here it is! 'Effect of the spell: Using this spell allows one to…'" a ding alerting them of the Dream Eaters arrival made them all jump a bit. Marluxia shut his book as the three quickly grabbed breakfast before being greeted by their Dream Eaters. Three forgot about the spell until late that night after they had finished their flight paths and the group had met up to relax before flying off again. Marluxia had brought the book with him

"Why did you bring that Marly?" Demyx asked once he had landed, Marluxia opened the book to the page they had been on previously pointing to the text

"I finished reading what it does; this spell lets you enter someone's dream." He told them

"Really?" Demyx asked looking surprised and interested in the news

"But…that's illegal." Saïx spoke taking the book into his hands looking at it

"Really?" Demyx repeated looking to Saïx. Saïx nodded

"A Dream Glider used this spell once then the council had the spell banned, what is it doing in a current potion making book?" he wondered looking over the book

"I never said it current." Marluxia told him "I got it when I first joined and haven't gotten the updated one yet." He explained when Saïx looked at him funny. The bluenette shut the book

"You're lucky you won't get in trouble for just reading this…" Saïx mumbled, Demyx looked at the male before taking the book from Saïx opening it back open to the page they had been looking at

"Why is this so bad?"

"I don't know Demyx…it just is." He told him

"But we can help people with this spell! Maybe lighten their burdens or something like that?" Demyx suggested looking hopeful, taking the book back Marluxia shook his head

"Trust me Demyx…you don't want to piss off the council." He told him. Demyx looked at the two confused

"Are they really that bad?" he asked. Saïx sighed

"Oh yeah you haven't met them yet have you? They are…they are essentially are gods. If you've read any mythology in your free time there is one thing that is repeated over and over in those stories..." Saïx turned to look at the moon it beginning to dip down "Don't piss off the gods." He told him. The subject wasn't brought back up for the rest of the night.

It was three nights later when Saïx landed on Xemnas's roof he blinked surprised to find Marluxia and Demyx already there, they had a strange jar looking thing. Upon looking at the object closure it was a large jar that had handles towards the top, inside was a liquid filled with green stars and yellow circles that was tinted blue seeing the jar itself was blue. Looking at his comrades he raised an eyebrow, Marluxia looked away when he spoke

"It's the potion…" he told him not needing to explain further

"You made it even though it's illegal?" Saïx asked genuinely surprised by this. Demyx looked to Saïx

"It can help…"

"You're lucky you haven't been killed!" Saïx told them in the sternest voice he could

"I'm sorry I just…" Demyx couldn't seem to get his voice to work

"I can't stand it." Marluxia stated. Saïx looked to Marluxia "I can't stand seeing him like that, every day the dreams I collect are going closure and closure to becoming nightmares…" Marluxia spoke his eyes distant. Saïx was about to speak when Demyx looked up at him with eyes filled with tears

"It's the same for that man…he is so close and I want to know what's wrong…aren't you the least bit curious about Xemnas?" he asked. Saïx jerked back like he had been hit holding a hand close to his chest, it was true. He was worried for the male and wanted to know if he didn't dream because he was blind or if it was something much deeper in his heart. But this was illegal! If he did it he didn't know what would happen to him or Crescent or any of them! Standing there silent he looked at his two friends; Marluxia refused to look at any of them and Bellflower was stroking his right cheek gently, Demyx was looking at his feet and Arpeggio was meowing worried for the male. Looking to Crescent she gave a look that didn't say what she was thinking, the more he stood there in the silence the more his thoughts were being evaded by the tan man who was sleeping just beneath his feet.

Finally Saïx reached over taking the jar from Marluxia who gave no resistance to this action, peering inside he stared at the liquid before sighing softly

"So how does this work?" Saïx asked. Demyx looked up a little happier and Marluxia seemed surprised but nodded. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out three empty bottles that normally held dreams in them, carefully dipping each one into the liquid he filled the bottles and placed the cork into its spout. Holding it like it was a baby bird he handed it to Saïx then one to Demyx and keeping the last for himself having the jar been emptied during the process. He looked at the others before nodding

"We each go into their dreams using this…just follow what the book told us to do." He handed Saïx and Demyx a slip of paper "Just in case you forgot the chant…" he smiled weakly a little before beginning to float so he could go "We'll wake up just before we need to go to make it back to headquarters." He stated then flew into the night being followed by Demyx; Saïx stared at the bottle before sighing. He took a few breaths to steel his nerves then floated down and entered the man's room through the window. Landing gently he looked around before his eyes rested on a chair that was tucked neatly under a desk, he pulled the chair out and over to the bed. He leaned over the tan male's body dipping his fingers into the liquid using a little less than he would with a normal dream, gentle dragging his fingers over the male's eyes in a motion like smearing paint across his eyes.

Once it was on it didn't glow right away Saïx sat down doing the same to his own eyes, he shut his eyes his heart racing and finally he sighed rather loudly before opening his mouth again his Dream Eater sitting off to one side "Omnis quoque tempore cum somno evigilans de te sentiant. Nihil autem melius opto tibi. Nescio quae ... foret. Quia te vidi, quo turbine facta est anima mea." He spoke in a gentle tone and repeated the phrase over and over his voice shaking a bit. He began to feel drowsy but he forced himself to speak the words over and over, soon his body felt too heavy and he could faintly see a bright light begin to shine then he was out like a light. At first it just felt like he was having a dreamless sleep but then he opened his eyes to find he was in a large field. The field wasn't very interesting in itself but in the middle was a large tree surrounded by a river.

Taking a few steps into the field he faintly could see someone, the silver hair was a dead giveaway. Stopping Saïx began to feel like he was doing something wrong, this was a bad idea. The figure looked around before he spoke

"Whose there?" the male called. Saïx swallowed knowing that he couldn't back out now; taking a few steps forward Saïx didn't say anything "I know you're there. I can hear you walking." The male stated out loud, Saïx stopped when he was about two arm lengths away from the man. He didn't speak but simply looked at the tan male who was wearing nothing more than a black tank top and grey sleeping pants seeing that was his favorite sleeping gear. Saïx looked at the man finally seeing his eyes; they were an orange-red color. It almost reminded him of a darker shade of his own eyes which reminded him of amber, he couldn't summon anything to say to the man but instead he stared at him. The male eventually looked in the general direction of Saïx before he spoke again "Whose there?" he repeated louder almost like he was ordering him now, Saïx swallowed thickly before speaking

"Just a random passerby." Saïx told him the man looked in the general direction of Saïx's voice

"A passerby?"

"Yes don't you ever just dream up random people to replace people that you know?" Saïx asked attempting not to get too personal in this; he was breaking enough rules as it was. The male looked to the sky

"I don't dream much anymore, surprise I've been dreaming so frequently for a while now." He spoke. Saïx couldn't stop himself

"Why don't you dream much?" Saïx nearly slapped himself because of that outburst. The man didn't move his head, just continued to look up to the sky. Almost thinking Xemnas hadn't heard him the bluenette was about to say something when the tan man spoke

"There isn't much to dream about anymore." His voice carried a thick sadness. Saïx stepped forward trying to look into his eyes

"There is always something to dream about." Saïx blurted out sounding like some kind of greeting card that you would buy a sick person. The male sighed

"You wouldn't understand…" he spoke then Saïx felt himself jerked out of the dream. He looked about Crescent chirping to comfort him, stroking the Dream Eater's ear gently Saïx panted a bit before standing up with the creature before running out of the room. The dream had been short but he had done something illegal, he only hoped his facial expression and guilt wouldn't do him in.

The day went by slowly, Saïx felt super guilty but no one seemed to notice or if they had they just assumed he hadn't slept well again. Marluxia, Demyx, and Saïx agreed to not speak about their little dream travelling unless it was on their flight routes and away from others. Night fell again and Saïx finished his route before landing on Xemnas's roof, he swallowed nervously

"Nerve wracking huh?" Marluxia's voice spoke. Saïx nodded

"Glad I'm not the only one who thinks that."

"I only think it because I have no idea what to talk to him about." Marluxia admitted landing on the roof next to him. Saïx sighed

"I think I'm too scared to talk to him…the council is plaguing my mind." He told him

"Why are you so worried? It's not like they can reach you out here…"

"But what if they find out?!" Saïx told him showing some fear in his eyes. Marluxia smiled

"If they do then I'm sure you'll be fine. You're a high ranking Dream Glider; I'd be worried more for Demyx and myself."

"But that's my point! If they find out…they would do something to you and I don't know what that is…" he told him. Marluxia set a hand on Saïx's shoulder

"We'll be fine…But Demyx might have a point, these guys really seem to have a heavy burden." He told him then flew off. Saïx sighed but entered Xemnas's room smearing the liquid onto Xemnas's eyes and his own before chanting and falling asleep.

He was again in the large field with the single tree and river but this time Xemnas was sitting with his back against the tree, it took Saïx a little longer to walk towards the male but the man looked up

"So you've come again?" Saïx was startled by that "You have an odd way of walking, it's almost like your floating or something and your feet are simply brushing against the grass." Xemnas stated

"You seem to have very good hearing."

"When you lose one sense you tend to have all your other senses heightened." Xemnas explained, his head was tilted back almost like he was staring at the sky or the canopy of trees above his head. Saïx nodded slowly

"I…I suppose that makes sense." Saïx spoke feeling a tense air starting to arrive between them

"So are you still just a passerby of my dreams?" Xemnas asked

"I…I suppose I am."

"Wouldn't you mean something more if you actually appear more than once like you have?" he asked. Xemnas was very wise

"I guess I am. But that's really up to you. It's your dream after all." Saïx told him

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well you're making up this dream, I don't control it. So you can choose if I am actually anything important or just a passerby." Saïx told him. Xemnas seemed to think about this

"I guess that is true. Then I could simply dream you away."

"If you choose to then yes you could."

"Yet something in your voice says that would be useless." Xemnas stated moving his head almost like he was looking at him. Saïx wasn't sure how to reply to that

"Is it me or your own mind?"

