I'm so sorry that this update took so long! x_x Now that it's summer, I'll try to update faster. ^^; Anyway, we've still got two scientist OC spaces open for you ppl… o3o But if I don't get any by the time I finish the next chapter, I won't be able to put them in. D: So, anyway, here's the new chapter! :D Hope you like it! ^^ And as another note, fanfiction obviously hates me, because it keeps destroying my indents and paragraph dividers… _ Well, if they don't show up, sorry. D: You'll have to do without them. _
Disclaimer: I don't, nor will I ever, obviously, own Kingdom Hearts in any way, shape, or form.
Disclaimer 2: Still not copying off upside-down-boat. Our stories are totally different…but both are uber awesome. XD
Chapter Seven
"Matrix," Hikari called as she led the group into Matrix's room. "I've brought you some visitors!"
"Visitors?" Matrix asked as everyone came into the room behind Hikari. "Oh. Hey, guys."
"Are you okay, Matrix?" Soriox asked as the group gathered around his bed.
"Yeah, we were really worried when we heard that you were in the hospital wing," Shixam added.
"What did you do to your head?" Roxés asked, observing the bandage coiling around Matrix's head and over his forehead.
"And why did you actually try that stunt last night?" Xavier asked bluntly.
"Whoa, whoa, hang on," Matrix said. "I can't answer so many questions at once. Slow down."
"Okay, me first!" Soriox said before anyone else could say anything. "You didn't get really really hurt, right?"
"Not too much," Matrix replied, seeming to glance over at Hikari for a moment.
"So, what happened last night?" Demyx asked.
"Well…" Matrix cleared his throat. He coughed, then cleared it again. "Uh…Hikari? Could I have a glass of juice or something? I'm pretty thirsty."
"Sure," Hikari smiled, leaving the room. Matrix waited until she was out of earshot.
"Okay, I don't have much time before she comes back, so ask your questions now while there aren't any scientists in here," Matrix said quickly.
"No surveillance cameras?" Zexion asked.
"None with audio," Matrix answered. "Now, if you have questions, hurry up and ask them."
"Well, what happened last night?" Axel repeated Demyx's question. "I think that we need to at least know that much."
"I wanted to find out what the scientists here are doing," Matrix replied. "I snuck into one of their labs, and looked up some info. And I found some really weird stuff. Apparently, this place has been open since 1926. And when I looked at the picture of the original staff, Aldis and Verity were there, and they looked exactly the same as they do now."
"Seriously?" Shixam asked, surprised.
"No way," Roxés seemed disbelieving. "That can't be right."
"Well, it is," Matrix said. "Anyway, I accidentally set off the alarm 'cause I didn't know the password, and then I got chased down the hall, I grabbed my skateboard, then ran into another room. I tossed my skateboard out the window, and then I tried to get through, but they pulled me back in…oh, wait! Aw, man! My skateboard is still outside! Some random person could pick it up!"
"Let's just stick to what happened," Zexion tried to get him back on track.
"Well, anyway, I think I figured out my power," Matrix smirked.
"Really?" Soriox asked, seeming excited. "What is it?"
"Yeah, yeah, tell us," Demyx smiled, seeming equally excited to hear.
"I'll show you guys once I get out of the hospital wing," Matrix said, smiling at keeping them in suspense.
"Why are you in a bed if you just hit your head anyway?" Roxés questioned.
"Hang on, he might be hurt more than that," Caelix said.
"Well, I did hit my knee pretty hard. Then my head got hit on the window," Matrix told them. "But now, it's weird. I feel really tired. I can hardly move. I think that they did it. I mean, right after they caught me, they gave me another shot. And I don't know what it's gonna do, but it can't be a good thing."
"What did the stuff in the syringe look like?" Roxas asked.
"Blue," Matrix replied. "I don't know what it was."
"It wasn't glowing, right?" Saxasra asked. "Because if you're radioactive now or something…"
"No, it wasn't glowing," Matrix replied. "And it's not like I'm dying here. I just feel really tired."
"Technically, lethargy could be a premature sign of death," Zexion remarked.
