This is the author, talking about her story. You can ignore this bit if you want.
Okay. I finished the second chapter. I hope you all like it.
…wait, is there anyone actually reading this? I've gotten no indicators of anyone reading this—no reviews, no alert+s, no favorites, nothing. Does anyone actually care that I posted the next chapter?
Anyway, the first bit of this was written before I posted the first two parts of this story. The second bit was all written at once (along with a significant portion of the third chapter—about six written pages, total) late at night. So its quality may be dubious. Also, I'm starting to get the feeling that the characters are writing me rather than the other way around. Saïx in particular was quite recalcitrant. And Axel seems rather more dickish than I'd like him. He should mellow out when Roxas shows up, I think. And the seemingly unrelated scene in the middle of the chapter (it's the one with Demyx and Zexion—you'll see it) will, in fact, have a point. Sooner or later. I should plan more.
As of the end of this chapter, numbers VII, XI, and XII are twelve years old, numbers VI, VIII, and IX are thirteen, numbers I, II, and IV are fourteen, and numbers III, V, and X are fifteen. Also, at the end of this chapter, it's about mid-to-late April. For reference.
If I have horribly mangled anyone's character, please let me know so I can fix it. Any and all feedback is loved a heck of a lot, so if there is anyone reading this at all, please let me know what you think!
Chapter 2
Nearly a year passed. During that time, Axel blew up the microwave twice, Vexen was forbidden from ever doing laundry again (he had mixed up his own detergent from chemicals in his lab. The results were not pretty. Colorful, yes, but not pretty), and Demyx brought home more strays than anyone knew what to do with (Xigbar's suggestion of eating them was quickly shot down).
Saïx never was quite certain how Number X joined their ranks. One evening, the living room was empty of people. The following morning, there was a young man laying on the couch and complaining about how people were walking too loudly. Saïx had asked the Superior about it and hadn't gotten a clear answer. This irritated him greatly.
How the Organisation met their Number XI, however, was perfectly clear. Saïx remembered that day well.
A few of them were returning home from a quick reconnaissance mission when they heard a yelp from an alleyway. Saïx exchanged a glance with Axel. In it were two unspoken messages, one from each of them.
I'm bored.
I feel like if I don't maul something soon I'll kill you, and the Superior would be irritated with me if I did that.
A high-pitched scream echoed from the little alleyway.
"Okay, now we have to investigate," Axel said.
The three of them cautiously entered the alleyway. They saw mostly red. There were splatters of blood on the brick walls and on the pavement and rose petals of the same shade were scattered here and there. There appeared to be about three bodies' worth of dismembered limbs with one unmaimed body lying face-down in a heap of the blood-red rose petals.
"That…frankly, is disturbing," Axel managed after the group had stared at the carnage for perhaps a minute.
"I must agree with you," Saïx said. The scent of blood hung heavy in the air, overpowering everything else and making Saïx's nose twitch. He thanked whatever higher power was watching over him that it was a new moon.
Behind them, Demyx threw up.
Very, very carefully, Saïx made his way over to the unmaimed body. It appeared to be breathing. Saïx tried not to.
Axel approached and prodded the body with a toe. It groaned. "Okay, it's alive. Now what?" he said, flipping the body over onto its back.
"Can we take her home?" Demx asked, having steeled his stomach against the gore.
Saïx and Axel exchanged glances. They both knew what would happen if they refused: Demyx would cry, and they'd end up agreeing anyway, except feeling worse about it than they might if theyjust agreed straight off.
Damn those puppy eyes, they both thought.
"We'll have to clear it with the Superior first," Saïx warned.
Taking that as the agreement it was, Demyx attempted to hug Saïx, who shoved him off and into a wall. "Thank you!" Demyx said, recovering from the stumble. "Now, who's going to carry her?"
As it happened, Axel carried the body (whose name was eventually decided upon as Marluxia and who turned out to actually be male, much to their surprise) home, because Demyx was too lazy and Saïx flat-out refused.
XIII
It was a few months later. The day had started out fair, but now storm clouds were closing in.
That night, the full moon would reign over what parts of the sky were unhidden by clouds. This made Saïx antsy and snappish.
At this moment, he and Axel were fighting. Neither of them could quite remember the original point of the argument, as it had degenerated into bringing up and rehashing old disagreements and irritants.
Tossing one last scathing remark over his shoulder, Saïx stormed out into the rain pouring from the evening-darkened sky. Axel watched him go.
Several years before, Isa and Lea had had a fight over who would play with a specific toy first. Eventually, Isa had stormed off, much like Saïx just had, and Lea had chased after him, trailing apologies and compromises like ribbons behind him.
We're no longer Isa and Lea, Axel realised.
Unlike in that fight so many years before, he did not chase after Saïx.
XIII
Saïx ran. The rain poured down upon his head and body, soaking him to the bone within minutes, but he barely noticed.
How could he have been so stupid? How could he have let a petty disagreement like that turn into such a big fight? Why had he run away?
Why was he still running? He could—should—turn back now, return to the base, apologise to Le—Axel, his name is Axel.
I should turn back, he thought.
He didn't.
XIII
"Zexion?" Demyx whispered.
Zexion did not move, speak, or in any way acknowledge that he'd heard Demyx. He merely stared straight ahead, unblinking, face white.
"Zexion~"
No response.
Demyx waved a hand in front of his friend's face. Zexion's eyes did not so much as flicker.
Wordlessly, Demyx put his arms around his friend and held him.
XIII
At this time, Saïx wasn't sure which form he was in. To be perfectly honest, he didn't really care. All he knew right now was that he was running.