"I'm pretty sure it's you." Xemnas stated apparently not falling for Saïx's question. Saïx didn't say anything in response not totally sure of what to do now. Xemnas didn't speak but returned his head back to its original position, Saïx looked at him

"Why do you always look at the sky?" he asked before mentally slapping himself. That was really stupid; the male shrugged not seeming upset

"Why do you ask me these things?" he asked before Saïx could speak Xemnas spoke again "Because you can. That's the only reason." He told him. Saïx muttered a soft 'Oh' before looking at the ground beneath his feet, he half expected him to be grabbed out of the dream at any moment but nothing happened "Am I allowed to ask you something?" the tan man asked still not moving his head position. Saïx nodded but mentally slapped himself again, Xemnas is blind stop nodding

"Sure."

"Will I hear your voice tomorrow?"

"That depends do you want me to be here tomorrow?" Saïx asked half hoping he would say no and after hoping he would say yes. Xemnas seemed to think for a moment but nodded very slightly

"I suppose I would." He told him. That was when Saïx was jerked out of the dream, when he awoke Marluxia's face was in front of his

"Wah!" he yelped toppling out of the chair, thank god Xemnas didn't wake up! Marluxia offered a hand to him

"Sorry, you slept longer than last time so I was concerned." He told him. Saïx nodded a little before they both took off, Saïx gave himself one glance back. Xemnas wanted him to return tomorrow; maybe this wasn't such a bad idea?

The following night Saïx arrived in Xemnas's dream, oddly this time he was in front of Xemnas from the start. He looked at the man who still stared up at the sky

"Hello." Saïx spoke quietly, Xemnas slowly blinked

"Hello again, so you came again?"

"You said you wanted to hear my voice again so I came." Saïx stated

"True but part of me was worried you wouldn't." he stated. Saïx made a soft noise of acknowledgement before standing there a bit awkwardly digging the toe of his shoe into the grass kicking up a small amount of dirt "You feel awkward."

"Hm? I suppose I do…"

"Perhaps it would help if you would sit across from me." Xemnas stated

"How would that help?"

"Simple. You'll be at the same eye level as me." He told him like it was obvious. Saïx nodded before slowly moving to be sitting across from the tan male cross legged at about two arm's lengths away from the male. Neither one said anything and to Saïx it felt like the awkwardness was getting even worse, Xemnas showed no signs of being uncomfortable. He simply stared at the sky with a blank expression on his face blinking every once in a while. Saïx was about to suggest he leave when Xemnas spoke again "You have very light breaths…it's like your footsteps." He mentioned

"My footsteps are like breathing?"

"You have very gentle footsteps." He commented. Saïx grunted quietly

"I suppose I do…I just don't notice it much." He told him, Xemnas nodded slightly

"People don't really notice; I only do since without eye sight I have found my hearing has gotten extremely better."

"It makes sense, you lose a sense and the others work twice as hard."

"I believe I told you that a while ago."

"I think you did." There was silence for a long time. He really wished he would leave now but unless Xemnas was beginning to wake up he had a feeling he would stay, eventually Xemnas scooted forward. Just as Saïx began to scoot back Xemnas out stretched his hands

"I just want to try and make a mental image of you…" he told him "You've shown up so often now I'm curious." Xemnas stated before placing one hand on either of his cheeks. Nodding slightly Saïx watched as Xemnas's eyes stared blankly but his hands moved over his face gently tracing each part of it. His fingers ran over his ears feeling the pointed tips "That's odd…your ears are pointed."

"Yeah…"

"Why?" Honestly Saïx didn't know, Marluxia and Demyx didn't have pointed ears yet he did. He sighed

"I don't know."

"Hm…" was all Xemnas said moving down a bit feeling the sliver studs that rested on his earlobes. He felt over his eyebrows and forehead before drifting down to his scar, this fingers stopped there stroking the skin repeatedly "You're scarred." He spoke softly

"Yeah…I don't remember how it happened."

"You don't seem to know a lot of things…"

"Don't we all?" he stated. Xemnas gave him another 'hm' before moving his hands off of Saïx's face

"Thank you…" he whispered. Saïx offered a smile

"You're welcome." That was when he was jerked out of the dream. Sitting there Saïx lightly touched his face still feeling the sensation of Xemnas touching his face. He looked to the man who moved slightly smiling in his sleep, Saïx smiled before running off into the night.

The following morning Saïx sat across from his two friends at breakfast, at some point people dressed in suits walked in handing certain people envelopes before leaving just as the Dream Eaters were being brought in. Demyx and Marluxia got one but not Saïx "Uh…"

"Test results." Marluxia explained with a weak grin

"Oh. I forgot you guys recently took a test, results always take forever to get back to you guys." He mumbled feeling Crescent hop onto his shoulder excitedly. Demyx shut his eyes opening the envelope before peeking one eye open slightly sighing in relief at his scores

"Passed! Barley but I passed." He breathed out a sigh of relief. Marluxia nodded before opening his looking over the scores

"….How did I beat my average score?" he asked out loud

"You did?!" Demyx squealed looking at the scores along with Saïx

"By like two percent." Marluxia rolled his eyes but he seemed relieved about the scores "This means I can still be a Dream Glider!" Marluxia announced

"Yes!" Demyx cheered Saïx nodded a smile on his lips

"Congratulations Marluxia." The group chatted for a bit before walking into the morning meeting sitting in their spots. The meeting was going like always until the man at the podium cleared his throat

"We will now be going over any changes in ranking." The man stated beginning to read off a long list with the people walking up to take the badge before the crowd would clap then they would walk off the stage. The man cleared his throat "Marluxia E-2 Private has been upgraded to E-3 Private First Class." The man read, looking back a few rows Marluxia blinked before standing up and walking forward. Taking the new badge Marluxia walked off the stage taking his seat listening to the applause, he seemed to be in some sort of state of shock over the award. At night just as the group would have had to split up Marluxia stopped just hovering in place

"What's wrong Marly?" Demyx asked stopping to look at him Saïx stopping as well. The male continued to look at the ground for a while before sighing

"I….I shouldn't have ranked up." He spoke. Demyx tilted his head

"What do you mean?"

"I was told when I first told them I didn't want to be a potion maker but a Dream Glider…they said even if I did everything I wouldn't rank up." He stated. Saïx looked at him for a moment

"You're worried then?"

"Yeah…But I'm not sure why." Marluxia stated. Demyx and Saïx really had nothing they could say to the male. The three continued on going to the special people and entering their dreams

"You're late." Xemnas spoke

"I am?" Saïx asked thinking he had been on time like normal

"Very slightly. Most wouldn't notice." He stated. Saïx sighed sitting in front of the male crossed legged

"I'm sorry…" he spoke his voice betraying him

"Why do you sound troubled?" Xemnas asked

"I'm surprise you even care…" Saïx told him "We've met like what three times?"

"I believe this is the fifth." Xemnas stated casually "But I'm curious to why you are troubled. You're normally so calm." He explained. Saïx sat there not sure of what to say for a bit before sighing a little

"Sorry a friend of mine is troubled about something…" he told him. Xemnas nodded

"Ah worried for them?"

"Yes…I just don't want to see any of my friends get hurt." He spoke. Xemnas nodded again

"I may not know what's going on but I hope things get better." He told him with a smile; Saïx stared at Xemnas for a bit before smiling himself

"Thank you…"

"No trouble…friend." Xemnas's word echoed in Saïx's mind for a moment

"You've decided I'm your friend?" Saïx asked curious. Xemnas nodded

"You've shown up so much of late and you said yourself that I can decided of what importance you hold to this dream so I've decided your my friend." He stated "Or at least a dream friend." He told the male. Saïx sat there quietly thinking this over, should he back out of there? He would be in an enormous amount of trouble if the council found out but then again…he was already in a lot of trouble. Nodding slightly more to himself than Xemnas who couldn't see the nod Saïx looked to the man

"I think…that would be good." He spoke. That was when he was jerked out of the dream, on the way back Saïx told Marluxia and Demyx about what happened

"Wow you are taking a risk!" Marluxia remarked

"Like you two aren't?" Saïx snort, Marluxia rolled his eyes

"You know what I mean."

"I know…but I guess part of me is worried this is a bad idea." He told them sighing softly. Demyx sat next to Saïx

"But you've said he looks happier now right?"

"Yeah…"

"Then we are doing something for the better!" he told him, looking at Demyx he knew there were a lot more details than just that in this but it was kind of hard to tell the kid he was dead wrong. With a weak smile Saïx nodded

"I suppose we are." He told him. The weeks went by in a blur, Saïx's flight might have changed but he always made sure to visit Xemnas at night speaking with him about anything. Sometimes it was about Xemnas's past, other times Xemnas would ask about Saïx's feelings on something but never did he ask what Saïx did for a living. Saïx could only assume that Xemnas thought he had no purpose other than sitting in front of him to talk about various things, strangely other things happened to Saïx as well. He was sleeping through the night getting a restful sleep for once, this surprised him and when he brought it up with Demyx and Marluxia they weren't sure what to make of it but Demyx (Like usual) assumed it was a good thing while Marluxia wondered if maybe it was because Saïx wasn't as up tight as normal. None of them could decide why this was but decided overall it was a good thing. Demyx and Marluxia seemed to be perky than normal of late, they always had been but there were other little things. Demyx seemed a bit more confident while Marluxia was in a better mood over this his dilemma of not doing has he was destined to. The group in general were much better which could be seen in their Dream Eaters has they were happier than normal and perhaps better at their job than normal.

Some people commented on it to others but everyone seemed happy for them, as the days went by Saïx eventually found himself sitting next to Xemnas instead of in front of him and he had a funny feeling they were getting closure and closure each visit. This particular night Saïx was worried this plan was a bad one, sitting next to Xemnas he looked at the potion he had. Saïx had noticed that oddly if he was holding an object when he went to sleep it would be with him in the dream world, he tried it once with Crescent but it didn't work. It had to be something inanimate apparently; Xemnas seemed to notice his slight worried feeling

"Is something bugging you Saïx?" he asked. Saïx sighed a little

"I wanted to ask you something…" he admitted

"What is it?"

"Would you be willing to try something?" Xemnas paused a moment before nodding

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt." He told him "What is it?" Saïx breathed out a quiet sigh

"It's hard to explain but I need you to close your eyes." He told him. Xemnas nodded shutting both of his eyes; Saïx leaned forward smearing some of the potion in his hand across his eyes trailing down a bit on his cheeks. Doing the same to his eyes he shut his own eyes "Venite ... portionem

Nos participare aliquo speciali...

Ut qui non vident...

