I cut Dyme some slack in this chapter. And I thought some of the earlier bits were pretty darn humorous, mainly because of Xigbar. Few people can make small talk as entertaining as he can.

Chapter 3: Water

Dyme's wish for happy dreams didn't come true. Figures. Instead, he found himself wandering that silent city again, with its empty, soulless buildings, except this time, the buildings began to grow, larger and larger, and then one began to bend towards him, and try as he may, he couldn't outrun it, and it swallowed him up through one of those gaping windows like a hungry mouth with glass for teeth. And then there was nothing but a maze of dark rooms that all looked the same, and no matter where he went, he could never find his way out.

He opened his eyes to see nothing but white. Am I dead this time? His stomach grumbled. No, he was still here. Still without a heart, but still alive, too. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. What time was it? He looked back to see it was still nighttime outside, but it always was, so that told him nothing. He got to his feet and left the room, again being reminded of how strange it was for a bedroom to have a sliding door. (And was it just him or did his room not have a lock? It wasn't like he currently had anything in there, but he still didn't like the thought of any weirdo being able to just walk into his room whenever they felt like it.)

Dyme headed off in an arbitrary direction, on the hunt for the kitchen. He hadn't eaten in a whole day. This castle really needed signs. Or to be a lot smaller. This would be a problem if he got lost every time he wanted some orange juice. With his luck, they probably wouldn't even have orange juice. Who was he kidding? Everyone drank orange juice.

He wandered for some time, making mental notes along the way on the locations he did manage to find so far. It was always good to know where the nearest bathroom was. Eventually, his efforts met with success. The kitchen turned out to be just as horribly white a room as all the others, with a wall of windows overlooking the same glum view of a night sky and that creepy city. It was furnished with what one would expect in a kitchen, in addition to a rectangular table and several chairs. And it was currently unoccupied, which meant that no one could pick on him for now. That was always nice.

His victory was made complete when he opened the fridge to find a carton of orange juice nestled in the top shelf on the inside of the door, like it was waiting there just for him. Dyme, today is your day. He grabbed the carton (which felt suspiciously light) and found himself a cup in one of the (white!) cabinets. Setting his cup down on the counter, he unscrewed the lid of the carton, but when he went to pour it, only one drop managed to struggle its way out. Dyme stared at the small, orange droplet as it landed in the cup and sat there, like a dead thing. He was certain he just had to have a pretty genuine frown on his face right now.

"Ah, yeah, you can blame me for that." Dyme looked over to find Xigbar strolling into the room. "And the funny thing is," the man added with a grin, "I don't even like orange juice."

This guy drags me here and then has the nerve to drink the last of the orange juice? And how was he always so silent? He hadn't heard him come in this time, either. Dyme stared at the man with what he hoped was a fair amount of annoyance before setting the empty carton down on the counter with more force than needed and returned to the fridge.

"The milk's expired, too. Just thought you should know. We have the Dusks keep up with that kind of stuff, but they're not always on top of things."

"The what's?"

"Doesn't matter."

He would just have some dry cereal and water, then. If they even had cereal. Dyme looked back to find Xigbar sitting on the table, before he went about the task of searching for the cereal and the bowls, but the whole time, he could just feel the guy staring at him. With that weird, yellow eye. He had never seen people with such strange eye colors before, and now, in this place, there were several of them. If that guy wasn't going to get anything, couldn't he just leave?

"Why aren't there any locks on the bedroom doors?" the teen said. It was all he could think to say, to break the silence.

"Why, what kind of things do you do in there when no one's around?"

Dyme made no reply. Talking to this guy only succeeded in making things more awkward, not less. There was the cereal. They had something here, at least.

"And what would be the point," the man continued, "in a place where everyone can just teleport wherever they want? Are you afraid your smelly, old socks are in danger? I don't know about the others, but I know I don't want them. I have plenty of my own."

Dyme poured the cereal into the bowl, some rather plain kind (no one liked marshmallows here?). Each piece clinked as it landed, the only sound currently in the room, their combined racket making him strangely self-conscious. Why was that guy not saying anything? Now it was weird when he didn't.

