Stuck

Disclaimer: I do not own KH.

...seriously. No reviews and favorites, one alert and 34 hits. I really need to work on my plot ideas. I know that the beginning of this chapter is in Selene's POV, but the rest of it is in semi-Zexion POV.

Chapter 2: This is Going to be a Long Day...

-Dream Sequence: Selene-

I look around, perplexed. This is strange... suddenly, I find myself at the crossroads. Before I could decide which path to take, however, my feet moved on their own and chose the left path, which actually looked less inviting than the other. I blinked. What's going on? Perhaps this is a dream... no, I'm sure I'm dreaming. And then I'll wake up and find that the lab incident never happened...

I stop dead in my tracks and star. In front of me is my home city, in ruins. I blink. This is impossible... I am certain that this is a dream now. There is no way that my home city, which is a well-known place might I add, could be in ruins.

Whish

What was that? I turn, but find only a colorless expanse behind me. No path was found. Gulping, I turn back to the city and begin to sweat. But there's no other way... I suck in a breath and walk towards the ruined buildings, making a mental note to forget this dream later on. This cannot bode well.

You who seeks freedom...

I jump and turn. I'm trying to say, "WHO'S THERE?!", but no sound is willing to come out of my muted throat. What's going on? Muscles tense, I clench my fists and wait for the worst to happen.

You know who I am...

"No I don't!" I wanted to yell, but again, no sound would come out. I grit my teeth; this is getting really annoying.

Oh... but you do.

A gnarled, bony hand is suddenly gripping my shoulder, and I attempt to yelp in surprise. Not scream. I haven't screamed for about three years. But that's beside the point. After all, all thoughts are erased from my mind as I lay my eyes on the hooded figure in front of me. No, it isn't an Organization member, unless he is able to float a foot above the ground, wears a flowing robe-like piece of clothing and carries a very large scythe. Wait, Marluxia uses a scythe, but his is pink and green, not black and silver.

Needless to say, the Grim Reaper in front of me is very terrifying.

I am frozen in fear. You can't blame me for that, you know, since this is a dream. I'm sure of it. The Grim Reaper's hand is gripping my shoulder harder and he leans in, his face still not visible under his hood. His ice cold breath is piercing my skin, and I'm starting to shake. Darn it. This is becoming a nightmare...

You've been suppressing me for too long...

"How so?" I mouth, trying to glare at him... or her. Whatever the Grim Reaper's gender is (for all I know, he could be an 'it'), they still won't get away from me.

I am not who I appear to be...

"Then who are you?" I asked mutely, frustrated. Okay, maybe the Grim Reaper isn't as scary now, but he is really getting on my nerves. "Quit talking in riddles and tell me."

But where is the fun in that?

I swear, this one needs to go through Grim school or something. He is not at all scary and... wait, is it just me, or is he turning two-dimensional? He is... oh, merciful Lord, please tell me that he did not just turn into my shadow. This is actually getting disturbing. And the shadow is rising and becoming a pitch-black version of me, which does not bode well.

Having fun? I know I am...

Like the Grim Reaper, my Shadow is walking towards me, what should be her face turning towards mine. She grabs my arms and pulls me close to her. I stare at her in horror.

What's wrong? Afraid to show others your other self?

"...shut up," I grumble/mouth. I try to shake her off, but my body won't let me. I think it's because she's my shadow. But regardless, she still let go after a moment. I am about to say a sarcastic thank you but I have a feeling that she's smirking. It didn't take me long to figure out why. Suddenly, a pair of arms is wrapping around my shoulders, and I immediately turn around. The person's face is hidden, but I can feel their ironlike grip and I doubt that it's a hug. He/She is restraining me. "LET GO OF ME!" I attempt to yell, kicking the person. However, my leg went right through their body, as if they were a ghost. But that can't be. They're holding onto me right now...

Panicking, are we? Scared that the stranger will hurt you?

My annoying shadow just had to point out the obvious, didn't she? But she is right. But then again, that might have something to do with the fact that she was barely an inch away from me. Before I know it, she's inside of me, and I'm feeling cold right now...

¤-¤-¤-¤

"GET OUT OF ME!!" yelled a half-conscious nobody as she aimed a kick randomly. Zexion, who was completely unprepared for this attack and stood next to her bed, was sent flying halfway across the room in surprise and landed with a thud. The whole room was silent as the Schemer got up, disgruntled, and glared at the newly-made nobody.

