Alexis sat back on her bed with a surprised huff.
"Wow, Demyx—that is evil." she said, staring at him.
"How great am I?" the Nocturne asked, looking at her.
"That's—kind of—brilliant." Roxas added, staring in awe at his friend.
"Yeah," Demyx said arrogantly, "I know."
"So when do we do it?" Alexis asked eagerly.
"Soon, XV, soon! I'd give it a week or so, just 'til the water-trap incident settles down." Demyx answered.
"Okay. Great. Now...get the hell out of my room." Alexis demanded, opening a dark portal and shoving the two boys through it.
"Hm...good plan, Demyx," the girl murmured, staring at the spot where the two boys had disappeared, "but it's missing that special something...that sort of...flair."
It had officially been a week since the Agrabah incident, and Demyx and Roxas were ready to prank.
"Come on, let's find Alexis and get started." Demyx said, bopping Roxas on the shoulder.
But when they approached the Key-Wielder's room and opened the door—their friend wasn't there.
"Alexis?" Roxas called, looking in.
"Alexis!" Demyx shouted into her bathroom.
"Not here." they both said, meeting next to her door.
A loud shout echoed all the way through the castle, a shout from Marluxia to be exact.
"WHO DID THIS?"
Demyx and Roxas knew which direction the shout had come from, and wild laughter from a girl reached their ears and came closer.
"Three guesses who?" Roxas asked Demyx as they each turned and met the pace with Alexis as she ran past.
"Come on, guys!" Alexis called as she pulled ahead and dove around a corner, "Move fast, now, he's gaining!"
This sentence was punctuated—literally—by a rain of rose thorns that came hurtling after them.
Demyx chanced a glance back and saw Marluxia looking like some pink-haired Grim Reaper, his hood blown back, his scythe in hand, and hundreds of thorns shooting out of each sleeve.
"SHIT!" the musician exclaimed as he felt part of his sleeve being ripped away by a nasty torrent.
"Quick!" Alexis exclaimed, darting around another corner. The miscreants were faced by maybe seven doors and ten corners, and Marluxia was getting closer!
Thinking fast, Alexis dove forward three doors then whipped right through a corner. She shot her gaze upward and found a silver grate set into the plaster ceiling.
"Gotcha!"
Summoning her Keyblade, she took aim and shot one bolt of Thundara at the air duct, blowing it off. A rush of Aero sent the three kids hurtling upwards, and they landed quite comfortably in the oddly spacious vent.
"Quick, the vent!" Roxas squealed, listening in panic as Marluxia came closer.
Alexis obliged, using Magnet to draw the covering back up and locking it in place by melting it with Firaga.
They each held their breath as the peered down through the grate, as a flustered Marluxia came to the spot they were a second ago and looked around. Deciding they weren't there, the Assassin ran off in another direction, shouting.
"Good—effing—grief, Alexis! What did you do?" Demyx asked, taking a deep, steadying breath.
"Oh nothing major! All I did was use Firaga on his rosebushes while training with Axel, Demmy!" Alexis said, looking at the older male with big, wide eyes.
Roxas poked them with a finger.
"Haha, nice Alexis. And what did Axel do?" he asked.
"He just screamed run and we ran." Alexis laughed.
Demyx interrupted with an elbow to both.
"Hate to interrupt, but can we like, move?"
"Right. This way." Alexis said, leading them away from the scene of the crime.
"Hey Alexis," Roxas whispered after a while, "how long have we been in this thing?"
Alexis, annoyed at the confined space, hissed, "I don't know! I'm not fucking LUXORD."
"Well that's good to hear." Demyx joked. That earned him a wickedly hard elbow in the ribs and back as he was hit from both sides.
"You are not funny, Demyx." Roxas growled.
"Owowow...yeah yeah, whatever, Rox." the sitarist muttered.
After some time later, Alexis was close to going insane at the tiny space.
"DAMMIT." she cursed as they passed through something that made the vent an inch smaller.
"Hey, we've been in here a while...how can this vent support our weight?" Demyx asked.
At that, a loud crumbling noise was heard, and a screeching creaking tore through their eardrums. The cacophony stopped, and Roxas hissed something.
"Ask a stupid question."
