In the end, the only Nobody to truly fall was Xemnas. Sora killed him dead with his Keyblade and he was gone; it was that simple. More or less.

Marluxia called a meeting the next morning, or as close to morning as anybody could guess. The World that Never Was certainly went through a daily cycle, but what constituted as "morning" for Demyx was almost certainly "mid afternoon" for Marluxia, and more than likely "tea time" for Luxord. There were no clocks. None of them had really worked quite right in this place of listless nothingness.

Marluxia called a meeting, all the same. Own clothes. That was interesting.

Vexen, in his dressing gown - he wasn't really well enough to get up and dress, but still Marluxia had somehow insisted he attend the meeting, was amazed to realise that a good proportion of his colleagues if not comrades he had never actually seen in anything other than their uniform leather coats.

Somebody had also evidently popped in a few hours earlier and adjusted the height of all the thrones so that they were, more or less, now the same height again. There was a small gradient from the highest throne, once Xemnas', to the lowest (artfully opposite), but compared to the almost humiliating differences of the old layout, it was less than meaningless. For Vexen, who rarely did missions and even more rarely did them well, it was a bit odd suddenly no longer having to crane his neck to see everybody else's feet. He quite appreciated it.

For a few minutes, everybody was waiting and expectantly eyeing everyone else up. Things were tense. Xemnas was dead; who were the traitors? Who were still loyal to him, who would rise against the new arrangements? What was Marluxia going to be like in power, anyway?

Fashionably late, Vexen thought spitefully, scratching fruitlessly at the cast that bound his right forearm. Hah.

When he arrived, he was wearing Xemnas' coat. No - not Xemnas' coat; for the white in the intricate patterns wasn't white but a delicate shade of shimmering, silvery pink.

"Comrades," He said, wide sweeping gestures so reminiscent of their old Superior. "What is done is done. Xemnas is dead. I claim administration over the World that Never Was, and the Organisation."

"Administration", Vexen mused. An interesting word: not "leadership", or "control"; he'd deliberately humbled himself in order to gain favour with the less trusting members. Marluxia was clever, Vexen had to give him that.

Marluxia paused for a moment to let that sink in, then continued.

"Larxene shall be my second in command. After that, the chain is as follows: Every one of you third. From this point onwards, ranks no longer exist. I want to be referred to by my name, and so should you."

Ah, that was smart too: aside from Larxene, and that much was obvious anyway, Marluxia couldn't be accused of favouritism. Although the elder members wouldn't like it so much - and it meant little to all but Vexen anyway - it was a quick way to win over the neophytes tired of being bossed around.

"The project Kingdom Hearts is also to be abandoned if at all possible. I intend to get back to you on that particular notion. Our aim is to reclaim our hearts, not to dominate or destroy the world as Kingdom Hearts only seems capable."

Establish his benevolence and discredit Xemnas in one fell swoop, Vexen thought. Simple.

"Any questions?"

Demyx, predictably, thrust his hand upwards. He was wearing all kinds of ridiculous attire he'd presumably been itching to show off for years, and there was so much it was overwhelming and all a bit silly.

"Yeah," He said, a schoolkid again, "Uh. Does that mean no more missions?"

"As of yet," Marluxia replied. Demyx seemed satisfied.

A few silent moments went past before Vexen found the courage to speak.

"Is nobody going to even consider opposing Marluxia's rule in the slightest?"

"Vexen," Xaldin said easily, "You cannot possibly have held any loyalty to Xemnas. You can admit it, you know. He held us under no more than a rule of fear."

"Who's to say Marluxia will be any better?"

"I could have left you to die at Axel's traitorous hands, you know," Marluxia replied smoothly, tone no different from when he'd broken the wonderful news to Demyx that missions were postponed until further notice.

Vexen growled.

"You could have consulted me fi-"

"Vexen. Please." Marluxia said calmly, silencing the other Nobody. "The Organisation is no longer a dictatorship ruled by a madman. Things are going to change. Please, do be the rational, logical man I know you are and accept that fact."

"I'm still confused," Xigbar piped up. "If Axel's a traitor and Saïx was Xemnas' right hand man, then why are they here and okay with flowerboy here ruling their asses?"

Axel held up his hands, mocking surrender. They were bare, and bandaged.

"Hey, you know that all I care about is my own skin. I'd have been loyal to Xemnas if he was stronger than Marluxia. But oh, hey. He's dead. I don't give a shit any more."

