A/N: So I wrote this fic for the 4th of July because I was bored. I guess that's all for now. Enjoy :3

Showers of Sparks, Pt. I

The Grey Area didn't look very grey that evening after everyone finished their missions. Roxas, Axel, and Xion had just entered the room to discover that their coworkers had discovered packages of fireworks and started to set them off—inside the building.

"What is going on…?" Axel said as the dark corridor closed behind them.

"What are those?" Xion asked. "They look so—"

"Out of the way!" Axel pushed Roxas and Xion behind him as a firecracker flew past the spot where Xion had just stood. "Demyx, what the hell are you doing? You could have hit one of them!"

He grinned. "Axel, you forget," he said. "I don't have a heart. I don't care." He lit another one and flicked it in Larxene's direction.

"Roxas, Xion, I'm taking you guys outta here," Axel said to the two Nobodies standing behind him. He turned around and strode straight back through the dark corridor through which they had come.

Xemnas and Saïx stood side by side at the front of the room, watching the action. Saïx had begun to shout at Demyx and a few of the other members to stop, but he hadn't succeeded so far. In the middle of his tirade, Xigbar lit something that looked suspiciously like an M-80, and the whole room resounded with the resulting explosion.

Saïx stopped mid-shout and shot him down with a stare that could have killed an entire garden. In response, Xigbar and a few of the others with him burst out laughing. Xemnas, of course, took this opportunity to leave the room.

"Damn you all," Saïx muttered under his breath, but Demyx threw a firecracker at him, and he had to jump out of the way and continue shouting.

Vexen strode into the Grey Area moments later, stopping when he saw the chaos that had taken over the room. His face contorted into a scowl and he remarked, "Explosives indoors? This is highly illogical. Where is Xemnas in all of this?"

To his right, he spotted Xigbar, Xaldin and Lexaeus huddled around something. To his left, he could see Saïx staring him down, practically daring him to join in the madness. Vexen looked between the two of them for a moment, but curiosity—and experiments, he told himself—got the better of him, and he turned to his right. "What have we here?" he said.

In one corner of the room, Larxene stood with her fists clenched. "The next time I get my hands on some explosives," she whispered under her breath, her eyes locked on Demyx, "he is going to get burned—"

She broke off and shrieked as she felt something hot flicker at the sleeve of her cloak. A flame licked the seam right next to her hand, and she waved her arm around, trying to put it out. She had decided that at the risk of embarrassing herself in front of her comrades, she would resort to stop, drop, and roll, but instead someone caught her hand and blew out the fire.

"Larxene, don't throw such a fit," Marluxia teased. He stood behind her and flicked a lighter in his hand. "It's just me."

"Why you little—!" she screeched and took a swing at him. Once again, he caught her arm, this time holding it close to his chest. Larxene ceased her flailing for a moment and looked him in the eye. "What…?" she began.

But he flicked the lighter on a little too close to her sleeve again and she hit him in the chest, shoving him backward. He started to laugh—until she swiped the lighter from his hand.

In a room down the hall, Xemnas stood alone, staring out the window.

"Kingdom Hearts," he muttered under his breath. "When will it end?"