Vide quid ego video." He spoke quietly opening his eyes "You can open your eyes now." Saïx told him part of his mind prayed that this was a good idea. Xemnas's eyes slowly opened, he squinted them a few times before blinking rapidly rubbing his eyes a bit. He looked about confused before his eyes settled on Saïx's. Xemnas's eyes had a faint glow around them much like Saïx's did at the moment. He stared at Saïx before he seemed to launch back

"Wait…what?"

"What is it Xemnas?"

"I….I…..I can see?" he asked looking at his hands before Saïx again. Saïx nodded "But how? Why are your eyes glowing?" he asked noticing the faint glow that Saïx's eyes had. Saïx showed him the potion bottle with a little smile on his lips nodding

"You can sort of see, I'm lending you some of my own sight." Saïx explained. Xemnas blinked

"But won't that…"

"No." Saïx shook his head his hair brushing against his cheeks slightly "It's only here in the realm of dreams that this can work. I can't restore your sight for when you are awake but…" Saïx looked at him "At least you can enjoy it while you sleep." He explained. It was quiet for a bit before Xemnas looked at him before he reached forward, Saïx was ready to be hit. What he wasn't expecting was Xemnas to pull him forward and hug him tightly, Saïx's eyes went wide with surprise as he sat there letting Xemnas hug him tightly

"Thank you…" the male whispered near tears. Saïx finally moved to hug the man back

"You're welcome…" he whispered a little smile appearing on his lips. Xemnas sniffed a bit

"You have no idea how amazing this is…" he told him. Saïx nodded slightly

"I can only guess." He murmured. Xemnas's hold on him tightened a bit

"But I don't understand…how are you able to use magic? I never decided you could." He stated. Saïx smiled giving a soft 'hmm' before speaking again

"Not everything in your dreams is created by you solely." He told him "Perhaps the dream decided for itself that I should be a magic user." He spoke quietly to him. Xemnas nodded a bit

"I…I suppose that could be true." He finished pulling back; staring at Saïx he picked up a lock of Saïx's hair "Blue hair…hm…it suits you." Saïx smiled at him standing up and offering a hand to him

"Let's go…explore this world." He told him.

Once Saïx had woken up and was waiting for the others Marluxia and Demyx appeared both rather happy. Marluxia snickered "You have a glow to you Saïx." He told him Saïx made a slight face but nodded to him

"I suppose I had a good night."

"So that potion went over well with Xemnas?" Marluxia asked Demyx tilted his head

"What potion?"

"Oh it is one that allows me to let Xemnas have his site back via using my sight…it's hard to explain." He finished when he saw Demyx's confused face. The boy smiled

"You let him have his sight back?"

"Yeah…I thought it might be nice for him." Saïx admitted "He didn't think much of my ability to use magic." He mentioned "Thank you Marluxia for finding that potion and making it." He offered a smile to Marluxia. Marluxia smiled a bit

"No trouble." He nodded very slightly. As the nights went by Saïx would allow Xemnas to borrow his sight and they would explore the world together, the world that Xemnas's dream had created was elaborate. There was a small village that was abandoned by humans however there were multiple animals running around the village. A large mountain that was covered by snow that didn't chill the two was also there, Xemnas's imagination didn't disappear with his sight. As the two walked around the world they would talk about various things with each other, Marluxia and Demyx would share their times about the two people they were visiting with Saïx after hearing about Xemnas. Demyx's person was named Xigbar; he was a military man in charge of working in the area where he could fix cars and such. However after the bombing he was left without one eye though he already had a scar on his face but Demyx didn't know why. Marluxia's person was Vexen who was very ill who had been a science teacher at a high school but couldn't work since he was so sick.

Their stories touched each of the others hearts and Saïx was beginning to wonder why that potion was illegal. It was doing wonders for the people they were talking to so why was it so bad? Saïx had been thinking about this one night when he and Xemnas were exploring the dream world, Xemnas seemed to sense something

"Is everything alright?" he asked concerned. Saïx snapped out of his thinking

"I'm fine Xemnas." He assured the man, Xemnas didn't seem to believe him "Why does it worry you if I'm deep in thought?" he asked. Xemnas sighed a bit

"It's not that you're in deep thought it's the expression on your face, it looks worried." He told him. Saïx sighed a bit

"Why do you care so much if I seem trouble?"

"Isn't that what friends are suppose to do? Make sure the other is okay?" Xemnas asked him. Saïx sighed

"It wouldn't make much sense, besides perhaps this is just something you're making up and making me to do." He tried to seem like he always had giving Xemnas questions that might make the other believe he was truly nothing more than a part of this dream. Xemnas stopped walking kneeling down to look at a butterfly that was fluttering its wings

"You…you sometimes confuse me." He started "Sometimes I wonder if you're a real person then you say things like that and I wonder if you are nothing more than a dream." He told him carefully taking the butterfly onto two of his fingers looking at it. It was rather simple just a blue butterfly, Saïx nodded slightly

"I am part of your dream…"

"But…sometimes…I can't believe that…" he spoke watching the butterfly take off flying around "There are times I swear if I were to wake up and could see…" he looked at Saïx "I'd see you. Right there next to me…" he told him. Saïx froze for a moment but nodded

"Dreams can do that to you."

"But…you are more than just some dream to me." Xemnas spoke moving a step forward to get closure to Saïx "You're my friend."

"Don't you have friends in the world of the awake?" Saïx asked quietly. Xemnas smiled a bit sadly

"I don't really. I live a sheltered life because of my brother's need to protect me from harm."

"He sounds like a good man." Saïx told him

"He is…but it can be lonely for me. He works for a lot of the day in his office only to stop to make me food. I feel like I'm caged…here I'm not…"

"Because you have your sight?" Saïx ventured. Xemnas shrugged

"Yes I am freer seeing I have sight here but…" Xemnas was right next to Saïx now, Saïx looked at him "I think there is another reason…" with that Xemnas leaned in kissing Saïx's lips softly. Whether it just happened to be time or that kiss had surprised Saïx into waking up he would never know. He was suddenly in Xemnas's room the tan male sleeping soundly next to him though a little smile had appeared on his face, running out of the room and taking off Saïx finally stopped moving long enough to look at him. He was panting heavily and his face was flushed his whole body kept shaking, Saïx moved over to the roof to sit Crescent attempted to calm him but nothing was working. Demyx and Marluxia arrived and seemed confused

"Saïx? Are you okay?" Demyx called sitting next to him. Saïx panted he couldn't get his lips to move at all

"Saïx?" Marluxia called worried now. Saïx finally looked at the both of them shaking violently; Demyx looked to Marluxia who nodded. Demyx returned the nod before looking to Arpeggio, the cat meow moving to be sitting in Saïx's lap next to Crescent who quickly moved to be sitting on Saïx's shoulder. Crescent opened its mouth singing softly its notes floating out of its mouth before hitting Saïx's face the object shattering into dust. Saïx's shakes began to stop slowly and his breathing was returning to normal. Looking at his two friends Saïx looked at his hands "What happened?" Marluxia asked sitting on the other side. Saïx looked up

"…We were just exploring and suddenly he….he…he kissed me!" Saïx told them. Demyx and Marluxia both seemed to be in shock

"Wait he kissed you randomly?"

"He said it was because of me he felt like he was freer when I was with him. He felt like if he woke up in the real world and could see…I would be there next to him." Saïx managed to tell them. The both of them looked at each other before they looked at Saïx

"Are you going to be okay?" Demyx asked cautiously "I mean yeah it's weird the first few times but eventually you get use to it." He smiled at him. Saïx shuttered a bit making no sense before he paused looking at Demyx

"You've kissed Xigbar?" he asked his voice slightly higher than normal

"Yeah a couple of times." Demyx told him totally not fazed

"What?!" Saïx shrieked

"Well for a long time we just talked, at one point I just managed to save him from a nightmare so I sang to him to calm him down. So after that nightly I would sing to him, one night when I was leaving he kissed my forehead. Since he had already been hugging me a lot when I would go I figure it wasn't anything that weird. A few nights ago after I had sang to him he kissed my lips and admitted he felt really happy when I was around him, I've been happier around and more confident so I kissed him on the lips and told him that I was really happy with him too!" Demyx told him. Saïx's mouth hung open for a bit not sure of what to say

"Oh don't get that way Saïx, it was bound to happen. I mean when I first heard I was shocked but since me and Vexen kiss before I leave now…"

"You too?!" Saïx squeaked

"Yeah it wasn't that important to mention to you or Demyx."

"Wow that so cool! Why did you guys start kissing?" Demyx asked like they were at some sleepover

"He needed comfort. For a while he's beginning to doubt he's going to survive and I started holding him in my arms and rocking him a bit. Soon he kissed my cheek once and I started kissing his forehead when he would cry about dying. Now whenever I leave we kiss before I go." Marluxia shrugged. Saïx wasn't sure what to think, was it a side effect of the potion? Was that it? Was it something else? Demyx and Marluxia were chatting about their new found kissing partners before they noticed Saïx's lack of talking Marluxia rolled his eyes a bit "Saïx you look like we just told you that you were being deported to some new place." He remarked

"But…but…"

"Look after it happened to me I figure I was just bound to happen to us all. I mean Demyx loves everyone really but…" Marluxia stopped seeing Saïx looked genuinely scared about this whole thing. Sighing a bit Marluxia nodded "We'll talk tomorrow after you've had the chance to calm down and think a bit more rationally. We should head back, if we're late they might suspect something of us." He stated. The other two nodded flying off into the night returning to their headquarters. After the normal nightly things Saïx flopped on his bed very confused about this whole thing. He would have time to think before he saw Xemnas again seeing Xemnas would now be awake and moving around. Saïx shut his eyes feeling overly tired from all of today's events drifting off to sleep rather quickly, when Saïx opened his eyes he looked about the area he was in. He was on…a stage? Looking around he saw the back curtain a bright red and more of the same curtains were off to either side. Looking around the lights were on and pointing to the back curtain, there were no people here or in the orchestra pit. Walking a few steps forward Saïx blinked, this wasn't his normal dreaming place. His was just a black void; Saïx paused at the sound of footsteps coming towards him

"Saïx?" a voice called it sounded puzzled. Saïx turned around to see Xemnas was standing there, his eyes went glowing seeing he wasn't under the effect of the potion. Saïx felt bad for just letting him hang there

"Hello…again." He spoke feeling uneasy for some reason, Xemnas's face lit up a bit as he walked forward

"This is odd normally I don't dream when I take my naps at noon." He spoke. Xemnas had walked a bit of an angled path which made Saïx run over as the male stepped off the stage

"Xemnas!" he cried grabbing his hand before the male fell too far. Saïx pulled Xemnas back onto the stage quickly using the potion and chant to give Xemnas sight "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine…thanks to you." He told him. Saïx nodded a bit

"That's good…what are you doing here?"