"That was an interesting reaction," stated Vexen flatly, glancing at the monitor. Her pulse had become normal again, but she was breathing rather quickly. "But she's not going to fade, I can assure you all that."

"...uh, what she said sounded wrong," commented Demyx, making a face. Zexion, who arrived at the two beds, rolled his eyes. Leave it to the most laid-back of the Organization to make a completely inappropriate comment at that time. But true to Vexen's word, that girl really wasn't fading, and her eyes were slowly opening. Suddenly, the girl (he remembered that the boy called her 'Selene') snapped her eyes open and turned her head to the left, where the four nobodies were staring at her. She quickly turned her head back and slammed her eyes shut, muttering things like 'this is a dream' and 'I am not stuck here in a fictional world'...

The nobodies exchanged glances. Fictional world? Sure, they were supposed to be nonexistent, but "fictional" would be pushing it. Xemnas was the first to speak. "On the contrary," he stated, making Selene tense up in alarm, "this is quite real and I doubt that we are fictional." Slowly, the girl turned her head back at him, wide-eyed. Her mahogany eyes stared at him almost unblinkingly in shock; even he, the Superior, felt mildly uncomfortable under her gaze.

"...I'm a nobody now?" she asked. Again, she surprised the group. She knew about nobodies?

"...yes, you are," stated Vexen, scribbling the words 'KNOWS ABOUT NOBODIES' on his clipboard. "Welcome to Organization XIII," he added in a monotone. The girl just shifted her stare to him, though this time, her mouth was agape. Vexen went back to his clipboard, and stated, 'CAN IMITATE EMOTIONS VERY WELL'. He glanced up; she was still gawking at him. He added to his notes, 'FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME'.

"WHAT?!" she shouted, hitting and cracking the headboard in two in the process when she accidentally leaned back. There was another silence in the room as the four organization members stared at the now-useless bed headboard. Vexen, who recovered first, scribbled, 'AND HAS A HARD HEAD'. Zexion, who was watching him write the whole time, was the second to snap out of it and rolled his eyes. He glanced back at the girl, but noticed that she had promptly fainted again.

"We may have to check her for a concussion this time," observed Xemnas, and stood up. "Inform me when she wakes up. Demyx, you are dismissed. Vexen and Zexion, I would like you two to continue watching over our two... guests." With that, the Superior created a portal and exited the vicinity, followed by Demyx, who was giving curious looks at the now-unconscious girl. Sighing, Vexen wrote down a few more notes on her reaction and gingerly set the clipboard down, going back to monitoring her condition.

Zexion examined the headboard, making a mental note to ask Lexaeus to fix that later after his workout period. He glanced at the boy whom he knocked out with his lexicon earlier; his state was more stable, but he was still out cold. Also, he had no doubt that the boy, too, was a nobody. He still had a heartbeat, but his intellectual, spiritual, soulful (or whatever you'd like to call it) heart was gone. After all, without the physical heart, the vessel cannot live. This is true even for nobodies. After all, they are the discarded imprint of the bodies of the previously whole beings, contrary to their name. Just like how 'heartless' are actually composed of a person's heart that is swallowed by darkness.

(Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

"Ugh..." Zexion turned to the source of the groan, and, unsurprisingly, the boy from earlier was stirring. His pulse, which had been irregular since he was knocked out, was normal again. Unlike his companion, he sat up slowly and opened his eyes one by one. He then blinked twice, and turned his head towards Zexion and Vexen. Then, he blinked some more and, like his companion, stated bluntly, "I am in a dream right now, aren't I?"

Vexen's eye twitch in annoyance. "No, this is reality, yes, you are a nobody, welcome to Organization XIII, and don't faint again like your little friend here," he stated in one breath, jabbing a thumb towards Selene. When the scientist said 'yes', the boy had his mouth open, but shut it abruptly. Then, he followed Vexen's thumb to his fallen comrade and gasped. He jumped up before the two other nobodies could stop him and was by her side in a heartbeat.

"Selene. Selene! Wake up or I'll have to punch you... again!" he yelled, shaking her violently. Sighing, Zexion went up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. The boy turned around again and looked up... er, down, since he was taller than Zexion by about an inch.

