Disclaimer: I only own Covenant, anyone who is in or is connected to the Circle (living or dead), Vilx, Koxra, Nikki, and Pocket.
"Vilx, we can't get anywhere if you keep flinching like that," said Koxra as she backed off once again.
"I'm sorry," Vilx squeaked, trying to stop shaking. She couldn't exactly help flinching. It had become a reflex now. She supposed she could try dodging instead. If she didn't shut her eyes every time Koxra lunged at her, that is.
"I'm not trying to hurt you, you know," said Koxra. "If I was, I wouldn't be backing off when you flinched."
"I know," said Vilx, trying to calm herself down. "I'm just afraid."
"I kinda figured that out from the flinching," said Koxra. She banished her pen. "You know what, maybe we should just have you work with your element and leave the fighting practice for later." Vilx banished her scissors, glad for a change. "According to those stone things Vexen used on you, you should have telekinesis. Great, maybe I should've read something about this first since I have no idea what to tell you to do to activate it."
"What about focusing," Vilx offered. Koxra stroked her chin.
"Seems like it makes the most sense. Wait a minute, you need things to practice on. I'll be back." With that, she disappeared into a portal.
Vilx sat down with a sigh. At least working on her element would buy some time for her to figure out what to do about her flinching problem. How was she supposed to get rid of a habit that had become an instinctual response for her whenever she saw danger coming toward her? Cal would probably be able to help her, but she didn't yet know how to portal, so someone would have to take her to see him. Unless she could go alone, she wouldn't get the chance to talk things over with him.
The only other options she could think of were to come up with some trick herself or ask Koxra about it. However, if she asked Koxra, she would probably have to explain how her flinching is an instinct. The only problem with that would be that Vilx might have to give a reason for the instinctual flinching. She couldn't give the real reason. After all, she hadn't told anyone. Could she fabricate a reason? She had never really been a convincing liar.
Yet, maybe it would be fine explaining her flinching without going into further detail. Koxra hadn't tried to press her into explaining why she didn't talk much or look people in the eye, why she shook every time Axel was near, or why she had only chosen long-sleeved shirts and pants from what Xion had offered her.
"Hey, I'm back," Koxra announced, placing feathers and some small pillows on the floor. "I thought it would be a good idea to start with soft things in case they accidentally hit one of us."
"Oh, right," said Vilx. She would have to make her decision later.
"Man, Zex, you look beat," said Axel as the Schemer closed the portal behind him.
"It appears that our friends have figured something out since our last escapade in Covenant," Zexion replied, leaning against the wall. "The Superior must be informed."
"Wait, was one of them after you," asked Axel. Zexion nodded.
"Fortunately, I was able to slip away. We may just have to avoid that world altogether or risk them discovering what they want to know about us." Axel thought.
"Wonder why they're on such high alert? Hang on, does this mean that they can travel to different worlds like we can?"
"That seems to be the case," said Zexion. "Though I haven't the slightest idea what method of transportation allows them to do so. Due to this new dilemma, it would be wise to keep watch for them." He headed out of the Grey Area and down the hallway.
Why exactly were these women following them around? Would it be wise to try and question one of them? Was it even possible to catch one of them? Axel recalled the young girl he had met over half a year ago in Wonderland. Was it possible that she had been one of them? Wait, why would she have helped Koxra if she was?
If she was one of them, why did she help Koxra? The one known as Rioris had likely been one of them as well and yet she tried to kill Koxra. Which was their goal: to help the Organization or to hurt them? How much did they know about the Organization and what the members did? Was that girl who showed up in Wonderland simply different from the others in the group or were they somehow forcing her to help them?
More importantly, why was he thinking about this right now? Well, that was enough of that. He wasn't on a mission, so it was about time his brain got a break. A nap sounded nice, but he didn't feel like getting up at the moment. He had no reason to anyway. The couch was comfortable enough.
"Why is it that none of you have been able to contact Cyril," asked Cria.