"I'm not sure." Xemnas admitted "I sometimes used to dream about this place when I was a child…" he told him looking around

"Really?" Saïx questioned

"Yeah it was before I went blind." Xemnas left Saïx's side to walk towards the curtains to duck behind it, Saïx quickly ran after him not wanting to lose sight of him at all. Following the man Xemnas stopped by a box, it was very tall and could easily fit a six foot man inside of the box. Xemnas stroked the box slightly "This…this was always in my dream. I would be watching someone enter the box and they would tell me to put the swords in one by one. But when I pulled out one of the swords…it would be covered in blood." He spoke. Saïx ran out of the room back to the stage, Xemnas followed suit calling his name. Saïx's body trembled a bit he wasn't sure why he was shaking so badly, Xemnas noticed this "Saïx…are you okay?" he asked worried. Taking a few steps forward Xemnas outstretched a hand for him gently taking a hold of one of Saïx's hands "Saïx? You're shaking." Saïx couldn't form any words he just shook; pulling Saïx closure Xemnas touched Saïx's cheek "Saïx?" he called again. Saïx's hands managed to hold onto Xemnas's hands gently shivering violently

"Xemnas….I'm scared." He whispered suddenly. He wanted Crescent, he wanted to be able to hug something, he needed his friends, and he wanted to stop being so scared of whatever was making him afraid. Xemnas squeezed Saïx's hand "Xemnas…" Saïx's legs gave way from all the quivering he was doing. Kneeling to keep eye contact Xemnas tilted his head a bit

"Saïx…what's scaring you?" he asked concerned. By now Saïx's eyes had tears rolling off his lower eyelashes

"I don't want to remember…" Saïx whispered so quietly it was amazing Xemnas even heard him

"Remember? Remember what?" he asked. Saïx's tears were falling freely now and with that the room changed taking on a sepia tone to it. A boy who looked remarkably like Saïx only around the age of six or so along with no scar on his face was on the stage, a man in the typical magician attire was looking at the boy Xemnas watched as the boy quivered in fear but the man spoke

"You attempted to steal from me…"

"I'm sorry! Please don't turn me in! I just need the money for my mother!" the man sighed a bit

"I won't turn you in…" the young Saïx looked extremely happy "On one condition…you become my helper for my show and earn the money you attempted to steal." The young Saïx nodded with that the scene changed to a random show of the two working together; at the end the magician ruffled the young Saïx's hair. By this point Saïx was bawling trying to stop the memories from coming to him but it was pointless at this point, once the current scene had faded the final one began to play. The magician waved his hands bringing out a box that was similar to the one behind stage the young Saïx stepped into the box and the magician shut it behind him. The man did his normal routine putting in one sword at a time, when he pulled them out he stopped at one looking at it slightly before continuing. The fourth to last one he pulled out…was covered in blood. The man gasped quickly pulling out the rest of the swords and flinging open the box, Saïx's body fell out of the box lying on the ground as a small pool of blood formed on the ground under his body. One tear track could be seen on Saïx's now unblinking face.

The scene faded away and everything returned to normal, Xemnas looked to Saïx who looked away

"Was that a nightmare you have or had?" he asked. Saïx shook his head "Then what was it?" Saïx looked at him with tears rolling down his cheeks "Saïx?" the bluenette rose to his feet wiping his eyes before looking Xemnas's directly in the eyes

"That…was how I died." Saïx told him. Xemnas's face changed several times; at first it looked like he was waiting for Saïx to tell him it was a joke, then it changed to realization that he wasn't joking, then to confusion, then finally pity. Saïx stared at him before looking away "I died when I was twenty three. I was helping that magician to repay a debt I had to him. I stole his wallet in order to pay for medicine my mom really needed. We were living on the streets and I couldn't get a job when I was ten at the time. I had done that trick a million times with him but I slipped and that sword…" Saïx lifted his shirt a bit showing a scar on his left side just below his ribcage "Hadn't initially hit anything important but the way the sword punctured me…" Saïx pulled down a bit of his collar on his shirt showing the other scar just below his Adam's apple "Did me in…" he told him. Xemnas stared at Saïx for a long time "So essentially…I'm a ghost." Saïx sighed allowing himself to float just an inch or two above the ground "I'm a ghost who delivers dreams to the living." He stated.

Xemnas didn't seem to respond to this at all he just stared, Saïx sighed "This is why when you kissed me I panicked…" Xemnas took a few steps forward. Saïx landed on the ground only to look away

"So…when did you die?" Saïx didn't look at the tan male

"Some time in the nineteen hundreds, I forget exactly when." He told him "It's been a long time…" he admitted. Saïx felt Xemnas take his hand gently into his own "Xemnas…"

"Shhh…" Xemnas placed his other hand on Saïx's cheek making him look at the male, Saïx stared at Xemnas who seemed genuinely unconcerned about this whole thing. Looking away again Saïx reached to remove Xemnas's hand from his face "Saïx…" Xemnas whispered softly, Saïx shook his head moving away from Xemnas

"This isn't right…" he told him getting ready to take off and get out of that dream. Xemnas however took Saïx's hand again holding onto it tightly this time; kissing the hand in his Xemnas looked at Saïx

"I don't care…" he told him "I love you…your my light Saïx." Saïx looked away

"I'm a terrible light. I'm dead…"

"That doesn't matter to me!" Saïx suddenly froze looking around he couldn't figure out what was wrong. Just something felt wrong with this area "Saïx I love you! It doesn't matter to me that you're dead!" he shouted thinking Saïx was just ignoring him to look away. Saïx looked around more "Saïx please don't ignore me!" Saïx looked at Xemnas for a brief moment

"I'm sorry but something is up." He told him Xemnas almost looked offended but it changed to concern when Saïx honestly looked confused

"What's wrong?"

"I can't tell…and that's what is bugging me." The blue haired male stated, looking at Xemnas again he sighed slipping out of Xemnas's grasp "I'm sorry…but think about it this way…I will be thousands of years old eventually…and you will die eventually do you really want to love someone in that situation?" he asked before flying off. When Saïx awoke he noticed he was still in his room, it was close to the normal wake up time so the alarm didn't startle him as much. It wasn't until breakfast and he was sitting across from Marluxia and Demyx did he figure it out. He hadn't put on more of the potion…looking at the other two the both silently nodded, they all had dreamed with the ones they were visiting without the potion. This was bad.

It was when Saïx was getting his daily dreams did something else occur

"Darn it!" someone cursed quietly. Looking over it was Marluxia and he was fiddling with his right leg a bit

"What's wrong Marly?" Demyx asked concerned as Marluxia fiddled around the knee area

"Nothing bad, it just moved a bit and it caught me off guard." He stated shifting it again; the little click of metal moving back into place could be heard. Demyx looked confused slightly at the sound; Marluxia walked a few more steps before he completely fell over. Walking over Saïx helped Marluxia back to his feet; Marluxia growled a bit smacking his leg. Rolling up his pant leg he appeared to be checking it out but stopped when Demyx gasped, looking at the mullet haired boy he had his mouth covered

"Marly! You're leg…" where Marluxia's right leg should have been was a mechanical one. It started at the knee and was held up by two strips of metal along with a long screw like object in the middle, it appeared to go into the male's shoes. Marluxia sighed a bit looking at it adjusting a few metal objects a bit before sighing

"I'm going to have to talk to the doctors about this." He mentioned standing up letting his pant leg cover it again. Demyx looked at Marluxia with huge eyes

"You're missing a leg? When did that happen?" he asked. Marluxia shook his head

"I…I don't remember. When I woke up it was missing…" he told him his voice telling him he wanted to drop the subject. Demyx did but he seemed to be bothered by it, that night when Saïx visited Xemnas was he hesitant seeing he hadn't left him on a good note. Looking at the male he finally sighed walking up to him

"Hey." He called, Xemnas turned around the spell instantly activating that allowed Xemnas sight. Even that was automatic now? How strange... Xemnas smiled once his vision adjusted

"Hey yourself." Xemnas spoke reaching out and taking Saïx's hand

"I see you didn't think about it…"

"No I did." Xemnas spoke his smile warm "I thought about it a lot however I've come to a conclusion…" he spoke taking a hold of Saïx's other hand. Saïx looked at him "No matter how old I am or how old you will become…I will always love you." He whispered pressing his lips to Saïx's firmly before departing. Saïx looked towards the ground

"I'm not going to be able to change your mind am I?" he asked

"Not really." Xemnas smiled giving him another kiss on the lips softly. The rest of the time together was spent walking around together hand in hand; Saïx really couldn't deny what Xemnas wanted seeing in a way…he kind of wanted it as well.

On the way to headquarters Marluxia caught up quickly but Demyx was no where

"Not another bomb!" Marluxia sighed not wanting to see his friend get hurt again. Saïx sighed

"If we wait much longer we will be in huge trouble." Saïx remarked "What is taking him so long?" the two waited until nearly sun rise being forced to return. They had half expected him to show up in the morning but he wasn't there, this was bad. At night Saïx was too jitter over his friend leaving Xemnas to attempt to comfort him not really understanding what was wrong seeing he couldn't get Saïx to just tell him. Three more days went by before Demyx was found, apparently he just showed up in his room in the middle of the night. But the weird thing was…he was being totally silent. Arpeggio wasn't even in a good mood, both just seemed…depressed. It was two nights later when Saïx was done with Xemnas did he find out why, when he left the room both Marluxia and Demyx were on Xemnas's roof. Floating up to them he expected them to be happy but Marluxia appeared to be comforting a sobbing Demyx "What's going on?"

