Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square Enix and Disney.
Pixeseth belongs to CapriciousXXIISerenader.
Naxtis belongs to Changeable Destiny.
Originally written for Organization-Rings on DeviantArt. I know that Nax and Pix are Numbers 17 and 22. It may seem out of order and random as heck, but there is a method to my madness. The backstory and more in-depth description of Organization-Rings can be found on the DeviantArt page (remove spaces and copy to your browser) - organization-rings . deviantart . com
The Creation of Pixeseth and Naxtis
Deep inside the Castle that Never Was, Saïx impatiently summoned Demyx to the Grey Area, fingers drumming on his clipboard. Following a few paces around the room, Demyx casually strolled into the spacious room and stood while the second-in-command sat down in a chair.
"You summoned me?" he asked in a stilted manner. Formality wasn't his forte, and today was no different.
"Yes. I want you to investigate two strong Nobody signals we received from Traverse Town," commanded Seven, "Leave immediately and find them before they awaken and start moving." He consulted the clipboard and handed Demyx an envelope containing more details regarding the signals.
"Okay…I'm on it," Demyx said with somewhat of a frown on his face and strolled out of the room.
The coordinates given eventually led the musician to the waterway beneath the streets of Traverse Town's Second District. In a deep cave-like hole carved out of the waterway, amid stalactites and large boulders, lay two teenage girls. Although unconscious and immobile, each girl appeared to be simply sleeping, relatively unharmed. One girl had thick layers of dark brown hair covering her face and tattered blue rags barely shielding her body. She leaned her back against the cave wall with knees drawn up to her chest. The second girl rested her head upon her companion's shoulder and her clothing was also in equally bad shape. Medium-length chestnut hair obscured her face and her body was tucked underneath her.
Demyx portaled into the damp cave while following the mysterious double signal. He cautiously took a few steps deeper into the rock cavern when he noticed the two sleeping girls huddled side by side. Unsure of what to expect, Demyx quietly inched closer to the teenagers until his foot kicked a small rock across the floor. The noise echoed in the small chamber and caused both girls to snap their heads up in alarm. Murky hazel and dark brown eyes focused on the Nobody clad in a long black coat. "Who the hell are you?" demanded the short, brown-eyed girl as both girls quickly rose to their feet. Demyx brought his gloved hands up to his hood and slowly lowered it to his shoulders.
"Hey, hey! Don't freak out!" Demyx cautioned with a nervous laugh. "I'm Demyx, Number Nine of Organization XIII. Happy? What about you guys?" inquired Demyx. He noticed the suspicious look that passed between the two, and then the hazel-eyed, taller girl took one cautious step forward, even as her companion attempted to pull her back, and looked Demyx squarely in the eye.
"Well, I'm Stephanie...and this is my friend, Christina. We were born in a village off the coast and…wait, where are we?" Stephanie tilted her head questioningly at Christina, who was grumbling to herself and cleaning her eyeglasses.
"What are you doing? Don't give him our life story! How do you know if he's the one who threw us here?" The smaller hissed to her friend before glaring back at Demyx and giving him a quick once-over. Tilting her head, she asked carefully, "What do you want?" Her brown eyes glinted with restrained hostility.
Demyx's hurriedly waved his hands in front of him as if to ward the two off. "Yeesh, calm down! I'm not here to hurt you. And I don't even know how you got here!" Demyx's face twisted into a pout.
Christina's eyes squinted even smaller as she whispered to her friend, "Great. A clueless kidnapper. Even better." Stephanie chuckled quietly at her friend's strange sense of humor.
"You know, I heard that! I'm not a kidnapper and I am not clueless! It's up to you whether you want to get out of here or not." Demyx crossed his arms and leaned against the side of the cave wall with a triumphant smirk.
"You know how to get out of here? Can you please tell us?" Stephanie excitedly implored. She added soon after, "I'll make sure my friend behaves from now on, don't worry." Stephanie shot an amused grin at her friend as Christina murderously glowered back.
"Well actually, I'm here to make a deal….a once-in-a-lifetime deal!" Demyx threw his hands above his head in a dramatic gesture.
Christina shook her head skeptically before muttering, "Yeah right, drama queen." Stephanie frowned like a disappointed teacher and punched her friend in the arm, which elicited an annoyed yelp from the shorter girl. She turned back to Demyx, smiling, before saying, "Go on."
