Dyme is forced to learn how to fight because Xigbar is strict like that. And the sitar finally makes an appearance.

Chapter 4: Music

A face looked back at him from the bathroom mirror, a comb poised nearby. A can of hair gel he had borrowed from Axel (to his relief, the guy seemed to harbor no ill will towards him for his past behavior, which he now admitted, may have been a little bratty, but only a little), a small trash can, and a pair of scissors were lined up on the counter in front of him. He combed back his hair and then, practicing the best dissatisfied frown he could manage, he put the comb down and got hair gel onto his hands, and with a face contorted into concentration, he got to work sculpting his hair, with no clear goal in mind.

He tried one thing after another, but nothing quite worked. Blinking at the mess that was currently residing on his head, he picked up the scissors, despite his fingers now being wet with gel, and he began to cut a few strands here and a few there, alternating between trying out new styles with the gel and using the scissors. When this failed to result in the look he was going for, not that he was necessarily sure what that look even was, he just grabbed a bunch of his hair and formed it into a mohawk of sorts.

Readjusting his expression until it showed the correct amount of satisfaction at having gotten a step closer to a hairstyle that just might work, he got to combing the rest of his hair back. But, something was off about it. Some of it was just too long. He went about snipping away at it again. No, still too long. Shrugging, he clipped a good deal of his hair off in the back, the hair around his temple and ear now cut close. That might work. He did the same on the other side. Yep, that wasn't too bad. More combing and cutting and a bit more gel, and then he pulled a few strands loose to fall in his face. The corners of his lips turned up, and he continued to work on his face until a smile formed. He looked happy. He didn't feel it, but at least no one would know just by looking at him.

"That's it.…" No, too little feeling. He cleared his throat and tried again. "That's…that's it. That's the look." He nodded at the teen in the mirror, now much different in appearance with his new hair, and fixed the grin that he almost dropped. "Nice to meet you…Demyx."

He raised a hand, changing back to his rehearsed concentration face, and directed a stream of water much larger than he intended at the mirror. "Shoot. I mean, shoot!" He grabbed a towel and wiped it dry, leaving circular streaks all over the mirror, but when he tried to remove these, he only succeeded in creating vertical streaks. Ah, whatever.

Demyx left the bathroom, hair gel in tow. He walked down the hallway until he found Axel's room, door marked with an "VIII". He stopped before it, fist raised to knock, then shrugged and simply set the can down in front of the door. It was easier that way.

It was nearing the time he needed to meet Xigbar for more training. While he had been busy over the last day (busy for him, at least) practicing his control over water (which was too awesome), opening and closing portals once or twice (that was good enough, right?), and practicing his facial expressions and the emotion in his voice, with a good deal of lying around thrown in, he was not ready for what today held.

Demyx would not fight. He disliked the idea of hurting someone almost as much as he disliked the idea of getting hurt himself (plus, when he did finally defend himself and punch a bully in the nose once, he only got beaten up more as a result). Not to mention the fact that physical activity might make him sweaty, which would be gross. And so it was for this reason that, even after all this time had passed, he hadn't bothered to think up a weapon. That was just not him. Only a guitar felt right in his hands. Nothing else.

Perhaps he should get going soon. Or was there a chance that Xigbar might forget…?

"Hey, mulhawk, you ready?"

Demyx spun around to face the other way, but no one presented themselves. He was certain he had just heard Xigbar.

"Why don't you try thinking outside the box?"

The teen faced the other way, but the hallway remained empty.

"Are you kidding me? Just look up already!"

Demyx did just that, but he was too shocked to form the corresponding expression when he found Xigbar floating a good fifteen feet above him. Sitting cross-legged. Upside down. The man gave him a big grin. "Show me your happy face."

He made the smile he had practiced, wondering, nevertheless, if he was really seeing what he thought he was seeing or if the expired milk was playing tricks on him. He knew he shouldn't have had any, but he was desperate. The cereal was just so dry.

"That's a good boy." Xigbar stood (still upside down, which equated to a most bizarre sight if there ever was one), and Demyx stepped back as the man dropped down.

"How'd you do that?"

The man leaned forward, as if sharing a secret, and Demyx couldn't help but lean in, as well. "Magic, kid."

"Well, I knew that, but…"

Xigbar opened a portal. "Let's go. I promise I won't beat you too hard."

Demyx's eyes went wide. All he had was water. He didn't stand a chance.

"Hey, it's a joke. Come on."

When they arrived back in the Hall of Empty Melodies, they were greeted with the sound of rain pattering on the glass ceiling and the muffled rumble of thunder. The sky above was pitch black between flashes of lightning, the only consistent light their world ever got, that of Kingdom Hearts, currently choked out by the brooding storm clouds. With the all-encompassing darkness outside, Demyx wondered more than ever where the light inside the castle came from, while Xigbar took his position a short distance away, with a grin that said he looked forward to what came next. Demyx, on the other hand, did not.