"He apparently just vanished," Kayla replied. "His lab and home in Hollow Bastion have been abandoned and we have been unable to come across anything that may lead us to him." Cria stroked her chin.
"This is very curious behavior for him. Could this really be due to the demise of Rioris?"
Luna wondered how anyone could talk about a death so casually. Still, this was Cria. People were nothing but pawns to her. Luna had originally suspected that Cyril was cut from the same cloth, but his recent actions were causing her to do some rethinking.
It was common knowledge to everyone in the Circle that Rioris had been Cyril's lover. Even so, science had always seemed to be the love of Cyril's life. Luna hadn't expected such a reaction to Rioris dying. Their relationship had seemed to be nothing more than a casual partnership at best. Could her original assessment have been wrong? Had Cyril really loved Rioris? If so, he was an excellent actor.
If Cyril had actually loved Rioris, it was possible that he could be grieving or seeking revenge. Luna suspected the latter. She just couldn't picture him crying or looking sadly upon a picture of Rioris.
"So, if Cyril can't be found, is it even worth it to keep Miss Space Cadet with us," asked Kairen. Luna snapped back to reality. Would she and her brother finally be free?
"Do use your brain, Kairen," said Cria. "She knows far too much about us now to be set free." Kairen scoffed.
"Why not just kill her and the boy and be done with it, then? It's not like either one of them are useful." Luna's heart skipped a beat and she fought the urge to gulp.
"I have reasons for keeping them in our clutches," Cria replied. "I'm asking that you respect them and stop pestering me with pointless questions." The original reason Luna and her brother had ended up being involved with the Circle was due to their mother. Apparently, she had had an attack of conscious and betrayed them. However, with her gone, Cria was trying to make use of her children. Why she didn't just kill them both when she realized that Luna wasn't much use was unknown. What possible reasons could Cria have for continuing to hold them prisoner? "Still, in order to be useful, Luna, you and Nina will be looking for Cyril."
"We aren't just allowing him to do whatever he's doing," Nina asked.
"It's possible that he has information about these Nobodies or some of the species of Heartless," said Cria. "He still remains an asset to us and must be located."
"Shouldn't we give him time to mourn or whatever it is he's doing," asked Nina.
"If we do that, we could lose all hope of finding him," said Cria. "So, I don't want to hear anymore pointless questions."
"Yes, ma'am," said Nina.
"So, the Psychic Image, huh?"
"Yes," Vilx replied, quietly. She was starting to feel less nervous, but that didn't mean she could look up at him yet.
"Xemnas decided that it was the right time to name her Proof since she's getting the hang of her element now," said Koxra.
"I guess that means she'll soon be out in the field," said Axel. Koxra scratched her head.
"Well, that might take a little longer. She's been having some issues fighting with her weapon, so I think that needs worked on."
"So, you went and moved onto the element training," said Axel. He stared at the black-haired girl in front of him, wondering what problems she could be having fighting with her weapon.
"Hey, I know she'll have to learn that in the end, but I thought it was best to put it off for a while," said Koxra. "You'll be ready when we get back to it, won't you, Vilx?"
"Yes," said Vilx.
"I'm surprised Xemnas hasn't asked what was going on yet," said Axel. "It's been almost two months. New members are usually ready to start basic missions by now."
"Everyone picks things up at different paces, Axel," said Koxra. "Besides, I already told Xemnas I'd get back to the combat training in a couple days."
Time was running out and Vilx didn't seem to be making much progress with her flinching problem. She knew she had to try harder. Koxra had been pretty nice to her, so she didn't want to get her in trouble by failing with training. Should she just explain things? Well, not 'explain things' entirely. It was possible to come up with some type of explanation for her flinching, though. She just had to think up one before Koxra had her resume combat training.
"Hey, Vilx, you're not gonna stand here all day, are you?"
"Huh," said Vilx. She had been so lost in thought that she hadn't even noticed Axel leave. "Oh, sorry." She had the feeling that Koxra had tried to get her attention numerous times.