"Thank you," Demyx said in mock appreciation. "Now, I'll get you two out of this lovely home you've got here if you agree to join this little club I'm in called Organization XIII. You'd get to wear this amazing uniform I have on, too, even if it is a bit hot in the sunnier worlds…" Demyx trailed off in thought.
"No," Christina spat back. "We don't need your black bathrobes, so leave us be." Demyx lifted an eyebrow at her comment as Christina dodged another of Stephanie's attempts to quiet her.
"Well, I actually told a little white lie...you don't have a choice," Demyx answered, his friendly mask disappearing. "You can come with me or I'll force you. Sorry." Demyx summoned a ring of water clones in front of him and called out, "You don't want to get hurt!"
Christina's eyes flared before she growled, "See? I knew we couldn't trust him!" Both teenagers crouched down in order to defend themselves. "We're not moving." Her pulse was racing with fear as she quickly surveyed the area in search of a makeshift weapon.
"Okay, I guess you don't want to go the easy way," Demyx assumed with a shrug. "Dance water, dance!" With a few strums on Demyx's sitar, a line of water clones appeared in front of him and floated menacingly across the stony cave floor to the two crouched figures. Christina and Stephanie showed no sign of retreat even as the clones inched within a foot of their location. As the first water clone reached out a wet hand, Stephanie kicked out her foot hoping to push the clone back. However, her foot passed through the imposing creature, causing her to lose balance and sending her to the floor in a heap.
"Are you all right?" Christina cried. Another clone reached the shorter girl just as she turned to check on her confused friend. Another clone approached, and she released her fist into the enemy's face. Her eyebrows creased and a baffled look crossed her face-her fist had traveled directly through the creature's wet form, almost like jelly. Meanwhile, Demyx still leaned against the cave wall, occasionally plucking a string of his sitar and regarded the battle scene with a puzzled expression. As each water clone reached out to grab the two fighters, their bodies diffused through the girls almost like they were not there.
Seriously, why aren't my water clones able to do anything? Xemnas is gonna be pissed if I don't get back soon! Demyx worriedly thought to himself. Whatever. Maybe the Dusks will work, he concluded, and he summoned a small group of Dusks to join the fight. Stepping in front of the extremely perplexed girls, the dusks quickly rendered them unconscious with little struggle. "Yes! Now to get back to headquarters…" Demyx happily said with a little jig as his sitar disappeared. The two Dusks grabbed onto the two lightweight rebels and carried them into a black portal, Demyx shortly following after.
Falling out of the portal and into the basement laboratories in the Castle that Never Was, the two Dusks heaved the unconscious girls onto cots, Demyx closely behind. Demyx planned to guard the two girls until another Nobody arrived, preferably Vexen. Anytime now… Demyx thought impatiently and huffed in annoyance.
Thirty minutes later Vexen pushed open the doors to his lab with his eyes glued to his clipboard full of notes. "Hello, Number Nine," Vexen greeted stiffly as his eyes rose to meet Demyx's.
"Vexy, you were supposed to be here forever ago!" whined Demyx. "I've been watching these two since I got back."
Vexen pushed his glasses slightly up the bridge of his nose and answered coolly, "I was busy. Furthermore, I have politely asked you numerous times to refrain from calling me that degrading nickname." He walked further into his lab and looked down at the two unconscious teenagers sprawled out on a pair of cots. "Are these the two that created the double signal?" Vexen inquired.
"Yeah," Demyx nodded. "One of them seems pretty nice but the other was kinda…" He shivered at the thought of the smaller girl. "Nevermind," Demyx said and shook his head rapidly.
"Did you notice anything strange about them? Possibly pertaining to any elements?" Vexen questioned. He circled around them in curiosity.
Demyx brought his finger up to his chin in thought. Suddenly, he yelled excitedly, "Oh yeah! Well, when I summoned my water clones to knock these two out, something really weird happened. My clones couldn't even touch them! I had to use a few Dusks to knock them out, instead. And you know my water clones never fail!" Demyx crossed his arms, adopted his second pout of the day and huffed with injured pride.
Ignoring his fellow member's last statement, Vexen hummed quietly to himself while contemplating Demyx's story. So they have an affinity for water. Perhaps their elements…Vexen pondered and immersed himself in thought.
