My excuse this time is that I was finishing up my Queen Alisyn story and was on a roll, and band camp is sucking up my time. The story's done now! So this is my top priority other than schoolwork.

I also realized my chapter numbers are sooo screwed up. From now on I'm going from what it says up in the little navigator thing. Sorry about any confusion.

Again, I've been doing a little research and realizing that I'm going to have a lot of inaccuracies. I've only played Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts 2, and Re: Chain of Memories. No Final Mixes or anything. So…yeah. Whatever. lol.

Chapter Seven: The Last Day

Loud knocks on my door stirred me from consciousness. I slowly opened my eyes, puzzled that my handy-dandy Demyx alarm clock was nowhere in sight.

"Xylanis?" my alarm clock called from outside the door.

It took me some time for my sleepy mind to understand. When it finally clicked, I groaned. "Oh geez, Demyx, you can come in!"

Timidly he poked his head in the door. "Are you sure?"

I rolled my eyes and sat up. "Demyx, chill out. I only meant that I can't stand that twit Larxene. Feel free to barge in whenever you like."

He got a strange look on his face, but he just nodded. I threw on my cloak and we headed for the Hall of Empty Melodies.

"Wait," I said suddenly as I stepped out the door. "What time is it?"

Demyx smiled mischievously. "I let you sleep in through breakfast. If anyone asks, we were training."

I laughed, astonished and relieved. "You rock, Demyx!"

He just got that look again.

This time we were working on conserving my energy. It took a lot to use my powers, and only practice would teach me to use less energy for more power. It took a lot of time, and we didn't have much of that. But Demyx was pretty happy with me.

And I wasn't the only one to learn something. Less than an hour after we began our training session, I noticed Demyx was starting to majorly suck again. Sure enough, there was Marluxia in the central balcony, watching us silently.

I was not going to let him ruin another day. I let go of Demyx where I had been holding my dagger to his neck, and stood defiantly, facing the pink-haired creep.

"Hey!" I called to him. "What are you doing here? The Superior said no one watches us!"

Marluxia didn't look upset. "The Superior has also made an exception for me," he replied coolly. "I need to watch you for…future reference."

I raised my eyebrows. Did this have something to do with the big mission? I thought about running to the Superior and demanding that he tell Marluxia to stay away. But I was not a tattle-tale. I let it go, and turned back to Demyx, sighing.

"Listen, Demyx," I whispered. "I know we're supposed to act like we have feelings and all. But can't you cut the act so I can train for a bit?"

His expression looked helpless, confused. "Yeah…yeah, I will. Sorry."

Why was he telling me sorry? Somehow I wasn't encouraged. And I was right. We tried again, and in three seconds I was ready to slice his head off.

Maybe I was going to be forced to play his game.

"I'm sorry," he said immediately after I turned to face him again. "I don't know what it is. I just…I guess I've been doing this for so long…"

"Don't worry about it," I told him. "Look. We're gonna try something new. You're going to practice, too. Just…pretend he's not there. Can you do that? There is no Marluxia. And you know what else? You are an amazing fighter, Demyx. You have to believe it. Okay? Try it."

He looked unsure. "Okay…"

"Believe." I repeated.

Demyx nodded. "All right."

Now, it's not like he was instantly super amazing or anything. But, I really thought he improved. It made me smile a little, to watch his face screwed up in concentration. He was really taking me seriously. And…it was working, at least a little.

Before we knew it, it was break time, with a half hour to go before lunch. Marluxia was already gone when I sheathed my daggers and Demyx conjured away his sitar.

"Good job," I beamed at him, patting his back.

"Don't tell me that," Demyx brushed off my hand. "I'm your mentor. I should be saying good job to you, newbie."

I was going to get mad at him, until I noticed a twinkle in his eyes. Weird…could your eyes twinkle if you didn't have a heart?

In any case, I stuck out my tongue at him. And we headed out of the Hall, waving goodbye before we walked off to take a quick shower.

After my shower, I wandered the halls aimlessly, slashing the air nonchalantly with a dagger. And then Axel snuck up behind me.

Before he could grab my wrist, I whirled around and grabbed his instead with my free hand. "Um, can I help you?" I asked, eyes narrowed.

Axel raised his eyebrows, but yanked his wrist away and inspected my weapon. "Daggers. Nice," he commented. "Definitely not flashy, but nice."

"Mhm." I sheathed my dagger in my cloak. "Is that all you came for?"

"Geez, I came to have a friendly chat and you're getting all suspicious."

I sighed impatiently. "If you must, then let's walk. I hate standing still."

Axel snorted but obliged me. "Just as uppity as ever, I see."

I nodded. "Are you sure you don't have anything better to do? No getting ready for the big mission or anything?"

Axel sighed and shook his head. "Nothing major. We've barely done anything for the longest time. All it is right now is recruit, recruit, recruit, and collect hearts. I can't wait to get out of this dump and go somewhere interesting."

"I see. So you don't know anything about what's coming up?"

Axel laughed again, like he was talking to an amusingly ignorant child. "Look who's getting curious. It's not like you'd be able to go on any big missions for a long time."