"Have you thought about what weapon you wanna use? Because I'm guessing you haven't."

Demyx made his face into the most dejected look he was able. "I don't want to fight. I'm gonna die."

"I won't let that happen."

"And I…" Oh, why did he bother arguing? This guy didn't care. The teen sighed. "I don't have to fight you, do I?"

"As if! I'd destroy you, kid!" The man shook his head, chuckling. "No, you'll be practicing on the Dusks."

As if in response to some unspoken call, several strange, white creatures appeared, three of them in total, thin, spindly things that appeared to bend in ways that weren't natural.

"I'm sure you're gonna ask anyway, so I'll just tell ya. Dusks are the Nobodies whose hearts weren't strong enough to keep their human shape," Xigbar said. Demyx opened his mouth, finding yet another thing on a long list of topics he didn't understand, but the man continued over him, "But, since you and I and the other members of the Organization had the strongest hearts of all, that's why we still look the way we did when we were Somebodies."

Demyx looked back at the Dusks, watching them sway back and forth as he tried to get some very bothersome details straight in his head. Dusks were Nobodies. And he was a Nobody. So that meant he was the same kind of being as a Dusk? No way! He was a monster! Forcing his gaze away from the bizarre creatures, he asked, "What's this thing about strong hearts? That's the only thing keeping me from looking like a Dusk?" They couldn't have been human once. They looked so different.

"Yeah, pretty much."

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "But, I didn't have a strong heart." And he was supposed to have an extra strong heart? That didn't make any sense. Frankly, he was the weakest person he knew.

"You obviously must have, or you wouldn't be here."

"But, how do you have a strong heart? What does that even mean?" If his heart got weaker, would he turn into a Dusk? Wait, he no longer even had a heart to begin with, so how did that work?

"It's complicated, and while I could stand here all day answering your questions about strong hearts and Nobodies and all that, right now, you gotta learn how to fight." Xigbar gestured to the Dusks, who were still awaiting further instruction nearby, and his face took on a rare air of seriousness. "Now let's see how your silly water powers stand up to them"

Demyx glanced over at the Dusks, then back at him. They were just standing there, minding their own business. "I don't want to."

"I don't care what you want."

"They were people once."

"Not anymore."

Demx frowned at the man. "You said yesterday that you'd show me what magic you can do. You have to show me first."

"I'm not going to bargain with you, kid. I outrank you so much it's not even funny."

"Which number are you?"

"It actually has nothing to do with numbers, kid."

"But, which one?" Demyx crossed his arms. Crossed arms always said you meant business.

"Two, okay? And what do you think that was just now in the hallway? In case you didn't know, not everyone can float in the air."

"Still." Number two? Regardless of whether or not the numbers actually meant anything, that was still a number that was much better than his. Not to let Xigbar know that this knowledge greatly reduced his confidence, though he did cross his arms tighter, even if he was, in actuality, pretty much just hugging himself now, he looked the man in the eye and said, "I'll fight if you show me more of your magic, and if you tell me what it means to have a strong heart." Surely there must be other ways of becoming a Nobody. A wimpy, little crybaby like him did not have a strong heart. Losers didn't have strong hearts.

Xigbar rolled that golden wolf eye of his and let out a sound of pure exasperation. "Sure, I promise for real this time that I'll show you what I can do, but only after you do what I tell you. And about the other thing, you'll be stuck with us for quite a while longer, so there will be plenty of time for me to answer your silly, little questions later. Okay? Are we good?"

"I guess." He eyed the Dusks again to find the things to still be watching him. At least, he could only assume they were watching him because they didn't appear to have eyes. As strange as they were, though, he couldn't hurt them. What if they felt pain? He still could, so shouldn't they be able to?

"So get to it, then. You had no trouble assaulting me yesterday."

"That was an accident."

"Stop procrastinating." He waved an arm at the spindly creatures. "We're not leaving until you do it."

Demyx turned back to the Dusks and took a deep breath. He had no idea how they must feel about this. Well, not feel, but they didn't even have much of a face to pretend with, either. He readied himself and formed a ball of water before him. I'm sorry. I really am. He threw the ball at the one on the far left, but it only bent out of the way, the water continuing on to splash against the wall behind it.

"You'll have to try harder than that, kiddo."

He sent another ball at the creatures and then another, but they neatly avoided each.

"Huh, I guess it's true what they say about blondes…."

