Axel lifted his head slowly and glanced out the window. It was just turning to dusk, he'd slept most of the afternoon away. He looked down at Demyx who was still asleep in his arms and couldn't help but smile. He turned his head sideways to look at the clock and blinked in aggravation at the time. At this rate they were going to be late for this evening's meeting. He hesitated, glancing between the clock and Dem's dreaming face, then sighed, knowing he'd have to wake him at some point. He leaned forward and kissed Demyx lightly on the lips. Blue eyes opened dreamily and gazed up into the green. Axel smiled and pointed at the clock. Demyx glimpsed over at it, then took a double take and made sure he'd seen the time right. Damn, it was right. They had five minutes to get to the meeting. He sat bolt upright and fell off the bed. Axel rolled on his front and peered over the side of the bed.

"You okay?"

Dem nodded and rubbed the back of his head, where he'd bumped it on the floor. It wasn't bruised, it would be fine in a second, but they wouldn't be if they didn't get to the meeting.

"Why didn't you wake me sooner? We're going to be late… oooh Xemnas will kill us!"

Axel laughed at Demyx's unease and anxiety. He got off the bed and helped the blonde to his feet, giving him a one armed embrace round the middle. He pointed one hand at the floor and winked at Demyx, who looked down then gasped and screwed his eyes tight shut. A dark portal slowly began to open at their feet. Dem wrapped his arms round Axel's neck. Axel grinned and placed his hands firmly on Demyx's waist.

"Hold on tight, this'll get us there quick."

Demyx let out an 'eep' as he felt a sudden falling sensation. He stopped quickly and felt like he wasn't standing the right way up. He opened one eye, then the other. He looked up, then down. Axel looked down at him and Dem blushed when he realised Axel was holding him in both arms, cradled. Axel leaned in and gave Demyx a kiss as he slowly set him on the ground. He broke the kiss and smiled as Dem flushed bright red and swayed slightly. He regained his balance and let that childish grin spread across his face. Axel gave his hand a squeeze and pointed to the door of the meeting room.

"Better go in, I think everyone else is there."

Demyx nodded and opened the door, regretfully having to drop Axel's hand. He took his seat and Axel took his, throwing a few quick glances in his direction. Xemnas entered the room and sat down. For once everyone was quiet, for a few seconds before murmuring broke out.

"Quiet. I said Quiet!"

Everyone went silent again and Xemnas stood up.

"Right, I understand this is our first meeting in a while, but some issues have been raised that I should draw to everyone's attention. Firstly and most importantly… we're broke. Quiet! The basic facts are, we don't have any munny and we can't steal everything we need. So from now on anyone who goes on a mission must complete their mission and bring back at least 300 munny each. I know that's a lot but thanks to the amount of munny we've been spending on fixing the castle where you break it, we have very little for anything else. Due to this, Axel, your room can be finished by the end of this week, but to minimum cost, so you'd better be careful with it."

Axel rolled his eyes and folded his arms with a sort of pout. Demyx hid his face with his hand to keep from giggling. Xemnas looked down at his sheets of paper that reminded him what he needed to talk about. Thankfully he'd taken to writing his own papers, as Saix's handwriting was just getting worse and worse… must be nearly a full moon.

"To continue, can you please learn to clean up after yourselves! Your own rooms are fine, but the kitchen is a mess, the living room needs a new carpet and no more fights in the hallway, we cannot afford to replace it! I'm not stupid, I know who has made what mess and you will be expected to clear it up. Larxene, you're replacing the bulbs in the hallway, Marluxia you have to get that dirt out of the living room carpet. Zexion, please clean up the pocky boxes in the kitchen, just because you don't have to cook it doesn't mean you can live on it. Xigbar, pancakes, on the ceiling?! Get rid of them, I don't even know how old some of them are!"

Most of the members were looking quite pissed off by now. Axel and Demyx exchanged a few glances. They hadn't destroyed anything or made a mess in the past few days, being preoccupied with… other things. They might well be the only members not spending the next day cleaning.

"Xaldin I know it was you who ripped up some of the wallpaper in the hall, patch it up as best you can. I don't care who started that fight or how drunk you were, you're doing it! Vexen, one of your… experiments… ruined one of the rooms upstairs, I want to know that the ceiling won't fall in. Luxord for goodness sakes, make sure you clean up everything after your games nights. That includes spilled drinks, like the ones that have made the kitchen table so sticky! I understand it's too late to get started on these chores now, so I want them picked up first thing tomorrow, understood. Good, you're all dismissed. Ah, except for you Saix, I need to talk to you."

All the other members left in a bit of a rush. Axel waited for Demyx who smiled at him, once nobody was looking. He looked down when his stomach rumbled quietly. Axel rolled his eyes and waited until everyone else had gone.

"I'm going back to the room, you go find yourself something to eat."

Demyx nodded and with a brief hug, ran off towards the kitchen. Axel smiled to himself and began to wander back to the room. Demyx reached the kitchen, still deciding what he should eat, and opened the door. Before he could figure out what was happening, Demyx found himself pinned against the kitchen wall by an arm. He blinked, trying to catch his breath. Marluxia and Larxene, again. Demyx was not in the mood for this. He moved to push Marluxia out of the way and found himself being dragged off the ground. Larxene peered closely at Demyx.

"Which arm did you say it was Marly?"

"Left."

Demyx looked round wildly, he could guess what was going on. Larxene reached out for his left arm which he pulled away and lashed out at her, hitting the wall instead. Larxene frowned as she tried to get hold of the thrashing nocturne. Marluxia was having trouble as it was pinning him against the wall off the floor, sooner or later he'd get away if this continued.

"Larxene!"

"On it!"

Larxene darted forward and tried to shock Demyx. Demyx lashed out again and caught her hand. She growled at him and lunged again. He raised his arm to block her and she punched it out the way. Demyx yelped as he felt his bad arm hit the wall. Larxene held his arm down and pressed two fingers into the side of his neck with a shock of lightning momentarily blinding Marluxia. He felt Demyx go limp under his arm as he passed out and let him drop to the floor in a crumpled mess where Larxene bent down and ripped back his left sleeve. She shredded the makeshift bandage and took one look at the wound, throwing the blooded dressing to one side.

"Well look at that, you were right Marly, something was up with this arm. Definitely Axel's work. What do you think Xemnas would do if he found out?"

Marluxia shrugged as he roughly picked up Demyx and flung him over one shoulder with a sneer. They couldn't leave him here… well they could, but they needed this 'evidence'.

"Dunno, turn him into a dusk, maybe kill him. Let's try and get him there without alerting the others. Don't want Axel getting a heads up about this, he might run for it."

Larxene nodded and raised a dark portal in the doorway. She stepped in first, signalling for Marluxia to wait till she called for him. She appeared in the corner of Xemnas's office. Xemnas spun round at her sudden entrance. She glanced round and noted that she'd caught Xemnas and Saix having one of their… moments… discussions as they liked to call it. Thankfully she'd gotten there earlier, observing that Xemnas was still in his cloak and Saix only had his half off. Saix looked round his superior at the one who'd intruded on their 'alone time'.

"Sorry for… er.. Interrupting, but I have some news that may interest you, right Marly?"

She stepped aside to let Marluxia through the portal. Suddenly Xemnas had more important things to deal with.