Appearing in the office of the late Xemnas proved such a shock to Saïx that he gasped, something which he had only ever done once before. That had been when he had sustained the scars that lined his face, and he painfully remembered that night. He would never forgive Xemnas for what he'd done…
It had been a day that only a few of the Nobodies had witnessed. The Organization had just filled its amount of XIII members when another illness outbreak like this one had come around, and almost the whole Organization had been affected. Only Saïx, Axel and Xemnas were left unaffected, and they could do nothing but wait and see how many Nobodies were still alive after the sickness had worn itself out.
But Xemnas would not let this be the case; he got Saïx to go to Vexen's study and take a medicine out that would reverse the effects of this illness, so he went as ordered. But the amount of sick Dusks, Snipers and Dragoons prevented his entry, and as he didn't want to risk contracting the disease, he was forced to turn back. Xemnas was not pleased to see him back without the cure, and sent him back again. Saïx, being the hard-trying Nobody that he was, returned to Vexen's office. He was then attacked, and when he finally stumbled back to Xemnas' study he was covered with slices and grazes.
Xemnas was furious that the blue-haired man had come back yet again without the medicine, and lost his temper. He inflicted two slashes so deeply that they would not vanish, and were left as the X shaped scar on the centre of his face.
The office then had been clean and tidy, everything in its proper place. It had only been two days according to the moon (Saïx watched Kingdom Hearts every night for hours on end, and though it was slight, he could see that it waxed and waned like a normal moon) that the leader had fallen, and already Xemnas' workplace had been wrecked. Everything, everything had been broken. From the desk to the glass chandelier on the ceiling… it was all broken. And without a sign of life… or was there?
Saïx listened silently, his ears more sensitive than the other Nobodies by far. Their pointed ends had been the laughing stock for the whole time he had been in the Organization, but they did indeed work well.
He could hear breathing, and the heartbeat of one person. But no… there was breathing of two people, so how could that be?
Walking to where the source of the inhaling was coming from, he carefully stepped over the wreckage and discovered two members of the Organization, both with their hoods up. One seemed unconscious, while the other was doing something to his chest. Saïx was curious, and used the same strategy that he had done with Vexen, watching over the awake one's shoulder.
The one on the floor had a gaping hole in their chest, while the other cautiously pried around inside, seemingly looking for something.
"Man, how am I going to find those last two?" the conscious one said, sitting back and folding his arms. Saïx immediately recognised the voice to be Axel's, and he could see a tuft of mauve hair poking out from the other one's hood. Marluxia.
"What's happened?" Saïx asked quietly, shocked at what injuries the current leader had sustained. Axel, like Vexen, got a huge fright and dropped his flower stalk. Once again, Saïx found himself face to face with the other person with only a few centimetres between themselves.
"You shouldn't do that!" Axel cried, clutching his chest. He was still breathing rapidly when he turned back to Marluxia, who was murmuring something. Axel cringed.
"Saïx… would you like to do the honours?" he asked, imitating whacking Marluxia over the head. "He can't be conscious while I do this."
Summoning his claymore, Saïx stood up and looked down on the injured man's head. Lifting his weapon, he let it fall, gravity causing the damage needed. The whispers stopped abruptly, and Marluxia went still.
The claymore vanished with a click of the fingers from Saïx, and Axel once again leaned over the limp body with his stalk, scrutinizing the inside of the hole.
"What are you looking for, anyway?"
"Two bullets that are currently evading me," Axel replied, leaning back again. He was just about ready to give up.
"Let me have a go."
Saïx leaned closely over Marluxia's body and held his hands out to the wound. Closing his eyes and muttering a few words, he suddenly began to glow an electric blue colour. Everything around him started to vibrate as if looking through humid air, and two silver objects shot out of Marluxia's chest and hurtled straight for Saïx's hands. But the blue-haired man swiftly scooped up the bullets while they were in mid-flight, dropping them down beside the other two that Axel had already found.
"Cure," he said quietly, and Marluxia glowed with a faint green aura. When it evaporated, skin had grown over the gaping hole, leaving it looking normal. There was still blood though, which Saïx left for someone else to clean up. Axel was astounded.
