There was silence in the Castle That Never Was. This was unusual, perhaps, but not a wholly unwelcome change compared to the chaos of the last few days.
In one of the many silent rooms within this enormous estate, Castle Occupant IX (also known as The Melodious Nocturne, but mostly know as Demyx) was solving a puzzle. It was a crazy puzzle, with a lot of different color and patterns, but there were not any definite shapes, as far as Demyx could tell, which made the puzzle even more intriguing. Although, the generous amount of pure white pieces was beginning to grate on his already thin nerves.
He picked up one of the pieces and stared at it a moment, eyes flickering sideways to look at the half-completed puzzle ever so often to compare shapes of sides, before putting the piece back down on the white coffee table and repeating the process four more times. Finally, he slid a piece into its proper place with a quiet 'click', a soft, "Score!" and a slight smile.
It was time-consuming and addicting work, this puzzle solving, but it was extremely entertaining, and there really was not anything else to do around here. The sitarist had contemplated finding one of the other members to hang with, but after the amazing results that list had, he had decided not to.
"Superior? No, what am I thinking…"
"Xigbar? Hmm…he's more than likely off with his guns, not something I want to do right now…"
"Xaldin? He'd probably spear me, we're not very close."
"Vexen? Definitely not, he'd kill me!"
"Lexeaus? Well, he's a nice guy, but we don't really 'click'…"
"Zexion? Nuh-uh, he doesn't really like me either."
"Saïx? How about 'no'?"
"Axel? Well, Axel's my friend, but he's been really busy with Roxas lately… probably wouldn't appreciate me butting in if they were up to anything…"
"Luxord? Hmm… off playing cards somewhere I bet, not something I'm fantastic at."
"Marluxia? No. End of story."
"Larxene? HA! If Vexen would kill me, she'd MURDER me!"
"Roxas? Nope, off with Axel…"
In the end, staying here with his puzzle was the best (Read: ONLY) choice, so here Demyx had stayed. Anyway, if, for whatever reason, one of them wanted his company, they could come seek him out. Plus, Demyx hadn't gotten to work on a puzzle in awhile. Superior had been sending him out on more and more missions lately, for a reason that Demyx had no urge to ask of. The places he went to weren't so bad, and he'd met some pretty nice, albeit a bit crazy, people. Besides, it was nice to get away from all of the drama popping up everywhere. Formerly forgotten tempers were flaring, fights were common, and more than half of the castle occupants weren't speaking with one another.
'So, just because they have no hearts doesn't mean that they can't act like a bunch of adolescent teenagers,' Demyx thought a bit bitterly, sliding another piece into place with slightly more force than was necessary.
He was wisely staying out of it. The memories of going through that shit when he was in school had squashed any smidgen of desire to do it again. Not that he'd had any to begin with; it was all petty and meaningless.
It's just so frustrating, being surrounded by it all the time. There had been a few situations in which he thought he was going to go crazy too, but a few bad memories and a good night's sleep had deathly chilled those urges. However, he was rather convinced that if he didn't get out of here soon he really WAS going to go crazy, and being lost in a sea amid his comrades' niggling problems was not how he wanted to spend the rest of his nobody life. So, he was leaving; probably just for a few days, until things calmed down, but he was prepared for longer. After all, he didn't have to worry about getting old, did he?
That train of thought made a hysterical round of giggling bubble in Demyx's stomach, and he knew he wouldn't be able to keep it in for long. He never had been the best at holding his laughter.
Sure enough, a few moments later, giggling began to fill the castle halls. It was a high-pitched, crazy sort of laughter, the kind you would expect to hear in an insane asylum. It progressed into chuckling, and then it turned into full-blown laughing, although, perhaps laughing wasn't quite the right word. It was actually more of a cackling, but it didn't have the nasally, cracking quality to it that everyone always associated with cackling witches.
'I'd better stop,' Demyx thought randomly, 'If I disrupted anyone's "peaceful silence" they're going to be very irritated.'
Of course, this did nothing to still the sitarist's laughter. If anything, it only made him laugh harder, until he had actually fallen off the couch he was on and was now kneeling on the hard, white, tile floor, clutching his aching stomach with one arm and trying to cover his mouth with the other, though it wasn't working.
Only when he heard the distinct sound of someone teleporting into the room did he seriously think about just how much noise he was making. Using a great deal of self-control, he was able to stop his insane laughter and only have a few stifled giggles escape every now and then rather than a whole pack.
"Demyx…?" A rather groggy voice cut through the after silence of the sitarist's laughter as easily as a knife through water, which caused Demyx to twitch wildly and spin around to pinpoint the location of the mysterious voice person.
When he did, he made the most unusual face anyone had ever really seen on him. His eyes went wide with surprise, but the blonde eyebrows went down in a mock glare, while one of his cheeks puffed out, the other pulled in as he bit down on it and his mouth twisted in a grotesque sort of motion that was a cross between a snarl and a smirk.
