Alone Forever
By Andruindel
Summary: The life of the new number XIII. ZexionxOC I suck at summaries.
This is just a random story that I came up with when I was half asleep. I suck at summaries, so I guess I'm pretty lucky that you're even reading this. My little sister actually gave me the idea by suggesting that I should put Zexion in a towel. But, I gave her that idea by going all fan girl over the idea of Zexy in a towel. So, I suppose you could say it was my idea all along. Anyway, like I said, it's just random and has no importance or significance at all. I'm assuming that you're all here to see Zexy in a towel, right? Well, you've come to the right place. The title may not make sense at first, but you'll understand by the end, unless you're amazingly unintelligent. Now, you've had enough of my ramblings. Enjoy the randomness of my half-awake, fan girl brain!
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Xemnas sighed. He could hardly make himself heard over the racket that the Organization was making. It was the same every time he called a meeting. He sighed again, then glanced at the girl standing next to him. She was only sixteen or seventeen, and looked extremely nervous. Her dark brown hair fell to her waist and was highlighted with red. Her blue eyes traveled around the room, examining all the faces. Three of the members caught her attention at once. One had spiky, red hair and emerald eyes. Sitting directly on his left was a blonde boy with ocean blue eyes. His hair was styled some where between a mullet and a Mohawk. Two chairs to the red-head's right, was a boy with blue-black hair that covered his right eye because he had what she called an 'emo haircut'. The three boys looked to be her own age, or close to it.
Xemnas finally grew tired of trying to quiet the arguments that broke out between the members. He took a deep breath and shouted at the top of his voice: "SHUT YOUR MOUTHS OR I'LL SHUT THEM FOR YOU!!!" The girl flinched away from him as he bellowed the threat, and began trembling, partly from nerves and partly from fear. She couldn't help being intimidated by the members of the Organization.
When silence fell over the room, Xemnas smiled a bit. "The reason I have called you all here is…" He broke off as the blonde boy began waving his hand wildly in the air. "Yes, number IX?" He asked, indicating that the boy could speak.
The blonde stood up and spoke. "Who's the girl?" He asked, obviously speaking about the girl standing beside Xemnas. He gave the girl a wink, but she didn't respond. She simply lowered her eyes, avoiding the ocean blue gaze of the blonde.
It took all of Xemnas's will power to keep from slapping himself in the forehead. "That is the reason for this meeting." He said, striving to keep his voice even. "I want to introduce to you, Xembré." He indicated the girl and she stepped forward. Lifting her gaze, she looked around at them all. All the other members were looking at her, and she slowly met each person's gaze. The only familiar faces were those of Xemnas and Xigbar. Most of the members looked very uninterested, but the red-head and the blonde were watching her with something closer to interest than the others.
Xemnas continued, putting an arm around the girl's shoulders. "Xembré is going to become our new thirteenth member. I want you all to make her feel welcome." At that, the red-head and the blonde smirked at each other. Xembré didn't like the smirks, or the feel of Xemnas's arm around her shoulders. There was a round of murmured assent, and the meeting broke up.
Xembré started out of the meeting room with the intention of going to her room. But as she was about to step through the doors, she found her way blocked by the red-head and the blonde. She stopped abruptly, but they didn't move, or explain themselves.
"Excuse me," She said as firmly as she could. To her surprise, they moved aside so she could get by, but as she stepped between them, they closed in behind her. Following her every step of the way back to her room, they said nothing, but made sure to be right on her heels at every moment.
When Xembré could finally stand it no longer, and right as they reached her door, she whirled around and glared at the two boys. "Stop following me!" She snapped, her eyes flashing in anger.
The red-head wagged his finger in front of her face. "Ah, ah, ah," He chided her, still wagging his finger. "Don't raise your voice to your superiors!" He smirked, taking obvious pleasure in the fact that he was a higher rank than her. The blonde smirked as well, but their surprise was obvious when Xembré made a slight bow.
"I'm sorry. I quite forgot my place. Please forgive me." She said quietly. When she raised her head to look at them, they were blinking in surprise.
The red-head was the first to recover. "I'll let it slide this time, number XIII, but don't let it happen again." He said, narrowing his eyes at her. Then he was shoved roughly by the blonde.
"Oh, shut up, Axel!" The blonde said. "I think she should pass. She seems fine to me!" He gave Xembré a smile and held out his hand for her to shake. "I'm Demyx. But practically everyone here calls me number IX."
Xembré shook his hand, looking a bit confused. Then the red-head extended his hand. "Name's Axel. Got it memorized?" Xembré shook his hand as well, but she still seemed a bit confused.