He raised his nose to the wind and sniffed. A scent—a person—the smell of anger and the burnt almond of ozone lay over and around them like a cloak.
He growled. If this person was looking for a fight, they would get one.
XIII
Eleran ran. She ran from those who were chasing her.
She wasn't quite sure why they were chasing her this time. Perhaps it was because she was running.
It was raining. Thunder and lightning crashed and sparked overhead. Perfect weather for a run.
She smiled grimly. If they were looking for a chase, she would give them one.
Suddenly, a vaguely human shape loomed out of the darkness and Eleran crashed into it. She panicked, thinking it was one of them. She fought. It fought back.
Some time into their fight—she wasn't keeping track of how long exactly—she could have sworn that her opponent turned into a large blue wolf. That might have just been a dream, though, as shortly after that the world spiraled into blackness.
XIII
The sun rose, as it did every day. It was even visible, the previous night's dark clouds having gone off to storm around somewhere else.
Saïx opened his eyes. The sky was very pretty today, he noticed absently. It was a lovely shade of blue…
Wait. Sky? That didn't make sense. Waking up was supposed to happen inside. Unless the roof had fallen in, the sky was not inside.
Oh. It was the night after the full moon. That explained it. He was used to waking up outside the night after the full moon.
He sat up. Fortunately, his coat had survived the transformation. Xemnas always wondered why Saïx wore a coat at least three sizes too big for him. Saïx had never explained it, but if his coat was any smaller, it'd be ripped to shreds every time he transformed, which would be unfortunate. He picked it up and wrapped it carefully around himself—it was cold that morning, and the rest of his clothes had been shredded in the transformation. He mourned the loss of a good set of clothes as he stood to return home. He hadn't run far—he recognised the territory around him and wouldn't have any trouble finding his way.
Wait a second.
Saïx raised his nose and sniffed. Ah. There it was again—another scent. Human, female, young, very tired. He glanced around, trying to match the scent with its source.
There was a girl lying on the ground, curled up with one arm pillowing her head. She looked to be about Saïx's age, maybe half a year younger. As he watched, her blue eyes flickered open, then closed again.
Having ascertained that the girl was still living, Saïx turned to leave. She was no concern of his.
XIII
When Eleran woke up, she was at first confused about her surroundings. Where there should have been a mattress, there was instead cold pavement. There were no blankets and the level of light was much higher than she was used to first thing in the morning.
She blinked as the events of the previous evening floated into shape in her memory. A fight of some sort, then she must've been dreaming…
She blinked again to make the street come into focus. A warehouse to one side, a flat gravel space (probably a loading yard or some such), blue sky overhead with the remnants of storm-clouds chasing themselves off the horizon, a figure in a black coat starting to walk away—
Wait. Back up a moment there.
"Hey!" Eleran yelled.
The figure paused, turned back. "Oh. Good morning," he (probably a he, Eleran thought) said dispassionately. He began to walk away again.
"Hey, you! Listen to me!" Eleran yelled. "We're gonna talk!"
"No, we're not," the figure disagreed, not pausing. "I have no interest in talking to you."
"Well, I wanna talk to you, so we're gonna talk!" Eleran got to her feet to chase after him. "At least tell me your name!"
"I am Saïx."
Finally catching up, Eleran caught Saïx by the hand and shook firmly. "The name's Eleran. What's with the trenchcoat? You part of some secret society or something?"
Saïx shook her off. "No. It is simply practical. Did you want something?"
Eleran shrugged. "Well, we were fighting yesterday. I'm curious who you are."
"That's nice." Saïx began walking away again. "Don't you have somewhere to be? Parents who will be worried about you? You can't be much older than twelve…"
"I have nowhere," Eleran said flatly, expression blanking in an instant. "Nowhere that I want to be, anyway. My parents will neither notice nor care if I vanish. And you can't be much older than me, so that argument is invalid."
Saïx hesitated. He knew that flat cold of nowhere to return to all too well, but he'd had Lea for a friend for several years now. They day they met was a bright point in his memory—unlike many other events from his past, it remained crystal clear.
"I'm Lea. That's L-E-A. Commit it to memory!"
Eleran waved a hand in front of his face. "Hello~ Earth to weirdo~"
Saïx shook his head, almost growling. Lea was gone, now—he had to remember that. He tried to smile and felt like he failed miserably. "I think I can offer you a place to go. My…friends, you might say, and I live by ourselves in an old warehouse. Our Superior's always looking for more people…"
Eleran shook her head. "Nah, I think I'll work it out on my own."
"All right." Saïx nodded politely. "The offer still stands—if you need somewhere to go, our door is open."
"I'll keep that in mind." A smile like a flash of lightning appeared on Eleran's face, then vanished just as quickly. "Bye now~"
Saïx made his retreat, attempting to find his way back home. I'll have to apologise to Le—Axel, he thought.
XIII
Axel would hear none of it. "You're sorry? Gee, that's a shock," he spat sarcastically. "The high-and-mighty Saïx, sorry. Why do I not believe that?"
"Axel—"
"Save it. I don't want to hear it, Number VII," Axel said.
Saïx drew himself up, wrapping the shreds of his dignity around him like a cloak. "Very well, Number VIII," he said coldly, and nothing would ever be the same again.
XIII
A month later, Eleran showed up on the doorstep of the Warehouse That Never Was But Would Hopefully Still Be There Tomorrow, dripping wet from another storm and shivering. Lexaeus took pity on her and let her in. Through chattering teeth, she explained herself and the offer Saïx had made her. Xemnas shot Saïx a Look (Saïx apologised), but sighed, dubbed the girl Larxene, and bade her welcome to Organization XIII.
And so there were twelve.