RECAP

" Only bothering to shuck off her shoes, Irenx clambered into bed, snuggling down into her blankets and pillows. A few minutes later and her breathing had evened out, a few after that and it had deepened as she drifted into deep sleep... "

Down in the "den" for the Organization, the whole group seemed to have assembled for a belated breakfast. It was Saturday, not that it really mattered when you had no school or work, and the tradition of sleeping in on weekends seemed to have carried over even to the Nobodies' nonexistence. A sleepy Axel flopped gracelessly across the portion of the table in front of him, consistently yawning as his neon green eyes flickered lazily over the other organization members. All in all, it was a peaceful morning, Zexion was reading a book quietly, Demyx was scribbling busily at a sheet of lined composition paper in an attempt to finish his latest song, Xemnas sat quietly nursing a cup of hot tea, Luxord and Xigbar had begun a half-hearted (no pun intended) game of Rummy, Larxenne and Marluxia gossiped together in their normal twittery way, Xaldin was reading his paper (Hollow Bastion's, oddly enough, as it seemed he liked to keep up with his home world's events), Vexen was ravenously devouring some weird concoction of his before readying to dart back down to his lab, Lexaeus was eating a bagel near where Zexion sat, and Saix was watching them all much as Axel was, except with a vague air of superiority. Besides the original... twelve, one out of two new apprentices was present. Saxnnohn sat strumming a few quiet notes on her sitar, which strongly resembled a metal head's guitar rather than a sitar, and trying to master a little more control over her element. A small bowl of water sat before her, the look of fierce concentration on her face clearly showing she was trying to get the water to do more than just bounce about happily.

There was something he would need to ask Xigbar later – why were the apprentices having so much difficulty in mastering their powers? It had been like breathing to him; there had been no thought involved when it came to summoning his chakrams and controlling fire. It was a mystery to him why the newest Organization members were barely able to summon their weapons let alone control their elements. Come to think of it, he didn't even know if Irenx could do that much. It was definitely something to pursue and research. It almost scared him to think that he was going to research the damn question. That's how bad he wanted to know the answer to it. He was just about to utter a muffled sigh when seemingly out of nowhere, Xemnas addressed him. That guy just had a knack for sensing when someone was over thinking a problem. Not that his "intervention" was always the best solution. Most of the time he just made it worse.

'Axel, where is the new one? Irenx, was her name not?', the smooth voice came undulating out, yellow reptilian-like eyes gazing dispassionately at the slouched pyro. For a moment Axel didn't answer him and he tapped his fingers slowly, the movement resembling the legs of a large tarantula in motion, upon the hard, polished surface of the silver table. Even then the red head did not speak and though Xemnas knew it was just a ruse to make his kettle boil, so to speak, he couldn't help but feel faint tracings of irritation start to rise to the surface. It was almost as though Axel had his limit down precisely to the last second, as just as he was about to berate the sarcastic, younger Nobody he finally answered him. 'Still sleeping I bet. She was out like a light last night,' he yawned casually, having no difficulty in pretending that he wasn't much the Superior's buttons just as much as he could. Like hell Axel didn't just wait for the time he would be able to spend annoying him. Great. Now his sarcasm was rubbing off on him. Just what he needed. A little more sharply than was perhaps necessary, Xemnas snapped irritably, 'Well then go wake her up, its almost noon. There are several issues that need attending to.' Rolling his eyes, Axel scooted his chair backwards, the legs producing a dull scrape as it moved unwillingly away from the table. Refusing to give the pyro the pleasure of knowing his got on his nerves by scowling at him, the Superior went back to sipping his tea.

No one really noticed the red head leave the den, Luxord barely glanced at the retreating figure before returning to his game of cards and Saix didn't so much as quiver at the sound of the door shutting, but soon, very soon, they would learn that the ritualistic waking up of Irenx usually heralded a much different sort of event. In Japan, they might call it kaosu. In Indonesia, ekacauan. In Germany, perhaps warboel would be its name. But in this world, it would simply be known as pure and utter chaos.