Once they were introduced, Demyx considered himself Xembré's friend. "Come on, Xembré," He said, latching onto her arm. "Show us your weapon!" He smiled encouragingly at her, but she shook her head.
"I don't know what it is." She said, blushing a bit. She tried to loosen Demyx's hold on her arm, but he wouldn't let go. "Listen, I've got this book that I really want to finish. So, if you'll excuse me," She managed to escape Demyx's grasp at last, and retreated into her bedroom.
Axel and Demyx stood in the hall, staring at the door that Xembré had closed so suddenly in their faces. "Was it something we said?" Axel asked, staring blankly at the door that had a number XIII above it.
Demyx shrugged. "Maybe she's just shy." He said, turning away from the door.
"Pfft, are you kidding? With that figure? She can't possibly be shy! Look at Larxene, she's not shy!" Axel dismissed the possibility that Xembré might be shy with a wave of his hand.
Shrugging again, Demyx began walking away, followed closely by Axel. "Larxene is more what I'd call sadistic. And I'm pretty sure there's a difference between being outgoing and being just plain sadistic."
They continued walking, silent now as they each thought their own thoughts. Suddenly, Demyx started. "Hey, I just remembered, I've got to do something!" He dashed away, calling over his shoulder: "If anyone asks, I've been in my room all day, and I'm not there now!" Axel stared after the younger boy as he dashed away, one eyebrow cocked.
"What the heck is he up to now?" He wondered to himself. Then he shrugged and wandered away, thinking vaguely that it was probably close to lunch time.
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Xembré sighed, glad to finally be in the solitude of her own room. She threw herself down onto her bed, and just laid there for what seemed to be hours, but it was only a few minutes. Xemnas seemed to think she was worthy of being a member of the Organization. But she didn't think so. She didn't know what her weapon was, and she didn't even know what power she had.
She sat up after a moment and looked around the room, thinking again how much she hated it. Even though it was exactly how she wanted it to be, and it was exactly how she had described it to Xemnas, it didn't please her. It seemed to mock her. The queen sized bed seemed only to remind her of the boyfriend she had left behind when she became a nobody. Everything was, more or less, boring. The tiles were black and white, looking like a chess board. Her bedspread was black, the sheets white. All her furniture was black with white knobs. The writing desk tucked into a corner was littered with papers, most of them wrinkled. She had already pasted the walls with pictures she'd drawn, most of them black and white, but a very few colored. She was an exceptional artist, but she had found very little inspiration in the castle. One of the drawings depicted Xemnas, as lifelike as if he were staring out of the paper at her.
She hated her room. All her life she had wanted a room like that. But now that she had it, she couldn't help thinking of the cost it had come at. The life she had left behind flashed through her mind. Her boyfriend, her parents, her friends, her school; everything she had ever taken for granted had suddenly been torn away from her. The heartless attack had been both unexpected and unprepared for. She could remember fear, panic, screaming. Then pain, unbearable pain. And then: darkness. The darkness was an endless expanse of time. No time seemed to have passed there, but yet, an eternity seemed to have passed.
After the darkness had come a blaring, neon green light. Rain was falling, gently washing her face, creating inside her a feeling of great stillness. No fear, no pain, no emotion at all. At that time, she hadn't understood. Then came Xigbar. Under Xemnas's orders, he had come to fetch her. The meeting with Xemnas was anything but pleasant. Though, however much she disliked Xemnas, the feeling of complete isolation was enough to drive her to try and persuade Xemnas to let her join the Organization. To her surprise, he had.
She still didn't understand why he had let her join the Organization. But her musings were interrupted when she happened to glance at her clock. It was shortly after lunch time. Slowly exiting her room, she glanced around. The halls were empty and quiet, strengthening her forlorn feeling. She walked slowly through the halls, which remained devoid of life until she neared the dining room. Angry voices reached her ears breaking the silence that had, until then, weighed heavily upon her.
Upon entering the kitchen, she saw immediately that something was going on. As soon as she entered, she heard the last half of Marluxia's angry sentence. "…before the meeting they were fine, when I got back to my room, they had all been picked, arranged in a nice vase and left outside the Superior's office with a card that said 'I love you!' and was signed 'Marly'."
Not knowing Marluxia at all, Xembré had no idea what he was talking about. The whole Organization had its attention riveted on Marluxia and Demyx, so they hadn't noticed her when she entered the room. "What's going on?" She asked, diverting the attention of every member onto herself.
Marluxia whirled on her, anger glinting in his eyes. "I'll tell you what's going on." He snapped. "This bastard," He pointed an accusing finger at Demyx. "Ruined all my flowers and humiliated me in front of the whole Organization!" He had his pink scythe out and looked ready to start killing people at any given moment. A few rose petals whirled around him, coming out of no where.
