Author's Note: I am VERY, VERY, VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY SORRY that I haven't updated in a LOOOOONG time. T.T I had both writer's block and, what my little "sister" calls, LAZYITIS. I hope that you all forgive me. T.T
Disclaimer: In the first chapter.
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"That, and gratitude it seems," said Lexaeus, strolling alongside his fellow Nobody, Saix, "He excels in this rather naturally."
Massaging his shoulder with two of his fingers, Saix responded in a neutral voice, "Which is not a good thing. We Nobodies shouldn't be distracted by the farce of what we believe to be "feelings", nor can we waste our precious time when we have a more significant goal at hand. Am I correct?" The pain in his shoulder reduced itself into only a slight foreign throbbing, and he dropped his hand down to his side.
"I suppose..." Lexaeus said, walking around the sharp corner of a tall building that contributed one black wall to a small alleyway. As he paced to the end of the alleyway, he added, "Though, what are we if we cannot even spare some time to remember what it was like?" Saying this, he raised his hand and waved a summons for a Corridor of Darkness.
Saix halted in his steps, looking at the larger man in a peculiar way as he disappeared into the swirls of darkness that the portal held. Saix turned to glimpse back at the younger Nobody, Demyx. There he stood in the open, breathing the air and seeming to enjoy the light downpour of rain that began fall from the sky. In the deep abyss of his mind, the Berserker noted how far, far away Demyx seemed to be from the rest of them. Turning away from the scene, he let the eerie aura of soft light engulf him to wash away such thoughts, and he closed his eyes. He could feel his primal instincts begin to churn in his chest, powerful and dark instincts, soft and innocent instincts maybe, instincts that screamed for no restraint and clawed to shatter the sanity of his mind and spill its contents into lunacy and rage-
He snapped open his lids, awakening from the trance. Immediately he stepped into the shadow casted by the building next to him, out of sight of the large heart-shaped moon. The thing that had threatened to rip his chest open slinked away in disappointment, leaving the familiar feeling of an empty hole behind.
Kingdom Hearts beckoned to him from afar, coaxing him to come out from the shadows that limited its pure moonlight so...
Releasing his breath, Saix ignored its call and made quick pace to the portal. The light shower of rain continued on in rings of pitter-patter, little clear puddles beginning to form on the black concrete.
Before stepping in the dark portal and leaving the grounds of the World That Never Was, he said to himself, "To remember..." He looked back to the open space where Demyx resided, still enjoying both the drops of water and moonlight probably, and a sound escaped his lips, "Tch." He twisted himself back to the portal and through it he went, the darkness embracing him and blinding him of any moonlight, soft rain and the thoughts of memories for a few fleeting moments.
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In the darkness Lexaeus stood, waiting in patience with his arms folded across his chest. Saix caught sight of him and walked towards the larger man, his footstep's echoes rushing beyond any invisible walls and never to return again. When he stood beside the man, Saix turned around to face the portal, and raised his hand to dismiss it. Lexaeus caught his wrist before he could, though, and said, "Wait, leave it open so Demyx will not get lost when he finally catches up," then he released his wrist.
Saix side-glanced him, and kept his hand up. Lexaeus added, "Remember what happened two months ago? When he was supposed to arrive in Port Royal, and instead wounded up in Singapore?"
The Berserker's mouth almost twitched into a smirk when the memory of that was recalled, saying, "Yes, I do, and I also remember how he had came waltzing through the Corridor into the Castle as if he'd been a drunk, no-good pirate his entire youth." With that being said, he let his hand fall and allowed the portal to continue on.
Nodding, Lexaeus summoned another portal to appear, and said, "We're going to leave this one open too, for Demyx."
Agreeing in a nod of his own, Saix walked in a swift motion into the portal, not waiting for Lexaeus to go through first. Behind him, he could hear a "Huh," definitely from the senior member of the pair.
