A spiraling staircase carrying those daring up the highest tower in the Castle That Never Was to the lone hallway leading to the single room located in solitary there. Only one ever dared travel up the curling stairs; the seventh member of the heartless Organization, Saix.
He paused on his way down the silent hall to look out one of the arched windows at the glimmering heart moon hovering high over their bleak world; Kingdom Hearts. One day, all their efforts will restore what once was lost.
He returned to his track down the dark hall till he reached two double doors closed to form their Nobody insignia. He knocked thrice and waited in the effervescent echoes of the knocks.
"Who dares disturb me?" A harsh voice asked from within the room.
"Saix, Superior. I bring the information you requested." Saix answered.
"Ah, finally. Enter." The doors opened on their own allowing entrance to the seventh Nobody.
The room was as dark as the very entity that kept the Nobodies alive. Only candles lined up around the walls made the interior visible. Without saying, the room was larger than any other bedroom in the Castle, nearly four times as large. But only the farthest left corner, up some stairs of a patch of raised ground, was there an actual bedroom set. The rest of the room was an office, library, even a trophy room where rare prizes were neatly displayed behind glass cases.
Behind the doors in the middle of the room rested a long oak desk on an elevated platform. The platform was necessary so that whenever some brave Nobody decided it was smart to interrupt their Superior they would always have to look up at him. Said Superior sat behind that desk then, erect and hands folded neatly on top of his paperwork.
"Superior." Saix addressed his leader, bowing his head in respect.
"Saix." Xemnas replied calmly. With others he was formal and used rank to address them, but with Saix things were different. "What do you have for me?"
"They've finally returned. They don't seem to be harmed, except for Eleven. He won't be able to use his abilities for some time." Saix started.
"I see. The botanists worked more thorough than anticipated. But aside from that, any advances?" Xemnas leaned back in his large, black, plush swivel chair.
"Before Eleven lost his abilities we discovered he can both revive dead or dying flora and also bring them to life in the sense of giving them mobile life. He currently has a Venus Fly Trap he brought to life from Deep Jungle."
"Living plants that can think for themselves. Could be useful. And Eight?"
"His control over multiple fire points has increased. His current top number is twenty four."
"A perfect way to destroy as fast as possible. And of Nine?"
"No progress."
"What?" Xemnas dropped his folded hands in favor of slapping them down in shock on his desk. "What do you mean no progress?"
"Nine stands the same. No new ability used or approved upon." Saix said. Though he kept a calm tone he didn't particularly enjoy the way Xemnas' orange eyes narrowed in a malevolent way he knew all too well meant coming rage.
"Why am I not surprised? We set up a perfect situation so the thee of them would easily walk in to that lab and gain a simple boost for this Organization but of course, the only one to fail the untold mission was that worthless water nymph." Xemnas growled and thumped his back against his chair with arms folded across his chest like an upset stubborn child.
"If he's so useless, why not just terminate him now?" Saix asked.
"Because." Xemnas turned so his chair's back was to Saix mainly so he could scowl in peace. "His control over water is something we cannot loose. Though sometimes I wish you had killed him back when you first found him cowering in that alley. I just wish the water hadn't chosen someone who only sits on his arse playing a useless instrument all day." Xemnas sighed deeply and pinched the brim of his nose hoping to stop the oncoming ache he knew the pounding in his head meant.
"Superior, are you well?"
"Oh sure, I'm fine. Migraines are very joyous moments to celebrate you imprudent mutt!" Xemnas snapped. The pounding in his head grew worse with his own shout as the rims of his vision stained with shades of black. His anger was no aide to the nauseating migraine assaulting him.
"Forgive me, Superior…" Saix said in a low, light tone. By the way he held his hands behind his back and stood with a slight hunch, head lowered and eyes to the ground, he really seemed like a dog that had just been scolded by its master; all he was missing was the tail tucked between his thighs and ears bent back in submission. The silence continued between the two Nobodies until Xemnas took a deep, slow inhale.
