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Zexion breathed slowly as the rain fell over The World That Never Was. The hood from his long black coat protected his steel blue hair from the wetness, drops of water slipping off of the smooth black leather as he walked. His boots were silent against the concrete with each step along the wet roads. He was returning to the castle as he had hundreds of times before when he noticed a strange glowing down an alley. He knew things like this hardly ended well, but confident in his ability to defend himself The Schemer decided to take a look.
Wandering cautiously down the alley, Zexion turned the corner to find himself surrounded by buildings on three sides. In the shadows of the buildings he could make out the shape of a young girl lying seemingly lifeless in a pile of her own limbs. Her skin was pale and coated in black smudges. Her hair was a mildly subdued cyan colour just past the tops of her shoulders. Compared to the rest of the alley, the girl seemed to glow. Not in a literal sense but in a way that she could easily be made out, if for no other reason than the fact she reflected the light of the massive golden heart in the sky so easily.
Zexion stepped closer and knelt down beside her. Upon closer inspection she appeared to be breathing, which eased Zexion's initial thoughts of what had become of this strange girl. She wore attire Zexion found to be quite odd for both her placement and the current weather. A black cropped shirt with half-length and semi-torn netted sleeves, and black tighter fitting pants which were torn in various places. Inside several of the tears were fresh wounds which still seemed to be bleeding, though because of the rain Zexion could not be sure how bad they really were. On either side of her waist were small pouches from which Zexion could see the handles of two knives on the girl's right and one on her left sticking out of the tops. Around her ankle was another pouch with one slimmer blade, and as his eyes drifted up Zexion noticed a fourth blade on the ground beside her, coated in what appeared to be fresh blood. Wherever she had come from, she definitely put up a fight.
Zexion pulled her wrist up and pressed his thumb along it gently, also taking the time to observe the variously aged scars that littered her body. He pawed around her wrist a second longer before gently laying it down and beginning to pat around her neck.
"No pulse," the Nobody mumbled. He looked at the knife beside her hand and sighed. He picked up the blade, placing it in his own pocket before scooping the girl up into his arms. "Come on," he said, "Let's get you out of the rain."
Zexion opened a corridor of darkness, recognizing that while less enjoyable this would be faster and safer than his usual walk through the empty streets back to the castle. Before stepping into the passage Zexion looked at the girl resting so peacefully in his arms with a deep curiosity.
Finding new Nobodies was not something he could say he particularly enjoyed. He always wondered what had happened to them? Had they been the victim of some science project gone wrong? Or did the experience such a deep trauma they fell into darkness? Were they murdered? Or could they be the result of the rising suicide epidemic? Questions he had that too often went unanswered be it because of amnesia or due to a simple unwillingness to talk about their past. He was happy they didn't get asked often. Whatever brought them here, Zexion pitied them nonetheless. Being a Nobody was not a pleasing lifestyle by any means.
"Vexen," Zexion said softly as he appeared in the laboratory
The older blond man jumped slightly, "Oh," he turned towards the younger Nobody, "Zexion, good afternoon, is there something I can-" it was then that he turned all the way around and rose his eyes from his work to the Nobody.
"I found her in the alley towards the edge of the city," Zexion said, "She looks pretty beat up. Still breathing, but she doesn't have a pulse that I could find."
"Are you thinking we've found yet another for our ranks?" Vexen asked, stepping up to examine the body Zexion held.
"I'm afraid so. If she makes it, that is." He answered.
"Well, go ahead and set her on the table in the examination room," Vexen said, grabbing a pair of gloves.
Zexion carried the girl into a small white room that appeared very similar to that of a doctor's office. Gently he placed her on the table. Vexen entered the room and went to work attaching various monitors to the girl.
"Do you need any assistance?" Zexion asked.
"I don't think I do for now," Vexen answered, taking a look for a pulse himself before writing something down on a clipboard, "But I appreciate the offer and I'll let you know if I do."
Zexion nodded and sat in one of the chairs in the room, watching with calm yet curious eyes as Vexen went to work on the girl. After failing to find a pulse the man went to work examining her wounds, but quickly realizing her pants were in the way.
