Be Careful =3 it starts getting interesting from here on out. And as always, the chapters start getting longer the further into the story they get. So enjoy that =3

There is also a gratitous reference to a suggestion from Becoafamu right there in the first chapter, so enjoy that too!

Anyway, without further adue, Dem- ... Uh, Xigbar?


Chapter Three - Getting the Ball Rolling

Xigbar trotted down the castle hallways quickly. His dark streaked hair streamed out behind him as the sound of his swishing Organization coat echoed down the empty halls. Well, almost empty halls. He had seen Xaldin just moments before, yet the man had been too lost in thought to notice Xigbar tip-toeing down a side corridor. It was Xigbar's distinct opinion that 'The Whirlwind Lancer' wasn't quite the right title for Xaldin. It was far too straight-forward for how disturbingly conniving the tall man was. If it had been up to Xigbar, he would've chosen something much more truthful. Something like ... The Silver-Tongued Lancier. Yeah, that was much better.

Snapping out of that train of thought, Xigbar focussed on what he was supposed to be doing. Well, to be fair, he was supposed to be in his room watching the events unfold on one of those high-tech oddly shaped screens, but this kind of opportunity didn't come by every day. While most of the preferred members had been sent out this morning, he was sure at least one of the remaining nobodies would be willing to place a bet on the outcome. The more people he could get betting the better. He was sure Xemnas wouldn't exactly approve of something so decidedly 'not nothing', but what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. Besides, Xigbar wasn't exactly one to stick to mission guidelines. Following the rules just wasn't as fun as the alternative. If fun could be had, then putting up with Xemnas' monotony would be well worth it. The Organization was just lucky Saïx had risen so high in the ranks - Xigbar made quite a terrible Number II as far as being boring was concerned.

Xigbar slowed his quick sneaking as he came to an intersection between two crossing hallways. He thought for a moment and took the left path. It was the only valid option considering neither Axel nor Luxord were still here in The Castle that Never Was. Those two were his most frequent gambling partners, with Demyx coming up a close third. Demyx didn't understand the rules so much when he participated, but he liked the fun of it – and this made him very easy to get stuff out of. He supposed it may have been fairer if someone actually sat down and explained the rules to him for once, but no-one exactly wanted him to start winning. Demyx had the ability to be quite brilliant under pressure.

Xigbar came to another fork in his path and paused momentarily, casually glancing from one path to the other. To the uninitiated, the paths were practically identical. Whitish-grey walls on either side, riddled with the Neo-themed-Castle's trendy cables and computer chippy things. Further down out of sight, a section of the left path served as a balcony that looked over one of the vast rooms of the castle. The room in question was one of those huge gallant halls they had for - some reason. It at least fit the technological theme quite well, with all its neon lit pathways and marble statues. The fact that it was all a very bright white colour surely made it seem all the more impressive - you know, for a giant floating castle in the sky. Definitely impressive to the uninitiated, but Xigbar knew he was just stalling his choice of pathway out of sheer uncertainty. He casually bobbed his grizzled head from side to side. Who would be more open to fun?

He settled on Zexion. The guy was known for having a fun streak when he wasn't being all nerdy and reading, yet Xigbar knew all too well that Zexion was one of those stick-to-the-mission-until-it's-completely-done types. It might take some fast talking to convince the kid, but hey, anything was better than Vexen.

Picking up his pace again, Xigbar scooted down the right path, but then quickly slowed to a casual walk when he heard footsteps coming from further down the hall. He was completely unsurprised to see Lexaeus heading towards him - or heading past him rather. The guy spent quite a lot of time with Zexion. With a sly grin, Xigbar raised his hand in wordless wave. Lexaeus merely nodded as they passed each other.

A few steps later Xigbar was struck by a brilliant idea. He threw up his hands and spun on the spot, pointing back towards Lexaeus.

"Hey! Big guy!"