Xembré looked behind Marluxia to see Demyx who was looking both frightened, and a bit concerned. She gave him a reassuring half-smile before turning her attention back to Marluxia. "Demyx couldn't have ruined your flowers." She said, sounding and looking very much like a little girl as she gave him an innocent smile. "He was with me after the meeting, up until he left to get lunch."
Marluxia lowered his scythe slightly as he pondered the likely-hood of her statement. During his brief distraction, Xembré glanced again at Demyx. He looked like he was about to speak, but she shook her head at him every so slightly to warn him against it.
Marluxia turned his attention back to the girl standing in front of him, smirking unpleasantly. "What were you two doing, I wonder." He said, giving her a sly smile. He lowered his scythe all the way, looking considerably calmer.
Giggling, Xembré blushed. "That's none of your business," She said, sounding shyly mischievous. "But about your flowers: seeing as you obviously have the power to control flowers, and you're extremely good at it, it should be no trouble for you to grow new ones." She took a step closer to him, looking him right in the eye. All signs of her earlier shyness had disappeared. She seemed oblivious to the fact that the whole Organization was watching her.
Marluxia returned her gaze, looking deep into her blue eyes. As they stared at each other, Marluxia realized just how beautiful her eyes were. They were very clear blue, but flecks of darker and lighter blues highlighted them, making them look like endless pools of deep blue water. The longer Marluxia looked into her eyes, the more he felt that he had to believe her. Everything about her seemed to say that she was trustworthy. And the flattery had helped immensely.
"Alright," He said at last, smirking again. "Demyx is off the hook this time." He stalked away, and the rest of the Organization drifted away to eat their lunch. Some of them were laughing, and one man approached Xembré, a friendly smile hovering about his features.
"I think Xemnas made an excellent choice when he made you number XIII. I am pleased to make your acquaintance. My name is Luxord." He extended his hand, still smiling pleasantly. The difference between him and Marluxia amazed Xembré. Unlike Marluxia's long, pink hair, Luxord's hair was blonde, and very short. He had a short beard and lots of earrings in both ears. He also seemed very pleasant, unlike the hot tempered Marluxia.
Xembré shook his hand, giving him a small bow. "It's very nice to meet you." She said politely. The man smiled again and then took his leave, joining the others at lunch.
"Thanks," Demyx said, putting an arm around Xembré's shoulders in a grateful embrace. "You just basically sacrificed your chance of being respected by the rest of the Organization. They kinda think we were…" He was cut off as Axel approached, laughing.
"That was amazing!" Axel said, grinning. "How did you do that?" He punched the girl lightly in the arm.
Xembré shrugged, which was hard to do because Demyx was still hugging her. He didn't seem to know the meaning of the words 'personal space'. "I just used all my powers of persuasion. And it paid off." She returned Demyx's hug, wrapping her arms tightly around him. It didn't seem an awkward thing for her to do, because Demyx was just so lovable that it actually seemed natural for her to return his affectionate embrace. Axel and Demyx could hardly believe that she was the same girl who had slammed her door so rudely in their faces just recently.
Axel rolled his eyes. "You must have some major powers of persuasion." He said, shaking his head. "Marluxia's not the easiest person to persuade. Unless it's, well, different 'persuasion'…" He grimaced, giving himself a very frightening mental image.
When Demyx finally let go of Xembré, after being impatiently reprimanded by Axel, the three teens wandered over to the table to eat lunch. They chatted and laughed, getting acquainted. They nearly forgot that they had only met that morning.
During the course of the meal, Xembré was aware of someone's gaze on her. When she lifted her eyes to look around the room, she saw that the teen with the 'emo hair' was gazing steadily at her, his fingers laced, his elbows resting on the table and a calculating expression on his face. Their gazes met and the boy slowly blinked, then looked away.
Xembré shrugged and went back to her meal. Right as she was about to take a bite of broccoli, Axel snorted in disgust. "Are you seriously going to eat that?" He asked derisively. He eyed the vegetable with distaste.
Smiling brightly at the red-head, Xembré cocked her head to one side. "Of course I am! Broccoli's my favorite!" She replied, and, still smiling, ate the vegetable.
"I can't stand broccoli!" Axel exclaimed. He turned away from the brunette, only to see that Demyx, who was sitting on his other side, was eating broccoli as well! "Every one is going crazy!" He cried, putting his head in his hands. "I'm surrounded by crazy people!" He looked from side to side, as though afraid that everyone in the room was about to go psycho on him.