"Not sure myself. I found him here when I left Vexen, he's been here since he finished his route apparently. I ask what about Xigbar…" a sharp inhale from Demyx "Then he started crying." The pinkette told him. Kneeling in front of Demyx Saïx looked at him

"Demyx what is going on? You vanish for four days then when you come back you won't talk about what happened." Saïx reached out taking a hold of one of Demyx's hands. Demyx sniveled a bit before looking at Saïx then Marluxia then the ground again "Would Xigbar want…"

"He's dead." The night air was filled with silence for a while. Marluxia and Saïx stared at Demyx in shock

"What?" Saïx finally managed after ten minutes went by

"He's dead. He died and I was there!" Demyx sobbed

"Demyx start from the beginning what happened?" Saïx asked firmly. The boy wiped his eyes

"After he was admitted into the medical ward and I was visiting him nightly…one of his friends suggested writing a dream journal to keep him entertained. He wrote about our time together and…the last night I saw him he was kind of freaked out. I found out him and his friend…were in the enemy's camp…they were holding them hostage seeing that Xigbar's friend had information on the computer stuff for their side and he wouldn't say anything unless he knew Xigbar was okay. The enemies finally had it and they…they…" Demyx sniveled heavily his nose becoming stuffy. Staring at the boy Demyx was beginning to wail again "They killed him! I was right there when they shocked him to death and…" Demyx sniveled heavily. Marluxia gave Demyx a sideways hug Saïx rubbing his hands a bit, neither one really had anything they could say to the boy. Demyx sniveled heavily "Just when…I finally told Xigbar how I died…." Saïx looked at Demyx in shock

"You remember?"

"I do now." He admitted wiping his eyes. Marluxia looked to Saïx nervous but Saïx didn't say anything "I…I was an only child, my mother having died shortly after giving birth to me. My father wanted me to be a proper business man, but I was more interested in art and music than anything else. He tried to sway me away from that path with whatever he could; he even sent me to an all business school. I hated it, I also felt bitter towards my father. Growing up I was lonely and so I asked my dad if we could get a pet. He said we had no money to afford a pet, I knew we did! So one day it pouring down rain, I found a white cat in a box on the side of the road I walked to get to the school. It was starving and soaking wet, so I brought it to an abandoned barn near my house. I started taking care of it; bringing it food that I snuck out of the house, I even skipped school sometimes just so I could be with the cat." Demyx's eyes had more tears drip down his cheeks "It was like I owned a pet. But that all ended one night, my father found me in the barn. He grew enraged and dragged me out of the barn, when I threw a fit he slapped me." Demyx sucked in a quivering breath.

Marluxia hugged Demyx again

"Demy…only tell us when you are ready…"

"No…After he hit me I noticed smoke. I guess the barn was going to be burned down seeing it was no use to the farmer. Seeing the barn up in smoke I freaked out and ran over to the barn going to the upper layer to save the kitty. On the way back down I guess the ladder through the trap door that lead into the upper half broke and I crashed to the floor. There was a nail that poked into my head but that wasn't what killed me…instead it was the beam that fell from the roof that crushed me did. I guess the cat was killed along side of me…" Demyx sniveled heavily before looking at the two. Neither one could really say anything, Saïx would have mentioned Xemnas knew how he had died but since Marluxia hadn't shown signs of having told Vexen he didn't say anything. The rest of the night was silent, Demyx needing to grieve and Marluxia needing time to digest this.

The following night Saïx finally tried to explain to Xemnas about Demyx but it lead to one question "So you guys don't remember how you died?" he asked. Saïx sighed quietly

"Most don't. We have fragments that don't make any sense that float through our dreams but that's about it." Xemnas still seemed confused "Have you tried to recall something and it's on the tip of your tongue but you just can't quite recall it? Like someone's name?" Saïx asked. The tan male nodded "It's like that. Only once your awake you can't remember it again." He explained. Xemnas nodded slowly

"Ah that makes sense. So you couldn't remember the magician?"

"Not really. The most I could recall is Robert."

"Who?"

"You know the classic pull the rabbit out of the hat trick? Robert was the name of the white bunny he used." Saïx explained. Xemnas laughed

"You could remember a rabbit?"

"Well…yeah." Saïx looked at the grass under his shoes "It was my job to care for him most of the time." He explained. Xemnas smiled putting an arm around Saïx's shoulders

"That's sweet….is Demyx going to be okay?" Xemnas asked. Saïx sighed

"I'm hoping. He was rather attached to Xigbar." He explained. Xemnas nodded, the rest of the time was spent avoiding the topic seeing Saïx seemed uncomfortable about it. Once awake Demyx was sitting on Xemnas's roof "Where's Marly?" Saïx asked. The boy shrugged

"Not sure. He normally is here by now." Saïx nodded, deciding to check the hospital Saïx and Demyx eventually saw Bellflower hopping around. Floating over Saïx peered into the room; multiple doctors surrounded by bright lights that hung over head with a lot of equipment a constant beep coming from one. Marluxia was hovering by one of the windows. The two joined him "What's going on?" Demyx asked.

Marluxia nodded "They are attempting to remove a few tumors that are close to where the brain connects to the spine. They feel if they can remove those they can move to curing is leukemia." Marluxia explained watching the male whose long blond hair was gone now

"Wait I thought it was just brain cancer?" Saïx commented

"Turns out he has both." Demyx looked at the scene and laughed a bit

"He looks so different without his hair. I saw what he looked like on the clip board once." Marluxia smiled a bit

"Yeah…he does. In the dreams he always has it seeing it bugs him to be bald." Marluxia set his forehead against the glass feeling scared. Watching it for a while Demyx had asked how long it was supposed to take but Marluxia didn't know "I promised him once he came out of his medicated sleep I would visit him."

"Why after?"

"We can't enter the dreams. It's literally a time where the human mind doesn't dream for some reason. Or if they do it's too weak for us to enter." The pinkette explained. Demyx nodded watching as the doctors did a few things. Suddenly the beeping stopped replaced by a prolonged one, Marluxia's calm face turned to one of panic. The doctors made some sign and the windows had shades go over them the people in the room behind them stood up concerned. Marluxia and the others floated through the window to look down. The doctors were rushing to do something, one grabbed something from under the table "No…" Marluxia whispered tears beginning to form at the brim of his eyes

"Clear!" a doctor shouted

"What's going on?!" Demyx shrieked watching the male's body seize up. Marluxia was in shock and Saïx watched silently

"Clear!" this happened three more times before the doctor stopped. The room went silent, Marluxia's tears fell from his eyelashes "Time of death….4:45 am…" the words echoed in the room. Marluxia sobbed

"NO!" he screamed trying to go for Vexen's body; Saïx and Demyx barely had a chance to grab him "NO! YOU PROMISED!" Marluxia shouted his tears pouring freely down his cheeks. Saïx bit his lip

"We should go…"

"No…no…no…" Marluxia kept whispering as the group left the room the Dream Eaters close behind them. Marluxia attempted to control his emotions has they flew back to the area, landing the group did their nightly things. Falling asleep Saïx found Xemnas looking at him the moment he woke up

"Xemnas?" he called. The male smiled at him saying nothing just kissing his forehead Saïx smiled a bit, that was when the dark grew dark "Bad day?" he asked. No response, sitting up concerned Saïx tilted his head "Xemnas?" he called concerned. Xemnas didn't say anything, a clawed hand slowly crawling around his neck "XEMNAS! Behind you!" he screamed reaching out for the male. It was too late Xemnas was pulled into darkness without hand outstretched for him, Saïx attempted to run but stopped. Looking down he could see the sword that had led to his death, Saïx jerked on the sword but another one was coming for him "NO!" Saïx screamed. Waking up Saïx looked around; it wasn't more than an hour from when he fell asleep, tears streaming down his cheeks. Sitting there Saïx eventually pulled his knees to his chest "No…" he whispered, the few times he attempted to fall asleep the nightmare came back so he finally gave up on sleeping that night.

In the morning he was a wreck, he staggered to the normal table he ate at. His head hitting the table as he sat down, Marluxia didn't comment nor did Demyx. They had seen this before, that and Marluxia was down in the dumps. He just sort of picked at his food; none of them talk for that whole day. Someone people asked if Saïx had a fight with them but he just smiled saying they were busy, Saïx sat on Xemnas's roof not wanting to enter his dream. What if whatever had attacked Xemnas attacked him there? Sitting there he eventually floated down entering the male's dream, Xemnas was sitting in the middle of a field playing with a flower. Hearing Saïx's footsteps he looked up smiling a bit

"I was worried you weren't going to show." He commented standing up and walking over. Saïx nodded the lack of sleep clearly on her face, Xemnas walked over concerned "Hm...You didn't sleep well?" he asked. Saïx nodded

"I…I guess I had a bad dream." He told him, Xemnas set his hand on Saïx's cheek gently rubbing it with his thumb

"I'm sorry to hear that. Would it help if we talked about it?"

"I…I don't think so. I know it sounds weird but I'm afraid it's going to appear here. I would hate to make this place a world where you feel unsafe." He told him. Xemnas nodded slipping his other hand into Saïx's

"Alright…if there is anything I can do please let me know." He whispered kissing Saïx gently on the lips. Saïx nodded, within a few moments he walked forward wrapping his arms around Xemnas. The tan male looked at Saïx who sniffled "What's wrong?"

"Everything is falling apart…" he whispered softly. Xemnas tilted his head a bit

"What do you mean?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper. Saïx sniveled

"Marluxia and Demyx lost those they cared about…Demyx remember how he died…I'm scared something bad is going to happen to you." He whispered. Xemnas stroked the back of Saïx's head softly

"Nothing will. Not while your around my dear." He whispered in a comforting voice. Saïx wanted to believe that…but something just wouldn't let him.

The following morning Saïx arrived in the eating room with Marluxia's head against the table, walking over and taking his seat he poked the male's elbow

"What?" he grumbled

"Why are you sitting like that?"

"Didn't sleep well." Marluxia grumbled. When Demyx arrive he looked to Saïx who shrugged

"He says he didn't sleep well." Marluxia sat up at this point

"I couldn't! I dreamt of how I died and I couldn't sleep." He told him. Both male's jaws dropped

"You remember?"