He found a spoon and got himself some water from the sink before turning around. He couldn't really sit down, though. Not with Xigbar over there. Dyme resigned himself to eating while standing up.

"The milk's probably not that expired, y'know. I drink expired milk all the time, and it's never killed me," Xigbar said.

"I did once, and it made me puke." Kinda gross, but it was true.

"Then, I guess you shouldn't."

Dyme continued to spoon dry cereal into his mouth. It wasn't that great, but at least it would stop his stomach from growling. He wished he knew how to make eggs, but he was pretty sure he was the most hopeless cook in the world. Just when he was considering taking his breakfast elsewhere (or whatever it would be, as he didn't know what time it was), Xigbar broke the silence again.

"You know what they call this room?"

Dyme tried to swallow his cereal before answering. "The kitchen?" What kind of question was that?

"You would think so, wouldn't you? For whatever reason, some of the other members got it in their heads, Xemnas mostly, that we ought to name all the rooms of the castle. They came up with all kinds of depressing ones. Addled Impasse. Nothing's Call. Wanna guess what they came up with for this room?"

Dyme stuffed another spoonful of cereal into his mouth. He really had no idea.

"Lull in Despondency. I wanted to call it Void of Lost Crumbs, but they never like my ideas."

"Why would you want to call it that?" His words were muffled, his mouth full of cereal that seemed to possess the miraculous ability to become dryer the more he ate.

"You know how it is, don't you? When you drop something in the kitchen, and you go to look for it, half the time you never find it again. Vexen says I'm just not looking hard enough, but I tell you, that stuff's just gone."

Dyme thought this quandary over. It was true. He lost an entire apple slice once. Well, his grandma had found it under the fridge years later, but… Suddenly, he had lost his appetite.

The man stood. "Anyway, it's about time I got to the real reason I came looking for you."

Dyme put his bowl down on the counter. He had to be ready to flee, if it came to that.

Xigbar put his fists on his hips. "I heard that you haven't been a good boy lately."

Oh, crap, he knew he'd get in trouble eventually. He should've just let Axel train him. Stupid, stupid Dyme! He said nothing, for fear of somehow incriminating himself further, and started to inch towards the door.

The man continued as he watched the teen's more-than-obvious efforts to sidle out of the room, "So out of the kindness of my heart, I've decided to train you myself. Just don't expect me to go easy on you just because you're a runty, little kid."

No, anything but this guy! Or Saix. Or that guy that yelled at him. He opened his mouth to protest, only to close it again. He had never won in an argument against Xigbar before, and there was little chance of it now.

Xigbar smiled that toothy smile. "That's what I like to hear." He opened a portal nearby.

"Doesn't anyone ever walk around here?"

"Walking's overrated."

Dyme found himself not outside, as he had expected, but in a large room inside the castle (with a blue floor; finally, some color). He looked up to find an upper walkway along one wall, and higher still, he noticed that the wall and ceiling above were glass, through which he could see massive towers and the small heart in the sky. It would have been a rather nice room, all things considered, if there didn't appear to be a bottomless pit between much of the walls and floor. Who left a bottomless pit in a place where people walked?

"This is the Hall of Empty Melodies," Xigbar said as the portal closed. "See, I told ya the rooms have depressing names."

Empty melodies? Now that was depressing. "I don't see the point of trying all this again," Dyme said as he watched Xigbar stroll by, obviously in no hurry. "I tried for over an hour yesterday, and I got nowhere."

"Axel's apparently a bad teacher, then. We're not leaving this room until you've learned what I want you to learn."

"But, that's going to take forever!" He should've eaten more.

The man stopped and turned back to him. "I'm not saying you'll be good at it yet. So, what seems to be the problem?"

"Everything."

"I doubt it's everything."

"I can't do magic. I've never done it before, and I never will." Though, perhaps he shouldn't be too uncooperative. What if he got someone even worse next time?

Xigbar shook an admonishing finger at him. "Not with that attitude, you won't. I could bore you with the science of how it works, but it's not necessary because magic's actually pretty simple. Even whiny, little twerps like you are perfectly capable of it. To make things easier, let's just focus on one element. Which one do you want? Fire, ice, lightning…"

He had the perfect one in mind. "Water?"