"Well, gee, thanks," Matrix rolled his eyes. "I feel much better now."
"Sorry," Zexion shrugged.
"They wouldn't get rid of you, anyway," Axel commented. "I mean, if you're one of their experiments, then they want to keep you in good condition. Just like the rest of us."
"Yeah, I just don't know," Matrix said. "Oh, and the project that the scientists are working on is called-"
"I got the juice!" Hikari said happily as she suddenly came back into the room, carrying a glass full of orange juice. "I hope you like orange juice!"
"Yeah, I love orange juice!" Matrix smiled in a friendly way, taking the glass of juice from her. "I really like this stuff. Thanks, Hikari!"
"No problem," Hikari grinned at him. "Anyway, I think that you should all give Matrix a chance to rest, so let's get going, alright?"
"Sure, let's go," Demyx nodded, and the group began to exit, leaving Matrix in the room by himself. He looked down at the orange juice floating in his cup, scrunching up his nose a bit.
"Blech," he said, pouring it into the plant next to the bed and putting the glass down onto the table. "Enjoy your vitamin C, plant."
The teens in the know spent the next few days continuously trying to figure out and practice their powers, without much success. Xaldin had found a small fireplace where Axel could practice, but other than that, not much progress was made. Matrix was able to leave the hospital wing after a few days, but the scientists still insisted that he continued to wear the bandage on his head.
"Pancake day. Awesome," Matrix commented at breakfast, heaping a big pile of pancakes onto his plate.
"Hey, leave some for everyone else," Roxés, who was behind him, said.
"I'm recovering from illness," Matrix said, stuffing some pancake into his mouth on his way back to the table. "I need my nutrients." Roxés got some for herself, then made her way back to the table, where the rest of the group was waiting. Xaldin was off somewhere again, having eaten breakfast before any of them had woken up.
"So, are you glad to be out of the hospital, Matrix?" Demyx was saying when Roxés sat down in her regular seat.
"Yeah, definitely," Matrix said. "I mean, every single day, it was just 'let me take your temperature', 'here, take this medicine', 'oh, no, you can't watch that T.V. in your condition'."
"They wouldn't let you watch the T.V. in your room?" Axel asked.
"Nope," Matrix shook his head solemnly. "It was hell on earth."
"Hey, has anyone seen Sori this morning?" Shixam asked, looking around the table for Soriox. "I mean, he usually gets here pretty early."
"Come to think of it, I haven't seen him at all," Caelix shrugged.
"Here he comes, now," Saxasra pointed to the door, where Soriox had just come bounding in, a big smile on his face and holding a bunny plushie.
"Where did that come from?" Matrix asked him as he reached the table, indicating the bunny.
"I don't know," he told them. "I just woke up and he was on my bed, right next to me. He says his name is Michi."
"How cute," Shixam giggled. Roxés smiled a bit, but rolled her eyes.
"You…talked to him?" Matrix asked. "Okay."
"What, I did!" Soriox said in his own defense. "Oh, and also, I had a really weird dream last night."
"What was it about?" Roxas asked.
"I was in a really weird place," Soriox replied, sitting down at the table. "Everything was really bright and colorful and stuff, and there were walking playing cards. And then, there was this thing on the table, and I ate it, and I got really small, and then there was…well, there was a lot of stuff. But it was really weird. Still, it seemed like a pretty happy place. Maybe I can go there someday!"
"To a place like that?" Zexion questioned.
"Sure, why not?" Soriox smiled. "I mean, it's not like I can't find it somewhere."
"Doubt it," Matrix mumbled through a mouthful of pancakes. "First, we've gotta get out of here."
"Well, yeah," Soriox nodded. "But after that, I'm going to try to find that place right away." Soriox paused for a minute. "Michi says that he wants to, too." Shixam giggled again.
"He's just too cute!" she said quietly to Roxés, who shrugged. "I mean, at least he's acting his age. He's ten, right?"
"Hey, guys," Axel said out of the blue. "Who is that girl way over there with the freaky pink hair guy?" He pointed to another side of the room, indicating a teenage girl talking to Marluxia, the man who Matrix had blamed for setting off the fire alarm.