"Vexen, they're waking up!" Demyx interrupted Vexen. Demyx walked over to the cots and got down on one knee to observe the two girls. "Hello!" he yelled loud enough for both pairs of eyes to shoot open. With the girls regaining their bearings, Demyx took the opportunity to say,
"Told ya you didn't have a choice! Right, Vexy?" He chuckled slightly. An annoyed Vexen pushed Demyx back and regarded the two stirring girls.
"Number Nine, do me a favor and spare us all your extraneous commentary. And for the last time, it's Vexen," the older blond snapped. He turned his attention back to the clipboard.
Demyx looked quizzically at the scientist before taking a seat a few feet from the cots in boredom.
Ah, they seem to be in overall health. Pale complexions, slightly underweight, dizziness…hmm...they both have dark eyes; that's a rarity, Vexen thought as he jotted more notes down on his clipboard about the two girls' appearances-one did appear slim and slightly taller, and the shorter of the two looked a bit stockier, with a slightly heavier build.
Knowing that she and her friend had no means of escape at the moment, Christina took the chance to warily eye Demyx and the older one called Vexen. Crap, he's tall...she thought, estimating the blond to be at least an entire foot taller than herself.
"I don't think you're being very fair," Stephanie said with a frown. "You haven't even told us about Organization XIII except for the uniform!" Her pout rivaled that of Demyx.
Vexen sharply stated, "I will tell you why you're here, seeing as Demyx needs to work on his advertising skills. However, we can't present you to the Superior looking like that." With that he called open a portal and produced two bundles of black clothing tied off with cord.
Christina crossed her arms and tried her best to not look intimidated by the ghostly-looking man. "How are we supposed to know if you're lying to us or not?" she inquired.
A blond eyebrow quirked upward in question, Vexen's gaze directed down toward the rather diminutive female, who couldn't help but swallow thickly in fear; the man's eyes were larger than normal, like her own, but his were of a rather startling green hue rather than the dark chocolate brown set she possessed. "Considering the complexity of the matter, I happen to be the most knowledgeable on the subject, and secondly-" At that moment a beeping sound issued from his watch. After looking at it briefly, he turned to the Nocturne. "I'm needed upstairs for a moment; stay down here and make certain they don't try anything. They should be dressed by the time I return." He then summoned another portal and was gone.
"Uhh..." Demyx shrugged, pointing vaguely at the bundles in the girls' arms while trying to entertain himself by watching the bubbling solutions on a nearby shelf. "So yeah, put those on and whatever." An uncomfortable glance passed between the girls before they hastily changed into the black tank top, pants, boots, and cloak they had been given.
"Hey Chrissy, how do these fit if we were never measured?" Stephanie observed as they just finished tugging on their gloves.
"See? That's what's so cool about them!" Demyx piped up. "They change to fit the wearer, so it's all good. No measurements needed." He grinned triumphantly and continued staring around the spacious, dark, chilly laboratory. However, the girls hadn't listened to a word of it and were already dashing halfway across the room toward the door. "Huh? Hey! Get back here!" he yelped, followed by a small whine of indignation. "Dance water, dance!" And the water clones promptly reappeared directly in front of the girls. Stephanie managed to run straight through the clone and proceed on her way, but a surprised yell made her turn around to find Christina held captive by them.
"I can't get them loose anymore!" the short brunette shouted, trying to wrest herself free.
"What?" exclaimed the other, "But what about what happened before?"
"I don't know!" Christina interrupted. "They're being stupid with me. Do something!"
"What am I supposed to do?" Stephanie interjected in a panic as she ran back to her friend. She tried punching the water clones off, but to no avail.
"Wait, Steph," the other said, "The water...it's sticking to you..." Indeed, the liquid was actually responding to Stephanie's movements.
"It's what? Wait..." Thinking quickly, she reached for the seemingly liquid form's head and ripped off a chunk of it, the piece forming a perfect sphere in her palm. However, she had no time to voice her surprise because a wall of water knocked into her headlong.
"This is gonna be interesting," Demyx laughed, preparing another wall of water. "Looks like you like water, too." With that he sent the liquid crashing down upon her, knocking her down to the concrete floor while she was in the process of getting up. "I'm still gonna beat you, though!" he sang like a child challenging someone.
"Stop it..." Christina growled from behind the Nocturne. She felt a crackling sensation in her palms, strengthening with her increasing rage.