"Oh, snap…" he muttered through his misshapen lips, eyeing the group of people in front of him with an odd sort of stare that matched his crazy face. Standing in the doorway of the room were Axel and Roxas, and behind them were Xemnas and Saïx. On either sides of the doorway, standing like guards, were Lexeaus and Vexen, with Larxene standing to Vexen's left, and Demyx knew that if he looked up he would find the scarred face of Xigbar. Vaguely, he wondered where the rest of the organization was and his mind instantaneously, and quite happily, supplied to him that Xaldin and Luxord were off on assignments, Marluxia had been sent to Castle Oblivion for tonight, and Zexion was more than likely down in his lab, working on some project or another that was "scientific".
However, the thing that his mind immediately latched onto was the fact that everyone…was wearing pajamas.
'Slumber party anyone? I'll get the popcorn, and then we can braid each other's hair and talk about boys!' He thought wildly, which caused another barrage of mad giggles to escape him, leaving all of the others in the room to stare at him as if he had grown five heads.
"Demyx…?" Axel questioned slowly, looking vaguely frightened, with every right to be, seeing as how his friend was freaking out for no reason other than the fact that he looked at them.
"Yeeeeaaaaaaasssss, Axel?" Demyx answered back, just as slowly, sounding slightly breathless from the giggles but otherwise perfectly normal. Thankfully, his face was clearing from its obscene state and now only his wide eyes remained, which gave him the movie perfect expression of innocence.
"Why were you giggling madly and waking us all up at three in the fucking morning?"
"Is it really already three? Well, I'll be, doesn't time just fly when you're having fun?"
The only response he got to that was blank stares and menacing glares.
"Number IX, go to sleep."
"Can do, Superior!"
With that, the conversation was over, apparently. Everyone went back to their former sleeping places, most people throwing Demyx a nasty look over their shoulder as they vanished into their portals. Xigbar, at least, had the decency to throw a, "Night kid," at the Melodious Nocturne before he too, portaled away. Axel, however, was the last one to stay behind (with Roxas, of course, who looked irritated at being woken up at this time of morning) to speak with Demyx.
"Hey Dem, you sure you're all right?"
"What? Axel, Axel, Axel, of course I'm all right. Why do you ask?"
"Well, doing crazy stuff, like the giggling and all that, it just doesn't seem like you."
"Actually, now that I think about it…"
But whatever Demyx thought about would not be spoken to Axel that night, or any other night for that matter, for however patient Roxas may be, it was three in the morning, and Roxas was tired.
"Axel, we're leaving," was the only warning he got before the redhead was pulled into a portal by the sleep deprived blonde, and the last thing he registered before the hole closed was his other friend's crazy wide shit-eating grin and a sing-songed, "You kids have fun now!"
'What the hell?'
The second the portal vanished, the smile dropped from Demyx's face like butter and a sneer immediately replaced it, an odd expression on the sitarist's face.
"I am so ready to blow this joint." He muttered, sea-colored eyes scanning the room with great scrutiny, making sure there was nothing left other than the three quarter way done puzzle at his feet. Somehow, during his laughing fit, he had knocked it on the floor without making any of the pieces fall off. He really smiled then, which looked more like a gruesome torture face than a happy face. It was a little known fact that Demyx had to practice smiling, which was why he did it all the time. It wasn't because he liked it, and it definitely wasn't because he was a happy person, but rather, because of this. This ghastly look that was more teeth than lips, that would cause nightmares in little children's dreams, had there been any kids around to see it.
Demyx had spent hours in front of the mirror, making sure that when he smiled it didn't remind anyone of the expression someone would have when they were being burned to death. Sometimes, he slipped up and he would recognize the signs on the other person's face, the wide eyes, the sweaty forehead, the quivering lower jaw. He always fixed it, usually by mock growling and then laughing it off with a "true" smile, the one everyone knew, the "real" one, not this hideous replacement.
However, here, in this big white room, all by himself, Demyx could afford to slip up, and it wouldn't hurt anyone. No one was around to see it, so there was no harm. Besides, if, for whatever reason, someone did pop in and see it, Demyx would fix it like always and there would be no problems.
He grabbed the puzzle and popped it back into the box, taking great care not to bump off any of the pieces, then grabbing the loose pieces and tossing them on top. With a whooshing noise, he slid the lid over the bottom of the now occupied puzzle box and then, with one last glance around the chamber, he too portaled away, leaving the room as it began before Demyx had started his puzzle in there this morning: cold, empty, and silent.
THISISTHESTUPIDLINETHATSEPERATESTHESTUPIDAUTHORSNOTESFROMTHESTORY
Well, I'll be. That actually didn't turn out nearly as horrible as I thought it would.
Actually, to be honest, I think it's fantabulous and the last part's the best, but that may just be the Stephen King fangirl part of me speaking. xD
Anywhos, like it or lump it people. And for the record, flames shall be used to keep my snake's tank warm with. And then I shall sick my snake on you, and I shall take pictures of it and post them… ONLINE! Dun dun dunnn…
So ha. I win. x3