"Zexion?" Vexen asked.
"Hm?" The boy shot his gaze from Vexen's hands to his face, "What is it?"
"I'm going to need to undress her. Her wounds are too extensive for me to treat through the holes in her pants and I need to be sure if there are any more than just what we can see. For the sake of her privacy can I ask you to exit the room for a moment?" The blonde asked politely.
"Oh, of course." Zexion stood and exited the room, standing between the door and the window that peaked inside. He could hear the sound of Vexen placing various articles of clothing on the counter.
"Shit," Zexion heard from inside the room.
"Vexen? Is something wrong?" Zexion asked loudly.
"I forgot to grab a gown for her. Can you please get one and pass it inside the door?" Vexen asked frustratingly.
Zexion went towards the cabinet where Vexen kept most of the linens and pulled out a thin white gown. He walked back towards the exam room and with his eyes pointed at the floor, he reached inside to hand Vexen the article.
"Thank you," Vexen smiled and unfolded the gown, redressing the girl and inviting Zexion to re-enter the room. The scientist went to work cleaning and bandaging the several scrapes and chunks taken out of the girl's legs. After wrapping both of her shins in ace wrapping, Vexen went to work attaching an IV drip and taking a blood sample. She never moved during any of it.
"I don't know when she'll wake up," Vexen said, turning to Zexion, "But I have good reason to believe she will awaken at some point."
Zexion nodded, "So she'll live?"
"Most likely," Vexen responded, "I'm going to use the blood I took to see if we can find any record of her anywhere."
"Alright." Zexion said, "Is there anything I can help with in the meantime?"
"Not exactly, though I'm sure she would appreciate a fresh change of clothes when she comes to," Vexen smiled, "I can help you get her measurements if you want to go upstairs and find her a coat and clothes."
"Oh, sure. That won't be too difficult right?" Zexion asked.
"Not at all," Vexen said, grabbing a measuring tape, "Just go ahead and sit her up and hold her there for me so I can get a bust and waist measurement."
Zexion blushed slightly and nodded. "Okay," he said, leaning the teal haired girl forward. He held her by the shoulders while Vexen wrapped the tape measure around her chest and natural waistline. After he wrote down some numbers on a piece of paper.
"Go ahead and set her down for a moment." Vexen said, looking with a thinking expression.
Zexion did as instructed. "What's up?" He asked.
"I'm trying to find a good way to measure her hips," Vexen said. The blush creeped back across Zexion's face for a brief moment. "I'm thinking I just measure across the front and multiply it by two, then add a couple inches. What do you think?"
"We could re-measure me with that technique and see how it works," Zexion shrugged, "It couldn't hurt."
Vexen nodded and took the measuring tape around Zexion's hips, writing down the base number before doing the half measurements.
"It looks like that'll work," Vexen said before returning to his patient and beginning to wrap the tape across both of her hips. The older blonde wrote down the final number before walking out of the room. He returned only a moment later with a binder which he flipped through to a page with a picture of the standard issue black Organization coat. He jotted something down then flipped through to find the other necessary garments while Zexion watched the still girl with soft eyes. Vexen picked up the girl's boot to check the size before picking the paper up and handing it to Zexion.
"Get her a small coat and shirt and medium pants with a size 5 boot," Vexen smiled.
Zexion nodded, taking the paper and walking off.
A short time later Zexion found his way back down to the laboratory with the items Vexen requested. The older Nobody stopped him a few feet into the room.
"She's begun stirring," Vexen said, "Which means we need to proceed with caution."
Zexion nodded in understanding.
"I still haven't found any real useful information on her, so I still have no idea who she is or how she got here. That also means I don't know how she will respond upon waking. Please be careful, alright, Zexion?" Vexen asked.
"Of course." Zexion answered.
Vexen walked back into his office allowing Zexion to carry on to the examination room where he found the girl rolling her head back and forth and making groaning sounds. The young Nobody set the clothing down on the counter in the room and stood beside the girl's bed, watching her face closely.