The day after Larxene's party, Zexion was awakened by a pounding on his bedroom door. The knock pounded out the rhythm of a song Zexion didn't know, though it sounded like a dance beat. Even before the scent hit him Zexion knew who was at the door. Only Larxene would pound on his door at 5:30 in the morning.
Zexion groaned. He was tired enough without her being around. Just her voice tended to sap his energy.
"Coming..." called Zexion wearily as he slipped his standard issue Organization cloak over his boxers. With the cloak zipped to his knees and his boots on, the casual observer couldn't even tell he wasn't wearing a shirt. Or pants.
When Zexion opened his door, appearing fully dressed, he was indeed greeted by a grinning Larxene. She winked at him an gave him an energetic peace sign. "'Sup?" she asked cheerily.
"Me, since you woke me." said Zexion dryly.
Larxene smirked. "Funny. Anyway, I thought you might want some pie. I had tons left over from yesterday." she dangled a box in front of Zexion's nose, and swung it back and forth like a metronome.
Zexion rolled his eyes Why in the world would she think that? "Thank you. I'll eat it later." Zexion said with forced politeness as took the box from Larxene. "Now if you excuse me I have 27 minutes left before my alarm goes off. I intend to spend it sleeping." he said as he began to turn back into his room.
"Oh by the way. Namine came today." said Larxene simply, as though she was discussing the weather or something equally mundane.
That woke Zexion up. "What?" he said, his eyes widening, "She wasn't supposed to come for another week or so! What happened? Where is she now?" he demanded.
"Right here!" said Larxene smugly. Reaching to the left of Zexion's doorframe, she pulled Namine into view. "Saix and Xigbar came by a little while ago and dropped her off. I was the only one awake, so I had to sign for the package. You guys are sure lucky that I'm an early riser, or else they would have had to shackle her to the front stoop or something. They seemed quite rushed."
Zexion was stunned, Why would Xemnas do this? Vexen sent him a communication just recently, explaining how we would need a little more time to get the Castle fully functioning. Why would he suddenly Namine to us? To hurry up our work by adding the weight of necessity? Did something happen? Zexion wondered.
"Namine, this is Zexion. You know him right?" Larxene asked, holding on to the girl by her elbow. Namine was dressed in a pure white slip and not much else really. The girl was very slim, skinny even, and she looked pale, cold and maybe a tad frightened.
Zexion had only seen the girl once before; when Xaldin had first captured her and presented her to Xemnas and the rest of the Organization. Namine had looked even more confused, and who could blame her? Then, Namine had been stored in a large golden cage, and suspended from the ceiling of the vast meeting hall of Organization. From their lofty thrones, the Organization 13 members had watched the girl tremble in her prison as Xaldin explained how he had found her and captured her.
Xemnas, stoic and critical as always, listened in silence as the Namine pled to be released. "Do you know what you are Namine?" he finally asked. The girl shook her head slowly. "You are a Nobody. A nothing. You don't exist. You shouldn't exist. You don't matter. Even the slightest Heartless is more real than you are." Xemnas said with monotone cruelty.
Namine had protested weakly, but Xemnas silenced her with a wave of his hand. "You can deny it all you like, but it doesn't change what you are; something that shouldn't even exist."
This statement seemed to upset Namine greatly, but she had no way to be rebuke it; Zexion thought she probably had realized that she was less than a real being.
"However." Xemnas continued, "There is a way for you to become real. To have a heart. To exist again." Namine looked up at Xemnas, a little shimmer of hope in her eyes. It was then that Xemnas knew he had Namine in he clutches; to him, her hope was the look of a dehydrated animal given one last chance at water. Not matter the cost, she would take that chance.
"There is a boy, named Sora. We have reason to believe that you can manipulate him, using his memories. He was able to become whole again, even though he was once something like us, something that shouldn't exist or be. If we can figure out how he did that, then we all will be able to get our hearts back..."
Not long after that meeting, Zexion proposed a plan to Xemnas, "...I call it 'Castle Oblivion' ... the concept is the further you go into the Castle, the more your memories are corrupted..."
Now, Zexion was faced with Namine again, though this meeting was much less formal then their first had been. She stared at Zexion, looking slightly frightened. Does she know I cam up with this Castle? Wondered Zexion.
His musings were broken when Larxene asked, "How long are you two gonna stare at each other? It's like, really boring." she complained.
"Larxene, you can't just drag her around the castle. We have to get the others." said Zexion sternly, recovering his composure.
"I wanted to give her the grand tour. I'm sure she'd really like the game room." Larxene protested.
Zexion raised an eyebrow, "Gameroom? What gameroom?" he asked, suspiciously.
"Never mind!" said Larxene hurriedly. "Can I wake the other members up?" she asked gleefully. Her excitement meant that it was probably a bad idea to let her do so.
"Erm.." said Zexion.
"Thanks!" Said Larxene happily. She shoved Namine into Zexion's arms. "Watch the brat for me!" Then, before Zexion could protest, Larxene darted down the basement residential hallway. "Hey! Hey! Rise and shine! Wake uuuuuuppppp!" she shouted, pounding on Lexaeus's and Vexen's doors. When she was sure she had made enough noise to wake them up, Larxene opened a dark portal and jumped through it, presumably on her way to rudely awaken her fellows upstairs.
Just after she left, Vexen opened his door, looking groggy and enraged at the same time. He didn't seem to realize he was wearing only his grey boxers and a matching hair net, "What the Hell was that all about!" he demanded.
Namine took one look at the half naked Vexen and closed her eyes tight. Zexion dearly wished he could do the same.
"As you can see..." said Zexion tersely, "Namine had arrived somewhat earlier than expected. We need to decide what to do with her."
"What?" shouted Vexen, his voice cracking with anger, "But I told the Superior myself! We are not ready to accommodate her!"
Zexion rubbed his forehead. "I know that. We will have to decide what to do until we are ready. That's why we're having a meeting."
Vexen gaped at Namine for a few additional seconds, then ducked back in his room. "I'll get my Powerpoint!" he stammered.
"Get some clothes on." Lexaeus commanded as he stepped out of his room, fully dressed and completely unruffled. He ruined the illusion of utter calm when he said, "I'm going to kill that girl."
Namine's complexion became even more pale.
"He means Larxene." Clarified Zexion. This is going to be one bizarre meeting. He thought unhappily. Zexion could only imagine what kind of trouble Larxene was causing upstairs.