Lexaeus slowed enough to look back at Xigbar carefully, his thick brow making him look decidedly uninterested. Utterly failing to hide a hopeful smile, Xigbar trotted back up the hallway to the far-taller-and-far-wider nobody. He casually placed an arm on Lexaeus' shoulder and matched his long pace to walk beside him.

"Headed anywhere in particular?" Xigbar asked, vaguely trying to act like he struck up conversation with Lexaeus like this on a more common basis.

"Just following orders."

"Well hey, I'd hate to let a fun day like this go to waste," Xigbar accompanied his statement with an excited gesture from his other hand, "What would you say to making this whole event a little more ... interesting?"

Lexaeus was eyeing him sideways, but from the fact that he hadn't immediately declined Xigbar knew he was in. Perhaps with the Silent Hero on his side he could draw in a few of the others. In fact, he knew he could. One sensible member was all it took to draw in most of the rest. He would have to move fast, and be careful, but for someone who hung upside down from the ceiling to scare people like Larxene this wouldn't prove a problem whatsoever. Especially if Xemnas' Plan B kicked in - then he was absolutely guaranteed to win.


Demyx's whistling was brought to an abrupt halt as he came to the end of the narrow rock-walled corridor. Apparently thin spaces lined with sharp walls weren't enough of a challenge for Demyx, and now he was being presented with a fantastically huge chasm instead. It seemed almost like an earthquake had cut a straight path through the rocky terrain, leaving the other side of the corridor just there on the other side of the jagged gap. Demyx was confronted with amusing thoughts of a giant cutting a piece of cake, with Demyx being left with the task of getting across the endless fall between his slice and the next.

Luckily for Demyx, there was an incredibly unstable looking rope bridge hanging here exactly for that reason. Demyx frowned at it. Surely this kind of bridge was far too cliché to exist. People would always recount adventures where the rickety swaying bridge would break just as they happened to walk across it, yet this was absolute nonsense. If the bridge was that broken, it would have broken the last time someone tried to use it, and then some kind of Bridge Association Committee would have erected a small sign to warn of their incompetent bridge making skills. Demyx could see no sign however, just wooden planks held together by rather thick lengths of rope. You could even see the little steel staple things holding the rope and planks together. Clearly the people that fell to their certain deaths on these kinds of things were doing something horribly wrong; it was most certainly not the bridge's fault at all. Demyx felt rather sorry for the poor thing as he began to walk calmly across it.

He had walked roughly half way across the slightly rocking rope bridge when Demyx realised what a great view he had. The clear blue sky domed overhead, and the dark rocky walls of the chasm fell to some unimaginable depth below him. He held the hand-guide-rope with his hands and leaned over to see further down. It was quite a marvellous view really. It just went down and down and down until the sun could reach no further around the rocky chasms and all turned to darkness. It was like standing on the top of a tremendously tall tower but with no floor beneath you at all. He quite wished he had brought a camera with him or something.

As he looked back up he noticed one of the last things he had expected to see in a place like this; another person - and another member of the Organization at that. Roxas was standing at the end of the rope bridge, and for some odd reason he was looking at the support rope, his Keyblade in hand. Demyx had no idea whatsoever would be so interesting about looking at that particular piece of rope, unless Roxas was planning on joining that Bridge Association Committee and was filing a pre-emptive report of some kind. Whatever he was doing here, he was clearly looking at the wrong thing. This view of the chasm was just not to be missed. Demyx raised his arms and waved them both over at Roxas, who caught his eye and tightened the grip on his Keyblade with both hands.

"ROXAS! HEY!"

Roxas didn't reply as such. He just stood there holding his Keyblade, his eyes flickering back to the support rope. Demyx tried again.

"KID! Hey! Come look at this! The ravine must go down for MILES!" He gestured down over the side of the bridge to emphasise his point. "AMAZING ISN'T IT?" This time Roxas called back.

"I'm NOT looking!" He sounded rather angry. That was odd. Maybe the Committee had rejected his application.

"Aw come on Roxas! It looks great!"

"I won't fall for your tricks!" The clearly miffed kid of a nobody threw a last look at the support rope and shook his head in denial. "Just don't come any closer Demyx! You'll turn back now if you know what's good for you!"