"For a minute there, I thought you were sleeping standing up with your eyes open," said Koxra.
"I just spaced out," said Vilx. "Sorry." Koxra sighed.
"We really need to work on your apologizing problem." Vilx blinked in confusion. "I mean how you apologize when you don't need to. It gets a little annoying sometimes." She held up her hand. "And don't start apologizing for apologizing too much or I might just lose my mind." Vilx giggled. "That might just be the first time I've seen you laugh since you've been here. You usually seem pretty depressed."
"Do I," asked Vilx.
"Well, yeah," said Koxra. "You know, you can relax and have fun every once in a while. It's not against the rules or anything. And it's not against the rules to go to sleep early so you don't walk around with bags under your eyes."
"It's that bad," asked Vilx.
"Yeah," said Koxra. "You look like you went days without sleeping."
"I guess I'll have to work on getting more sleep," said Vilx.
Vilx panted as she dodged another Shadow. At least she no longer shut her eyes when they came at her. Still, would she be able to react the same way tomorrow when she resumed combat training? After all, she had only just gotten rid of the flinching ten minutes ago after working at it for the past couple weeks.
Should she work on countering their attacks? Then again, she told Koxra she would try to get more sleep and it had already been roughly four hours since she sneaked out of the Castle to practice in the city. Thankful that no big Heartless were around, she ran and didn't stop until she reached Nothing's Call where she leaned against the wall for several minutes, trying to catch her breath.
Once she felt like she was able, Vilx began her long journey up to her bedroom. She was thankful that she had chosen to shower in the morning. Koxra was likely already asleep and may get suspicious if the shower was running at this time of night. When she had finally entered her room and changed, she collapsed onto her bed, hoping for a sleep free of nightmares.
"Demyx!" The Nocturne raised his head. The annoyed look on Koxra's face told him she had been trying to get his attention for a while.
"Oh, sorry. Did you want something?"
"Have you seen Vilx anywhere," asked Koxra.
"With as involved as I've been in my music, I probably wouldn't have noticed her even if she set off fireworks in front of me," said Demyx with a laugh. He suddenly took in what the Mind Mage was wearing. "Any reason you're walking around the Castle in your pajamas?" Koxra face-palmed.
"You have no idea what time it is, do you? It's past midnight."
"Wait, so why exactly do you want to know where Vilx is in the middle of the night?"
"Because I was going to the bathroom earlier and I noticed that it didn't look like she was in bed," said Koxra. "Yeah, it probably wasn't right for me to creep into her room and make sure, but I had to find out if my eyes were playing tricks on me or not."
"Man, I'm glad I don't have you for a roommate," said Demyx. "Axel and I don't creep into each other's rooms in the middle of the night."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm extremely indecent and I was invading her privacy," said Koxra. "I get the picture. I have no idea what I was thinking. Oh wait a minute, I wasn't. That's it, I wasn't thinking. Point is, I found out she wasn't in bed."
"She probably just went to the kitchen for a drink," said Demyx.
"Her bed didn't even look slept in," said Koxra. "And, before you say anything, yes, I did look in the kitchen. I've looked in just about every room in the Castle except for the bedrooms, the infirmary, and Vexen's lab. I just hope she's not doing anything that could get her in trouble."
"Well, I thought I heard footsteps earlier, but I looked up and didn't see anyone," said Demyx. "I was probably just imagining it."
"Do you know which direction they were going," asked Koxra.
"Toward the bedrooms, I think," said Demyx. "I think it was about a half hour ago. Wait, could that have been Vilx?"
"I just got done telling you that she wasn't asleep," said Koxra.
"How long ago did you decide it wasn't out of line to creep in her room," asked Demyx.
"Hmm, I guess it took about an hour or two to search the Castle," said Koxra, pretending that he had not brought up how inappropriate she had been. "So, you're saying she could've gone to bed while I was searching the Castle for her?"