"I have for a while." Saïx said nothing while Demyx stared at Marluxia "I…I was a second class passenger on the Titanic, when the ship began to sink…there was this little blond girl. She was standing on the ship crying out for her mom and dad, I asked where they were and she said she didn't know. I originally planned on just taking her to the life boats to get her off but they assumed I was her father and I left with her. I found out later her mom and dad had been looking for her and her dad had went back to the room to look for her and drowned because of me. The boat we were in was flipped over because of people trying to scramble onto the boat; I managed to get the girl onto a piece of floating wood and paddled her to another boat. Once on we were brought to shore. I lost track of that little girl because my right leg kept going numb, when I went to the hospital they said I might have cut it and that cut got infected and with the cold water it didn't look good. So they cut it off." Demyx gasped quietly "I was recovering and suddenly this woman appears. She was the mother of the girl, she said she had come to say thank you for saving her daughter…" he paused

"I'm guessing that isn't what happened?" Saïx asked

"No…she poisoned my water I drank with pain killers." He told him "I died of poisoning…" Demyx reached over hugging the male "The worst part…the little girl? She was Vexen's grandmother." He told them. That left the males in shock, Marluxia pulled out of the book "What's more…" he flipped over to the spell they had been using "Because I couldn't sleep I was studying this book and…I found out why they out lawed it." Marluxia showed a different book. It was a simple spiral bound notebook that was old and faded "The creator of the spell was Ansem Lee-Burton. He was a very wise Dream Glider; I think he was a potion maker? I don't remember all the details. This was his study journal." Marluxia opened it to the final page, Saïx peered at the pages

'Log

Today is the day.

I can't stand to see her go by like this. She is a lone and afraid without me there. I have to let her know I am watching over her.

So I made this. I'm simply testing it. Who knows? It might help someone in the future.

Just so you know… Eraqus? You were a wonderful bunk mate…I'm sure one day you will run this place. Oh and Xehanort? Your sons will be fine. I assure you. I mean they have your genes.' Saïx's eyes widen at Xehanort

"Yea I guess Xehanort was a Dream Glider for a long time. He moved on shortly before we arrived." Marluxia gestured to the three of them. Saïx nodded looking at the page flipping back a few entries

'Log

She still seems to be in shock over my death…So is Aerith and Luxord. I mean they both just got married! Now I'm gone. Stupid drunk truck driver! Luxord and Aerith are handling it better than Lucrecia is. Eraqus says to quit worrying but I was married to her! I'm going to worry about my wife damn it! I've been working on a secret project. I just need one night to tell her that I still love her and I'm always going to be watching over her.

This will let me do that.' Saïx nodded. Marluxia closed the journal and looked at him "The night after he wrote the final entry he visited his wife with the potion. He continued to until she died of a heart attack. But…the council said he was to blame for what he had done; her father had begun to think she was insane! So…they got rid of him." Saïx and Demyx looked at each other along with Marluxia. Their Dream Eaters had come over and looked sad as well

"Precisely why…" a gloved hand landed on Saïx's shoulder making him gasp loudly. Looking behind him a mask man was there "You three are going to the council right now." The man looked at all three. The walk to the council was silent, seeing they simply walked through a portal. Demyx was whimpering clutching onto Arpeggio tightly while Marluxia stroked Bellflower, Crescent chirped which Saïx silence with a soft stroke to its head gently which he continued to do.

As the three stood in front of the council looking upwards Saïx saw a familiar crystal orb float down to rest in front of them. The images that played were a mixture of all of theirs; Saïx saw Marluxia speaking with Vexen holding his hand, Demyx sitting next to Xigbar singing, and a few of his own memories with Xemnas. Watching them until the orb was brought back up to the council members Saïx looked upwards swallowing nervously, one of them finally spoke

"For nearly half a year now…you three have been using an illegal spell that allowed you to enter one's dream. A private area for a person! Not only that but you hid it from us, you even to have formed quite the relationship with these humans. What for?" Demyx whimpered

"We…we were just trying to lighten their burdens…" a single hooded figure leaned forward his body stretching to be that of a snake's putting his masked face right in front of Demyx's

"SILENCE! WE DID NOT ASK YOU A DIRECT QUESTION!" the figure screeched making Demyx fall to his butt screaming "Cease your screaming if you don't plan to have your punishment delivered quicker than expected!" the figure ordered. Demyx bit down hard on his tongue shivering in fear, Arpeggio did not like this and hissed the sound distorted slightly. The figure raised a clawed hand and slapped the cat causing it to be tossed a few feet away at the feet of a Dream Eater caretaker who kicked it into a cage

"ARPEGGIO!" Demyx screamed trying to scramble to his cage but was caught by Marluxia who mouthed 'Stop!' to Demyx. The figure returned to its former state looking down on them, Demyx was on the verge of tears

"To return to our previous conversation. What for? To help them?" the figure's voice had a sneer to it "All you have done is cause them to have a relationship with the dead. Now two of them are dead and the third might as well follow shortly…" Saïx shook in what was a mixture of anger and fear

"That's it?" he asked hissing slightly "You made that spell illegal for giving someone a relationship? Because the subjects died shortly after the spell?!" Saïx snapped but regretted it. The claw hand swiped at him cutting into his shirt leaving long gashes

"SILENCE!" the figure hissed "Now normally we would consider letting you off the hook with some probation…but not in this case." The figure's eyes turned to Demyx "You gave a man trapped in an enemy's base hope that he would survive…" the eyes turned to Marluxia "You were already walking on a thin line seeing you are supposed to be a potion maker! But we allowed you to be a deliver of dreams. But you gave hope to a sickly former science teacher!" the eyes finally fell on Saïx who was gripping onto his side "And you! You are a higher ranking than these two! We expected more from you! But what do you do!? You give hope to a blind man and shared your vision!" Saïx stared up at the council fright beginning to stink back in "All your punishment is the same..." All the figures looked up each of the designs on the masks lit up, their voices in unison "We have no longer need for you!" they spoke.

With that more clawed hands grabbed at the Dream Eaters who made a scream in terror snatching them away from Saïx and Marluxia

"Bellflower!"

"Crescent!" Saïx screamed loudly, other clawed hands grabbed at their legs and arms. Demyx screamed in terror, it felt like they were sinking into the floor

"PLEASE! Spare Marluxia and Saïx! It was my idea! Please!" Demyx cried out

"No! Spare Demyx and Saïx! I was the one who created the potion!" Marluxia's voice yelled. Saïx's eyes stung with tears from pain, fear, and sadness

"NO! Please spare Demyx and Marluxia! I should have stopped them! It's my fault!" Saïx screamed. He wouldn't let them die! The figure who had yelled at Demyx earlier moved down touching Saïx's face

"There is no mercy left for any of you!" he growled. Saïx was pulled under the floor with a scream; he was dropped instantly onto the floor

"Ow…" Saïx mumbled sitting up rubbing his lower back. Looking around he couldn't anything but black, eventually a light appeared. Two figures dress in mint green doctor's smocks and masks similar to that of the councils walked forward one of them holding a lantern. Saïx stared at them before one grabbed him the other sighing

"We're going to be busy today." He mumbled

"What's going on?" Saïx asked his voice cracking from fear. The male didn't reply

"Let's make this quick."

"Make what quick?" Saïx was walked into a large room. Strange pods that faintly glowed red with a black thread substance covering them, the red glowed pulsed slightly. Saïx barely saw Marluxia and Demyx out of the corner of his eyes "What is this place?" he squeaked. The doctor finally answered him

"This is where we make nightmares…" Saïx heard a pained scream from a pod, a smoke like substance floating out of the pod into a tube that lead to a glass container that once the smoke went it like out a little hiss. One of the pods stopped glowing; a body tumbled out barely human. Various spikes grew from the body, fangs starting to grow from the upper jaw, eyes dull and red. A different working with a metal collar on the end of a metal pull walked over putting the collar around the neck of the strange human. The human let out an unearthly scream that made Saïx flinch, Saïx felt himself being dragged towards a pod that was empty "We force the memories of death or bad experiences and those produce the energy we need for nightmares. Once the energy is used up that human…" looking at that creature being dragged away "Turns into one of the Fighters." He finished.

Saïx knew of the fighters, they were Dream Eaters deemed unusable for a partner and instead fought against any physical nightmares that threatened the Dream Gliders. Saïx's eyes glanced to a smaller version of the pod that a Dream Eater was in, the creature (Some kind of sea horse was what it looked like) let out a weak cry before two pieces of dream fragments fell from the pod into a bucket "Dream Eaters of those being punished are turned into dream fragments." Saïx's eyes widened

"THIS IS INHUMANE!" he yelled

"Where else did you think we got nightmares?" the doctor sighed. Some of the thread like substance grew from the empty pod wrapping around Saïx's body. The bluenette squirmed looking at Marluxia and Demyx. Demyx was already in the pod screaming bloody murder as the vines forced him against the pod's inner surface the shell growing. Marluxia was half way in; Saïx felt a tug and was forced into the pod. The shell growing over the pod

"Please no!" he could see Arpeggio being strapped in and Crescent was squirming to get free. Saïx attempted to move an arm but his body was feeling sleepy "No!" tears rolled by Saïx's face, shutting his eyes he could see memories: Demyx and Marluxia talking with him, their flights, Xemnas's smiling face. Saïx screamed "Xemnas…" he whispered "I failed you…." As sleep tugged at his senses he felt someone touch his arm, opening his eyes he could faintly see a young woman. Saïx couldn't place her to anyone he knew; blue hair that rested by her chin and beautiful blue eyes stared at him. She held up her right palm showing her a symbol that matched his

"Don't give in…fight…let the true power of your symbol guide you." She spoke softly. Saïx blinked, what did that mean? The woman smiled again but her eyes…they held such a sadness "Please don't give in…my son." She whispered. Saïx's eyes met the young woman's again, his eyes widened as the woman vanished. Struggling a bit he could see the mark on his hand glowing a bit, staring at it Saïx clutched his hand shut. No…no he wouldn't stand for this! He was not just going to lay here and let these bullies get their way! This was wrong! His rage lead to the mark on his hand to glow brighter and brighter, his eyes had a few tears escape

"I won't give up mom…you taught me that." He whispered. No matter how bleak their lives looked he remembered her telling him to never give up and something will save them. He wasn't going to wait for someone to tell him what to do anymore, Xemnas's face flashed in his memory "I won't let them take me away from you!" he growled. The threads snapped and the glass shattered, a few of the workers spun around surprised seeing Saïx sit up

"He can't be done!"

