Demyx swam through the water. He couldn't bear to go home where no one had bothered to remember him, but being in the water, having a tail, it was too comforting. His tail propelled him around the reef he had found and he tucked himself into a smaller opening. Curling up his tail as tightly as he could and folding himself up at small as possible, he huddled in the small comforting alcove. After only a few minutes, exhaustion took him over and he fell asleep.
Marluxia and Larxene swam out of the portal and into a familiar world. They had been there once before after Larxene had finally found Pixie Hollow in Neverland, and Demyx's homeworld was their first world searching for him. There, they had found themselves with tails. Larxene's closely resembled an electric eel, yellow tinted with yellow spots, suiting her powers, whereas Marluxia's was a light pink and similar to that of a halfmoon betta fish with a flower petal looking fin. Their cloaks had stayed with them, thankfully, but were short and sleevless.
Larxene shuddered, "Are you sure he'll even have come here? When we asked around no one had remembered him… and I don't really want to stay here longer than we need to, having a tail is just… odd."
Marluxia started swimming toward the town, "It could merely have been that Demyx had been absent for so long. He did mention that it had been years since he had died."
She didn't seem so confident, "I dunno… you'd think if a kid died people would remember and at least be a little shocked if he showed back up again."
"...You may be right, but this is his homeworld. We have to at least consider he'd have a place here that he'd go to first." Marluxia determined.
Larxene slowed to a stop, "He wouldn't go into town."
"What do you mean?" Marluxia asked, slowing and turning around to face her.
Her eyebrows pinched together, "We already figured out no one remembers him. If he's upset about thinking we rejected him, why come to a place full of it."
"That is a good point…We'll have to look elsewhere." He looked around their surroundings, "He was a kid… he must have made a secret base around… somewhere…"
The two headed off toward the bigger landmarks.
"So we've got a seabed full of shipwrecks, but by what we've heard that place is full of sharks. Not a good place for a base, but if he was a kid, he might have. He's fast with legs so he'd definently be fast enough to outswim a shark if he needed to." Larxene reasoned.
"There's also a network of caves not far from that. It sounds like a good candidate, but it's not that far from town and plenty of the townsfold chlidren go there. Not very secret." Marluxia continued her thought.
The two swam in silence for a few minutes, the shipwreck grave coming into sight.
Marluxia tried to think back to when he had first met Demyx, closer to when he had just become a Nobody. He certainly had been curious about everything. Being underwater, lots things on land weren't used as they either weren't needed or simply couldn't work under the waves.
Larxene squeezed her way into an opening of a shipwreck's hull, "It's not exactly cozy looking in here…" She swam off, looking into all of the places a full grown merperson could fit.
Shimying into another wreck next to Larxene's, Marluxia continued his thought. By what he knew, Marluxia had become a Nobody only a year or so after Demyx, and the moment he arrived, he had been peppered with continuous questions about humans and his world whenever Demyx had been around. It had probably been how they started being friends. Despite Marluxia nudging the others away, Demyx would keep popping up despite him never getting answers to his never ending questions.
Marluxia was nearly finished searching through his shipwreck when he heard Larxene shout, "NOT IN THIS ONE, GOING TO THE NEXT." He sighed. It was doubtful that he'd be in one of these. Even if there were a few spots to curl up in, most had some piece of the ship sticking up oddly that would certainly be uncomfortable.
He swam out through one of the broken windows and scanned the surrounding ships for Larxene. "I don't think he'll be here," he said as he found her leaving another wreck.
She sighed, "I know. All the spots I'm checking look impossible to get confortable in."
They both quickly checked the area a second time before giving up on the shipwreck graveyard and finding their way to an area with a rocky seabed, plenty of smoothed rocks jutting up from the surface providing plenty of areas to sit.
Larxene lounged on a larger one and let her tail twist around a section that was higher than the rest of her rock. Marluxia found his own and laid down on it, staring at the surface of the ocean and watching the light filter through. Both silently dug through their memories to find any idea of where Demyx could have gone.