Flying up the stairs at brisk pace, Axel ran swiftly over his plans. Waking Irenx up was inconsequential, but what he really needed answered was why the apprentices were so powerless. Perhaps their power simply wasn't fully developed. Perhaps it had something to do with their mentors. Perhaps is was something else entirely. And the more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed that the "something else entirely" was the reason behind their weakness. He had arrived shortly before Demyx and the other, and judging from them, they had experienced no trouble with their powers either. For him, his flowing style of fighting came naturally. Demyx had automatically begun to compose with his magic and to play with water. Luxord had always shown to be adept at playing card games. Marluxia had the biggest green thumb in the entire world right from the get go. Larxenne had always been the bitch queen and had happily proven it with her kunai. Axel was pretty sure his buttock still tingled with electricity from the only time he'd been stupid enough to hit on her. And.. And Roxas had always shown his mastery of the Keyblade.

That thought hurt and he swiftly went on with the chain of thoughts rather than relinquishing himself to memories. So far, no other Nobodies had shown to need to develop their powers farther than learning new skills and abilities to use with them. These two new girls, they were certainly the black sheep of the Organization. Hah. As if they all weren't black sheep. So did that make Irenx and Saxnnohn the white sheep of Organization XII? The normal ones? An interesting question and one that occupied his thoughts until he finally reached the rooms of the higher, or would it be lower since they were considered inferior to numbers VI and under?, and headed towards the door marked with VIII. As he reached for the doorknob, the Nobody noted that he would need to polish the golden, Roman numerals soon. They had begun to loose their luster a little and knowing how nitpicky Xemnas was about that sort of thing, he was bound to get chewed out over it if it wasn't fixed soon. Bloody perfectionist. As if he needed to make their nonexistence even more enjoyable.

The gold handle turning with well-oiled smoothness, he entered his room calmly, shutting the door quietly behind him and pausing to collect a few things from his bed side table. First, foremost, and most importantly, was his iPod. His lovely, music-filled, video containing, happiness inducing, Xemnas-blocking iPod. Sweet Kingdom Hearts, how he loved it. Not that he could actually love it without a heart, but you get the picture. The life-giving device was slipped into the carefully hidden pocket, tucked away on the inside of his coat's left side's.. hood flap.. thingy. He though it was called a lapel, but then again, Axel had never and would never find use for the information, so it kind of all just went to mush in his head. Oh well, another thing to bug Luxord and Zexion about. Only slightly less lovely that his iPod, was the sleek black DS with chakram decals printed across the cover that was swiftly pocketed into one of his other hidden pockets (these ones not truly being hidden, but instead covered by his trench coat) that happened to be his pants pocket. Along with the DS, a small case that carried several games for it was added to the stash. Last thing for him to get, or rather check, was the bulletin board that hung on one side of his wall. Naturally, it was enchanted so that all the Superior had to do was address mission cards to them and it would be delivered straight to that member. Thankfully, no cards were present and so that left him free to do as he pleased for the rest of the day. A quick glance at the right hand side of the board made the Nobody grin wickedly. A faded black eye patch hung jauntily from a tack there. Apparently, Xigbar still hadn't noticed that his spare eye patch was missing. With any luck, he'd notice while Axel was out and about and thus give him time to skedaddle.

Sighing as loudly as he could in hopes that it would wake Irenx so he wouldn't have to, Axel paused hopefully for a moment, listening for sounds of rustling fabric, before heading towards the door. He really hoped she was a morning person. Last time he had to wake a new member up because Xemnas was in a pissy mood he got screamed at, slapped, kicked, and sharp, deadly kunai thrown at him. Stupid Larxenne. She had never forgiven him for that either. It wasn't like he wanted to get up at 6AM to kick her out of bed anyway. He would've been perfectly happy to wait until a decent time to get up out of bed and start the day. Like 8AM at the earliest; and even that was pushing it. 9 or 10AM would be even better. Plenty of time to sleep in then. But noooo, Xemnas just had to make him, didn't he? Grumping quietly to himself, he practically kicked the door open so loud was his entrance. He immediately spotted the vulnerable, prone, still sleeping form of the newest addition, her mahogany hair knotted into laughable rat's nests. His bed head wasn't much better, but it never ceased to amuse him when another person had it that bad. It struck a funny cord in him for some reason – always had and always would. Huffing at the lack of response, he started off cheerfully, 'Come on, Irenx. Mansex wants to talk and its already almost noon. You've slept long enough, don't you think? Get up already, I don't want to have to come be an asshole to get you out of bed.'

