August 19th, 2008
It was supposed to be another normal day of missions and objectives. Then again I use the term normal very loosely. When you live in the Castle that Never Was normality is on short supply. I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before thanks to Kingdom Hearts which was apparently a lot more active then it had been the last couple of days. Not that it's a bad thing. After all, the stronger it gets the closer our time comes. And then….not even the Keyblade masters will be able to stop it. It will be……divine…..pfth…..
I was woken fairly early by Zexion knocking on my door. Apparently it'd been his turn to make breakfast. I guess he figured he was doing everyone a favor by announcing it. Most of the times if your not up when it's ready you simply don't eat. Or rather you get what's left afterwards, which isn't much let me assure you. Zexion always did his best to be respectful of the other members. Of course he demanded it back from them in return. Unfortunately it was rarely given which usually caused many problems. Oddly enough sometimes what he considered respectful, such as waking us up for breakfast, was more often then not taken the wrong way. I wasn't the only one less then enthusiastic about being woken up at the crack of dawn. Answering the door I could hear Vexen half way down the hall still screaming after the younger nobody about the principles of sleep.
"Breakfast is up Saix." Nodding slightly I was still half asleep at the time and simply waved him off without responding. Apparently he had excepted my response as decent and slowly made his way off to Axels room to notify him.
Closing my door I went back to sleep for a good hour. No one bothered to come looking for me. Which was probably the wisest choice at this point. When I finally did muster the energy to get out of bed I dropped by the kitchen for some left over's which were in relatively short supply, before pulling up a portal where Nothing Gathers to await the days orders.
Demyx, Xigbar, Luxord and Vexen were all at their seats as I arrived. Noticing me Vexen looked up and rolled his eyes. The two of us never saw eye to eye….I suppose it's because of my superior position to him, and the fact that he tends to think superiority should be given in order of number rather then strength and talent. "Something to say Vexen?" I asked, as he flipped me off and vanished. "Dude….what crawled up under his hood?" Xigbar muttered. "Why don't you go ask him…your good at that." I replied. It was true after all Xigbar enjoyed eves dropping. He did it quite a lot. "You mean like follow him? Whoa…man, have you ever even seen that guys lab?" "He's right mate, you'd have to be a pretty dim bulb to go down there without the proper set of protection….if you catch my drift." Luxord replied. "Huh? I don't see what's so bad about it? I've been down there." Demyx interjected "Point taken." I replied looking down at him who seemed a little confused as to what we were talking about.
It wasn't long after that, that the superior appeared to assign us all our daily duties. Giving the others their orders, each of them departed until I was left alone with him. "Saix…I've been meaning to talk to you." Xemnas replied. "I need some consultancy on Kingdom Hearts. And I figure you'd probably be the best of my men to give it to me."
Shrugging slightly I wasn't sure I could provide him with much more information then he already knew, but I wasn't going to turn down the offer to help. "What kind of consultancy?" I asked him, although he shook his head. "Not now, I need you to go to Destiny Islands and record data for me. I'll join you. We can talk it over there."
It wasn't often Xemnas left the castle but lately it had been more often then not. Occasionally we would engage in conversation during one of my own missions. He would sometimes come with me, most of the time to chew my ear off about Kingdom Hearts and his big master plan. I suppose he did it because no one else would listen.
To be perfectly honest…I don't mind all that much. Gave me something to do, and besides having the superior confined in you is almost like having superiority yourself. There were definitely benefits. Following him as he summoned up his own portal to the Islands we arrived a few miles off target. Apparently on purpose as Xemnas wanted to pass the time.
"You wanted data Xemnas?" I asked, although he didn't bother answering me on it, going into a large lecture about the nature of the islands and their key blade warriors. "Come, Saix, walk with me, I want to tell you something." he replied beckoning me over as we began to walk down the streets of the island towards the water. Walking along for quiet some time, I listened silently as the superior went on and on about the island, before moving on to it's keyhole which was apparently where he was going to take me. "I want you to see the door to this world. I think it will serve you well. Perhaps it will help you to better understand my goals." He replied.
His words confused me a bit. "Xemnas, I know what we se…." "No….Saix, you do not yet see the bigger picture." "Bigger picture?" Nodding Xemnas pointed off towards a small bush covered island in the distance. "There." Pulling up a portal we stepped through to the smaller island. Fortunately it was unoccupied at the moment. Giving us both free range. Walking across the beach Xemnas stood there for a moment. "Look, do you see that sunset?" He asked.