Meanwhile, Stephanie continued throwing armfuls of water at the sitarist, who out of spite let them hit his body harmlessly. "Ow!" Demyx yelped in pain as something hard connected with the back of his head. He turned around and rubbed the hurting area. "I know water hurts, but it doesn't hurt that much—"
He was cut off by a swift kick to the shins by the female water-wielder. "But that does!" shouted Stephanie. She ran over to her friend and prepared herself while Demyx staggered to his feet. "Chrissy, where are the water clones?"
"On the floor." The other girl stepped forward, her boots crunching in the icy debris. "I think I froze them somehow."
However, Demyx had portaled away for reasons apparently unknown. Seizing the opportunity, the two girls ran through the laboratory door and ran up the basement stairs.
Meanwhile, Demyx reappeared in a nearby hallway and hurriedly spoke into his own watch, tapping the small number four on the device's face. "Vexen, get down here! They found their elements already, and the mean one's freezing stuff!"
Stephanie and Christina had just managed to reach the top of the long staircase and could see the gray hallway that lie beyond the door when the doorway froze over completely with a thick sheet of ice.
"What are you doing? That's the way out!" Stephanie whispered to the darker-haired girl.
"I know that!" Christina snapped, a look of confusion on her face. "That wasn't me!"
"Correct." A familiar voice cut through the air as a much taller third figure lowered his arm and stepped into the area wearing a horribly toothy grin. "But you've gone far enough while unsupervised, ladies."
Trapped between Vexen and the wall of ice, the two girls instinctively took a step back for every step forward that the blond scientist took. As a last resort, Christina stepped in front of her friend and sent several small needles of ice at the strange man.
"How precious," Vexen chuckled disdainfully. Without even lifting a finger he stopped the needles in midair and shattered them, the shards clattering to the stone floor. "It must not have occurred to you that I clearly have the advanta—" Before he saw it coming, Stephanie barreled into him and nearly knocked the wind from his slender body.
"Oh come on! We outnumber you two to one!" she taunted, relentlessly throwing spheres of water. But her attack was only to be frozen by the ice mage. Green eyes glaring with unbridled malice, Vexen raised his arm and sharply snapped his fingers to freeze the young upstarts to the floor. They tried to run, but the ice was too strong, and Christina's ice magic was simply too weak to overcome Vexen's.
"I've had enough of your belligerence," hissed the blond as Demyx reappeared behind him. "We're taking you to the Superior whether you go calmly or not."
The two girls then found themselves being roughly escorted by the two men through the drab, gray halls of the castle, realizing with grim defeat that any hope of escape had now flickered and died out. Meanwhile, Xemnas and the remaining ten members waited for them in Where Nothing Gathers.
"These are the two water-users?" a deep voice boomed from the highest throne.
"That's what my assignment said," replied Demyx, who was holding Stephanie, "But the little one that Vexen's got apparently uses ice…" He rubbed the back of his head and winced when he found the sore spot. "She threw a little piece and gave me a nice bump on the head."
"…Send them forward," the voice demanded again, its owner removing the hood that obscured his face to reveal silver hair against bronzed skin and orange, seemingly omniscient eyes. The captives were pushed onward, and they walked until they stood in the center of the room.
"You seek answers," Xemnas echoed as he waved his arm. As he did so, the girls' names appeared in front of them as floating, translucent letters. A chopping motion with his hand, and some letters shattered in midair, leaving Stephanie as Stephie and Christina as just Stina.
"I can give you purpose." Xemnas then flicked his wrist to set the remaining letters in motion around their respective owners at dizzying speed. Confusion was written on both females' faces, and they flinched slightly when Xemnas willed the letters to stop. An "x" had been added to their names; the letters that had made up the names of their former selves had been rent asunder and jumbled beyond recognition.
The dark-skinned man looked at each girl in turn. "Naxtis, Pixeseth—you two have been chosen to don the coat and join us in our pursuit of becoming whole once more." He continued, making large and grandiose arm movements as he spoke. "You shall be Numbers Seventeen and Twenty-two. As your newfound elemental affinities dictate, you will be henceforth under the tutelage of the two men that stand behind you, Numbers Four and Nine, respectively." The two blond males looked down at their newly-declared protégées as they turned to face their newly-declared teachers.
Vexen was glad that he didn't have to cope with the hyper one.
Demyx breathed an inward sigh of relief knowing that he didn't get the grumpy girl.
A pleased grin snaked its way across the Superior's face. "Welcome to Organization XIII."