The staircase seemed to go on forever to the peak of the castle. Finally, we reached the top and stepped into a dark corridor. At the end of the hall was a bright light. As we strode towards the far end, Axel turned and whispered in my ear.
"When we get in there," he hissed hurriedly, "do not say one word, unless spoken to directly. Got it memorized?" I nodded. His hot breath so close to my face held the acidic tang of burning flesh and soot, a completely different scent from three years ago. Ale's breath had smelled like his mom's cooking. The contrast made be flinch away and walk a little faster.
The light in the tall room was truly blinding in comparison to the dark hall. I squinted through the intensity to get a better look at my surroundings. The room was circular, with monstrous thrones of different heights around the wall. There were thirteen thrones in all, and only about six were filled. All those present looked exactly the way Axel had in the square, the hoods of their cloaks pulled over their heads, the resulting shadows concealing their faces. I heard a loud, gruff voice call down from the thrones.
"Axel, what is the meaning of this?" the voice snickered condescendingly, "you know the rule about outsiders." Axel grimaced slightly.
"Yes, Xigbar, I'm perfectly aware. She followed me here. She was my Somebody's best friend." A chorus of 'ohs' and chuckles replied to the statement. I heard Demyx teleport behind us, and a second later he appeared sitting in one of the lower thrones. At the same time, the owner of the tallest throne materialized about ten feet from me and began to saunter forward.
"So my dear," he called, "please enlighten us. Why should we not kill you right here for knowing too much?" Well that was blunt. I cringed and opened my mouth to answer. Before I could speak though, Axel jumped to my defence.
"She can see the future when she dreams Xemnas," he replied, "She could forewarn us about… stuff." The cloaked figure laughed and pulled down his hood. The man, Xemnas I guess, had coffee coloured skin and thick silver hair that stuck out on the top and sides of his head. His grin was friendly, but there was a sadistic gleam in his eyes.
"Fine," he smirked at me, "since you have the commendation of a current member, we will give you a trial period. If you prove to not be useful to us, you will be killed." An amused cackle echoed down from the thrones. I bowed my head and managed a 'thank you'. Xemnas turned to Axel.
"Find a room for her in the west wing," he ordered, "make sure she is comfortable." Axel nodded, turned and gestured for me to follow. I bowed once more to Xemnas, best to butter up the guy who holds your life in his hands, and followed Axel back into the dark corridor.
Demyx appeared before us, grinning. I smiled back.
"Good to see you again Maretto," I chuckled at his childishly gleeful expression. Axel laughed out loud at my nickname, simply another word for 'mullet'.
"You and your nicknames, Kami-kaze," he chortled. Demyx had a thoughtful expression.
"Hey," his face lit up, "Maretto sounds like ice-cream!" Axel and I snickered.
‡‡‡
Our little group materialized inside a spacious room. It could have been taken straight out of a grand hotel, had it not been for the dark and sombre colour scheme. The immense vanity on the far wall was lit quite dimmer than any I had seen before. The bed, covered by a smoke coloured duvet was quite large for one person; the thick pillows piled high at the head of the mattress.
"This is your room," Axel explained, "The west wing is for the girls, ergo you and Larxene. The rest of us live in the east wing. If you need anything feel free to ask. Oh and," he paused and pointed to his head, "style your hair any way you want. As you can see, it's almost a given to have crazy hair around here." Demyx laughed.
I thanked the two for the help and they left me in peace. I noticed that there was only a small closet in the corner of the room. Inside, I found it full of uniform black cloaks, the same that the others had worn. Obviously this room had been prepared for a full member instead of a living tool. The bed was extremely soft. It felt almost as if there was nothing there at all, only a solid fog. On the vanity, I found all manner of eyeliners, hair gels, dyes and other beauty products. I sat on the bed with paper and a pencil I found in my pack and began to sketch possible hair styles.
In the end I went with a style I had been fantasizing about sporting through all my teen years. I went to the vanity and pulled out a large jar of hair gel and white dye. When I finished, my hair was gelled into multiple thick clumps, like dreadlocks but without the fuzz. I had dyed the bottom half of these clumps a snow white. As it set, I copied what I had seen of the other castle residents and lined my eyes with a thick, black pencil. If my parents and neighbours could see me now, I thought with a strong satisfaction, it would blow their conservative, small town minds.
‡‡‡
I slept peacefully on my new bed of fog. They say that you only dream when you are in a deep sleep, so I guess this was the best tool for my 'craft'. That night, I dreamt of a boy a few years younger than me, with spiky brown hair and an oversized key in his hand. He was deathly pale, wearing a black suit and a small carved pumpkin sat askew atop his head. He ran through a dark street, the scenery never changing from the stream of dark, crooked buildings. As I felt myself beginning to slowly gain consciousness the running boy stopped. Before my 'eyes' he changed shape. His hair became shorter and blonder, the pumpkin and the pale skin disappeared. The suit morphed into a familiar cloak. The boy who now stood before me had an innocent enough look about him, but his aura, as visible as his body, licked a malicious red.
I was brought back to full awareness by an insistent knocking on the door. I got up, realising that I had fallen asleep in the clothes from the day before. I answered the door with a heavy-eyed expression of confusion.
A tall, blonde girl stood just outside the door. She had big green eyes and her bangs appeared like the antenna of a dragonfly. She introduced herself as Larxene, number twelve. She gave my rumpled form a quick once-over, clucked her tongue and led me to the vanity inside the room. I was forced to take a seat at the mirror while Larxene styled my hair and applied my makeup according to my slurred directions. All the while, she never stopped talking. She explained how hard it was being the only girl living with twelve other guys. How no one liked her because they didn't understand, and it was a relief to have another woman in the castle, even if I wasn't a Nobody.
She told me about the other eleven, and the newest member who had only joined a few months ago. She went to the closet and threw me a cloak. As she described the new member, Roxas, I jolted fully awake. Her description fit the red-aura boy in my dream. I decided to keep this little tidbit to myself. After Larxene deemed me fit to be seen, she created a purple fog-portal, saying that Xemnas wanted to see me.
We reappeared in the main hall of the castle. I noticed that another figure was coming from a shadowed hall in the opposite direction. When he came into the light, I was slightly disappointed at the sight of an unfamiliar face. The newcomer was about my height, with messy pink, yes pink, hair. He saw Larxene and I coming and broke into a wide grin.
"Morning ladies!" he called, "fabulous day isn't it?" Larxene rolled her eyes and growled an annoyed 'hi Marley' in his direction. I smiled and waved. 'Marley' sauntered over to us and brought his face close to mine.
"So," he chuckled, "this must be Superior's new gadget." I leaned back a bit as the sickeningly sweet smell of an over-stocked florist's shop hit my nose. He leaned in closer and whispered in my ear. "If Xemnas turns out to be a bad employer, I've got a spot open on my team for a little something I've got planned. Think about it." He stood up, waved to Larxene and pranced off the way we had come. Larxene sighed and opened up another portal.
"Thank Kingdom Hearts those air-heads aren't allowed to set foot in the west wing."