Nodding I found his question a bit profound. "It is the very essence of twilight. The world in-between. The fading sunlight…the decent into darkness." "The rising of the moon. The light within the darkness." I finished. "Yes….our Kingdom Hearts. Our last chance for salvation. But….you have to ask yourself…Saix….is salvation what we really seek?"
Giving him another curious look I hesitated in responding fearing I might say the wrong thing. "I…don't know…" "Tell me Saix, the goal of the organization…what is it we seek?" "To exist…what else?" Snickering slightly the superior shook his head. "There is so much else. Power, knowledge, to know the true essence of ones heart. That's why I opened the door Saix…that's why we're here. It's so close….so very close. Kingdom hearts….once it becomes complete….so will I…"
"We….." He didn't respond.
Standing there in silence for a few moments. Xemnas finally spoke. "Saix…go collect me some data. I need to be alone with my thoughts for a time." he said. Not bothering to reply, still pondering his previous words, I left the small island for town to collect him his 'data'. It was more of a Vexen job, but I suppose his real reason for brining me there was to say what he already had.
Leaving Xemnas to his 'thoughts' I opened a portal to town and began to indulge in some of my own. The Destiny Islands weren't all that bad. Although the sunlight was a bit much on occasions. Not a place I would have choose to go on my own but not bad either. Xemnas had apparently wanted me to get information about the kinds of people and places. Or rather…data on them.
Data is a little difficult to explain to someone who isn't familiar with it. In computer terms data is everything and anything that is processed by the computer. It's a similar complex here except instead of using a computer we document our surroundings in order to manipulate them. Vexen could explain it better.
It didn't take me all that long to get the data Xemnas wanted me to acquire. The islands are fairly primitive compared to some of the worlds I've encountered. Take the former Radiant Garden for instance. Anyhow, not wanting to spend any more time there then absolutely possible, I made a point to gathering the data and returning to Xemnas, who I found standing inside a small stone cave at the base of a large tree, on the tiny island I had originally left him on. It took him a few seconds to notice I had returned. Not bothering to turn around, he asked me if I had acquired the data, before pointing to a strange door seemingly connected to the stone wall. "Look Saix….take a good long look. Behind this door….the heart of this world. The world what spawned our warriors…." "You mean…." "Yes…" Saying nothing more he turned and left the small cave. As I stood there for a moment observing the door and wondering.
Following him back along the sand as we made our way toward the extraction point (there is a special point of entire within each world that is opportune for opening portals) Xemnas suddenly stopped and turned to me. "Saix..before we leave, I want to show one more thing." He replied. "It's about a mile from here….if you don't mind the walk." Now the last thing I wanted to do was walk a mile in the blistering sun, in a leather trench coat, but seeing as it was coming from Xemnas and not wanting to offend I decided it was best just to comply. "It's alright I suppose." I told him before we started off down the beach.
We walked in complete silence, and after a while I think Xemnas was beginning to regret the decision to walk as well. Although he said nothing of it and continued onwards. By the time we finally reached where we were going, both of us were completely exhausted from the heat and the distance. Standing there, we stopped in back of a fairly large sand dune which obstructed the rest of the beach from view. Looking over at me Xemnas paused for a moment to catch his breath. According to him, behind this sand dune was a memory very important to him. Apparently it had something to do with a very old friend, although he wouldn't say any more then that.
I had to admit it sparked a bit of curiosity….that is until we reached the top and I saw what beheld us at the bottom.
There they were just standing there, completely exposed to everyone and everything. The very reasons humanity was meant to wear pants. It was as if somebody had gathered up all of the biggest and ugliest social outcasts, stripped them dry and dumped them in a secluded area of the island where they could let it all hang down….AND I DO MEAN ALL OF IT!
I think it must have been about two minutes of utter silence that passed between us. And about a million questioned the passed through my mind at the site so horrible I thought my eyes were simply going to drop out. Very slowly I turned to look over at my superior who looked just as slowly back at me. I don't think I've ever seen that much expression written on his face at once, nor ever will again. "Xemnas…..you didn't bring me here too.……" "Saix….." He replied in a flat tone. "Yes…..Superior?" "This…..is never to be spoken of….ever….do I make myself clear…." "Crystal."