Mission 001 - Introduction - The World That Never Was
I had just finished sorting box number six when there was a polite tapping at the door. Rather than have Marluxia face the terrible state of my room, I quickly picked through the junk to open the door.
"Larxene," He said, head bobbing a little with his greeting.
"Hey," I replied. "'Sup?"
I loved being away from home, finally. No more complex rituals of social etiquette, no more perfect diction and elocution lessons. Even if Marluxia still talked like some private school kid, or even a prince, I could finally be as loose with my language and behaviour as I liked.
"I'm here to take you on your first mission,"
"Mission? Sounds like a murder attempt,"
White teeth flashed as Marluxia grinned.
"Attempt? You say that like we'd ever fail,"
I glared at Marluxia.
"Don't kid around,"
His smile barely faltered.
"Oh, Xemnas doesn't usually send inexperienced members on that kind of mission just yet. They don't call me the Graceful Assassin for nothing, you know," He added at my disbelieving glance.
"But it's killing!" I protested.
Marluxia slipped in and shut the door behind him.
"Larxene," He said slowly. "Let me explain. You don't have to believe all that bull about no emotions, but without a heart, morals no longer exist. You might think you feel angry or happy or any other emotion and that's fine, but you don't have the capacity for guilt any more. If nobody points it out, it won't even occur to you to feel bad about committing crimes. Soon, you'll be killing for pleasure. That's how it is for us."
I shook my head.
"That's not right. Yesterday, you told me never to change,"
"Maybe that was too much to ask," Marluxia said, his tone softer. "Anyway, you won't need to worry about that for a while because this mission's not an assassination. Just an introduction to the Organisation and how things work around here,"
He passed me two sheets of paper.
"Mission outlines. Your first two missions are here. It's simple; mission number, world, members, specifications. See here?" He pointed out each section to me as he spoke, "TWTNW - that's short for The World That Never Was, because Mansex is lazy,"
"Mansex?" I interrupted.
"Just a nickname for Xemnas. Try anagramming his name one day. And no, I didn't find that out, before you ask. It was Xigbar."
I chuckled, wondering what I'd got myself into. A previously all-male Organisation whose leader's name spelled out Mansex, and whose welcome committee (Marluxia) was clearly the gayest man in all of existence? This was going to be crazy.
"You were at members," I pointed out.
"Oh, yes. This mission is set for XI - me, and XII - you. Usually they're completed in pairs. Sometimes two groups compete against each other to keep things interesting. Got that?"
"Yeah," I said. It was simple enough.
"The time limit is at the bottom. It can range between anything from half an hour to two or three weeks. Finally, spec. Luckily, Mansex keeps these as short as possible so we get to mess around as much as we like on missions, provided that we ultimately complete the requirements."
I looked at the short notes, written in tight, neat handwriting:
01: Explain all mission conduct and Organisation rules
02: Introduce XII to all existing members
03: Complete Mission 002
"Sounds easy enough. Do I really have to suffer all the other members all over again?"
I'd already seen them fleetingly at my inauguration. They weren't nice.
"I can't be bothered. The rules are simple enough, you can learn to break them as you go. As for the members, the ones you'll see again, you'll see again. The ones you won't, you don't need to at all. Although, here's a simple run-down, I to X. Freak, paedophile, gorilla, geezer, giant, midget, psychopath, dick, moron, Brit."
"Fag," I added, for Marluxia.
"Hm. Bitch."
"I like it. Let's go."