If you have not already done so, please re-read Chapter 1 - I changed a minor detail. Thanks!
Xemnas walked into the meeting room and portaled up to his throne. He looked around at the others – all of the other 12 members were already there, looking expectantly at their leader. He began by clearing his throat. "It has come to my attention that we will soon have two more members. We know little about these two new members, except that they are both from Earth. We also know their powers – one controls blood, the other animals."
Demyx grimaced. "Lovely. Knowing my luck, they'll be Saix-level lunatics."
Saix glared at the junior member and growled.
Xemnas held up a hand for silence. "This is not the time for fighting. We must get the two new members here as quickly as possible. I have chosen four of you to go and retrieve them. Six, Eight, Nine, and Thirteen, please prepare for an overnight mission. It should not take you longer than two days to find them, and if it does, Thirteen, you may come back for more supplies."
Marluxia frowned. "What's so special about the new guys that they need four people to go retrieve them?"
Xemnas seemed unfazed by the question. "Earth is a very dangerous place at this time. The planet is quite large, and we do not know how close the new members might be – as far as we know, they're on opposite sides of the planet. What will happen is this – Six and Thirteen will search for one member, and Eight and Nine will search for the other. It helps, also, that both Eight and Nine are both from Earth, and that Six will be able to smell them from miles away. Now, if that's all the stupid questions, meeting adjourned."
As one, all thirteen members portaled out of the meeting room, back into their own respective bedrooms. Demyx immediately walked through the bathroom connecting his and Axel's rooms. "So what do you think the new members will be like, Ax?"
Axel snorted. "Like you said, most likely. I mean, look at their powers. Whatever else, their lives must have been absolute shit. Let's just hope that both of them are at least fully human." He put his insulin pump and glucagon pen into a bag along with several changes of clothes. "Don't forget your hearing add batteries this time, dumbass. Last time we were on a mission, we wasted valuable time while you came back here to get them. And don't forget some for Zexion, too."
Demyx nodded. "I won't forget. So long as you don't forget to bring hard candy and your glucose monitor – we can't have you passing out because you let your blood sugar get out of control. Again." He ducked out of the way as Axel threw a wadded-up pair of socks at his head, and then he stuck his tongue out at the older Organization member and grabbed the socks to put into his own bag.
INSERT WITTY LINE BREAK HERE
Less than an hour later, the four Organization members – Zexion, Axel, Demyx, and Roxas – had gathered in front of the Proofs of Existence. Zexion sniffed at the two new Proofs that popped up overnight so as to gather the new members' possible scents and nodded. "Let us get going. I do not want to be gone any longer than necessary." He opened up a portal and ushered the three younger members through it before following suite.
The four stepped into an alleyway in the middle of what seemed to be a very small town. Zexion immediately started sniffing again, trying to catch either of the two scents. Suddenly, he stiffened. "I believe I can smell one of the two new members. From the smell of it, I believe I have found the animal elementalist." With that, he took off running, pursued closely by the other three.
Zexion led the team through the alleyway, across several streets, until finding a small park. A small child, who looked to be no older than six or seven years old, was playing on the swings. That, however, was not the most unusual part of the situation. Rather than normal ears, the girl had a small pair of what looked like cat's ears sticking out of her thick, red, curly hair. Another interesting thing about her appearance was the golden, catlike eyes. But most importantly, she appeared to be completely alone.
Roxas, as the youngest member of the team, walked cautiously toward the girl. When she saw the boy approaching, she seemed to shrink back into herself. Roxas held out his hands to show he meant her no harm. "It's okay, little girl. I just want to know what you're doing here all by yourself."
The little girl seemed to think for a moment, and then she started signing. I'm not alone, Mr. I'm just waiting for my sister to come back. She said she'd be right back, and she told me to wait here.
Roxas sighed. Was the little girl deaf? He spoke a little louder this time. "Can you hear me?"
The little girl nodded, smiling slightly. I just don't like talking.
Suddenly, a voice spoke from behind him, this one seemingly rougher but also sounding quite young. "Leave my little sister alone, you fuckwad!" The little girl in front of him cringed, but showed little fear of the voice. Roxas turned around quickly. The voice appeared to be coming from another little girl, this one no older than thirteen, with her arms crossed over her chest.
Roxas smiled slightly. "Hello. I'm sorry for bothering you – I just wanted to make sure this little girl wasn't alone."
The older girl rolled her eyes. "Of course not, you dipshit." She twirled a strand of curly blonde hair around her finger. "I'm not an idiot. I know why you're really here. Maybe you can explain a couple of things to me? If you do, then maybe I'll let you know what my sister said."
Roxas frowned. He wasn't used to being manipulated so easily by a girl who looked to be almost four years younger than he was. "Sure. What do you want to know? I'll see if I can tell you anything."
The girl's light blue eyes narrowed. "Do you know anything about the cat thing that attacked us yesterday? One minute, my sister and I were just in our alleyway, minding our own business, when suddenly this cat thing came out of nowhere and lunged at my sister! I could have sworn I saw it take her heart out, but the next thing I know, I'm waking up and she's perfectly fine! Well, except for the cat ears. That's still taking some getting used to, but she's alive! How the hell is that even possible? And look at this!" She held up her left hand. Her fingernails were easily five or six inches long, and they were all sharpened to a point. "What the hell is this? Even when I try to cut them, they grow back to the same length within ten minutes!" She suddenly stopped talking, crossing her arms back over her chest and scowling.