Everybody turned to Saïx, and the Diviner sighed.

"I agree with Marluxia. Xemnas became out of control, more interested in enshrouding the world with Darkness than reuniting us with our hearts. Although-" and there was a little well veiled malice in his words- "It remains to be seen whether Marluxia will turn out to be better."

"Oh." Somebody said quietly. Understandable, Vexen thought. There'd been a lot of rumours about Xemnas and Saïx and just how close they'd been, and to have that thrown away in just one sentence was evidently something of a shock to everybody.

"Any more questions?" Marluxia asked.

"Yeah, how are we going to get our hearts back without the use of Kingdom Hearts?"

There was the flash of a winning smile.

"We're working on it."

"So. We did it."

Marluxia was lounging on the covers of his bed, smirking. Larxene was also lounging - on top of him. Neither of them were, ahem, entirely sober.

"Of course," was all Marluxia had to reply.

"You didn't think that maybe we weren't gonna pull through?"

"I knew Sora had the power to defeat Xemnas."

"Or that more people would complain than did?"

"Axel is a fox who cares nothing for those other than himself and will loyally follow each and every higher power. Saïx was planning to overthrow Xemnas' control, anyway. And Vexen is Vexen, quod erat demonstrandum."

Larxene giggled, grabbing the much-depleted wine bottle again.

"There'll still be problems though, and you know it."

Marluxia tilted his head back in the pillows to gaze impassively at the empty ceiling, one arm wrapped lightly around his partner in crime.

"I know," He finally said. "But it shan't be too hard to do a better job than Xemnas."

Larxene kicked her legs a little, drinking a healthy gulp from the bottle before passing it to Marluxia.

"Ooh. Harsh."

"Speaking of harsh, I need to consult with Vexen as soon as possible. I need to find out if there are any other alternatives to heart restoration than Kingdom Hearts."

"There have to be," Larxene said, resorting to playfully fiddling with the collar of Marluxia's open shirt now that she no longer possessed the bottle. "I mean, an oversized, heart shaped moon has to be the most illogical reasoning for getting a bunch of Nobodies' hearts back. Honestly."

She pouted just for effect, and Marluxia apparently found this so endearing that he just had to lean down and capture those lips for his own. Half an hour later, the empty wine bottle was forgotten.

"Vexen."

The man in question glanced up from the book he'd been studying, and sighed.

"Oh, not you again."

Marluxia, who had slipped in through the door just seconds ago - without even knocking! - simply smiled the same smile that he'd used before that could have meant anything - absolutely anything at all.

"I'll politely request that you show a little more respect for me. I am your superior, after all."

Vexen scoffed.

"What do you really want? Your speech at the meeting was clearly nothing more than propaganda."

"You'd be surprised at how much of it I meant," Marluxia replied lightly, taking a seat at the side of the bed where Vexen lay.

"None?" Vexen guessed dully.

"I really do want to change the Organisation for the better," Marluxia began earnestly-

"- Spare me."

"I'm not asking for your trust. I know you wouldn't be strong enough to kill me. The others would be impassive to your cause to remove me from my position."

Curious; Vexen thought. Even on a one to one basis, it was still "position", not "throne" or "power" that Marluxia referred to. Vexen honestly wondered how long that would last.

"You shouldn't be so sure," He settled on muttering, a little thrown off by Marluxia's continuous humbling of himself.

The man in question sighed a little.

"All I want from you is a little of your medical and scientific expertees put to good use,"

"You want hearts," Vexen guessed easily. "You want a way to restore our hearts, without Kingdom Hearts being involved."

"Of course," Marluxia replied. "What else can we, as Nobodies, truly care for?"

There was a short silence as both men contemplated the notion set forth by the Assassin. Marluxia was the first to speak.

"So can it be done?"

This time the silence was longer; Vexen tilted his head back to rest it against the pillows propped up for him, mind lost for a moment in calculative thought.

"Yes," He finally said. "I daresay with the right time and equipment, I could synthesise functional hearts."

Marluxia smiled.

"I will supply anything you need."

Vexen gave him a mildly suspicious look.

"Anything?"

"Within reason." Marluxia quickly amended. "I doubt a coffee percolator, for instance, would be so useful to the cause."

"Oh," Said Vexen, "I would beg to disagree."