Title: The Ultimate Winner
Universe: Kingdom Hearts
Theme/Topic: Emotions
Rating: PG-13
Character/Pairing/s: Luxord
Warnings/Spoilers: None, per se.
Word Count: 780
Summary: ...
Song: Roadside – Rise Against
Disclaimer: If KH was mine Luxord would has his own casino. Case and point; neither KH nor Luxord are mine.
Distribution: Just tell me if you put it anywhere, please and thank you.

HOLY CRAP, AN UPDATE!

I know, I swore that this one would not be published on the eve of Luxord Day (like Axel's were..), but rest assured that they will all be out at the appropros times from now on.

I'll be away on my the tenth of October for a sporting event - which I may even incorporate into one of the stories - so I'll post the final one on my birthday (the first) for you!

I hope you enjoy this one, even though it is pretty dark.

I suppose that "dark" is just my general view of all of the Org members (Nobodies and all..).

Watch me ramble on here; READ THE STORYYY~!

Whenever Luxord brought something, anything, other than cards to the table the immediate question asked of him was "Are you feeling okay?".

He was feeling fine, thank you very much, but he saw this cake in a shop in Port Royal and thought it would be nice for desert.

He was brilliant; he just thought the castle needed some colour so he bought a bouquet of flowers (which Marluxia approved of greatly).

He was dandy; he just thought that maybe someone ought to bring some tea into the house occasionally instead of having to constantly drink their stupid coffee.

He was feeling perfectly alright, so would everyone please stop harassing him as to the state of his health?

It was often, after times like these, that he would shut himself in his room and wish he was still able to feel anything at all.

That was what most of his fellows didn't understand about his take on their existence; he'd never known about all of this "no heart means no feelings" nonsense until Xemnas had informed him of it. He'd continued feeling just as he'd continued breathing, after he'd been changed.

Luxord wasn't one to oppose the givens in society loudly, by any means; but quietly, inside the confines of his ever lucid mind, he was certain that his emotions remained. Echoes are the whispers of things that were there mere moments ago; but he'd become a Nobody long before now, and he still felt his aggravation at his comrades' acceptance of the "fact" of their lives as clear as if he were still in possession of certain parts of his being.

That was why he went out and bought bits and pieces for his fellow members, why he went out of his way on missions to buy little knick knacks to make Demyx happy or put a genuine smile of gratitude on Xaldin's face.

He was well aware that Zexion had been of the same opinion, and if the little Schemer hadn't had his plans foiled so abruptly – something which Luxord still begrudged Axel – perhaps they might have even put that little fact to work in trying to find an alternative way to get their hearts back.

He was in his room as he thought this over one night after a particularly hideous incident involving a pudding, Axel and his "heating methods", when it occurred to him; maybe his brothers in arms didn't really want to feel anymore.

Most of them had gone so long doing whatever they pleased without the "emotional" baggage behind them that they would probably find it very hard to adjust to life in the real world again.

After all, the lives they were leading now were that of a fantasy novel; the perks of never aging past their initial leap and possibly living forever – unless run through, or something akin to it – far outweighed the fact that when they went to spy on their former families – which many often did – they watched their brother and sisters, nieces and nephews and, in some cases, even children, grow older without them.

They could forget all that, and since they couldn't "feel" it didn't affect them in the slightest.

Of course, somewhere deep inside their souls, Luxord knew that they regretted taking Xemnas up on his word.

Axel more than anyone, after he'd discovered who it had been who had destroyed his world in the first place.

He was obviously bitter over the fact, and though he and Saïx had always planned to overthrow him, in the end Axel had decided that Roxas was the better friend of the two, even though Roxas left him eventually.

And so Axel had woken up to the true state of his "lost" emotions. Who would've blamed him for all the trouble he caused afterwards if they knew; he'd probably gone a little insane after he realised all that he'd destroyed while working to gain Xemnas' trust to fulfil a plan that ultimately crumbled to dust.

And so Luxord stood on his balcony, in his arena, where he fondly remembered playing – and beating – his friends at card games of all descriptions, where he'd given Roxas a keychain he'd pinched from a locked chest deep inside the castle at Hollow Bastion, where Xaldin, Xigbar and himself had drunk themselves silly and then set off to make fools of themselves in front of the other members.

Xigbar and Xaldin had already been eliminated, and inside he wept for them. But outside he was a cocky son of a gun who was more than willing to fight Sora.

When his time came, maybe he'd be the ultimate winner.

Maybe he'd be Lurod once more?