"I don't know what you can really do with that, but sure, water it is, then. Now just…picture it in your head."

This wasn't going to work, but why not? Dyme thought of the first image that came to mind, the ocean he had sat before so many times, its waves lapping along a smooth, sandy shore as he played his music and sang to that mysterious expanse in front of him. There were times where it felt like they were perfectly in sync, like they were one, and he could just imagine how each wave took one of his worries and carried it far, far away, down to the deepest depths of the sea, where it would never bother him again. And he also pictured in his mind the way the waves would come in, and just for that second as one rose up, how the sun would shine through it, turning it the most beautiful crystal blue. He had only been away from it for a short time, but oh, how he missed it.

"Do you have it?"

Dyme nodded, eyes closed. He certainly did.

"Good. Now you just gotta take all that water in your head, and make it real in this room."

Sure, he could picture water just fine, but making it appear completely out of thin air was another matter entirely. He tried to concentrate on that familiar image, but his mind wandered instead to thoughts of what would happen once he failed his training with Xigbar, too. Maybe if he closed his eyes tighter…no, he had tried that last time, and it didn't work.

"Would you open your eyes already? That's not how you do it. People that do magic with their eyes closed are as bad as people who sing with their eyes closed. You're not one of those people that nap while they sing, are you, Mr. Wandering Musician?"

"No." Sometimes. Okay, yes. Yes, he was.

"You're trying too hard. People that make a big deal of magic usually have the hardest time. You gotta just let it happen. Try again."

He could stand around "letting it happen" all day, and nothing actually would. He knew other people could do it, but there were a lot of things other people could do that he couldn't. He simply stared at the man, and Xigbar frowned at him.

"Okay, now you're just standing there."

"You told me I was trying too hard." Just leave me alone already and let me be a failure in peace.

"Now you're not trying at all. It's easy as long as you don't keep telling yourself that you can't do it. I know you can. Once you get that in your head, you'll have no problem."

So Dyme continued to try. And continued to fail. Just as he knew he would. It seemed Xigbar had much more confidence in his abilities than he did. The man simply made lazy circles about the room, giving encouragement when needed. Some time later, just as Dyme thought he might finally be getting close to making something happen, still nothing did. And Xigbar showed no signs of letting him quit.

"Hey, kiddo, how do you play your music?"

Dyme looked over to find the man gazing up at Kingdom Hearts. "I don't know. I just practiced a lot, and now I just play."

He gave the teen a sideways look with his good eye. "And it's easy, right?"

"Yeah." Even if he was bad at math and sports and, well, obviously magic, music was always something that just came naturally to him. It didn't even require much thought anymore.

"Well, then just think of magic like that. It takes the same amount of effort, once you get good at it. If you can learn to play an instrument, then you can create water out of nothing, too." He barked out a laugh. "As crazy as it sounds, it's true."

If magic really could come as easily as music, then he really should have no problem. He didn't see how that was possible, but maybe that was some advice he could actually use. Dyme thought, not about magic this time, but about his music. How he could just pick up his guitar and play without a second thought. The process was slow at first. There were so many things he had to learn originally. Where the notes were on the strings and about reading music and chords and all that. But, the first time he had plucked the guitar strings and had made it through his first song, he just knew he had to keep at it so he could become better.

Nothing had ever called to him quite the way that music did, the way it allowed him to create emotion from sound, to make people happy or cry just from a song. And so he got to learning all the things any musician should know. And now, many years later, it was as easy as walking or breathing. He didn't have to force it. In fact, he had learned early on that such things only made him play worse.

He had also found that he was most at peace when playing on the beach. Music and water went hand-in-hand. When he was really into his music, it flowed like water and so did the words that accompanied it. And after he played, sometimes he would listen closely, and he could swear that he heard a song in the sound of the waves, as if they were singing back a response.

Dyme imagined how the ocean's gentle sighing sounded in the background when he would play his guitar and wished he could be there again. He extended an arm out in front of himself, and he couldn't believe it when a ball of water began to form, just hovering there over the palm of his hand. It shimmered and grew until it was about the size of his fist, as clear as those waves when the sun shone through them. He stared at it, the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"I did it. Do you see…" As soon as he spoke, the ball collapsed, splashing onto his hand, a wet glove and droplets on the floor the only sign it had ever existed.