"How…?"
"Lunar power," Saïx replied, brushing himself down. "It's magnetic."
Axel nodded, thinking back to the books he had found when he had been sneaking around Saïx's room. He had read one of them, and though it hadn't mentioned that, it did say that lunar power had a habit of waking those in even the deepest sleep.
"Am I dead?"
Axel sighed in relief as he heard the familiar voice of Marluxia, and shook his head.
"Nope, sorry. You're not dead."
"So you cleaned out the bullets?!"
Saïx answered before Axel had a chance.
"Yes," he said. "Axel removed the first two, and I finished the job."
"Saïx," Marluxia said, raising himself onto one elbow. "How many other Organization members are there still alive?"
"All of them," Saix said, confused. "Why?"
"I think you might be wrong."
The scarred assassin blinked, but disappeared in a Dark Portal to see for himself. As he vanished, Axel turned back to Marluxia.
"How do you feel?" he asked, and Marluxia shrugged.
"Weak," he said. "It feels as if all the muscles in my chest have vanished."
"Uh, well…" Axel started, rubbing his neck slowly. "I kinda…um…'lasered' them."
"You WHAT?"
"It was the only way I could get past them!"
"Hmph."
Axel had no time to feel guilty, though. He was thinking about what Marluxia had said before; about the Organization being in danger. Or already past danger…what if they were dead?
Sure enough, Saïx didn't take long. His face was usually inscrutable, but now his face had turned porcelain and his golden eyes were filled with fear.
"What happened to them?" he asked weakly, leaning on the table for support. "They're all…"
"Just be thankful that we still have some members of the Organization alive," Marluxia said, and Axel knew immediately that the rest of the group that he called family had been killed.
"It's only me, you, Axel and Vexen still alive," Saïx said. "I even found Zexion collapsed on the stairs. I checked for a pulse, but he had gone."
"The virus… it's getting worse, isn't it?"
Vexen, who had silently appeared behind Saïx, nodded in response to Axel's question.
"I don't think we will have a leader for much longer," he said. "Marluxia contracted the illness only a few days after it started to show up in Zexion, and he's already showing symptoms."
"So, after all this…"
"Yes."
Marluxia sighed, sitting down in Xemnas' old chair. He was motionless for a few moments, then slowly put his head in his hands.
To know that you only have a matter of days to live is a horrible thing, and Marluxia knew that what Vexen had said was indeed, true. Only a matter of days to turn the mess of an Organization around, or else there would be so such thing as Organization XIII.
"I won't just leave you all to try and fix things up by yourself," Marluxia said, standing up again. "Vexen, you get onto that cure. Axel and Saïx… try to work together to help Vexen, will you?"
Axel gave Saïx an uncertain look, which the other man returned with a shrug. They would try. Vexen, however, was looking very pleased with himself with having two new workers assigned to him.
"Oh, and by the way," Marluxia said, as if reading Vexen's mind. "Axel and Saïx will only be taking orders from me."
Vexen glared at the leader, disappearing in a Dark Portal. Saïx clicked his fingers and went through the darkness, Axel following close behind.
Marluxia looked again around the ruined study, and a pool of red liquid caught his eye. It was his blood. Walking slowly over to it, he dipped his gloved fingers into the crimson fluid, feeling the still-warm texture of the blood. When he took his hand away, the leather was covered with the life-fluid. Staring at it, Marluxia began to feel light-headed. Before he knew it, his past was flashing before his eyes.
A young boy sits on the floor, silently crying while his parents are taken away by Heartless… A mauve-haired teen carries his books into a building, only to be interrupted by other youths, punching him and throwing him to the floor, his books scattering everywhere… A young adult creeping into a laboratory, checking that no one is following him, his eyes widening when he sees the Neoshadow stalking him, and the Heartless strikes…
Marluxia's eyes opened abruptly, breathing heavily. Those memories… he had never seen them before. He didn't even know they still existed in the twisted state he lived in. All hopes of ever seeing them again had vanished years ago.
His life before a Nobody.