"I dunno," Matrix shrugged.
"She looks like she's around our age," Saxasra commented. "Maybe we should get her to join our group or something."
"Sounds good to me," Shixam nodded. "The more people we can get out of here, the better, right?"
"So, who's going to go talk to her?" Axel asked. He was met by absolute silence. "If you think that I'm going, then no way. Why can't one of you girls go?"
"Fine, fine, I'll go," Shixam stood up. "I'll be right back." They waited a little while, and when Shixam returned, alone, she seemed a bit annoyed.
"What happened?" Xavier asked her.
"That girl is a big jerk!" she grumbled.
"What's her name?" Caelix asked.
"Roxxy," Shixam replied. "And she's a jerk!"
"Hang on, I can deal with jerks," Roxés said, standing up. "I'll go see if I can talk to her." Roxés walked across the room to where Roxxy was standing, trying to look friendly at least.
"No, I don't want to be friends with you guys," Roxxy said before Roxés could even open her mouth to say something. "Now, buzz off." Roxés desperately wanted to say a comeback of some sort, but she decided not to. But, it looked like it was a lost cause, so she turned right around, and started heading back. She suddenly heard Roxxy give a little laugh, and turned around, annoyed. She could see why Shixam had been irritated.
"Don't laugh at me behind my back," Roxés said resolutely. "I'm serious, Roxxy. I was just trying to nice, but I don't have to be nice. So don't tick me off."
"It's a free country," Roxxy gave a disdainful smirk. "I can do whatever I want. Even if it is laughing at you."
"Roxxy, I mean it-"
"We're not fighting are we?" Aldis said, suddenly cutting in out of nowhere. Roxés was seriously starting to get creeped out at how he was popping up in the most "convenient" places.
"Of course not," Roxxy gave Aldis a wide smile, and Roxés glared at her.
"Suck up," Roxés muttered, walking away.
"No fighting, alright?" Aldis called after her.
"What was that about?" Matrix asked as Roxés returned to the table.
"Shixam is right," Roxés frowned, sitting down at the table. "Roxxy is a jerk."
"Want me to try to talk to her?" Soriox asked.
"You'd better not, Sori," Shixam warned him. "She's tough. Real tough."
"Well, okay," Soriox shrugged. "Oh, Matrix. Now that you're out of the hospital, will you show us your power?"
"Oh, yeah," Roxas nodded. "You said you'd show us once you were out."
"Can I eat my pancakes, first?" Matrix asked, stabbing a piece of pancake onto his fork and waving it around a bit. "You don't want me passing out from malnutrition, do you?"
"Of course not," Caelix shook her head.
"Just as I thought," Matrix nodded. "Now, I'm going to go get some more pancakes." Matrix stood up, striding happily back over to the food buffet.
"…This is going to take forever, isn't it?" Xavier asked after a pause.
"Probably," Zexion sighed, opening his book.
"How come we needed to come in here?" Shixam asked as Matrix led them back into his old medical room. "There's nothing here."
"But there's a T.V," Matrix said, turning to her for a moment.
"We need a T.V?" Roxés questioned.
"Uh-huh," Matrix nodded, stopping next to the table where the T.V. sat. Everyone else stood and watched him, wondering what he was going to do.
"Alright," Matrix grinned, lifting a hand. "Now, watch this!" He placed his hand onto the T.V, a smug smile on his face. He waited for some sort of "ooh"-ing and "aah"-ing from the others, but when he heard nothing, he looked over at them.
"…Are you going to do something?" Demyx asked.
"Huh? I am doing something. Look!" Matrix motioned at the T.V. with his other hand. "It's spazzing out, isn't it?"
"No, not really," Axel shook his head. Matrix looked at the T.V, only to realize that nothing was happening.
"Huh?" he removed his hand questioningly. "H-Hang on, let me try again." He put his hand back onto the T.V, hoping that something would happen. The T.V. screen didn't even flicker. And the rest of the group didn't seem very impressed.