"Bravo, kid. Now do it again," Xigbar said.

"What kind of magic can you do?" he said, though his attention remained on his rather moist glove. He had made water out of nothing. He was amazing.

"Maybe I'll show you, if you're a good boy."

He looked up. "I'm always a good boy." His grandma said so, and she wouldn't lie. Not about something like that.

The man laughed. "That's not what some of the others think. In addition to worming your way outta your last training session, it seems you've also made enemies with Vexen, as well."

"Who?" That guy he ran into didn't tattle on him, did he? That was an accident. People were supposed to cut you some slack for accidents.

"The guy you bumped into. He was still fuming over the containers you broke. Don't worry about it, though. He was bound to hate you eventually. I know he hates me plenty." The man appeared deep in thought, arms crossed and a fist to his chin. "I can't imagine what he could possibly dislike about me, though. Have any ideas?"

Dyme shook his head. Well, you did drink all the orange juice.

"All right, let's see those water skills again. Impress me."

The teen proceeded to think those same thoughts again. He could do this. He did it before, and he could do it again. He thrust out an arm and began to concentrate on the space above his hand. Come on, Dyme. Do it! What's wrong with you!

"What I say about trying too hard?"

Oh, right. Dyme put his effort into not putting in effort, something he was actually quite good at, and it wasn't long before another ball of water was forming over his hand, this one bigger than the one before. He put out his other hand as it began to grow even larger, and it wasn't long before it had become over a foot across.

"That's really not necessary."

Stop talking! Must concentrate!

"Just put your arms down."

Fine. Dyme dropped his arms back down to his sides, and the water continued to float before him. He really could use magic now. In your face, all the people that thought he was nothing! Dyme raised his arms in victory, inadvertently sending the water ball careening straight ahead. He froze, staring wide-eyed at Xigbar, who was now thoroughly wet and gazing down at his soaked coat with as much shock as his accidental attacker. The man looked up slowly, wiping water from his face with one hand, and Dyme wished he had learned how to make portals first.

He watched the man as he blinked water out of his eye, and the teen said the first thing that came to mind. "That's for drinking all the orange juice." What was he thinking? He should be apologizing right now. Or running for his life.

He received a dumbfounded stare in response, and then a grin appeared on Xigbar's face, not quite the terrifying murderer smile Dyme was normally accustomed to seeing, however, and the man released a short laugh. "You're lucky I don't make a habit of beating up runts." He shook his head to rid himself of what water still clung to his face and hair, and added, "Just don't do it again, or you're going to get it."

Close one, Dyme. You're probably not going to die today, after all. He attempted a smile of his own, one of relief at having survived a possible near-death experience. If he could do magic now, surely he was capable of smiling again. That should be easy.

"That reminds me, your face is another thing we're going to have to work on," Xigbar said as he wiped away any water he had missed from his forehead.

He knew his face looked weird. You lied, Axel. "Are my expressions still all wrong?"

Xigbar nodded, looking far too amused at the teen's shortcoming. "Yup. I'm sure part of the problem is you simply have a dopey face. The other part is you're still just bad at proper facial expressions."

"But, why do you guys pretend anyway?" Sure, he didn't want to keep looking stupid, but why did they bother in the first place? They all knew they were Nobodies.

"It makes some of us feel like we still have hearts. Well, not feel, but you know what I mean. Plus, we can't let the regular people know there's something different about us, now can we? People don't like what's different, and there's no better way to draw unwanted attention to ourselves than going around acting like the empty husks that we are. Just another important thing you gotta learn. Now, show me your happy face."

"Promise you won't make fun."

"Promise."

Dyme forced his face, carefully, into what he thought was an authentic smile. Immediately, the man barked out a laugh, and the teen withdrew his obviously failed smile.

"No, no, no! That's terrible! You're going to scare people with a face like that!"

"You said you wouldn't make fun."

"I say a lotta things, miniature dude. You're gonna have to practice in front of a mirror a bunch, or else you'll have to keep that hood up to save everyone from looking at your freakish face." As if that wasn't enough, he added, "And don't forget to work on your voice, too. It's hardly any better."