"Saix." Xemnas held up a hand. "Come here." He needed his medicine.
Saix slowly approached his vindictive leader and climbed the platform's stairs till he stood next to the open hand. "Superior?"
Xemnas snapped his arm out to grab the long blue locks hanging down the sides of his devoted follower's pale face. Saix growled due to his defensive instincts but he dared not act out any further as he was forced down to his knees next to Xemnas. Keeping his expressionless look forward Xemnas pulled on the hair in his grip as far up and back as Saix's neck would allow. The blue wolf remained silent, only grinding his teeth together to withstand the pain; he was used to this treatment. Finally, Xemnas released him with a sigh, this one soft, relaxed.
"I remember the fist the first time I did that to you; the grunts of pain that seeped through your fangs. It was amusing, but I do enjoy this new thrill of trying to coax that voice from you again. Don't you?" Xemnas asked as he leaned in his chair, arm propped on the arm rest and chin nuzzled on his palm.
"Mm…" Saix responded as he cracked his stiff neck. Xemnas placed the same hand that had grabbed him so harshly a top of his head.
"Our times together, Saix, are such stress relievers from the toils the rest of our barbaric Organization causes." Xemnas closed his eyes so that all his senses were directed towards the feeling of the soft blue hair slipping through his fingers as he pat his devoted pet.
Saix, too, closed his eyes so he could better relax to the familiar sensation combing through his hair.
The relationship between the two was, unique. Out in the eyes of their heartless brethren the two retained their emotionless, cold state that defines that of a true Nobody. But in closed quarters their mood took a turn, their relationship taking on a sadistic taste that easily flips to a state of relaxation, all in control of Xemnas' unpredictable whim. Saix really had no choice but to go along with it. As much as some of their times together grew uncomfortably odd, he did, however, enjoy the more calm moments; less pain that way.
Just how did they end up in such an intimate swing of things? Well, their time of nostalgia will have its own moment. The two were too far in to their own state of minds to remember such a trifle moment of their past. Though sometimes their conscious did dare to show them, remind them "This was your past. You can't run from it".
But currently their mind was at peace.
A grandfather's clock chimes of eight interrupted their peaceful silence.
"Superior, I need to go." Saix was the first to speak.
"Hm?" The silver haired leaded looked down at the blue wolf who had, at some point deep in his silent state, rested his rounded chin on the arm of the chair. "Oh, it's that time of month again, isn't it?"
"I'm afraid so." Saix sighed softly. He was relaxed, as odd as it was for him to think it, and really disliked the idea of moving. "The full moon will be at its peak in around an hour."
"What's it like, Saix to be so deeply elementally oriented?" Xemnas asked. He wasn't asking as a question, more as a rhetorical statement.
"Your element guides you as well." Saix replied.
"I control the darkness. I've never felt what you or the others have. When their own element comes against them, uses them in a heated passion only to be deposited short after once their use is complete and the element satisfied."
"It's not a pleasant experience, Superior, as I've mentioned every month. I can harbor the moon's energy but the moon can harvest mine as well during this time. That's why I must leave or else-"
"I know." Xemnas interrupted. "Your overpowered Berserker mode that takes over will destroy everything. Repetitiveness gets boring you know." Xemnas sighed. "If only Nine were this easy to overpower."
"Tch. Water isn't a controlling force; it's a force to control. That's why the moon creates the tides. If you think about it," Saix tilted his head as a thought occurred to him. "I assume that's why Nine is more frightened of me than others are." Saix shrugged. "Or he's that much of a coward."
Xemnas sat straight, a grin creeping on his sharp face. "Saix, you just gave me a brilliant idea."
"I did?" Saix wasn't sure how.
"The moon controls the tides. You are the moon, he is the manipulative shore. He's already displaying your dominance over him by his fear." Xemnas started.
"Yes... and?"
