Masquerade: Suspicion's Arise

"'Young Girl Found Dead'. On November 15, 2016 a body had been found in the woods near Radiant Avenue and River Street; a common place for a group of teens to meet. The cause of death was ruled as head trauma and not the gunshot wound on her side according to investigators. Few pieces of evidence were left behind such as a handgun, footprints, and strange markings in the dirt. Footprints were taken into a forensic lab and were determined to match the treading of the famous shoe brand, Converse. Police are still on the search for the potential murderer."

"Damn." Breathed Axel, as his friend lowered the newspaper after reading the short article. He combed his hand through his spiky hair. "Why would anyone want to hurt Xion?" Zexion folded up the newspaper and slapped it against the table without a reply.

The sound of heels hitting the hardwood floor were sharp and slow. A smooth hand found Axel's back with a seductive giggle.

"Oh, come on. Lighten up!" It was Larxene with a shot of some alcoholic drink in her hand. "This is supposed to be a fun party! Let's not talk about that." She glared at Zexion, as if they were communicating on eye contact alone. He raised an eyebrow at her and she lowered her head to Axel's and started mumbling and giggling. She probably had a few too many already.

Demyx walked in; blue electric guitar in hand, ready to put on an epic show. "What are you guys all doing in the kitchen? The party's out here!" He pointed behind him towards the living room of his home.

Larxene gave a snotty glare, wrinkling up her nose in disgust. "Fuck off, Demyx." She started pecking Axel's cheek with her lips. Her boyfriend didn't seem too comfortable with the idea and tried shrugging her off. She took an offensive step back and sighed heavily. They had been going out on and off for months now, never being able to keep a steady relationship. She was an overdramatic, psycho-bitch anyway.

Demyx stared down at the wooden floorboards, tracing the patterns with his eyes. He was sensitive and just about everything affected him, especially harsh words from Larxene. His sadness went ignored as he sulked back into the living room with significantly less energy than when he had entered.

"You know, Larxene." Axel began, cracking his knuckles. He had been sitting there for a while. She crossed her arms. "Why do you always have to be so, I don't know…" Zexion quickly glanced up, looking back and forth from Axel to Larxene. He saw her eyes narrow and a snarl forming. He knew shit was about to go down. "Bitchy?" She slammed her heeled boot onto the floor.

"Excuse me?" She questioned before giving off a fake laugh in preparation in one-upping him. "At least I have a job, work my ass off, and not sit and play fucking video games every day." Zexion rolled his eyes and took out his phone from his pants pocket. These arguments could be entertaining so he thought he might stay a while.

Axel shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Here we go, but that doesn't explain why you have to be such a bitch all the time. At least I find time to relax and chill." He relaxed his arms behind his head after taking a sip from a nearby can of soda. She growled loudly. "You know, maybe you're the actual murderer." Zexion's eyes widened and time seemed to stop. This was it. This was where shit was about to reach the depths of hell and return to Satan's ass upon the throne: the throne where she herself would one day sit. The ticking of the clock became audible as Larxene's face coiled into something demon worthy.

"You know fucking what, bitch? I am fucking sick and tired of your lazy motherfucking ass! And you know, I'm not the murderer now but you know what? I will be the murdered if you don't fucking shut your goddamn mouth! If you fucking accuse me one more time about that stupid murder I will chainsaw your fucking balls off!" Zexion snickered as Roxas and Demyx stepped in, concerned something had gone terribly wrong. When they found it was Larxene just bitching again, they took a quiet step back in hopes of not being noticed. "I will fucking kick your ass to the grave! Don't you dare fucking mess with me!" She grabbed his soda can and crushed it on his head before stepping out onto the porch through the screen door. Axel sat there, pretty neutral to the whole thing.

Demyx's eyes were wide. "Wow." It was dead silent, but everyone's ears were still experiencing the pain from Larxene's piercing screams. Zexion nonchalantly slid the pile of napkins towards Axel's reach. He stood up, wiped his face with a handful of napkins and headed towards the bathroom.

"Hey, I got a crazy idea. What if Larxene's the-" Roxas quickly slapped his hand across Demyx's mouth before he could speak any further, in fear that Larxene would hear and beat him to a pulp. The flicking of a lighter was heard and the scent of tobacco filled the air shortly after. She was lighting one up on the porch.

It was awkwardly quiet until Axel returned from the bathroom. Demyx rushed upstairs to get him a new change of clothes; they fit surprisingly well since Demyx was a little bit bigger in than waist than he was. He returned to his seat and everyone but Larxene was around the table in silence.

The screen door slid open on its track and gently shut as she stepped back in, sighing.

"Look," she said, staring down at the floor. "I know this murder case is important to each of us, but accusing each other of killing our own friend is pretty low. " Demyx looked around the room, confused, he eventually found a fly roaming around his kitchen and kept his attention on that. "And no, this isn't a stupid, lame apology either. You'll each get treated like shit if you start accusing me of that. Now, can we move on and party?"

"Not to accuse anyone, but what if the killer is one of us?" Axel questioned quietly, taking a sip from a new soda can he had gotten. Everyone glanced at each other except Demyx. He was too interested in watching the fly.

"Get your head out of your ass, Axel. Nobody here would do that." Larxene snapped. "There's millions of killers in the world, just one of them happened to pass by this shitty town and hunt down Xion. Now, can we party now, or what?"

Roxas crossed his arms and stared down at the table. "But what did Xion do to anybody? The worst she could've done is probably step on an insect, but she rarely did that." Larxene groaned.

Axel nodded and cupped his chin. "Out of all the people in this town, out of all the criminals, dropouts, and druggies, they just had to pick Xion...Why?"

Zexion cleared his throat. "Perhaps she kept something hidden from us. Maybe she wasn't all what she seemed to be."

The fly zoomed into the living room where it was out of sight for Demyx, which left him confused as to what they were discussing. "Hey," he said, "what if one of us killed Xion?" Larxene face-palmed and Zexion sighed.

"We all know it wasn't Demyx." Larxene mumbled. That night, everyone seemed eerily quiet and seemed more attentive than usual. Nobody made many jokes and nobody seemed to laugh whole-heartedly. The party ended shortly and they went their separate ways.

Of course the criminal couldn't be one of them, right?

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or its characters.