His face wasn't freakish. And he wasn't miniature, either. He was 15. He was still growing. As Xigbar got over another fit of laughter at his expense, Dyme directed a frown at the man. Drinks all my orange juice, then makes fun of my face and my height. And my voice.

The man sniggered once more, then said, "Well, at least you've got the angry look down. That seems to be an easy one for a lotta people. Okay, Demyx, let's try opening a portal now. Use the same trick as with the water, 'cept not."

"Huh?" It's not Demyx…. Oh, why did he bother?

"The darkness is all around us, and now that we don't have hearts that can get corrupted by it, we can use it to travel wherever we like. Just call to it like you did with the water."

Dyme swallowed. He didn't like the idea of messing around with darkness, even without a heart. "You sure it's safe?"

"Promise," Xigbar said and grinned.

The teen tried to focus on the darkness like he did with the water, but this didn't come so easily. He had seen the empty place where the portals led. A place that he wondered might also reside in those buildings in the city. Nothingness. Just an empty void that could swallow him up, just like the Heartless did to his world, and never let him free again.

He struggled for some time, both calling on the darkness and holding it back. Just like the water, but not, huh? Okay, you can get this, Dyme. You're on a roll today. You made water appear and didn't even get murdered when you threw that same water at this frightening guy in front of you. He focused on the portal in his mind and how easily everyone else could make one, and at first, there was nothing, and then…

Dyme watched as a black portal opened up several feet away. He did it! Who would ever believe that he was actually capable of such things. Simple, dopey Dyme. Hey, now he was calling himself names.

"And there ya have it. I knew you had it in you, kid. You just keep practicing, and you'll be good in no time," Xigbar said.

"Now you have to show me your magic," Dyme said, the portal closing as he lost concentration.

"I don't have to show you anything."

"You said you would if I was a good boy. And I was."

"Were you?"

Dyme nodded. Of course, he was. That whole water thing was an accident. Just like that thing with Vexen. Did everyone hold grudges around here?

"Well, I have some things I gotta do," the man said as he opened a portal of his own. "Meet me back here for more training tomorrow, then, maybe I'll show you."

"I thought we were done."

Xigbar shook his head. "Nope, you still don't know how to fight yet. And you need to choose a weapon."

"But, I don't want to fight. Doesn't anyone get that?" Dyme said, but Xigbar was already heading for the portal.

The man looked back, just for a second. "Back here. Tomorrow. See ya, kid." And then he was gone.

Alone to his thoughts once again, Dyme pondered further over this unpleasant idea. Learning how to do magic and open portals didn't end up being so bad, after all, but he just knew he could never fight anyone. Even if he learned how, he still wouldn't be able to bring himself to do it. Not that he'd likely be very successful at it anyway. He'd probably get himself killed or terribly maimed on his first attempt. And why would fighting be involved in building the heart in the sky anyway? He found his gaze rising upward to land on the glowing object high above. It didn't look any bigger. Hurry up already, so I can have my life back.

He sighed and made another ball of water. He watched it float in front of him, just hovering at chest level, and he twisted it in his mind, his thoughts becoming real as the ball changed shape, stretching and contorting until it looked the way he wanted it. A heart. A heart made of water, reflecting a rippling version of his face back at him, distorted, as if what it was reflecting was distorted, as well. The person standing here looked human enough, but was he if he had no heart, one of the most important things a person could have? He opened a portal, still surprised at the fact that he was even able to do so, and returned to his room.

Would you believe it, I spent over an hour looking through the thesaurus for a proper name for the kitchen (Xigbar's idea was easy to think up). It was really not a vital part to the story, but I found it funny, so I added it. (The inspiration for Xigbar's idea came from a "Seinfeld" episode, where Elaine was talking about getting on her hands and knees looking for a grape she dropped in the kitchen, but she never found it.)

And if the thing about the locks on the doors seems weird, when I originally wrote this, I had recently watched the HD movie version of "358/2 Days", and there was a scene where Saix walks into Axel's room, and my weird mind got to wondering about how it seems like they have no locks on their doors. Not that it would make any difference if they can just teleport anywhere they want, but still… Anyway, please review.