It was three months later, and life was essentially as normal as possible.
Alexis found herself in the Grey Area, alone for once.
The other members were on the other side of the room, playing a rousing game of Cheat! with Luxord's cards.
"I'll call you on that, Xaldin." Roxas said, picking up the Lancer's last card.
"Ha. I knew it." the boy laughed. The members smiled and laughed at Xaldin's look of exasperation as the huge pile of cards was pushed towards him.
Roxas then lay down a card he said was the Ace of Clubs, which was next in line.
"Okay Roxas," Xemnas, who had actually taken a break from work, much to the Organization's surprise, said, "I'll call you on that."
Then he picked up the Key's last card and, to his dismay, saw it was indeed the Ace of Clubs.
"Crap." the leader said as he slipped the card into his bigger-than-wanted hand.
"Hey Alexis!" Luxord called, spying her, "Want to play?"
"Um...no thanks. I've got stuff to do." the Stellar Enchantress replied before slipping out of the room.
"What's up with her?" Axel asked, returning his attention to the game.
"No idea. But get out of here, Axel!" Demyx said, picking up the redhead's card and flicking it at him, "You, my friend, have a terrible poker face."
Alone in the wide hallways of the Castle That Never Was, Alexis found herself overcome with her thoughts.
A brush with death isn't something you just forget.
Her feet carried her back to her room. Something was just urging her to get there and get there fast.
Luxord always told me to do what I want to do. To go after what I want most.
She opened the door and stepped inside, shutting and locking the white painted door as she did.
But...what do I want most?
She couldn't answer. Not fully, at least.
What do you want the most, Alexis? What is it you want to do?
She blinked, startled.
Luxord...
Her eyes trailed to the shattered photo frame on her nightstand. She remembered something and reached into her pocket, her fingers closing around two pictures.
Of course.
She pulled out the two photos of Tamenthe and Xant, way back in Radiant Garden.
Is that what I want the most? To find them?
Alexis knew the answer to that. Of course she did.
But she'd be leaving the Organization to find them...
"It doesn't matter, does it?" she asked herself as she went to her closet and pulled out another Organization cloak. Only...this one had been bleached white. The zipper was pitch black, though.
It was the cloak that never had its darkness restored.
Now it would be her distinction.
The Organization had abandoned their game of Cheat! long ago. Luxord had won—as always. Now they were piling into the dining hall for dinner and were now taking their seats.
"Is Alexis alright?" Vexen asked as he sat down, glancing at the vacant spot that normally belonged to number XV.
"She should be. I haven't seen her all day." Roxas commented, taking his seat between Axel and Xigbar.
"Luxord?" Zexion asked the Gambler.
"I've just been up to her room, she wasn't there. She also wasn't on Naught's Skyway or Twilight's View. I've no idea where she is." Luxord replied, sitting down.
"Hmm. Odd. After dinner, I want some of you to search the castle grounds for her. Report what you find." Xemnas said.
Dinner, it seemed, was much less—happy, if everyone was thinking what Xemnas was suspecting.
After dinner was over, the Organization split into groups of two. Axel and Roxas, Xigbar and Demyx, Xemnas and Saix, Vexen and Zexion, Larxene and Marluxia, and Xaldin and Lexaeus. Luxord elected to search her room, while everyone else flitted about the Castle.
"No sign of her down here!" Axel shouted from his place in the kitchen. He turned around when he heard banging coming from under the sink and Roxas tumbled out of the cabinet, shaking his head.
"Not down there." he said.
Demyx was tearing apart the rec room with Xigbar behind him, though it was becoming quite clear she wasn't in there.
Xaldin and Lexaeus ran up and down Naught's Skyway, checking every square inch and centimeter.
Everyone else was doing likewise.
And when they re-grouped in the Grey Area, the looks on everyone's faces said the same, exact thing.
She's not here.
The girl in question was currently stealing out into the Dark City, finding the right place to get a dark portal.
Miles away from the Castle she found it—a deserted alleyway that was pitch dark.
She turned around for a moment and stared at the far-off Castle.
With a pang of sadness she remembered Roxas, Axel, Xigbar, Demyx...and Luxord. She was leaving them.
I have to find Xant and Tamenthe, though. I just have to.
And she summoned a dark portal and fled the World That Never Was, and the life she had attained there.
"She's deserted!" Xemnas shouted angrily, bringing his fist down hard on the armrest of his chair.
"She left!"
"Fled!"
"Ditched us!"
These and other shouts of anger rocketed around the room, as the annoyed members voiced their own grievances.
"Enough!" Saix eventually shouted.
"Thank you, Saix." Xemnas said once everyone had settled down. He turned to Axel and said:
"Axel, it would seem Alexis has gone AWOL and disappeared. Please find her and bring her back."
Axel flinched, not enthusiastic at the idea, but sighed and nodded.
"Yes sir, Superior." he murmured.
"Now the rest of you. Use your time to track her down but if you find her, do not act unless Axel is with you." Xemnas ordered the rest of them.
That was it. As the members filtered their way out of the Round Room, the same thought was on everyone's mind.
The hunt was on.