"You idiot he broke free!" someone yelled. Crescent's container opened and she hopped onto Saïx's shoulder. Saïx stroked her once just under the chin

"Sorry girl…" he whispered, he had no idea what to do at this moment. Looking around Saïx clenched his fist running towards the closure of his two friend's pods, his sign still glowing as he hit the red part of the pod. The pod's glass shattered Demyx sitting up and gasping for air coughing a bit, once Demyx was sitting up Arpeggio was freed from his chamber. The blonde boy looked at Saïx

"Saïx!" he cried hugging the male, Saïx nodded

"We gotta keep moving." He told him running towards Marluxia's pod Demyx shortly behind him holding onto Arpeggio tightly, one of the workers stepped in front of them holding a spear of some sort. The tip of the spear buzzed with static

"That's enough!" he growled, Arpeggio lifted his head up opening its mouth letting out a loud shrieking sound that sent sound waves to strike the face of the guard knocking him to be on his back

"Go Saïx! We can hold him off!" Demyx called

"Are you sure?" Saïx looked nervous. Demyx smiled nodding

"I gotta be brave. Even if he isn't here anymore…I have to be brave!" he announced though Saïx could see a few tears in the corner of his eyes. Saïx smiled, Xigbar had done wonders for this kid. Crescent tapped Saïx's shoulder making him snap to nodding a bit, running to Marluxia's pod Saïx tapped the glass freeing the pinkette who sat up gasping and coughing. Looking at Saïx he stared at Saïx's symbol still glowing brightly, he looked around seeing the guards coming for him

"What's the plan?" he asked. Saïx gave him a weak smile

"I don't have one. I was sort of winging it." He admitted. Marluxia's eyes widened but everyone paused to cover their ears hearing a loud roar that shook the ground they stood upon. Saïx looked towards the sound and he could barely make out a large Dream Eater roaring, it almost reminded him of a Tyrannosaur Rex. Saïx bit his lip "Maybe we can get help from the Dream Eaters they have here."

"But no one can control them!" Marluxia cried grabbing Saïx's wrist. Saïx shut his eyes scared, Xemnas's smiling face along with the face that belonged to his mouth flashed into his mind. Opening his eyes he had a determined face on

"I might not be able to control them but I can try!" he announced. Marluxia looked at Saïx's face smiling and nodding a bit, Bellflower hopped onto Marluxia's lap

"Go, get to them and we'll help Demy." He told him climbing out of the pod and running to help the boy. Saïx nodded running towards the area filled to the brim with various Dream Fighters that snarled, hissed and let out various other cries in protest of them being held. A few guards attempted to chase after him but Saïx was just a bit too fast or Crescent would cast a spell to make them stop for a brief moment, arriving at the pen Saïx panted. He couldn't see a way to open the gate, looking behind him the guards had him surrounded. No escape, one of the council members was there too. The one that had turned into a snake, or at least that's who Saïx assumed it was.

He chuckled

"You've driven yourself into a corner…" he spoke. Saïx swallowed the man took three drawn out steps forward, clutching onto Crescent he looked over in the direction of where his friends had ran. They were struggling against two guards, one on each side of person they were tempting to hold. Saïx swallowed thickly again

"Do whatever you want to me…just leave my friends alone." He spoke though his voice was slightly cracked due to the fear that made him quiver. The council laughed

"Like we should listen to a bad solider. Why did you even attempt to fight us?" he spoke but his voice was joined with the other council members. Saïx stared at the floor

"Because…" he began before looking up "Even though I know that you put those rules into place, even though I know we need a way to fight these nightmares, and I know you needed a way to make a punishment so terrible it would make everyone behave…" Saïx's eyes had a fire behind them "But this is wrong! Everyone deserves their freedom! This is inhumane! Also…I refuse…I refuse to allow you to take me down without a fight!" his voice was steadily coming back to him and he could see out of the corner of his eyes the symbol on his hand glow even brighter "For too long I have bowed down to you and never said anything against you! But now I refuse to allow you to do this to my friends and fellow comrades!" he shouted louder.

A flash of light occurred and clank was hear behind him, looking behind him Saïx gasped seeing the thick chains and padlock having fallen to the ground. The council member gasped before the masked face tilted upwards, the beasts roared and a few roamed out of the pen slowly. Stalking their new prey, they let out hisses of anger and fury. Saïx fell to the ground quickly and clutched Crescent closely scared out of his mind, as even a few of the still somewhat human looking beasts crawled out growling the council member finally turned to run. That was when they pounced, in a flash of growls and other various animalistic sounds and a blur of colors rushing in and out of Saïx's sight. A scream of terror and pain ripped from the lips of the various guards and what Saïx could only assume was the council member.

Eventually hearing what he could only describe as a sound similar to ripping Saïx covered his eyes a whimper coming from his lips. What had he done?! He was about to be killed along with his best friends! Eventually the screams fell silent and only the sound of his own panicked breaths along with little noises coming from the creature's mouths. Eventually he opened his eyes slowly parting his fingers slightly. One of the beasts the looked a bit like a lion stared at him with the mask of the council member who had been in the room in its mouth though blood dripped off the mask. Saïx looked at the mask lowering his hands, was that going to be his fate as well? The lion took a few steps to be in front of him before dropping the mask, the object clattered against the ground.

Saïx stared at the beasts who made no move towards him, he could barely see Marluxia and Demyx standing behind them "You…you're still alive?" he sneaked a bit. Marluxia nodded, Saïx could see him shaking a tiny bit

"Yeah…"

"They…they ignored us during the fight." Demyx commented still clutching Arpeggio with his knuckles nearly white. Saïx looked to the beasts who didn't move, the lion took a step forward pushing the mask towards in with it's nose. With shaking hands Saïx reach down to the pick up the mask, once he could firmly grip the mask he raised it to his face. The mask's design lit up causing Saïx to nearly dropped the object, when the light faded the design that was on his coat now was on the mask. Marluxia and Demyx both gasped loudly "Why…"

"They accept you as the new leader." A voice spoke. Looking away from the mask Saïx's mother stood there, her spirit just barely floating above the ground. Saïx's mouth opened slightly to say something but just a prolonged gasp came from his mouth, the woman smiled a bit at him "They accept you as the new leader of these people. The people running this place have forgotten what force truly brought them to be a part of this world was the Dream Eaters." The woman made a sweeping motion over the many beasts behind her "For Dream Eaters…" she picked up a smaller Dream Eater that looked like a sheep that was a ghostly image like herself "Are the true essences of dreams. We create them and it is only because they are able to reach out to us when we are dying that we live these lives." She whispered. Saïx stared at the woman

"But I'm unfit to rule over these…people….over any one!" he told her, the woman smiled kneeling down to his eye level

"But you are. Your power was given to you by the Dream Eaters and they have chosen you for it is not the people who choose who does what…" she gestured to all the Dream Eaters behind her "But them." With that the woman vanished. Marluxia and Demyx stared at Saïx who still tightly clutched Crescent along with the mask, Saïx looked at the mask. His mother wouldn't lie to him right? Raising the mask up he placed it against his face…

Xemnas perked up hearing the soft footsteps he knew so well. Turning around he smiled at the male who stood there "You've changed your clothes!" he laughed walked towards him the spell having already taken affect. Saïx normal clothes had been changed to a slightly different once, he now wore a white hooded coat with the same designs only in the dark blue color that once had been on his old jacket the back of the coat had two tails. The designs sparkled a bit and even glowed just the slightest bit, his shirt was white and his pants were black with black boots that buckled shut. Saïx nodded

"I…I got a promotion you could say." He laughed a bit nervously, Xemnas took a hold of both of Saïx's hands gently feeling the white gloves covering them

"It looks nice on you."

"Thank you." Saïx's voice was quivering slightly

"What's wrong?" Xemnas asked a bit. Saïx smiled sadly at him

"Don't worry about that, just…let's go do whatever you want to do tonight." He smiled at him. As the night went on Saïx was a bit more clingy than normal, it concerned Xemnas but he said nothing about it. When Saïx felt the potion wearing off he smiled hugging Xemnas tightly, Xemnas blinked a bit

"What's….what is wrong dear? You are acting like after tonight we will never see each other again?" he asked concerned. Saïx smiled sadly

"Xemnas…a lot of things have changed since I first met you…I care…no I guess it's silly to not admit…never mind." Saïx sighed rubbed the back of Xemnas's hands with his thumbs "I…but things are changing and they are getting so much more difficult and…dangerous. I don't want to put you in danger." He whispered. Tears started to roll down his cheeks "So…after tonight I will vanish from your dreams." He told him biting his tongue to try and stop the tears. Xemnas blinked laughing a bit, when Saïx didn't start laughing the tan male stopped

"…You're serious?" he asked. Saïx nodded "No…No! Saïx!" Saïx let go of Xemnas's hands

"I'm sorry…the dead shouldn't be with the living and…"

"I've already said it! I don't care that you're a ghost!"

"But this could kill you! I couldn't bear to see you die because of my wants to stay with you!" Saïx cried out tears freely flowing now "So…I'm sorry but this is good bye." Saïx began to back away feeling himself get pulled out of the dream

"No! Saïx please don't leave me!" Xemnas cried out tears flowing down his cheeks. Saïx smiled sadly

"Please…I…I'm sorry…" he whispered the bluenette walked forward gently kissing Xemnas's lips one last time "Take care…" he whispered never getting a response from Xemnas as Saïx was pulled out of the dream.