Then he noticed the movement, the tensing as if a viper was coiling into readiness to spring. With a swift, purely instinctual swing, an arm reached out for the nearest heavy thing, this happening to be a malamute-looking stuffed beanie baby (His name was Nanook.) and flung it at Axel's head. With a heavy thud, the dog nailed him in the temple, bringing a look of pain and shock to the red head's face. As if a zombie rising from the grave, a very terrifyingly angry Nobody rose from her covers just as Axel snorted, 'You still sleep with stuffed animals?' The next moments seemed to slow for Irenx; her imagined rage flared brightly, his mind automatically reaching out and calling something to her. What it was she was calling to her, she knew not. There had always been a few times in her life when she had felt like this; like some great change was almost within her grasp, but far enough away that she couldn't quite reach. She didn't expect this time to be any different, but when a comforting, sure weight fit to her searching hand, she didn't question it - she'd hadn't realized she had raised her right hand in the first place. With a swing executed with the easiest of movements, she hurled whatever object she had caught at his face, enjoying the yelp of surprise and alarm as he ducked away from the hurtling object. Tripping over Irenx's tennis shoe that lurked behind he ankle, he flopped backwards onto the floor with a light thump of displaced air. Spinning rapidly in a steep parabola, the slung object returned faithfully to Irenx's hand, the female Nobody catching it easily as she slid off her bed to confront the intruder. A second circular weapon formed in her left hand as she stalked the pace or two before squatting down in front of Axel, jabbing one her armaments to his face. Her eyes mere slits of hazel hate, she snarled gutturally at him, 'Shut. The. . Up.' Judging from the circles under her eyes, the eye crusties still lingering at the corners of her eyes, and her reaction to her rude awakening, Axel knew she was most definitely not a morning person.

At least she had been able to summon her chakrams and, though the aim was a little off, had shown enough spirit (or irritation) to fling them at his spiky, hedgehog-like head. With a grin, he stated cheekily, 'Nice chakrams.' Before he could be further thrashed for speaking again, a portal of darkness swallowed him, transporting the "Wanted Man" safely away from the bounty hunter. Muttering foul words under her breath, Irenx stomped back to bed, though not before snatching up her precious Nanook, and burrowed under the covers despite knowing she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. Kingdom Hearts! How she HATED rude awakenings. Xemnas would have hell to pay for this. Axel too. Bastards. With a groan, she snuggled more underneath the comfy, warm sanctuary, though she continued to contemplate just getting up. Not that she remembered to get anywhere in this maze of white tunnels. They needed floor plans to get to new members.

Needless to say, when Axel hightailed it into the kitchen as though said place contained Kingdom Hearts, more than one or two Nobodies took notice. Nearly jumping into his seat as if it would provide protection against the curse he had awoken, Xigbar was first to comment on his behavior. 'Dude, why the hell are you skittering about like some cat that's been scalded?', he yawned with a false sense of boredom. Zexion was next to speak, something the others seemed to find amazing, 'I must agree with Xigbar, your entire body smells of fear and adrenaline. What stressed you?' For a moment, Axel just shook his head slowly, staring at the tabletop. Saix gave him a dirty look, his hair flaring a bit at the annoyance he was providing. Several others gave him irritated glances also, no doubt wishing he would just get on with it. At the end of his long, suspenseful paused, however, he seemed to find him voice and shuddered. 'Never wake Irenx up loudly. She's scary.', he whined. Xemnas rolled his eyes dismissively. 'Please, Axel, do just go perform your job instead of making up horror stories of why you were unable to complete it.' Zexion sighed quietly, 'Superior, I would be against saying such to him. He may be able to lie well, but he cannot alter his body and mind's smell.' When Xemnas' harsh glare descended onto him, the short Nobody held it without blinking, at last seeming to win the argument. Xemnas' look faded back into its default, uncaring one and he turned back to the issue at hand. 'Very well. We shall allow her to awaken by her own this once. However, she will need guidance to reach the kitchen.', he intoned solemnly. This seemed to be the call for volunteers, but no one dared risk their fate to steer this new horror into the den/kitchen. Finally, a chorus of "we will!" erupted from Demyx and Saxnnohn. With a brief hand flap of acknowledgement, the two water elementals were up and running, both their sitars disappearing with a spray of bubbles as they dismissed them, towards the door. Crowing when he reached the exit first, Demyx laughed, 'Last one there is a rotten egg!' Saxnnohn cackled and yelled back, 'You're on!' The game in play, they jostled their way out the door and began the race to Irenx's room.

