Edit 2/20: This whole story has been edited. I hope you enjoy this more than what it was before. Most of the edits were in the prologue.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything! Inception belongs to Christopher Nolan and KH belongs to Square Enix and Disney!
Chapter Two
The group hastily turned to view the feminine newcomer. She took off her hood, revealing a woman with short blond hair that had two antennae-like pieces of hair sticking out, which uncannily reminded Arthur of the Heartless they saw. She also had emerald eyes that were fixed upon the group with a deadly glare. Her stiff posture and distasteful frown gave her an aura that a panther has before it pounces on its victim. She glared at the men, her frown growing bitterer as she scanned the guests thoroughly.
"Might I ask your name?" Arthur inquired, unconsciously twitching at the woman's arrogance.
"The name's Larxene. Otherwise known as Number XII, the Savage Nymph," she jeered. "Anyway, before you babble on about your names and all that crap that I don't care about, DON'T introduce yourselves. Save me the trouble of pretending that I actually care about who you three are."
'Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. Out of EVERYONE you HAD to choose her to introduce these poor human beings,' Roxas thought, beads of sweat forming oh his forehead. 'I hope they get out alive.'
While the three men gave Larxene their best death glares, which were pretty bad, as her attitude was as hard a rock, Roxas lied terribly, "It doesn't matter, since she'll get to know you anyway, since you'll be staying for awhile! Ahehe…he."
Everyone stared at him, including the creature to the side, with blank expressions, as Larxene's indifference was incredibly hard to cover up.
Larxene, ignoring the death glares for the first time, stated, "Riiight. Anyway, this is the Grey Room, surprise, surprise. It's the area where we get missions to hunt Heartless. I'm guessing Roxy here didn't tell you about it…"
"I did, actually."
"Really? Great. I never knew that you had an actual functioning brain. Anyway, we go through a portal to another world once we get out mission from Saix, otherwise known as the Nobody with the biggest stick up his ass. We also synthesize random materials with the Moogle over there. I call him Bob," she pointed to the previous unidentified creature.
"It's Stiltzkin," Roxas muttered, loudly enough for the Extraction team to hear, but not loud enough for Larxene to come and fry his whole being alive. "Got that? Not really? Too bad, let's go," Larxene continued.
She started stomping toward the other path adjacent of the Moogle, so the trio had no choice but to comply with her order. Roxas, on the other hand, was about to conjure up a portal when he remarkably realized something.
"Umm, Larxene? You're not going to maim anyone, right? …Right?"
No answer.
"Larxene?"
The stomping almost seized, and Roxas sighed, "…Guess I have to rescue them."
Roxas, who caught up with the group, eyed Larxene warily and tried not to panic. Although he was a new member, Larxene's unorthodox tendencies were not aloof to him, and he was quite aware that leaving her alone with a bunch of guests was probably not the best idea he'd have in his nonexistence.
"This is the Hall of Empty Melodies," Larxene declared, stopping in the middle of the room.
It was a very large room with a large platform on the other side of the group, decorated with a huge white room that looked like the one that was seen at the meeting area, and smaller black ones that were similar. Various lines and wing-like designs were also on the side of the platform that was facing the group. Similar line designs were on the blue floor as well as the white walls.
"Continuing on," Larxene said, moving towards the door underneath the platform.
"Keep out of these rooms."
"Kitchen."
"Dining hall."
"The pathway called something that no one actually cares about."
"And this is what you all have been waiting for, ladies and gentlemen!"
"Your rooms!" Larxene boomed, strangely with glee while gesturing to the "rooms".
"This is just the Hall of Empty Melodies, with unmade tents on the floor," Arthur stated matter-of-factly after a moment of silence, staring disappointedly at the tents.
Sure enough, it WAS the Hall of Empty Melodies with black tents on the floor, most likely thrown on the ground with little effort. Larxene just ignored Arthur's request, humming a random tune to create her silent answer of, "So? I don't care."
