The world was spinning, faster and faster, as Axel opened his eyes. He felt like he had been hit… hard. Once the constant whirling of his head stopped, Axel realized that he was on a hard metal table, with straps around both arms and legs. Crap. Where am I? Shadows crossed the table; Axel tried to turn to see what it was, but found it impossible. Fearing the worst, he was surprised to hear a familiar voice.

"I have yet to find the reason you are in such a predicament, Axel."

Once again he tried to worm around to see who was talking. Vexen pitied his state and walked to the side of the table where Axel could easily see him. For once in the two months Axel had known Vexen, he saw a bit of worry about him in the old Nobody's face,

"Why am I down here… strapped to a table?" Axel asked. "The last thing I remember is running threw the portal out of Halloween Town."

"You and Demyx came out of the portal with a large amount of electrical volts traveling through your entire body. You remained unconscious until this point, Demyx has awakened three times, but then returned to a dreamless sleep. The first time he woke up, he talked to the Superior with no knowledge that he had been injured, the other two times he woke up in pain."

"Why didn't I wake up?" Axel asked.

"My thesis is that your level of consciousness corresponds to the order you were standing, and how close each of you were to the ray in which the electricity came from. The corpse, thankfully, was in front and absorbed most of the energy… other wise neither of you would be here right now, you were holding the corpse and got jolted more than Demyx, thus kept you unconscious state. Demyx got hit the least, but was probably the most unlucky, as he was not completely unconscious and had to deal with the pain of having that amount of energy flowing through you."

Out of the corner of his eye, Axel could see Demyx sleeping on a table on the other side of the room. When he looked to the other side, he saw the woman he and Demyx had carried. She was burned black everywhere and had huge gashes that, if she was living, would have killed her instantly.

"How long was I out?" Axel said, turning back to Vexen.

"Oh, two weeks."

"TWO WEEKS!?!?"

"Yes, we had you on feeding tubes and other things, but I predicted that you would wake up today, so I took everything out. Demyx should arouse this afternoon."

Axel couldn't believe it… So much can happen in two weeks, "What have I missed?"

"Actually, quite a lot. The Heartless have suddenly started appearing in numbers greater than anything we have ever recorded, and are multiplying rapidly."

"Multiplying rapidly?"

Vexen nodded, "They're not unlike bunnies. If you ha-"

"Wait! Did you just compare Heartless to… bunnies? That must be the most messed up analogy I've ever heard."

"Like I was saying, if you have one heartless, and you kill it, ten more will take its place. It is creating quite a problem for us. On the plus side though, more and more Nobodies are being created, due to the number of people losing their hearts. We have even gained three new members to the Organization."

"What?!? There are three new members?!?!"

"Yes."

"Are any of them any good?"

"Well, one appeared the day after you were injured. His name is Luxord, and he likes to gamble… a lot, that and drink. Then, lets see, about a week after you were injured we got this fruitcake named Marluxia who likes to garden. Then yesterday we got a girl-"

"A girl?" A grin swept across Axel's face.

"Don't look so interested Axel; Larxene would sooner eat you than have a relationship with you."

"All right, so when do I get to leave this table?"

"Oh, yes, I came down here to release you." Vexen walked over to a board that had numerous switches on it. He pressed one of the buttons and the metal straps came loose and Axel sat up.

"Thanks." Axel stood up, and tenderly walked across the lab on his very sore legs. Demyx's wiggled around, as if he was in a painful sleep, with horrible nightmares following him the entire time. Neither Demyx nor Axel had had electrical currents going through them when he woke up, so Vexen must have gotten rid of them or maybe they just went away on their own. Axel stared at Demyx, "You need to wake up kid, you won't believe all you've missed."

"I'm going to go now Vexen."

"Wait, Axel! Don't use the portals; they are off limits until we can assure they are safe."

Axel sighed, then opened the lab door and braced himself for a long walk to the front of the castle. Once there, he was greeted by other members, namely Xigbar, Zexion, Lexeaus, and Xemnas, all of whom said they had been worried and were glad that he was okay. Then Axel saw the girl who Vexen had mentioned, and decided to talk to her.

"Hi, you must be Larxene." Axel said, holding out his hand.

The girl scowled, and a deep voice came out and said, "My name is Marluxia, and contrary to popular belief I am a male, and would prefer if I wasn't confused with the newest member."

Oh, crap. I mixed the girl with the fruitcake…This isn't going so well. Axel laughed slightly, "He he, I have bad eye sight, sorry about that."

The pink haired man walked off, not looking to happy. Axel sighed, and decided to head for his bedroom. There he ran into a short haired, blond man who was holding a bottle of rum in one hand and a stack of cards in the other.

"Hi, are you Luxord?" Axel asked, hoping that Larxene didn't have a goatee.

"Well, I'm defiantly not Marluxia, that evil man gardens."

"Okay…" Axel said, confused, "I'm Axel. Got it memorized?"

"Sure, yeah, your one of the kids that was hurt."

"Uh, yeah."

"Well, it was nice to meet you, Axel, but" Luxord to a long swing from his rum bottle, "I've got stuff to do."

Axel left the man, went into his bedroom, and tried to turn on a light. It didn't work. Xigbar walked into the bedroom, shaking his head.

"That crazy chick short circuited all of the bedrooms. She has the powers of lightning." He said, testing the switch for himself.

Axel pounded his head against that wall. This place is just getting crazier and crazier.

"Hey, are you okay Axel?" a new voice broke through the room.

Axel spun around, and there was Demyx, smiling at the fact that Axel's forehead was starting to turn purple.

"Hey kid!" Xigbar said slapping Demyx's back so hard that he winced. Xigbar didn't seem to notice, "It's good to have you back!"

"You okay?" Axel asked.

Demyx nodded, "Did Vexen tell you how Marlene saved our lives?"

"Marlene?"

"Yeah, that's what he named that dead lady we brought back to him. He said it had something to do with a woman his other, Even knew."

"Well, he told me about the dead lady."

Xigbar laughed, "You guys were saved by a dead lady?"

Axel and Demyx nodded. Axel remembered the look of pain on Demyx's face when he was strapped to the chair. "Hey, Demyx."

"Yeah?"

"Come with me."

Demyx followed Axel out of the castle and into the square.

"The electrical charges hurt you didn't they?"

Demyx looked at his feet and nodded. "Yeah, once I was fully aware that they were there they hurt worse than anything."

"Sorry." Axel said. "I probably should have gone on that mission on my own."

"No. I was glad I did, otherwise I never would have experienced wearing eyeliner, and being strapped onto a table."

Axel laughed, "You've just got to change things to the upside don't you?"

"Of course."

It suddenly started raining harder than either Nobody had ever seen. An orb of light came down like a comet from the sky and landed in an ally near by.

"Come on Axel, lets go see what it is."