"She simply fainted," the Schemer stated, rolling his eyes. "She should be up in an hour or so. I imagine that the idea of being a nobody had overwhelmed her, as that was the last thing we told her before she became unconscious. But just for the record... how did she break the headboard just by slamming her head against it?" he questioned, gesturing towards the cracked piece of furniture.

The boy sweat dropped. "Uh, I don't think that was intentional," he stated, shrugging. "I guess that I'll just watch out for her headbutts from now on..."

"I see." Zexion turned to him and extended his hand. "Zexion, number six of the organization."

"I'm Lio Brighton and this is Selene Bromine," answered the boy with a sheepish smile, pointing at his friend with one hand and taking Zexion's with the other. "So... what are we supposed to do?"

"First," stated Vexen, making the boy jump, "we will have to wait for Bromine to wake up. It will save the trouble of repeating things if we just explain everything when both of you are conscious. I am Vexen, number four of the Organization." He turned back to his clipboard before pausing. "Hold on. Isn't Bromine an element?"

"How am I supposed to know?" asked Lio, snorting. "We're strictly rivals, and we don't ask each other about personal things like where we got our last names from."

Zexion raised an eyebrow. "From the way you acted towards her when she was unconscious, I would've guessed that you two were siblings, or at least good friends," he observed. Lio turned slightly pink and mumbled something about not helping but worry about anybody who needs help. Zexion shook his head. So they're so rival-like that they've developed a close bond, huh...?

¤-¤One Hour Later¤-¤

"Ugh..."

"She's waking up," murmured Zexion, drawing the attention of the other two to the groggy female. She silently shook her head a few times as if to clear it before she looked around the room, this time with a calmer face on. She seemed slightly surprised to find Vexen and Zexion there, but she did give Lio a small nod of recognition.

She turned back to the two 'veterans', this time with a more sullen look on her face that suggested that she had had a long battle in her mind while she was asleep. "Okay. I accept the fact that I'm in the headquarters of Organization XIII and that I am currently a nobody, as is Lio over here," she stated monotonously, crossing her arms. Vexen raised an eyebrow. Zexion guessed that he was wondering how she became so accepting through her sleep, but he decided not to say anything. Sighing, Selene stood up to brush her clothes free of dust, but in the process glanced at Zexion and blinked. "Is it just me, or are you only an inch taller than me...?" Zexion rolled his eyes. Why did his height matter?

For the next fifteen minutes, Zexion and Vexen explained to Lio and Selene almost everything about the Organization before they started asking questions. If anything, the two 'guests' looked bored, as if they had already known everything about them, from their goals to the names of each and every member. Still, the two politely listened. Actually, Selene politely listened and whenever Lio was about to yawn or cut in, she kicked him to make him keep quiet. Now they were acting more like rivals.

"Now that you know the basics," stated Vexen, setting his clipboard down, "we're supposed to bring you to Xemnas so he can decide what we're to do with you two." He swiftly got up and then paused, as if pondering something. "You two don't know how to make a corridor of darkness yet, right?"

"We've been nobodies for less than twelve hours. I'd be surprised if anybody would be able to create one in such a short amount of time," stated Selene in a bored tone. Her smart-aleck comment earned her a glare from Vexen, but he said nothing in response. Instead, he opened a corridor, and Zexion followed suit. Without hesitation, Lio stepped through the corridor Vexen created and Selen through Zexion's. All four then found themselves in front of what could be called an office, and a certain silver-haired man sat across from them.

"Sir," greeted Selene and Lio, though the former did so emotionlessly while the latter looked at him with some sort of distrust or uncertainty.

"Selene Bromine and Lio Brighton, is it?" asked Xemnas, eyeing the two with interest. Selene gave a stiff nod while Lio tried to crack a smile. No such luck. "Good. And I trust that Numbers IV and VI have already told you about the basics?" Again, they nodded. "Then, to put things bluntly, I would appreciate it if you two would join the organization."

"WHAT?!" yelled both skeptically, causing Xemnas, Zexion and Vexen to recoil slightly away from them in surprise. The two teenagers glanced at each other, as if surprised that they agreed on something, but Selene was the first to speak.