I shrugged. "You're the one who wanted a friendly chat. I'm chatting."

DiZ had been worried about the recent quietude of the Organization. That was why I was here. And apparently just in time. I'd have to find a way to get sent along on this mission…

"Hey! Xylanis!" Demyx came around a corner and confronted us.

"Well, Thirteen, looks like duty calls," Axel said, before adding in a murmur, "Let me know how good old Marly's doing, huh? Seems like you've been getting pretty buddy-buddy." Then he turned around and was gone.

Demyx and I walked to lunch together, but I still felt nervous. That Axel was seeing the same thing I was. So would he be on my side, or against me?

The afternoon was spent polishing up my skills. This evening was my initiation, and we'd have a big banquet afterwards. Then the Superior would give me some small mission to prove myself, usually killing a few Heartless, and I'd be in.

I asked Demyx what my title would be, but he shook his head and said nothing but "Your defense is weak, pick it up!" Marluxia watched for a little bit, and my mentor flagged a bit then, but he kept improving and improving until it was almost unnoticeable.

After several hours of hard work, I was sweating like crazy. Contrary to what you would think, looking at them, the Organization cloaks breathe well. But still, we'd been working our butts off. We practiced with hoods up, too, because Demyx claimed I might need to. A bunch of crap, since our cloaks basically mark us out as the Organization and it doesn't really matter which one of us it is. But he insisted.

The hours flew by, and before I knew it, I was being ushered into a room I'd been in many, many times. A tall white room, with giant chairs of different heights placed in a circle. Where Nothing Gathers. There was a new chair situated near the bottom—my chair. We all used our portals of darkness to get up there. It was still a little scary for me, using the portals that used power from my cloak. Like the darkness could just lash out and swallow me. But I was getting used to it.

There was utter silence for a while. I yawned, and therefore earned a glare from Lexaeus. Finally, the Superior, who had been taking his sweet time, appeared in his chair and cleared his throat. Everyone looked up at him, some of them attentive, some of them lazy, bored.

"Now that Miss Alisyn is no longer a threat to us," he began amidst several sniggers and glances at me, "we don't need to send coded messages to each of your rooms."

I tried not to smile. I heard Larxene mutter not far above me, "Thank God."

"Now, we are here today to accept our newest member, Number Thirteen, Xylanis…the Deadly Shadow."

I glanced at Demyx, who looked back at me nervously, like he was hoping I liked it. I shrugged and smiled. It wasn't too bad. I mean, not the most creative, but hey.

"She will not have control over any specific class of Nobody as of yet…as you all know, you have to complete a certain number of missions before that point. For now, she will use the power of darkness more heavily than any of us, gaining speed, stealth, and a bit of grace."

I didn't like the sound of that. For one, darkness was dangerous. I knew that. For another thing, that sounded a bit too much like Marluxia. I was trying to distance myself from him, especially with the way Axel looked at me. I knew the mysterious redhead was thinking the same thing I was about our pink-haired friend. The only difference between us would be that Marluxia was an obnoxiously bright pink while my power relied mainly on black and gray.

"Because I would like to proceed to our next mission with haste, Xylanis's mission will be the same."

There were murmurs at this. But for some reason, Larxene didn't seem bothered. Neither did Marluxia.

Xemnas continued. "Things have been quiet lately, but we should be able to start speeding up things again. I've just acquired another castle on another world—a castle that is influenced by memories. It is an ideal place to carry on research about the heart. For this purpose, I would like Vexen, Lexaeus, and Zexion to travel to the castle and conduct extensive research in the basement levels."

They're older members, but they haven't done many missions at all, which is why their chairs are so low. Usually they're always doing research or something, and that doesn't count as a mission…most of the time. It makes sense, though. Vexen's like, obsessed with research of all kinds. He has sort of a crazed look, you can tell. Mad scientist material, definitely. Zexion is like, mega-nerd bookworm. He always keeps to himself and doesn't like to do anything he says would "dirty his hands." That's why he's never really done any missions. And Lexaeus…well, as far as I've seen, he and Zexy are a package deal. But where do I fit in to all this?

"However, in the upper floors we will need security against opposing forces. For this reason I have appointed Marluxia as the leader of the entire expedition."

What? He was only Number Eleven! What kind of butt-kissing had he done to get that?

Apparently everyone else thought the same…except, again, for Larxene and Marluxia. Everyone else erupted into indignant murmurs, especially the three who would have to work under him.

"Quiet!" barked the Superior. "To accompany him in the upper floors, Marluxia has chosen Larxene…and Xylanis. Along with that, I will ask Axel to go, too."

Everyone who needed more missions to control a Nobody species, basically...plus Axel. This mission was definitely not what everyone expected. Not what I expected, that's for sure. But now I knew for sure that Larxene and Marluxia were together on something. How did Axel work into it, though? And where would I end up in this mess?