"It makes sense, doesn't it," said Demyx. "She's probably already back in bed. Besides, she doesn't know how to portal yet, so what kind of trouble could she really get into?"
"You have a point there," said Koxra. "Maybe she was just outside on one of the towers. I didn't look outside."
"Maybe next time you should," said Demyx.
Vilx woke up to something brushing against her cheek. She opened her eyes and was face-to-face with Koxra's black cat, Nikki. Did that mean Koxra was awake or did Nikki try, fail, and come over to her room? She strained her ears and could hear the shower running.
She had no idea why Koxra would be in the shower now. She usually showered before she went to bed because she couldn't stand going to bed dirty. Was Nikki bored? Vilx shook her head. She couldn't exactly communicate with cats, so trying to figure out why Nikki had woken her up wouldn't work. Still, now that she was awake, she might as well get up.
Vilx got up and stretched just as the shower stopped running. Koxra slid the curtain back across the rod and fumbled for a towel when she saw the Psychic Image was awake.
"Jeez, I didn't think you'd be up yet. I knew I should've shut the door."
"Sorry," said Vilx.
"You should be apologizing for making me run all over the Castle last night only to find that you snuck into bed while I was gone," said Koxra, glaring at her.
"What do you mean," asked Vilx, though she didn't see what good it was to act dumb. Koxra shook her head.
"Vilx, don't pretend. Where did you go when you weren't in bed last night? I know you sure as heck weren't in the Castle."
"Why were you looking in my room," asked Vilx. Koxra sighed.
"I already had to answer that for Demyx last night and I'd rather not get into it again. I just happened to look in your room. So, where were you?" Vilx bowed her head.
"I was…sitting…on a tower."
"You're a terrible liar, you know," said Koxra.
"Alright," said Vilx. "I was in the city practicing with Shadows. I know my flinching is a problem, so I wanted to get rid of it."
"Meaning what exactly," asked Koxra. "You thought it would be a good idea to go off and fight Heartless with no combat training?"
"I never said I was fighting them," said Vilx. "I was working at turning my flinching into dodging."
"And I guess I'll just assume that you've been doing this longer than just last night and that's why you've been looking so tired," said Koxra. "You should've told me. I'm supposed to be training you."
"I was already causing trouble with my problem," said Vilx. "I didn't want to cause any more."
"You've actually been causing me some trouble by not telling me," said Koxra.
"I'm really sorry," said Vilx. "I was just trying to make things easier for you." Koxra sighed.
"Just forget it. I can't really do anything about what already happened."
"Ok," said Vilx. She raised her head and took in what Koxra was wearing. "Um, don't you think it would be a good idea to get dressed?" Koxra looked down at the towel she had wrapped around herself and laughed.
"Yeah, I can't go around wearing this all day." She disappeared through the doorway that led to her bedroom.
"Um, why exactly were you taking a shower," asked Vilx.
"I was running all over the Castle last night, looking for you and I didn't exactly feel like getting in when I came back. Guess that means I'll get two showers today. You know, you can get in if you want." Vilx blushed, grateful that Koxra couldn't see whatever stupid expression was on her face.
"Oh, right. I just got distracted. By the way, what's Nikki doing over here?"
"I knew I should've fed her before I got in the shower. And here, she was sound asleep and I thought she'd be fine till I got out. I guess she woke you up, then?"
"Yeah," said Vilx as she entered the bathroom and began undressing. "It wasn't that big of a deal. I should be awake anyhow. Hold on, she's sleeping on my bed now." Koxra laughed.
"Rotten cat can't make up her mind, can she? Well, I might as well put food in her dish in case she wakes up later." Vilx turned on the shower.
"Is this normal for a cat?"
"It all depends on the cat, I guess. It's normal for Nikki, anyway. It's not like any two cats behave the same way. Well, I'll see you at breakfast."
Sorry that this update took a while. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I have a job now. Well, that's part of it. The other part is that I'm getting way too distracted with playing Pokemon hacks.