The swirls of black, purple and blue surrounded him for about a few moments, and released him as he stepped onto a dim, white marble floor. The room Saix had strolled into what resembled a white rotunda, with an amount of tall pillars of pale stone lining the circular walls. On the floor, rings of different metallic elements created the effect of a lustrous ripple, all of them leading to a few round steps. Saix took a few steps forward, and stopped after realizing how loud the sounds of his boots squeaked.
"So it was you who took the new pair of boots that I had made for Zexion." Saix twisted his neck and shoulders around to see Lexaeus had arrived. In his eyes, Saix could spot out the impression of smugness written on Lexaeus's face, maybe.
Saix replied in a calm voice, "I simply found them lying around with no one there to claim them." He then pulled down his black hood with two hands, releasing his wind blue hair from its restraint and fully revealing the X-shaped scar between his eyes. It had since been reduced to two slight lines crossing each other.
His eyes turned back to the altar, observing it with the smallest ounce of curiosity. Saix's eyes traced the altar from its intricate design of colorless vines to the smooth depression carved into the middle. Nothing interesting about it really, beside its design; could have been a fourth step for all Saix cared. Skipping the rest of the altar to look at the walls, he noticed one short crack that traced the lining where the floor met the bottom of the wall. He also, finally, noticed that there were no other holes or cracks or any sort of opening at all in the wall, not one window or door, just that single crack. A rather beautiful rotunda chamber? Yes. No way to come in or escape? No. Definitely not a place for one to be trapped within.
Lexaeus must have noticed Saix's doubt of the place, for he put one boot forward to the altar, and said, "It isn't the room itself, it's what is resting within the altar that you should check on."
"Oh?" Saix replied. He made a quick glance to the mentioned altar.
"Yes," Lexaeus said, pulling down his own hood, "The main goal of this mission is to locate the heart of this world, because, apparently, the heart is right in front of us. Out in the open. A powerful one, too." He then made a good pace towards the altar; his orange-brown hair stroked back, his sharp chin and cheek bones jutting out among his facial features. Saix followed him close by, more curious to see what the man wanted to point out to him.
As they reached the marble structure, Saix started to see what laid in the bowl-like depression: a pile of black dirt, lying with sharp contrast to its white surroundings. Saix raised one bluish eyebrow, and looked to Lexaeus in a questioned gaze.
Sighing, Lexaeus muttered, "This is why we have to brief the lot of you before we go on missions like this..." then straight out pointed his finger at what Saix had missed.
The Berserker followed the direction of where Lexaeus's finger pointed. There in the black dirt, almost as dark-colored as the soil it stood upon, was a little twig, barely reaching 5 inches to the max. For a few moments, Saix stared at the twig, then looked at Lexaeus, then looked back at the twig.
"... What is that?"
Pointing again, Lexaeus answered, "That is the reason why we're here in the first place." Walking around the altar along the lowest step, he said, "There is also a reason why the three of us were chosen for this mission. I was chosen for my element with the earth. Demyx was chosen for his element of water." He stopped his walking when he had gotten halfway around the altar, then in a matter-of-fact voice, he said, "You were chosen because you are the only one among us who is close enough to resemble the locals here, who seem to have a close relationship with their moon."
"Really," Saix said. He then shook his head, and added, "I agree with you now. There should be meetings so we could be briefed before missions."
"True, true," Lexaeus said, nodding his head, "Honestly, I..." he trailed off, looking off into the distance. Suddenly, he twisted his neck toward the spot where the portal still stood.
"...Lexaeus?" asked Saix.
Lexaeus raised on gloved hand, saying, "Didn't you hear that?"
Unsure, Saix said, "Hear what?"
The larger man started to walk toward the dark portal, lending an ear to the silent sounds of shadows. After a few minutes of awkward naught and silence, Lexaeus said, "I thought I heard someone scream."
More silence followed, then Saix took a few careful steps towards Lexaeus, somewhat confused at the sudden change of subject. "A scream," he finally asked, "from the Corridors?"
Lexaeus looked to him in such a way that it made something run a sharp and cold chill down Saix's spine. "Yes," Lexaeus answered, "and it sounded very much like Demyx's voice." Then, he walked closer to the portal, a wary stance in the way he walked.