"Didn't you say that you found out what your power was?" Zexion asked. "Can't you just tell us instead of trying to show us?"
"I mean…it worked last night," Matrix said, pulling his hand off of the T.V. again. "You should have seen it! Every single electronic thing that I touched went absolutely crazy!"
"So, your power is tech stuff?" Shixam asked. "Huh. That's pretty cool."
"I just wish that I could show you guys, now…" Matrix tapped the T.V. a few more times, still not getting any result. "Well, maybe it's like how…how when you're shooting hoops alone, you do it just fine, but when you call your friends over to watch, you always miss. That sorta thing."
"It's okay, you can show us some other time," Soriox grinned.
"Oh, and by the way…" Axel glanced around quickly to make sure that they were alone. "Before, you said that you knew the name of the program that the scientists are running. What's it called?"
"It's…uh…" Matrix tried to remember. "Oh, right. On the computer, it was called the "Human Weapon Program". Got any idea what that could mean, anyone?"
"It seems pretty obvious to me," Zexion said after thinking for a moment. "I mean, think about it. We were brought here, without having any idea why. We were all given the same injection, and all of a sudden, we're starting to develop strange powers. And now, we find out that this thing is called the "Human Weapon Program". I think that these scientists are planning on developing our abilities to the point where they could be used in combat."
"You think so?" Demyx asked, surprised. "But what kind of combat would they need us for?"
"There are plenty of wars going on," Xavier replied in Zexion's stead. "That could be why they need us."
"Wars? I don't want to fight in a war," Soriox hugged Michi tighter. "People get hurt in wars."
"People don't just get hurt in wars. People die in wars," Roxas said. "And maybe they think that just because we can do special stuff that we're invincible."
"Oh, come on," Matrix cut in. "It's not like we're bullet proof. If they sent us out there, we'd die in just about two seconds. It has to be something else that they want us for."
"I'm still sticking with my theory," Zexion shrugged.
"Hey, let's go before we get caught in here without a scientist with us," Saxasra said, going towards the door.
"We have to go tell Xaldin what we found out anyway," Xavier agreed. "Let's go find him."
It was later that evening when, in the middle of the night, Xavier once again was woken up by someone moving around in their room.
"What are you doing this time?" he groaned, looking at the clock after seeing Matrix pulling on a hoodie.
"I'm going to go get my skateboard," Matrix told him.
"Is that really all you're doing?" Xavier asked, suspicious.
"Yeah, yeah, it's all I'm doing," Matrix said. "Don't worry."
"Won't you get in trouble if you go outside, though?" came another voice. The two of them turned, seeing that Soriox was awake.
"I won't get in trouble if I tell them what I'm doing," Matrix shrugged. "What could happen, right?" Matrix pulled his hood up, then walked out of the room.
"If he sets off the alarm again, I'm going to kill him," Xavier mumbled, trying to fall back to sleep.
Matrix was surprised by how chilly it felt when he went outside. He shut the door quietly, then started walking around the perimeter of the building, looking to see if he could find his skateboard. As he walked, he observed the large wall surrounding the facilities. It was tall, and completely made of metal. He wandered over to it at one point, kicking it with his foot and listening to the sound it made.
"Hollow," he murmured to himself as he continued along, still searching. Finally, after a while of searching, he found just what he was looking for. He grinned, picking up his skateboard, and was happy to see that it was still in one piece, even after being chucked out the window. He made his way back to the door, but was annoyed to find that it had locked itself. He would have to find another way in, so he started on his way along the building again.
"Couldn't you have come in another way?" Xavier yawned, opening up the window to the bedroom so that Matrix could climb in.
"Nope, the door locked itself," Matrix replied. "But, I found my skateboard!" He tugged off his hoodie with a little difficulty, climbed up the ladder to the top bunk bed, and burrowed under the covers, giving a quick "Good night!" Xavier scratched his head a bit, starting to regret being put in the same room as Matrix. But, he knew that he would have to put up with it now, so he walked back over to his bed, lying down, and tried to get some sleep. Their work would begin again in the morning.