Within the safe confines of her bed, Irenx continued tossing and turning. It had been 5 minutes since she had awakened by that evil, evil pyro and already her body was urging her to get up. Flinging off the covers with a shouted "GRAAAAAH!" of irritation, she stomped her way to her shoes, shoving them on before glaring about her room in an attempt to find the bathroom. Seeing nothing, she turned instead to the bamboo coffee table that held her valuable items. Mp3 player went in her left pocket just fine, but when she reached for her DS, she came to another problem. How was she suppose to cart it around when it was too big to fit in her pocket? With another of those weird sounding portal entrances happening behind her, Irenx turned to glare grumpily at whatever was about to interrupt her. To her mild surprise, it was only a Dusk. By now, she had gotten used to seeing them, zippered mouth, over emphasized butt cheeks, weird movements and all, so she wasn't startled when it spoke to her.

You needed something, M'lady?

This one was feminine sounding, so she guessed it must have been female as a human. It took her a moment to realize that it had come to help her and another moment to answer. 'Um, I need you to go get my messenger bag from my Somebody's house. It's blue-grey with a black buckle in the front. It should have a sketchpad or two, a first aid kit, and electronic stuff in the front zippered pouch.' With a stately bow of her head, the Dusk disappeared, leaving a staring Irenx to wait for her. Kicking herself mentally, Irenx realized she should've asked for the Dusk to bring her a brush too. She could feel the huge tangle in her hair that begged to be fixed. Stupid forgetfulness. Only a half a minute later, Irenx having just wandered about her room checking her belongings out, the Dusk reappeared, messenger bag in hand. Smiling, Irenx began to thank her, but the nobody disappeared once she had been relieved of her package. Opening the bag to make sure everything was in place, she was surprised to see that her things inside the bag had morphed to fit this world too. Both of her sketchpads, one for the art class her Other had been taking in school and the other for personal projects, had become silver and bound like spiral notebooks. The backs of both were stiff with very little flexibility to them, as if the cardboard had reinforced itself several times, and turned a darker silver than the front. The front bore the roman numeral VIII on its bottom with the Omega symbol (Ω) situated directly behind it. She guessed that must have meant something along the lines of "property of Number 8's apprentice". They could have just put her name on it.

Muttering to herself about the weird people in the Organization, not that she had much room to talk, Irenx had just shoved her DS into its pocket when two more Nobodies tumbled into her room, laughing and squalling and giggling at the same time. They apparently didn't notice at evil eye Irenx was giving them for Demyx bounced up, pointed at her hair and proceeded to make a comment that only Demyx could say. 'You're doing it wrong.', he chirped, an optimistic smile on his face. Saxnnohn hopped up from her place on the floor, cocking her head at the sight before her. Irenx's eyebrows contracted. 'What?', she asked after several seconds. Demyx was all too happy to explain further. 'The mullet. You're doing it wrong.', he stated, pointing at her bed head. Her stare turning frosty, Irenx growled, 'It's not a freakin' mullet! It's bed head, darn it!' Watching the mullet'd teen's mouth slowly form an "O" of realization, her bounded back into Axel's room. Her gaze turned to the watching Saxnnohn, her friend grinned and laughed, 'You has a mullet!' Going after her in mock anger, the two frolicked about the room before dashing into Irenx's mentor's room after Demyx.

The happy train eventually came to a stop, Irenx being confronted with a hairbrush Demyx waved in her face. Her head instinctively craned backwards to avoid it, but she took it all the same. She was about to begin to brush her hair with it, when she paused and asked, 'Whose is it?' Demyx shrugged. 'Just Axel's.' Shrugging back, she proceeded with the action.