"With all due respect sir," she stated, trying to sound reasonable, "isn't this a bit sudden? You have no idea who we are other than our names, and besides, you have no idea what our abilities are and how we will get along with the others. I mean, so far, we have only met four members, and even though we seem to get along well enough with you four, who knows what will happen with the others?" However, that wasn't her real motive. She did not want to disrupt the world, even though she and Lio were probably already disrupting it simply by being there. Furthermore, this was still Organization XIII. She knew that the fourteenth member, whoever she was, needed to be number XIV soon, not number XVI.

Xemnas raised an eyebrow. "Then what do you propose?" he asked, resting his chin and the rest of the lower part of his face on his folded hands. His pensive eyes went between the two nobodies, as if trying to find out their true motives without having to actually ask.

"...that we become the servant and maid?" suggested Lio. Everything seemed to freeze in the room after he said that. He was mostly receiving 'are you crazy' looks from the other four, minus Xemnas who just looked on with slight amusement. He shrugged and shifted uncomfortably on his spot. "Hey, it's worth a try. I mean, some of you guys may not be the cleanest and we could work here and in exchange, get a roof over our heads. Heck, we'll even do some missions if you really need to, but I'm mainly thinking about being servants and maids."

There was a very long silence in the room as the four others considered his idea. Selene was a lot more doubting of this idea, it seemed to Zexion, probably because she would be forced to be the 'maid'. He almost felt pity for her, since she was practically dragged into this agreement. Well, if Xemnas agrees, that is...

"...I suppose that would not hurt," the Superior said slowly, eyeing the two new nobodies warily, as if considering whether or not this is all a trick. "However, let me ask, why do you two want to be in this organization in the first place?"

"It's either this, or dying," snorted Selene. Her little comment caused all of the other nobodies to turn towards her with mixed expressions. Zexion looked curious while Vexen gave her an irritated scowl. As for Lio, it was now his turn to give her an 'are you crazy' look, while Xemnas remained fairly impassive and calm, if not slightly interested. The only female in the room rolled her eyes. "Well, come on. You can't deny the fact that you would probably interrogate, torture or kill anybody who opposes you... or should I say, could probably interrogate, etc. You guys have the power. Actually," she added, "it wouldn't actually be 'dying'. I guess we'd fade, since technically, we're already dead. Besides, it's not like the two of us have anywhere else to go and be welcomed."

"You have a point," agreed the Superior, to Zexion's slight shock. He would have thought that Xemnas would have taken a slight offense at her words, but apparently, the man was impressed by her analyzing skills, not that her short monologue proved much about her character other than her cynical point of view. Xemnas stood up, and eyed the two teens before he turned to Vexen and Zexion. "Number IV analyze the data that you have acquired during the period that these two were knocked out. Number VI, you will be the chaperones for these two, since you seem to be more responsible than most of the others." Zexion blinked. What did he say? Did he just ask him, one of the original six, to babysit the maid and servant? "Your first task is to show them the kitchen and then give them a tour of the castle. I will send somebody to you later to give you further instructions. Dismissed." Without giving them a chance to say another word, he created a corridor of darkness and disappeared.

"...I'll be in my lab," muttered Vexen as he exited the room via portal (Which is what I will now call the corridors of darkness for convenience' sake).

There was an uncomfortable silence in the room as Zexion pondered how he should follow the Superior's orders. Perhaps he should just introduce the members as he went along, and that would be better than going to each room, knocking on their doors and introducing the two neophytes. Sighing in resignation, he began creating a portal. "Come on; you two are hungry, are you not?" he asked emotionlessly. As if on cue, Lio's stomach growled and he flushed slightly. Rolling her eyes, Selene stepped through the portal after Zexion, and Lio followed soon after. There was only one thing that ran through all of their minds.

'This is going to be a LONG day...'

¤-¤-¤-¤

...I'm not getting much motivation for this story. Helping Artemis with those Naruto stories is a bit easier, but to those who actually like this story, I'm not going to leave this one unfinished. I've been interested in Zexion since about a year and a half ago, when a classmate of mine introduced me to Organization XIII (I never paid much attention to them before because I only played KH:CoM). However, my interest in Kingdom Hearts fluctuates a lot. So, don't expect consistent updates (though I'll do my best).

Over 3000 words not including Author's notes... that's more than last time.

Anyway, enough with my rambling; I would appreciate reviews. I know that not many people read fics with Ocs in them. Constructive criticism is welcome. And, happy Lunar New Year to those who celebrate it.