"Roxas," Eames began. Roxas, appearing unfazed, simply replied, "Sorry, but Larxene's right. You have to sleep here. Superior's orders."
Little did they know that the Superior's orders were to give the guests a comfortable living space with bedding and sleeping materials, not to put them in the Hall with unmade tents.
Cobb sighed, "Alright then, let's get to it." He cracked his knuckles and began to put the tent together.
Larxene, on that cue, took her leave via portal and left Roxas to take care of the guests. The team carefully set up the tents, and when they realized that there was absolutely nothing other than the tents, they sighed deeply, thinking about their equipment that they left on the plane. Roxas, noticing their disappointment cheerfully exclaimed, "I'll get some stuff for you guys to sleep on! I'll be right back, don't worry about it!" None of the three replied, so he promptly left.
"Damn it. This is rather disturbing; we don't even get beds, for crying out loud!" Eames mumbled once the portal closed. His eyebrows were scrunched, and his expression bitter.
"At least Roxas is coming back with things to sleep on," Arthur replied, sitting down on the floor now that all the tents were made.
Cobb, who also followed that gesture, stated, "We can count on that kid, even if we can't count on Larxene and probably most people in this organization. This is completely unremarkable, though. I thought that the clients would be more respectful towards us as humans, not Nobodies or another being of some sort."
"What were you expecting with a mysterious client? Unknown location. Did you hope that we would find royalty in a palace? I think not. We had this coming, coming here that is," Arthur retorted. "WHAT?" Eames immediately exclaimed, not realizing that Cobb failed to mention that part of the job on the phone. Cobb did not answer, and Eames rubbed his temple thoroughly, attempting to not blow up right then and there.
"Where's our stuff?" Eames asked after clearing his thoughts, already knowing the answer. Seeing as the other men would not admit the obvious answer, Eames stated. "Crap. We left it on the plane…"
As if on cue, Roxas appeared with a pile of pillows, sheets, and other stuff, as well. Another member with the same height was next to him, also carrying more things for them to use like towels. Roxas, however, was not carrying his gentle, calming aura anymore. He was a stiff, emotionless, and a blank slate.
"Here, guys," Roxas said stiffly while handing the materials to Cobb. "Your stuff is inside the sleeping bags."
"…And also in Vexen's lab."
Before the trio could even think or ask who Vexen was, not to mention ask why he had their stuff, the other Nobody interrupted while dropping some items, "We are expected in his lab at this moment, actually. I shall lead, if you don't mind."
After placing all the materials onto the floor, everyone followed the boy without a word, who took of his hood. He looked like the same age as Roxas, although his appearance was vastly different. His hair was a steel blue, and he had eyes a darker shade of his hair color. The locks of hair came down the left side of his face blocking his other eye, and a few strands found their way on the right side of his face. Unlike Roxas, he did not appear to be optimistic at all. Rather, his appearance at that time caused the trio to feel more aggravated at the sheer pessimism of this world. He spoke nothing of his name or identity and led the group to their destination quickly. When upon a black door, he opened it and gestured for the group to go in.
The inside of Vexen's lab was extraordinary.
Unlike a stereotypical mad scientist's lab, every potion, machine, or specimen was organized into neat shelves and cabinets. There wasn't any random waste on the floor, and the workspace was clear for anything that it was going to encounter. The walls and materials were all steel-gray, and the main table for experiments was a lighter gray. Next to that same table was an elderly man with long dirty blond hair. He had emerald eyes and a longer version of the Organization attire. His expression showed that he was clearly not in the mood for any sort of childish behavior; it was a bitter, knowing look that someone gets when an obnoxious child does something obnoxious. The boy, when entering the room, took a stand next to him.
"I suppose that proper introductions are in order," the boy stated in monotone. "My name is Zexion; the sixth member of the Organization being myself. 'The Cloaked Schemer' is a moniker I hold." He shook hands with Cobb, Arthur, and Eames with a polite, but not genuine, smile.