Only minutes later, the rag tag group of three was galloping down towards the kitchen, ideas of mischief and mayhem already running rampant through their minds. Saxnnohn, whose new nickname happened to be Sox because Irenx and Demyx were tired of her hugely long name, and Irenx had a real bone to pick with Xemnas as it was. Here they were without much of anything beyond the objects that had transferred to the Organization with them and he expected them to be perfectly happy? Pfft! As if that would happen! So, what they had decided was that they needed to go to Wal-Mart. Yes, Wal-Mart. Such a store held everything they needed; from clothes to games to shoes, Wal-Mart was the place to go. Besides, they all needed to get out a little, right? They could go to one of the huge Wal-Marts in one of the big cities like LA or Miami or maybe Austin. Oh yes, she tasted chaos in the making. Resisting the urge to cackle, she bounded inside with her two "chaperones" and promptly pointed evilly at Axel. 'I'll get you yet for that!', she hissed before snickering, 'I'll get you my pretty and your little dog too!' Here Saix looked at her and snarled, 'Is that suppose to be some cheap joke, apprentice?' Now it was Irenx's turn to appear confused and she pursed her lips. 'Nooo..?', she said slowly before being reminded of her plight by Sox doing the EPIC POINT at Xemnas and yelling, 'WAAAAAAAAAAAAL-MART!'

Xemnas glared at her in bewilderment and apprehension. What sort of crack had Demyx fed to these two? He would have to get Vexen to give them some blood tests soon. They obviously needed more sedatives or something. 'Excuse me?', he began before being interrupted by Irenx. 'We want to go to Wal-Mart! Cause, seriously, we have no other clothes to wear, we need more games for our DSes, and I'm bored.', she explained, gaze hopeful. Instantly, Xigbar stopped playing cards to stare wistfully at the Superior, Axel grinned childishly, Xaldin peered over, Saix turned to watch Xemnas like a slightly excited dog (Irenx almost swore she could see him wiggling), Demyx turned on his puppy eyes full force, and Zexion looked up questioningly. Under so many hopeful looks, it looked like Xemnas was going to prevent it just to be an butthole. He tapped his fingers slowly, continuing to debate. If he said no, then chances were Xigbar and Axel would lead half the Organization there anyway. The two apprentices would certainly go along with it and there was no doubt Demyx would too. Zexion would probably head to Barnes and Noble either way, so there wasn't much he could do about that one. Finally, with a deep breath he grumbled, 'Very well. Go change. We shall discuss our mode of travel once you have all reassembled.' Amidst cheers of glee, twelve portals open and swallowed up the members of the organization, leaving the already dressed apprentices to fend for themselves until everyone else returned. Glancing slyly at Irenx, Sox grinned. Upon catching her friend's eye, Irenx grinned back. 'We are make mischief?', Sox asked. 'Not mischief, make CHAOS!', Irenx cackled back, grabbing her bud's hand and bouncing about in a circle with her.