Looking around Saïx saw Marluxia and Demyx with him; they had come along to help him through this decision. As Saïx sniveled Marluxia set a hand on his shoulder gently

"It was for the best." Saïx nodded slightly

"I know…but it doesn't make it hurt any less." He told him standing up before opening his pouch to give Xemnas the best dream he could find. Once he gave him the dream he sniffed before kissing Xemnas's lips softly "I….I'm going to miss you." Marluxia set a hand on his shoulder again

"We should go…"

"I know…" he stood up giving one last long look at Xemnas's face before beginning to head out. Saïx sniveled feeling broken as he was walked away by Marluxia and Demyx, Marluxia sighed "You know it was for the better." He whispered. Saïx managed a nod as he walked away feeling like his heart was on the floor, as they neared the window the door into Xemnas's room opened. Demyx jumped a bit

"It's probably just his brother coming in to check on him." Saïx told him through the sniffles before wiping his eyes to attempt to calm himself down. Demyx nodded opening the window the three climbing out of the window. Just as Demyx was going to begin to fly a bang was heard, that scared everyone causing them to jump a bit. Saïx looked about "Everyone okay?" he asked not sure if one of them had been shot. All gave a sign of being okay

"What was that?" Demyx asked

"Sounded like a gun going off." Marluxia commented. Saïx nervously looked towards Xemnas still concerned for the male. Looking over his shoulder he gasped loudly Ansem, Xemnas's older brother, was sitting on the side of Xemnas's bed. Xemnas still had his eyes closed but from his forehead a bit of blood dripped down. Squarely in the middle of his forehead was a bullet hole, Ansem had shot his brother. Saïx stared in horror at what he was seeing, the male was permanently asleep. Saïx stared until it finally registered in his head what had happened, Saïx's expression changed to be one of complete anger. Flipping open the back pocket on his pack retrieving a bottle, it was completely black with streams of red wisps floating from it. Marluxia saw the bottle "Saïx…we're only…"

"Fuck the rules." Saïx hissed before running at Ansem. Marluxia quickly covered Demyx's eyes and looked at Arpeggio

"Cover his ears you don't want to see or hear this!" Marluxia order the cat who nodded and hopped up onto Demyx's shoulder covering his ears. Bellflower covered Marluxia's ears as the male shut his eyes, Saïx charged grabbing Ansem by the collar of his shirt. The male reacted seeing he had attempted to walk away but Saïx refused to let go, his teeth gnashed a bit before uncapping the bottle in his hand. The red wisps much more apparent than before as they mixed with the black smoke, Saïx snarled before slamming the bottle into Ansem's face the smoke enveloping the male. Ansem coughed pushing away what was invisible smoke to the naked eye before he stumbled a bit. As he stumbled the male collapsed on his brother's bed before he screamed. Marluxia and Demyx winced but Saïx glared at him, eventually the man fell silent. Marluxia peeked once but nodded releasing Demyx

"What did Saïx do?"

"You know how scientist say that if you hit the bottom of a hole in a dream you die?"

"Um yeah?"

"That's what that bottle does. Gives the person a dream that kills them." Marluxia told in "We are really not suppose to use it but…" Saïx had shoved Ansem off the bed making the body thump against the floor. Saïx shook Xemnas

"Xemnas? Xemnas god please…don't be dead!" he cried. No response, no pulse, no breathing. Xemnas had been murdered. Saïx felt the tears refresh in his eyes "No please let this be a joke! I was trying to protect you! NO!" Saïx fell to his knees sobbing into his hands "No!" he sobbed his tears hitting Xemnas's chest. Marluxia kneeled next to Saïx along with Demyx who comforted the sobbing male "I thought I was going to save him…" he sniveled. The flight home was a long one; it was completely silent other than a occasional sniff from Saïx who was suffering. Once they got home Saïx went straight to bed bringing Crescent with him, he clung to that rabbit creature all through the night like a child does their favorite toy.

"General Saïx sir!" someone called, Saïx looked in the general direction

"Oh...hello Private Smith can I help you?" the bluenette asked. The male nodded

"I've come to deliver the daily report!"

"Isn't that First Sergeant Jeanne's thing?" Saïx asked

"She is out sick today sir!" Saïx nodded

"I see. Well…" just as Saïx would about to say something along the lines of tell him the news when another person entered

"Private Smith! Do not bother General Saïx with such trivial things! You are lower ranking…" Saïx shot a glare to the male who had entered

"You will silence yourself Major Thomas!" Saïx snapped "Even if he is a lower ranking he has come to do his work and it does not matter his rank!" he told him. Saïx knew the ranks were there for a reason but he hated when people acted like they were better than other people because they were higher ranking. The male nodded, as the boy told him the news Marluxia entered towards the end "Greetings Colonel Marluxia." Saïx spoke looking over some paperwork. The other two people saluted him and he returned the gesture

"Greetings General Saïx." Marluxia nodded "I was wondering if you wanted to pause in your work to take a walk." He told him. Saïx smiled a bit, Saïx was being such a hard worker that sometimes he forgot to relax but of late Demyx and Marluxia made sure that he did take a break

"I suppose I should." He spoke standing up from his seat cracking his back a little. The Major started to say something but Saïx sent him a look which made him promptly shut his mouth. The two males left the room Saïx had been sitting in walking down the halls "Anywhere in mind you had for our walk?" Marluxia nodded

"They have a few new pods in and Demyx wanted to see them with us." Saïx nodded

"This is his first time looking at them huh?" he asked. Marluxia nodded

"I believe so…oh there he is." Marluxia waved to the boy who ran over to them

"Hi guys." He smiled Arpeggio resting on his shoulder as well, Saïx smiled nodding to them stroking Arpeggio gently

"Nice to see you."

"Well if you would quit being so busy we could hang more!" Demyx laughed a bit. As they walked entering the hospital wing Demyx looked about "So…are they in the hospital?"

"Sort of." Marluxia told him "They're in a wing by it. I can find it easier by going through here." He explained. Entering a small door on their left, the three were brought into a large room filled to the brim of large cocoon looking objects. The cocoon's material sparkled brightly in the lights that lit the room, Demyx look at them with awe in his eyes

"Wow…we come out of those like butterflies!" he gasped

"Sort of! I never thought of explaining it like that!" Saïx laughed a bit. Crescent, who always remained perched on Saïx's head chirped moving a ear to point to three on the very end. Saïx looked at the cocoons and smile "Well we might be getting some new arrivals soon." The cocoons had been moved to be laying on a bed like object, by the foot of each of the beds where three dream eaters. The first bed had a lizard creature through it lacked any arms; it had a yellow head, with two pink spots to show where it's cheeks were when it opened it's mouth it revealed small white pointed teeth. It had black, squared eyes with pupils with a black line bisecting the pupils. The under belly was quite the sigh; the belly started out green, fading into orange, then purple, then sky-blue. Its back was dark-blue that at the end of the body was a coiling tail that was yellow, then purple, then blue, then finally green. It had two thin legs that were the same color as it's back though the feet appears to be dark-blue and yellow shoes. Dark-blue spikes ran down its tail, while purple spikes, outlined in sky-blue, run along its body, up to the head. It kept jumping then spinning only to repeat, it seemed like quite the hyper little fellow.

The bed on the very end had a small bat like creature that was perched on the foot of the bed. Its boy was round, furry body wad yellow with a pink diamond mark covering its face. It's large, frilled ears were green, fading into blue. Two tiny black eyes looked about every great once in a while. Quiet oddly it had two small fangs that were pink, which was odd seeing most of the Dream Eaters Saïx had seen had white teeth. Two small, clawed feet gripped to the edge of the bed while two large, pink, thin wings extended outward. The wings were covered with four-pointed stars that were yellow and pink, outlined in blue. One of the stars were much bigger than the rest.

The final one the rest by the middle bed's foot wiggling in excitement was a very common Dream Eater used by many. It was rather plump resembling a cross between a cat and a dog. The creature had a white underbody and muzzle. The top half of its body was blue and its blue ears possessed black tips. Its rear end was black, and its stubby black tail with a pink tip was wagging away. Its legs were black at the bottom with a pink band wrapping around the middle, and a short pink tongue hung loosely out of its mouth. It had a small purple nose in the shape of an upside-down triangle, and it had a short pink horn on its forehead. Three yellow spots decorate its sides, it like many Dream Eaters had black eyes. Demyx tilted his head

"What are they doing here?" he asked. Saïx smiled

"Were we are about to awaken the Dream Eaters who brought us here sit by our cocoons and await our awakening. No idea why though." He laughed once he finished explaining. Demyx walked over to one of the cocoons

"How long before they come out?"

"Oh that kind depends. Sometimes it's weeks after the Dream Eaters appear other times…" a crack made Saïx stop speaking. The crack was followed by another and another, suddenly a hand appeared from the cocoon that the bat sat by. The creature flew up slightly startled by the sound before it landed on the head of the bed, the hand gripped onto the edge of the cocoon spilling out a green liquid that was slightly see through. Another hand soon appeared and pulled itself out of the cocoon the object splitting into multiple piece around the area that the body sat up in, Demyx had jumped a bit but gasped loudly. The body had very long black hair with a few silver streaks in it. The hair landed about the figure's mid back, a scar ran up his left cheek that just stopped below the eye on that side. His right eye was badly damaged, layers of scarred tissues laid over the eye making it remain closed forever. The man's one open eye was yellow and his ears were slightly pointed making Saïx touch his own ears randomly. The man panted for air, Demyx was shaking "Demyx…do you need to…" Saïx was about to ask if he needed leave but Demyx ran over to the body tackling the male.

The man gasped rather loudly

"What who…Demy?" he asked looking at the boy who was being covered by this liquid. Demyx sniveled

"Is it you Xiggy?" he asked his voice on the verge of breaking

"I…I guess? What are you doing here? Where am I?" he asked confused. Just as Demyx was about to speak another crack occurred, the lizard creature perked up cheering. The cocoon opened in a similar manner to the first one revealing a boney pale hand, the body when it managed to sit up was thin and pale. Long blond hair that rest just about the tail bone was hanging in the figure's face, Marluxia took a cautious step towards the man. Green eyes looked up revealing a thin face that was confused

"Ve…Vexen?" Marluxia called his voice shaking. Vexen looked at the male

"M…Marluxia?" he called, Marluxia covered his mouth has he walked over taking a hold of one of Vexen's hands. Tears freely streaming down his cheeks "Marluxia? What's…" before he could finish Marluxia hugged him tightly sobbing into his shoulder. Saïx smiled a bit misty eyed himself, Crescent looked at him

"Their lucky…" he whispered his voice shaking slightly as a tear slipped down his cheek. A sudden loud crack made him to look to the middle cocoon. A tan hand emerge shortly by a tan male "Im…impossible!" Saïx gasped, Xemnas sat there panting before looking up at Saïx. He stared at the male for a moment

"Saïx?" he called. Saïx's knees quivered before he nearly flung himself at Xemnas crying and kissing his lips. Once Saïx had released his lips Xemnas hugged him "You're back…" Saïx laughed

"No…you've come to me…" he whispered

"I don't understand…" Saïx laughed a bit his voice still shaking

"Never mind…I love you." He whispered. Xemnas blinked but smiled

"I love you too…" he whispered back "I always have…"

"And always…will." Saïx finished.

The End

A huge thanks to Crazy Foxie who even though was working on their own story they did some beautiful art for this story and who put up with me when I took forever to response to messages due to college and an illness recently hitting me.