Saix hesitated just a bit, even when Lexaeus passed him by in a more hurried mode, the decided to follow him. Probably just a sudden Heartless attack, Saix thought.
"Prepare yourself for anything, Saix," Lexaeus warned, now standing in front of the portal.
"Even if it's just a few Shadows?" replied Saix in a curt voice.
"Even if it's just a few-"
A small shiny glint alit from the Corridor. Saix didn't see it; Lexaeus did.
"What is-" Lexaeus started, and then saw the upcoming thing. "MOVE!" he screamed, but Saix didn't understand and therefore didn't move much.
In a swift and smooth stretch of his arm, Lexaeus shoved Saix behind the nearest pillar, right before the Corridor of darkness filled with light. Spilling into the chamber like fluid water, the light made the whole place become blinding.
The shadows created from the impact of the sudden illumination intensified, including the straight one that Saix found himself in. As the shadow grew more black and menacing, the already white rotunda brightened and whitened to the peak of being ridiculous.
The room became warmer, flashing and screaming in the bath of the whiteness. Sweating and uncomfortable, Saix began to lose sight of any definition that used to be there in front of him: Lexaeus, the floor, the pillars, the altar, himself, so on and so on. With whirling sounds swallowing down his hearing, a thought flashed across his mind that he probably was going to spend the rest of his empty life in a heated simplicity...
As soon as the whole thing happened, it ended.
Saix didn't actually, as far as honesty can go, believe that the white light and heat just vanished in one instant, at first. But then, the air started to cool down a bit, and Saix's temple started to drip with little sweat drops that eagerly absorbed in the coolness with ease. Sensing he was sweating, Saix swiftly pulled out a maroon-colored handkerchief out of his coat's pocket and wiped away the sweat forming. He folded it into four squares, the dampened part (Brief mental picture, anyone?) on the inside of the folds, before tucking it back into his pocket.
He will not lose his calm attitude, not right now, anyway. Might as well reserve it for whatever he is going to encounter once he gathers the stamina to even stand up.
Well… Saix sat in the faint shadow of the pillar with a cooling head and an empty stomach, waiting to get that stamina back. His stomach gave off a grumble of emptiness.
He needed food soon, and he knew it. Breathing deeply, Saix wobbled unsteadily onto his feet, leaning against the pillar for support. Bit by bit did he edge toward the openness of the rotunda, close to both exposing himself and leaving the safety of the shadow. Honestly, he never actually felt this weary for a long time, not since the time Vexen decided to experiment on the "neophytes" in their sleep.
He was coming close to the edge of the shadow now, ready yet unprepared to face what he had to face. Tiny, shiny beads of sweat returned to his forehead, lining the X-scar and making it glisten. Every second felt like an added pound, every moment of silence grew with impatience, every pale blue hair on his body trembled in anticipation, every-
"Oh with hell with this!" Saix lunged out of the shadow in a fleeting move and recovered quickly.
At first, he didn't notice anything unusual, but then he spotted the odd thing out. It took a few spare moments for Saix's mind to filter out what stood before him, shocked expression and all on his face.
Saix muttered on word: "Shit."
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Xigbar crumpled his newspaper in a grip. Xaldin twitched at the noise, and turned to the one-eyed man.
"What is it now?" Xaldin asked in a grumpy-like voice.
"I don't know, dude…" Xigbar replied, "I've been having all these fellow-Nobody-dudes-being-taken-out-one-by-one tingly senses all day."
"Hmph."
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Is it actually fair to leave a chapter on a cliff hanger when I hadn't updated in over… THREE or more months??? NO, it isn't. But, I don't feel that it's right to continue this little chapter here, even though it isn't exactly Demyx-circling or something like that… even though this story IS suppose to be about him…
Anyways, I am seriously going to try to get at least ONE MORE chapter up during the following week. AT LEAST. But then, I most likely lost most of the readers who gave me such nice views and reviews. T.T I feel guilty now. DX