And with that, Roxas turned and fled down the rocky corridor, his black Organization coat fluttering behind him as he rounded the corner and disappeared from sight. Demyx was left standing on the unstable little rope bridge wondering what on earth was up with the crazy kid. Perhaps puberty was rearing its ugly head. Nothing he had said made any sense whatsoever, and to make things even weirder he had seemed like he was trying to threaten Demyx. Demyx found this utterly baffling - the kid was shorter than Zexion. Zexion.

With an uncertain shrug of his shoulders Demyx decided to follow the poor guy and see what was up. He quickly traversed the rest of the rope bridge and just as he was patting the bridge's wooden post for a job well done, he heard a distinctively Roxas-sounding scream echo from down the rocky corridor.

Demyx was suddenly aware of how tall and menacing the dark rocky walls were when accompanied by the thoughts of imminent danger, yet he didn't have a moment to lose. He sped off down the cramped rocky hall in the direction Roxas had gone, and after merely a minute of sharp corners and tight squeezes he ran out into a wide walled basin, highly similar to the one he had first turned up in but quite a bit larger. The rocky walls were still rocky, the sandy floor was still sandy, yet the thing that was most distinctive about this part of the gorge in particular was that it had a Larxene standing smack bang in the middle of it.

Demyx blinked quickly, but it definitely wasn't an illusion. Her thin figure and lightning blonde hair made it unmistakable that this was indeed Larxene in all her intimidating glory. Demyx was certain he was taller than she was, but Larxene always managed to seem like the larger one whenever he was near her. He put it down to being utterly afraid of the crazy woman. Right now, however, she was oblivious to his existence and was bending over a dark robed figure lying limply on the ground. There was a rather distinctive blonde colour to the figure's hair, and the way it curled made Demyx clench his fists. Was that ... Roxas?

Without pausing to think, Demyx threw his hand up in the air. Jets of water spiralled up into it, swirling together and flashing into the form of his sitar. He held it at the ready with one hand, and pointed threateningly at Larxene with the other. He straightened his shoulders a little and summoned up his best authoritative voice, before demanding as harsh as he could that she explain what she was doing.

Larxene jolted with shock before spinning around to face him. Her eyes narrowed as her knives sprung quickly to her hands.

"You too then?" Larxene said coolly, sounding for all the world like she was amused. Demyx could only blink helplessly.

"Me too then what?" A knowing smile flashed on Larxene's face and she flourished her hand before her mockingly.

"Honestly Demyx, I expect even you to be more informed. There was a memo?" Her face had that upward tilt that wordlessly spoke of how little she thought of him. Wait, Memo? Demyx's mind flashed. Pink piece of paper. Door. This Morning.

...Damn!

"I Uh ... I have no idea what you're talking abou-"

With a squeal Demyx threw up his sitar just in time to catch three surprisingly forceful thuds. She had ATTACKED him.

Demyx spared no time for thought. He spun around backwards, pulling his oversized weapon around with him into an instinctive battle position; sitar held before him, both hands at the ready, eyebrows in intimidating mode. This was ON!

Without a moment's hesitation Larxene launched herself at him - her arms held wide with the distinctive glint of her knives between her fingers. She was a crazy person. But Demyx knew this already. One could not meet Larxene without immediately thinking words that rhymed with hazy ditch – and it seemed Demyx had just found himself in a full blown fight with said rhyming words. He wasn't too good at fighting, yet he had luckily found that sheer hysterical panic worked far better at times like this.

Demyx threw a hand down and immediately three gushing pillars of jet force water shot up, flying towards Larxene at a phenomenal speed. The middle one sparked and burst outward as Larxene leaped through it, crackling with the electrical energy that coursed around her in scorching arcs. She landed and a stream of knives immediately flew with deadly precision straight towards Demyx – only to be knocked out of the air by a sudden shot of water, bursting through the knives and colliding with Larxene, hitting her straight in the chest.