"Who's to say that you can't fully gain control over him?"
"Superior, I don't think that's possible..."
"Maybe not before, but now. When you're at your elemental strongest."
"Superior..."
"Think about it." Xemnas turned in his chair to hold Saix's face between his palms. "If you come in to contact with him right at your peak, maybe bite him or something, I don't know, some way to infect him with the power of the moon it could awaken within him an elemental bond never touched, never thought of. One you will dominate over. One I can control and actually use to find an ounce of use in him. The idea of it, it could work."
"I'm not a werewolf." Saix responded now eye to eye with wide excited eyes glimmering with excite. Xemnas' ecstasy grew in his speech in a bubbling aura that he hadn't felt his body shift till his and Saix's noses touched. "I can't just bite him and turn him into what I am." Saix continued.
"Did I say you were a werewolf?" Xemnas glared and pressed his nails to Saix's cheeks so he could pull them. "No. I said you have to unlock the elemental bond he has with you that we haven't even considered to be possible. If it requires a bite then that's just a coincidence."
"Superior... I think this idea is too farfetched..." Saix was on his back once his final words slipped past his lips. Xemnas sat on top of him keeping him pinned by the hands wound tightly around his throat.
"Are you denying me? Xemnas hissed, his orange eyes gaining a hint of black. "Are you denying me and my demands, my orders? Challenging me? Have you forgotten who is in charge of you? Or maybe," Xemnas tightened his grip and used it as a support as he slid his body down so his hips rested upon Saix's. "My pretty little pet here has forgotten why he's my pet and needs a reminder?"
"S-superior..." Saix gasped and held the arms catching his air flow. Kept his hips cemented to the tile floor. "Al-alright... I'll do it!"
Xemnas grinned darkly and released Saix. He marveled at the way Saix choked and shook for air under him. "There's the obedient pet I trained." Xemnas ran a hand through the panting wolf's hair in praise. He was starting to feel a thrill he hadn't felt in some time. Using Saix as an outlet for his desperate need to feel amusement was his favorite pass time, but maybe a new, fresh pet to experiment with would feed his need further.
"What... am I to do?" Saix asked when finally finding his breath.
"Good question." Xemnas leaned down, hands on either side of Saix's head, forehead pressed to his and long silver hair falling over to hide the wolf's face in a private curtained room for the two. "I'll send Eight and Nine on a mission tonight. You will follow them and once you feel yourself shifting take Nine and do what you must to pass on the moon's curse to him."
"But… even if it does work on him he most likely won't show any effects until the next full moon. The Hunter's Moon next month." Saix explained.
"Be that as it may. We'll wait as long as it takes till we figure out what works. We need to increase our Organization's power, and our fun."
"I... suppose so." Saix was still unsure about Xemnas' mad plan. Be he knew of the consequences of denying Xemnas a second time.
"Excellent. Oh, and return here when you're done."
"But I'll be a savage beast. I should go to the world safest and away from anything."
"Not these three days. I need to experience you as a full Berserker first hand again if we're going to be adding a new member to our little pack next month."
"I... if you're sure..."
"I'm always sure, when it comes to you." Xemnas whispered softly.
AN: Well here's one of the fics I said branched off from "Testing Nature". Not the one that really depends on it but just references it a tad. That other one will come after this one. So anyway, what do you think about my sadistic/masochist Xemnas? Back story: I had originally written this type of Xemnas for a friend who requested personalized fics from me (she gave me free will to personalize the characters as I felt) and well, I really enjoyed how that Xemnas turned out so I thought he deserved a come back. Hope I didn't weird anyone out. Oh, and if you liked the cover picture I drew for this fic feel free to say, or dis it, whichever helps me to improve my work for you. It is all about making you, the readers, happy. I hope you enjoy this new fic and what I have planned for it! Until next time!
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I do own the cover image for I drew it and signed it. (Though it got cut out when editing the image. -.-)