Then the vent collapsed.
"Oh shit." Alexis hissed as she sat up, unharmed, on top of Roxas and Demyx. They were surrounded by dust and laying on a splintered table, right between Zexion and Luxord, who was holding a chess Knight in his hand.
"Um...hi Lux." the girl said, blinking up at him.
"Mnnnffffff..." Roxas, who was at the bottom of the pile, mumbled.
"Alexis...GET YOUR FATASS OFF ME, WOMAN." Demyx screeched.
Rolling her eyes, Alexis just shifted her weight on Demyx's back and crossed her legs, propping her head up on her hand as she blinked up at Zexion and Luxord.
"So how's your day goin'?" she asked.
Zexion was quite taken aback with the child's manner. She had just fallen through the ceiling and was acting as if it was just like falling out of bed.
"Ah—fine. And...yours?" the illusionist asked.
"Oh fine, thanks for asking!" Alexis smiled.
Demyx freaked out again.
"ALEXIS GET OFF ME! I CAN'T FEEL ROXAS BREATHING ANYMORE!" he screamed.
"Oops." the girl snickered, slipping off him.
Demyx rose and beat the dust and plaster out of his cloak, before spinning around to nudge Roxas' face with his foot.
"Rox? Roxy! Rox-as?" he asked.
Roxas got up, slowly. It was clear it took him some energy. He had—after all—been the first one out of the ceiling and onto a splintering table.
The unmistakable sound of someone approaching at a fast rate forced the two boys together, while Luxord rose and took an iron hold on his charge's arm.
Marluxia appeared in the doorway, looking ironically comical. His hair was ruffled up and jutting out in all directions, his sleeves were torn and ragged from the thorns, and his scythe blade seemed a bit duller.
"YOU!" he screamed, pointing at Demyx, Roxas, and Alexis, "YOU THREE WILL PAY FOR THIS!"
He charged at them, his scythe waving around like a maniac.
Luxord, using his time magic, froze him in place.
"Okay. Demyx, Roxas, and Alexis, explain yourselves." the gambler ordered, shaking Alexis gently by the shoulder.
Zexion, who had taken hold of Roxas and Demyx, waited for their explanation, though neither boys wanted to explain.
"It was my fault, Luxord." Alexis said, after watching her friends' worried faces for a moment.
"I was training with Axel about three hours ago, close to Marly's rosebushes. Axel was teaching me how to use fire magic, and I accidentally blew a bolt of Firaga at the roses. Axel just told me to leave and we both left. Marluxia started chasing after us and I caught up with Demyx and Roxas next to my room. Marly had started throwing rose thorns at us and he was screaming threats. We got so freaked out we blasted the grate off a vent, got inside it, used Magnet to reattach the grate, and crawled away from it. Apparently, the metal was thinner here. We broke through, landed here, and here we all are."
Marluxia had broken out of the time magic, and was standing still, heaving ragged, aggravated breaths.
"She—lies!" he announced.
"No, I don't Marluxia!" Alexis insisted, clinging to Luxord, "That's what really happened! I'm so sorry I accidentally burned down your roses!"
Marluxia was about to say something, when Zexion stopped him.
"That is the end of the matter, Marluxia. You can leave now." the small higher rank said.
Marluxia, not stupid enough to challenge a Superior, let out an outraged sound and portaled to his room.
When he was gone, Zexion and Luxord turned to the miscreants.
"As for you two, Demyx and Roxas, I want you two to go directly to your mentors, explain what happened, and await their decision of punishment. I don't want to see either of you before dinner. Dismissed." the sixth member said.
"But—but." Roxas stuttered.
"GO." Zexion ordered.
When those three had gone, Luxord grabbed Alexis' arm and turned her to face him.
"Now Alexis, what you did today was very wrong. However, I am proud of you for not blaming Roxas or Demyx and for apologizing without my encouragement. Now I want you to go and stay in your room until dinnertime, and I'll not see you out of their until then. Do I make myself clear?" he asked.
Alexis nodded, defeated, and left to her room.
When she had gone, Luxord looked up at the hole in the ceiling, thinking.
"I'll have to get Vexen or Lexaeus to fix that...that's a rather nasty hole." he murmured.