The four Organization members stared from one to the other. Zexion stepped forward, nodding politely to both girls. "Hello. Maybe we should introduce ourselves. I am Zexion. This is Roxas. Our companions are Demyx and Axel." He pointed to each one in turn. "We are members of Organization XIII. Basically, that means that we are trying to get our hearts back. Roxas, here, is a Keyblade Wielder, meaning that he is particularly efficient at collecting hearts from things called Shadows. Last night, you and your sister were attacked by a Shadow. You are now both Nobodies, meaning that neither of you have hearts anymore. As you may have noticed, you no longer have heartbeats or pulses. I can see that you believe you feel anger, but emotions also no longer exist for Nobodies – emotions are things that generally fade with time."
The older girl just stood there with her mouth open. "How do I know I can believe you?"
Zexion sighed. "No one ever believes us when we first tell them. If you two would agree to go someplace a little more private, we would be able to show you. But first, we must check that you are indeed the ones we have been looking for. If you could please hold out your wrist?" The girl held out her wrist and let it go limp. Zexion grabbed it gently for a few moments and then let go, nodding. "Yes, you have no pulse. You are the ones we have been searching for. Now, please, follow us." He turned on his heel and started heading for a nearby abandoned building.
The others shrugged and followed, but Demyx at least took the time to smile at the two girls. The younger one joined her older sister and walked next to her, holding her hand tightly. Demyx, Roxas, and Axel all hung back slightly to walk behind or next to the girls. Demyx was the first one to try striking up a conversation. "So you know all of our names, but we don't know yours. What's your name, sweetheart?" he asked the younger one, apparently forgetting her muteness.
The younger girl spelled out her name. My name is E-M-M-A. And my sister's name is K-R-I-S. She smiled up at her older sister.
"Kris" scoffed. "She's the only one that gets to call me 'Kris'. You guys can call me Kristina."
Demyx nodded. "Alright, sounds fair. But you do realize that you two will be getting new names when you join the Organization, right? All of us had fairly normal names originally, but Xemnas adds an unnecessary 'X' to everyone's names… Anyway, that's not important right now – how did you two come to be in an alleyway last night, anyway?"
Kristina stayed silent, so Demyx turned to Emma. "Sweetie, can you tell me anything about your parents? Why would they let a cute little kid like you" – he tickled her under the chin, and he could practically hear her purring – "alone with no one big to take care of you?"
Emma signed back, Mommy and Daddy were always fighting, and one day Daddy left the house and never came back. Mommy got really sad, and one day when we came back from school she wasn't there anymore. Kris wouldn't let me back into the house, and so we've been living outside ever since. That was three years ago. I don't like it, but Kris always makes sure I get food and sleep.
Demyx frowned. "Sounds rough. Does this mean that neither of you have been going to school at all in the past three years?"
Zexion's ears perked up at that, but the others chose to ignore him. Kris responded, "No. It's been hard enough work trying to keep us both fed, never mind learning stupid shit that will never help us in real life."
Zexion turned back to the others, mouth agape. "If you two both wind up joining the Organization, the first thing we'll have to do is get the two of you back in school."
Roxas and Demyx both groaned. When the two girls looked at them curiously, Demyx explained, "I joined the Organization when I was fifteen. I hadn't been to school since I was eleven, so Zexion took me on as his 'student' for the next three years until I was able to get my GED – general education diploma. When Roxas joined, he was sixteen and had no knowledge of his previous life, so he's been taking lessons from Zexion as well."
Finally, after what seemed like a very long time, they entered the abandoned building. Zexion turned around and faced the others again. "Who would like to go first?"
Axel stepped forward. "I guess I'll go." He reached his right hand up, and two things that looked like frisbees with sharp metal edges appeared. He took one in each hand, and twirled one of them, creating the illusion of fire. "These are called chakrams. I'm a fire elementalist."
Demyx stepped forward next. "I fight using a sitar. A sitar is a type of musical instrument that I used to play in my human life. I'm a water elementalist, but I enjoy music, as well." He summoned the "sitar," which looked to be basically a huge blue guitar with a large number of strings.
Finally, Roxas. "I fight using a Keyblade, and I'm a light elementalist." Then he summoned said Keyblade, which seemed to be a sort of giant key.
The two girls then turned to Zexion, who blushed. "You don't really want to see my weapon. Most people think it's stupid, but in actuality it is one of the most powerful weapons in the entire Organization. Instead, we will see if either of you can summon your weapons yet. Kristina, you can try first. Just reach up into the air with your right hand and concentrate on creating a weapon to help you fight."
Kristina reached up with her right hand and screwed up her face in concentration. Suddenly, a bubble appeared, and when it popped, she was holding a long, fairly deadly-looking throwing knife. She shrugged. "Well, I guess if my power's supposed to be blood, this will do the trick." She looked down at her fingernails. "But my nails look like they could do a fair amount of damage as well…"
Then Emma reached up and tried to summon her weapon as well. When her bubble popped, a large tiger with purple-and-white stripes appeared. The other Organization members backed away, clearly unsure of what to do, but when Emma petted it on the top of the head, it started almost purring.
Zexion seemed to regain his composure and cleared his throat before speaking. "As you can see, it is quite clear that you two are meant to join the Organization. Now if you would all please go through this portal" – here he summoned a portal – "we will return to the Castle That Never Was. Four will want to examine both of you, and you two both need new uniforms as well as new names."
I told you I would continue this eventually. Sorry it's been so long. I'm taking a sick day today, and I'm just overloaded with inspiration, apparently. Anyway, hope you enjoy.