Rolling her eyes, Xembré picked up another piece of broccoli and offered it to Axel. "Come on, try some! You'll like it!" She grasped his arm and tried to get him to eat the broccoli, but Axel wasn't about to let her. He struggled, grabbing her wrist to prevent her from force-feeding him the 'nasty' green thing. For a while, they struggled, watched by the entire Organization. Being both bigger and stronger than Xembré, it was no hard task for Axel to grab both of the girls' wrists and put a stop to her attempts to feed him the broccoli. But that put them in the perfect position to look each other right in the eyes.
"Please try it, Axel?" Xembré asked, smiling brightly at him. "If you don't like it, I promise I won't ever make you eat it again!" She continued gazing up at him, her eyes boring into his.
As Axel gazed at Xembré, everything else seemed to melt away. He felt that he couldn't deny her something that would make her happy. Her eyes clearly said that if he at least tried the broccoli, she would be extremely happy. She blinked slowly, concealing her deep, blue eyes for a split second, then Axel made his decision.
He loosened his grip on her wrists, and then slowly let go. Turning his head away, he avoided her gaze. "I'll try it…" He said, quietly. There was stunned silence throughout the room. Everyone stared at Axel in astonishment. Demyx's mouth was half open, his eyes wide. Xembré couldn't understand why everyone was so shocked.
Taking the broccoli that Xembré offered him, Axel stared at it for a moment. No one took their eyes off of Axel and Xembré, watching with rapt attention. He stared at the vegetable for another moment, and then hesitantly bit into it. Everyone watched with wide eyes as he chewed and swallowed.
"It's… not bad…" He said gruffly, shrugging. Everyone burst out laughing. Most of the laughter was spiteful and cruel, but a few people were laughing from actual amusement. They didn't often see Axel persuaded to do something, especially when it was a girl who had persuaded him. Usually the only time he gave in to persuasion was when it was forceful 'persuasion' and he was threatened with pain. The only one's who didn't laugh were Demyx and the 'emo hair' guy.
Xembré smiled at Axel who was looking bewildered. On his left, Demyx was looking reflectively at his plate. "How did you do that?" Axel asked, staring at Xembré with wide eyes. "I felt like I had to do it. I think it was something to do with your eyes… They're just so beautiful; I just had to do it for you…" He stopped talking suddenly as he realized just how stupid he sounded, but Xembré was still smiling, a light blush creeping into her cheeks.
"I'm not sure…" Xembré said in answer to his question, shrugging her shoulders and shaking her head. "I'm just really good at persuading people." She went back to her meal, chewing thoughtfully. As she ate, she glanced around the room and her eyes fell on the boy with the 'emo hair'. She had a feeling that he had been watching her a moment earlier. Her gaze lingered on him until he glanced at her again. Their eyes met for a brief moment, but after a few seconds he blinked and looked away. After that, Xembré found her gaze wandering on to the boy more and more often, until she was staring hard at him, trying to find out what it was about him that attracted her attention so much.
After careful consideration, Xembré decided that it was his eyes. His eyes were like a dark abyss. Though they were intimidating, and almost frightening at first, if you took the time to explore a bit, they didn't prove half as intimidating as before. Just as Xembré was reaching that conclusion, Demyx leapt up from his seat, coming abruptly out of his thoughtful silence.
"Hey, I've figured it out!" He exclaimed, doing a sort of victory dance. "I know why you're so good at persuading people, Xembré!" He was fairly quivering with excitement, and his smile and tone of voice said that he was obviously very proud of himself.
Xembré leapt out of her seat as well, rushing to Demyx's side. "Well, don't just stand there; tell me what you figured out!" She said, grasping his hand. She looked nearly as excited as Demyx. She bounced up and down, still holding Demyx's hand tightly.
"It's your power! You have the power of persuasion!" He replied, looking very proud and pleased with himself. "That's why you got Marluxia to stop being mad at me, and that's how you got Axel to eat the broccoli!" He was grinning brightly, still very excited.
"That's great, Demyx!" Xembré squealed. "I never thought that persuasion might actually be my power!" She smiled up at the blonde who was a few inches taller than her. She seemed so happy that you'd think she had just been promoted to rank number II. No one could understand why she was so happy about something so simple. But, they couldn't understand what she saw in Demyx either, so they just assumed that she was a bit crazy. Xembré however, as she smiled up at Demyx, thought that maybe, just maybe, her life as a nobody wouldn't be so horrible after all.
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Well, there's chapter one. I think this fan fiction is turning out… interesting. Please, don't forget to review it. I worked hard on this, and I'd REALLY like to know what you think. So, don't forget to review!!!