Demyx glared back at the man, receiving only a sly smile in response, before turning back to the Dusks. Okay, now this was starting to get annoying. With his mouth set in a tight line, he continued trying to hit the creatures with water of all shapes and sizes, but his targets managed to bend and slither this way and that, as if they were boneless. They probably were. Xigbar's laughter could be heard from behind. I knew I was going to stink at fighting. Why does no one listen to me?

"You know what you need? More motivation."

The Dusks lunged at him, and he nearly tripped over his own feet trying to get away. He glimpsed something strange out of the corner of his eye, but before he could catch what had caused it, he looked over to see that Xigbar was gone. He didn't leave me, did he? He looked upward to find the man floating high above, standing upside down and gazing down at him. "Don't look at me."

Demyx staggered sideways as one of the Dusks struck him. What the heck! That really hurt! And I was trying to be nice! He threw more balls of water at the offending creature, and when this didn't work, he summoned several pillars of water, getting his face sprayed with a fine mist as they rose up, and the Dusk disappeared as it was struck. Did he kill it? He hadn't meant to do that.

Backing away, he had no choice but to repeat the process until the remaining two Dusks were gone. Before he could rest, however, a larger group appeared and began coming at him, some zigzagging through the air, while others moved towards him with bizarre, stretched strides. He continued his backwards retreat, all the while hoping he didn't reach the edge of the floor space (once again, bottomless pits were stupid to have in a building) as he summoned water in a frantic effort to rid himself of his attackers. Even though he managed to take out a few, they began to surround him, and he was knocked on his face when one he hadn't known was back there attacked him from behind.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Xigbar said, and there was the sound of something being fired, and when the teen finally managed to bring himself to glance up from his cowering, the surrounding Dusks were all fading away. He lifted his head further to see Xigbar striding over with two strangely shaped, purple gun-like weapons in his hands, which disappeared when he stopped a short distance away. The man jerked his head upward, and Demyx picked himself up off the ground and put a hand to his now aching back. "And that, little dude, is why you need a weapon."

That's why I shouldn't fight. His shoulders sagged. "I told you I couldn't fight. I told you."

"You did fine for your first try. Now think of what kind of weapon you want to fight with. You can summon it just like everything else."

He'd look absolutely ridiculous with any sort of a weapon. Demyx imagined himself in an action stance, sword in hand and with the most formidable expression he could possibly think of, an image that was enough to make even a Nobody laugh. What in the worlds should he go with, then, that wouldn't make him look even more like a loser? He put a hand to his forehead in thought. "I can just make anything appear?"

"Something like that."

Demyx's gaze rose to the storm clouds above, Kingdom Hearts still impossible to spot, though it didn't much matter, as he was certain it was still just as small as last time he had seen it. It wouldn't be complete for who knew how long, but heart or no heart, he couldn't go that long without his guitar. He grinned. Well, it was certainly worth a try.

He began to concentrate in much the same way as he had with the water, his mind wandering back to the sea and those lonely days turned tranquil thanks to his music. An object began to appear, and he put out his arms to catch it.

"No, you're not using that," Xigbar said, pointing to the instrument now resting in the teen's arms. "You can't fight with a guitar."

Demyx bent over his new instrument, studying it. It was blue like he wanted, but something was off. "It's a sitar, actually." Even though the guitar was most definitely his favorite instrument of all time, he always enjoyed learning about other kinds of instruments and about their own unique sounds. This particular instrument only had three strings, but he could learn to play it. He strummed his hand over the strings, a clear sound ringing out over the room. This could work. It really could. He looked back up at the man, a large smile on his face as Xigbar squinted at him in confusion.

"You really think you can use that?"

"I think I can manage." He wasn't going to be fighting anyway. His "weapon" may as well be something he could actually make use of. "And now you have to show me more of what you can do. You can't get out of it a second time."

"How do you know your training's over?"

"Oh, can't it be?" Demyx said, forcing his voice into the most imploring tone he could. If this guy wouldn't have mercy on him from his words alone, perhaps his tone would sicken the guy into giving him a break. Shouldn't have told me to work on my emotion. My nauseatingly bad begging worked on my grandma, and I'll make it work on you, too.

Apparently it was working because Xigbar cringed at him. "Quit looking at me like that." Yes! Worked every time. "Fight off a few more Dusks, and then I'll show you."

Demyx frowned. Darn it. Failed. Gotta work on that some more. Maybe it doesn't have the same effect on Nobodies. He sighed. "You promise this time?"

"Yep."

"Promise promise?"

"I promise promise promise." He then added, "Cross my heart," and mimicked the gesture with one finger, sniggering as he drew an X over his chest.

The teen groaned as the space before him bent, and the man disappeared. Was he going to get out of his promise again? He looked up to direct a glare at the man, now standing high above him again, upside down as usual. The angry look really was an easy one.

"Stop starin' at me, kid. I'm starting to think you're obsessed with me or something."