The elderly man grumbled something along the lines of "Vexen" "Chilly" "Academic" and "Four." Unlike Zexion, he did not try to be polite or respectful to his guests, nor did he try to explain anything to his guests. After a moment of silence, Zexion sighed, "Must every piece of technical or scientific information that is needed to be explained to those ignorant to it be left to me? I am not the only one with knowledge in this castle…"
He continued, "Well then. I'm guessing that you want your materials for Extraction to be in your hands? Unfortunately, Vexen has taken a liking to them, and wishes to cast a few experiments of his own… As you have an extra machine, we propose a compromise. Tomorrow, you will begin your first task with that one. It should be no problem, as that was your spare, anyway. It only needs one level in the dream, and it's more of an introduction to the work you'll be doing. You don't really need any models or such; it's just improvisation at that point. You're not doing Extraction or Inception, sot there is no need to worry."
"I'll give your other machine back to you as soon as possible. It should not take long," he finished. While Eames and Arthur were completely distracted with Zexion's display of vast knowledge, the others understood immediately what his point was.
Arthur, suspicious of Zexion's vast knowledge, queried, "How do you know-" "He's a bookworm. Always in the library, getting knowledge crammed into his brain," Roxas whispered a little too loudly.
"…I heard that."
"Sorry."
"We'll see you soon, then," Zexion stated, opening up a portal and biding for the guests to go through it. They complied, ready for sleep before their first mission. Roxas, however, stayed behind.
Once the team left, Vexen immediately began examining his new trinkets, using microscopes and other materials to fully understand the nature of the equipment. Zexion, who faced Roxas after a moment, advised, "Don't get attached to them. They're completely disposable, and if they fail, death awaits them. Nothing can stop us from achieving our final goal. Dreams and emotions cannot stop our power. Remember that. Sympathy was the downfall of someone close to you, and you're too close to that path."
-Around 10 Hours Later-
Cobb stretched, slightly yawning as he woke to the greeting of nothing. A lot had happened the day before, and he was more than eager to get to the first mission. His eagerness had prevented him from getting adequate rest, so he sat down drowsily and took out a memento from his past; his totem. By thinking about his life, he would get upset, which eventually would cause his sloth to disappear. Everything in his life with dreaming all started with the small top, which guided him to reality. While fiddling with the top, he thought about why he had chosen this job out of the many that were offered to him. It wasn't because he wanted the money. No, he wanted something more; something that Xemnas promised would become his new reality. That promise forced him to go through this odd job, and the promise that would guide him to his eternal light.
He clutched his totem before spinning it to confirm that this was indeed reality. When it fell, he snugly placed it into his pocket just as Arthur woke up. Arthur, who fell asleep soundly the night before, murmured, "…Need. To wake up… Now," his words faded as he got up and folded his sleeping bag neatly before attending to Cobb's.
Cobb nudged Eames slightly in hopes that Eames could wake up without a fight. He started shaking Eames, after getting no response, but unfortunately for him, Eames did not wake up, and Cobb grew irritated quickly.
"Are you having trouble there?"
The two men looked back to the direction of the Grey Room and saw a redheaded Organization member. He had green teardrop tattoos underneath his emerald eyes, and his hair spiked up behind him. The sleeves of his jacket hung tightly against his arms, clutching his bony and slim body tightly.
Arthur, gesturing to Eames, chuckled, "Yeah, he's a heavy sleeper. Do you mind waking him up? Cobb over there is too gentle."
Grinning, the man replied, "I would help, but apparently, I can't wake anyone up anymore because I end up lighting them on fire…" He drifted off, laughing at Cobb's failure. Sighing, Cobb promptly slapped Eames across the face, and Eames yelped, signaling that he was awake. Eames rubbed his cheek gingerly, frowning at the three men laughing around him. "Anyway," the redhead said, trying to stifle his laughter, but failing. "They want you guys to go to the Grey Room. Hey, I'm Axel, by the way."
They gave their greetings, and Axel left them to prepare for their mission. After checking the silver briefcase for any problems, the team stood up, and left for the Grey Room.
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