Without even flinching she threw her hands high over head. The sky darkened momentarily as bolts of lightning violently rained down, ripping into the ground and spraying explosions of dirt far into the air. Taking the chance to launch his own assault, Demyx hoisted up his sitar and dramatically strummed a tune he spontaneously called "Escaping the Psychotic Madwoman". With each note a blade thin slice of water shot spiralling forward into the haze of dirt Larxene had been shrouded in. Splashes of mud echoed from the debris, but he could hear no sound of contact with his target.

The sudden sound of an electrical surge above him caused Demyx to haphazardly throw his sitar up in front of his face once more, this time only barely deflecting a thin stream of thunder. Larxene was floating in the air only feet above him. Even worse, she may have dented his sitar. Oh that was it.

As she spun around gracefully in the air, gathering electrical charge to shoot at any second, Demyx leant back, spun his sitar with both hands and hurled it as hard as he could up at Larxene. She barely had the time to look surprised before the sitar hit her squarely in the jaw with a very satisfying thud. Then she fell limply out of the air and crumpled in a heap on the sodden dusty ground. Demyx sighed in sheer relief and sunk to his knees. Just what was going on today?

In a sudden twinge of guilt, Demyx crawled over to Larxene just to make sure he hadn't accidentally killed the evil witch. She was breathing at least. Demyx took that as a good sign. He had the very tempting urge to mess with her perfectly immaculate hair. For the sake of his future health, he opted against doing so. Only just.

Demyx got to his feet and wandered slowly over to where his sitar had fallen. He had the sinking feeling that he may have dented it even further with his sudden crazed hurling strategy, yet upon a swift and gentle inspection there wasn't a single dent. Huh... Well, awesome. He definitely wasn't going to complain.

Demyx brushed the dirt off his coat as he got to his feet, bouncing back and forth to make sure everything still worked. He took a last glance over at Larxene lying limply in the middle of the gorge, deciding she was much more preferable in an unconscious state. He then realised he had forgotten about Roxas, yet the kid was absolutely nowhere in sight. He scanned the basin quickly, but there was simply nothing else there except for Larxene. Perhaps Roxas had taken the opportunity to continue fleeing. Whether he had or not, Demyx mused that he had things to do, and he was sure Roxas could handle himself now that Larxene was out of the picture. It was then that Demyx further realised he had missed a perfectly good opportunity to say something witty and dramatic just as he felled a dangerous foe. That was quite a bummer, but at least he was a little closer to completing this mission already. Demyx was now free to spin on his heel and march off triumphantly.

And he did so proudly- only running back to kick Larxene once.


Vexen stood near the entrance of the room, guiding the lesser nobodies in their task. The Dusks wriggled their way over to one of the many pallets in the room and carelessly dumped Roxas' unconscious body down onto it, immediately slithering away once they had done as instructed. Vexen coolly paced over to his desk, skilfully pulled up his clipboard and scribbled a note before turning his head back over to the large glaring screen mounted on the wall. The screen flickered occasionally, but it was more than sufficient for watching the desired members' progress.

He pursed his lips as he watched Larxene's counter abruptly stop and then disappear. The screen flickered to where she had been lying, and sure enough, she was no longer there. Vexen was most disappointed. His analysis had shown that undisturbed she would have been unconscious long enough for her to be ruled out, yet it seemed that something had indeed moved her further. Perhaps something had kicked her in passing.

Barely suppressing a mumble Vexen made another note on his clipboard. At the sound of the powered door sliding open, he turned his angular face and saw the thick form of Lexaeus approaching him quickly. The taller man glanced over at Roxas with an unreadable look on his face before starting to speak. Vexen didn't have time for these interruptions, but what he said made sense enough. Yes, perhaps he could use this to his advantage.


Caaaan you guess the plot yet? = 3 My editor came amazingly close, so I will assume it starts to get a lot more obvious here. If not, then don't worry =D Demyx is just as confused as you.

The Next chapter is swiftly approaching too, so keep an eye out o_o