"Everyone else will remain here, collecting hearts and recruiting. There is one other thing that the upper floor members will need to take care of as well… We have found a very special Nobody. I am keeping her there in that castle. I have already told Marluxia all that needs to be known of her, and she will aid in the research as well. But we also must keep her safe from…enemy forces."

DiZ, in other words. And maybe even that keyblade master. He had a trick for showing up to foil evil guys' plans. He hadn't gone after the Organization yet, but maybe…

"You'll all leave tomorrow. You will stay there until I have a satisfying amount of research from you. If the mission is successful, you will all be granted a group of Nobodies, most likely. Even you, Xylanis."

Much good that would do me. I was planning to skedaddle out of there the minute I had the info I needed. But I nodded as he looked at me. We were dismissed for my banquet, but I was still pretty confused. I didn't talk much, and it took me a while to realize that Demyx seemed quieter than usual, too.

Marluxia walked up to me. We didn't sit down for this little get-together. It was more like one of those party type deals where you just take food off the table and do whatever. He smiled at me. "Well, surprised? You get to go on the big mission after all."

I still didn't like him, but if I was to figure out what he was up to exactly, he couldn't know that. "Yeah, thanks to you. Why do you wanna take me anyway?"

"Oh, I just…thought our interests matched well," he shrugged. After a pause, he looked around. No one was nearby. "Somehow, we're going to find some way to take over the Organization. You could move from Number Thirteen to Number Three. Doesn't that sound nice?"

So I was right. Civil war. My, my, my. "Y-yeah," I nodded. "Sounds great. Sounds awesome! I like it. Okay. Well, we'll do that, then."

He grinned and patted my shoulder. "All right, then."

I was about to pull out my journal, hands itching to write down the latest news. But there was a knock on my door, and Demyx poked his head in. I hastily stuffed my journal back into a dresser drawer and waved at him. "Come in. What's up?"

He sidled in slowly. I saw his sitar slung over his shoulder.

"I—I was gonna say goodbye…" he said. "I mean, I don't know why…usually it's no big deal. I mean, you're coming back, and we don't really do things like this usually, but…I dunno. I just thought I should."

I looked at him. I was done trying to figure out what was up with these contrived emotions. Maybe my time at Castle Oblivion—that's what it was called—would explain something. But for now I just shook my head.

"Right…you aren't coming. That's gonna suck. It's been kinda…fun, you know?" I said awkwardly.

"Uh-huh." He sat down on the floor next to my bed. "So um…you wanna maybe hear some music? I thought like, we could hang out or something before you go. We've never really gotten to do anything fun."

I had been estranged from civilization for so long, living with DiZ and spying for him. I'd never really had much of a social life. I didn't understand what was going on. But the idea sounded really good.

"Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good. I didn't know you could actually use that thing for playing music."

Demyx chuckled. "Of course you can. Here, this is one song I remember a little, from my old self. It's about the only thing I do remember. It's really difficult, so I like playing it. Here…"

He plunked out a few notes…and surprisingly, I recognized them.

"Hey! I know that song!" It was a song from my childhood, a mournful dirge about missing home, never being able to return. I hadn't heard it in so long.

"Really? Do you know the words?" asked Demyx eagerly. "I know there are words, but I just can't remember them."

"Yeah. But…I can't sing them."

"Why not?"

"Because I…I can't sing."

"What do you mean, you can't sing?"

I said nothing. My cheeks got a little warm.

"Hey." Demyx looked at me seriously. "Don't be a hypocrite. I bet you're a fantastic singer. Just…believe."

I laughed. I thought for a long time, and then…

"Fine. This one time only. But no making fun of me."

He started to play again, and I joined in. As I got to the chorus his voice joined in, a strong, husky tenor. He sang a complicated harmony, and his voice blended well with my alto.

Far far away
From a place I once called home
I dunno what to say
To help me move along

Oh how I miss you so
'Cause I want to go back
My heart fills with woe
When I face the fact

I'm never goin' home
I can't look back
Gotta' see this through
Goodbye to you..
The world I knew.

The song continued, and I started to think about something I thought I'd forgotten. My home. My mother, my father, everything. So many things I'd missed out on. Where were they now? Were they alive? Were they all heartless now? Would I find their nobodies somewhere around this world, with no memory of me at all? Or had my world been restored when the keyblade master defeated Xemnas's heartless? Did they think I had been lost forever? Did they still hope I would show up one day?

But I could never go back. I didn't know how to get there. I was stuck. Stuck because of my stupid kidnapper. How had I forgotten what he had done to me?

My emotions rose with the notes, and soon I was crying. I tried my best to stop, to turn my face so Demyx wouldn't see, because there was no way nobodies could cry.

But then a handkerchief was pushed into my face, and Demyx was there, wiping my tears away. After they were gone, he turned the handkerchief to his own face.

His cheeks were covered in tears. And the strange look from this morning was back, intensified. I could feel the same look on my own face. I didn't know what it meant, though.

I put off my journal writing that night. DiZ could wait. I was too confused and exhausted after Demyx left, and so I just fell into bed, dreaming of home and thinking impossible thoughts.

Lyrics by my friend Tayler.