All were assembled after several minutes of absence and the more-or-less meeting began. It wasn't until everything had settled down and the discussion of how to get to Wal-Mart began that Irenx noticed how different everyone looked in normal clothes. Xemnas wore a dark brown turtleneck with a dark pair of slacks, easily looking the part of successful businessman on vacation. Xigbar was dressed in an odd mix of surfer and dress clothes. He had a nicely colored dress shirt on, burgundy with black stitching, with a pair of loose, dark jeans. His hair was pulled back in a ponytail, as always, but now instead of his eye patch, he had on a bandana that was cleverly pulled over the side of his face. Xaldin had simply thrown on a grey wife beater and a pair of jeans. Vexen looked as though he had been dragged into this be Zexion or Marluxia, but had donned clothing similar to Xemnas'. His shirt was crisp and white, the whole thing ironed neatly. His slacks were equally well pressed and pristine. As Sox would have said, the whole outfit was "BOOOOOOORING" and monochromatic. Irenx would have liked to put a big spot of bright yellow mustard on his shirt. Lexaeus was not present, so Irenx could only assume he wasn't going. A slight movement caught her eye, however, and she at last noticed the Silent Hero. Standing patiently in the shadows, she almost hadn't noticed him in his dark brown muscle shirt. She almost snorted in amusement at that. The girls would be making fools of themselves to stare at him. Joy. She didn't bother to look at his pants, lest someone swoop in to take the opportunity to tell her to stop "checking him out", and instead glanced over at Zexion. When she had first seen him, she had thought he looked like some emo kid and based on his clothing style, he apparently didn't try to play away from that stereotype. His shirt was long sleeved with alternating stripes of light steel grey and dark blue grey. His pants were modest, black jeans that were neither tight nor loose but seemed to fit just right. Saix looked as though he had walked straight out of a mafia film dressed in his button down shirt, popped collar and all, and faded dress pants. She could almost picture him holding a Russian machine gun and telling them all to bow down in an Italian accent. Axel had happily taken the opportunity to sling on a pair of trip pants, pull his mass of spiky red hair back into a low pony, and proudly don an AC/DC t-shirt. Demyx was bounding about in an electric blue shirt that read "MUSIC IS MY LIFE" and wore a pair of white cut offs that had been made from baggy cargo pants. Sox bounced about beside him in her black and purple shirt and dark purple skinny jeans that matched her hair (purple with red tips), no doubt already planning their pranks. Luxord had taken the time to show off his British heritage by wearing a cream undershirt with a red sweater vest as well as dark brown pants. Marluxia was looking pink and girly as always and Irenx found it hard to believe he was male while he wore his pink shirt with "FASHION" written in black letters across the chest. Tight black pants were, of course, his choice. And last of the group, Larxenne, had chosen a bright yellow and orange halter top as well as white kapris.

'So, mode of transportation discussion has now begun.', Xemnas began calmly, instantly being trumped by a clamor of voices all screaming to be heard. Over the others' chattering, twin howls of ire rose up as Axel stamped his foot, glaring back at Xigbar who faced him equally. 'As IF! You got the Mini-Cooper last time!', Xigbar growled. 'Only because you ended up drunker than hell the night before we left!', Axel retorted. Catching onto the argument, Demyx pounded his fists on the table and hollered, 'ROCK PAPER SCISSORS!' Smirking, Axel whipped out his hands into the traditional RPS style and said, 'You're on, Xig!' His own hands flying into the timeless mortal-and-pestle-looking position and began the count off. 'One.. Two.. Three.. GO!', he bellowed. When the dust settled, he let out a wounded wail and stomped his foot. 'SO not cool, little dude! So. Not. Cool!', he harrumphed before sulking back into his chair. Before the reasonable discussion could continue, Demyx raised his hand cheerily and yelled, 'Shotgun!' Xigbar groaned audibly, having not been quick enough to claim a front seat, and grumbled something about his surfing van, headdesking quite firmly. Sighing irritably, Xemnas picked up where they had left off and it was eventually decided that Marluxia and Larxenne would ride in Larxy's VW Bug, Zexion, Vexen, and Lexaeus would ride in Lexaeus' Toyota pickup, Saix, Luxord, and Xemnas would take the Mercedes, Axel, Demyx, Irenx, and Sox would take the Mini-Cooper, and Xaldin and Xigbar would take Xigbar's old VW party van. The latter had tried to convince others to join him and Xaldin on it, but after Zexion said it probably smelt like year old compost and foot cheese, no one was quite keen on piling into the van.

It was decided that they would go through in 5 minute intervals to avoid attention from the humans that bustled and hustled about in the busy city of Honolulu. Why Xemnas had insisted on coming to Hawaii to shop, Irenx would never know, but judging from the covetous looks Demyx was giving the ocean, she figured he had probably annoyed the Superior until he had finally given in. Of course, Demyx wasn't the only one who was looking forward to swimming. Irenx had swiftly made up a list of things to get and one of those things was a swimsuit. She might be a fire elemental, but that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy swimming! A soft laugh caught her attention and she peered curiously out the windshield to see what had caused the driving red-head to snicker. Jaw dropping, Irenx poked Saxnnohn, who chortled and asked, 'Remember the last time we went to Wal-Mart?' Grinning wildly for her wordless answer, the two's eyes lit up with excitement at the beckoning doors of Wal-Mart.

'Chaos, disorder, and panic, here we come.', Irenx breathed to her friend, grinning wolfishly and rubbing her hands together with glee.