What? Demyx's head shot to the side as more Dusks appeared, a good twenty or so of them. "Hey, you said a few!"

"Woops. My bad."

The teen watched the creatures as they came towards him, realizing now that he was already cornered before his newest battle had even begun. How was he going to fight with a sitar? All it was good for in a situation like this was whacking something. He sent a few more large bubbles of water at the Dusks, but they avoided them, just like before. Gah, stupid things. He settled for using his water pillars again to take out several of them, but the ones he missed drew closer, forcing him to step back. His heel went over the edge of the floor space, and he worked to correct himself, clutching the sitar tighter than ever. It was really just getting in the way, but if he let it go, what if he could never get it back? He held it up to shield himself from any blows the Dusks might attempt to land on him. I don't wanna die! I'm too young! And wimpy!

He winced as the Dusks closed in, only to witness each creature being struck by a white arrow before fading away. He glanced up to see Xigbar with those guns again and couldn't help but wonder if the man got dizzy upside down like that.

"I won't always be around to bail you out, little dude. You gotta take out the next group yourself, so either put that silly thing away or use it. Hugging it isn't going to help you."

He loosened his grip on the sitar he had indeed been embracing as more Dusks appeared. It didn't look like this would be over until he actually took some sort of action. Ah, man, I hope I don't sweat. He took a deep breath and began to walk towards them, forcing feet forward that wanted to head in the other direction, and fast. The teen set his face in a determined expression. He could do this. His head went down, his eyes scanning over the strings of the sitar, and he began to play. He had never played a sitar before, and being unfamiliar with the locations of the notes, it made the most dreadful racket. But, he was a musician, and music was all he knew.

As he plucked the strings, he started getting some idea of where each note resided, and his racket formed itself into some semblance of a song. And this song he made to direct the water with much more precision than he could have done without it, and it wasn't long before all of the Dusks were gone. That's how you fight with a sitar.

He looked up as Xigbar appeared nearby and gave the teen a satisfied nod. "And that's that, I guess."

Demyx let the sitar fade. "Now you have to do what you promised."

"What do you say?"

He thought for a moment, before answering, "Please?"

Xigbar chuckled, then, tilted his head in thought. "You know, the other members already think I'm arrogant enough without me showing off to the newbies."

"Well, I asked."

"All right, then. Watch closely, 'cause I'm only gonna do this once." He added, "And stay still."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

Demyx watched as the space around Xigbar bent, and the man disappeared just as several dozen Dusks appeared. Before the teen could disobey the man's orders (and he was fully considering it) at the sight of the oncoming Nobodies, Xigbar appeared upside down in another part of the room, firing at the Dusks with his bizarre guns, any shots that missed only to be redirected by miniature portals that would appear and blink out just like that, and though the man's shots bounced about the room, never were they in danger of striking the teen. Seconds later, each and every Dusk was gone, and Xigbar appeared before him again.

"So, what'dya think?"

"What kind of magic was that?" Demyx asked. No way would he ever be that good. Never ever.

"Awesome magic. What else? See, I keep my promises occasionally." The man grinned, then, added, "So, I guess that concludes our little tutorial. Anything else you wanna bug me with, or are we done here?"

There was. Just one more thing. "Xigbar, how come you wasted your time to train me?"

The man gave a half-hearted shrug. "Why not?"

"If you rank a lot higher than me, why would you bother when you could make someone else do it?"

"Do you need answers for everything, kid?"

"But…"

"Keep practicing, okay?" The toothy grin returned. "I'll see ya later." A black portal opened up, and he was gone.

Demyx stood there in thought as more thunder rumbled outside, then, shrugged. No one ever really bothered with him when they didn't have to. His grandma was nice to him and everything, but she had to be. She was his grandma. But, maybe he was just thinking too much into things. He opened his own portal a few feet away, but let it close again. No, let's try it this way. After a few attempts, he opened a portal right where he stood and took himself back to his room.

He plopped down on the bed and bid his sitar to appear, a familiar weight in his hands and lap. He ran his thumb over the strings. It was time to learn how to play this thing. He worked on finding each note, writing their locations to his mind, and as the eternal night of the World That Never Was wore on, his plucking began to form into a song, a slow, mournful tune with a few missed notes, a tune that tried to fill the empty void inside his chest. If he no longer had the ability to feel with a heart, he would just have to feel through his music, then. And as he started to get into the song, missing fewer and fewer notes as he did so, his music turned into a faster, more cheerful thing as he tried to force something akin to happiness into his chest. Things wouldn't be so bad, after all, as long as he had his music to keep him company.

Hey, not a terrible ending, considering this was the first four chapters of what was supposed to be a novel. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed my little story. Please review and tell me what you think.