When Larxene had first been taken in by the Organization, it was a few months after Marluxia. Demyx had already started to grow on Marluxia and whereas no one could tell, they had started to become friends. She had first seen the two in the grey room her first day. Demyx had been playing his sitar and Marluxia had been sitting on the couch across from him, reading a book and listening.
It wasn't long before she had been interegated by Demyx, him hounding her with questions about her homeworld and the things they had there whether they be simple like a pair of glasses or more complicated like cars or other machinary. She was pretty mean to him at first, confused about how she had ended up there, but she, like Marluxia, had gotten fond of him.
The three of them had then started hanging out in one of the rooms in a wing of the castle that no one ever went to where they could talk without being bothered by Saix and his missions. Demyx would absentmindedly play his sitar and the two would answer the questions he'd ask as they popped into his mind, even if the conversation at hand was completely unrelated to it. He would absorb the information he was given like a sponge and occasionally expand his origional question as his interest grew.
Of course then they had started getting suspicious about the goal of the Organization. They were all lower rankings, and apparently not important enough for it to be told to them besides the general "kingdom hearts" speech Xemnas rattled on to the entire group constantly. It wasn't until Demyx had overheard a conversation between Xemnas and Xigbar did they get a better idea of what they were there for. Then they had made their plan.
Of course, them never hanging out where the other members could drop in on them, no one thought they were friends. And then with Demyx asking questions that nearly everyone (who hadn't been a merman) would know the answers to, everyone thought he was an idiot. Him prefering to play his sitar rather than fight made the others also sure that he was weak. He was in the perfect position to eavesdrop, as he had with important conversation about Sora and the keyblade.
And so Marluxia and Larxene had been sure to distance themselves from Demyx when in sight of the other members so he could easily go undected while they schemed in private of what to do.
Marluxia remembered how he had come up with the plan what must have been over a year ago now with how he didn't wake back up until recently. He had suggested manipulating Sora into a position where he would go against the senior members. Xemnas and Xigbar were the biggest threats being puppets of a man whose goal, they had gathered, was use the idea of Kingdom Hearts and becoming Somebodies again, to use the organization members as vessels. He had found a girl, Namine, who could change his memories. If need be, she could be useful in convincing him to help them take the members down.
Larxene had been the one to suggest the part of the plan they couldn't tell Demyx. If something went wrong and Sora wouldn't do what they needed him to, they'd have to make sure he'd be determined to take down the others. Demyx would be fine, being so likeable, that he could become allies with Sora, but Sora still might need to be sure about taking on Xemnas.
She suggested that they make themselves villinous to Sora. If Sora believed them to be evil, he would believe the others to be as well. He'd feel confident in the fight against what Xemnas was planning. Chances were, however, that they would end up killed by him.
Marluxia regretted not telling Demyx about their extra piece of the plan. It probably was why Sora had killed him instead of befriending him as they had seen a quick glimpse of Sora with Riku, but no Demyx in sight. Maybe if they had told him, they could have made a plan for if Demyx was killed like them. This mess they were in, trying to find each other, wouldn't be a problem.
Larxene seemed to have the same notion as she turned onto her side and began tapping the rock she was laying on, expression a mix of regret and focus. She let out a deep breath and Marluxia watched the bubbles float to the surface.
He bolted up into a sitting poisition. The surface. Demyx had been obsessed with hearing about the human worlds and what was in them. If he was that curious a year after becoming a Nobody and traveling around a few, then he must have been nearly obsessed as a child living here. If he were to have had a type of hideout here, it would be in a place where he could observe humans and hide trinkets he found.
"Larx! I think I know where to look!" he exclamined, pushing off the rock and swimming toward shore.
She propped herself up on her elbows and sputtered, "Why you- at least give me warning before you dart off like that!" Her tail uncurled and she rushed to catch up with him.
"Remember how curious he was when we first met him? He's gotta have a place near the shore," he quickly told her, still swimming as fast as could.
A grin formed on her face, "You think he'll be happy to see us?"
Marluxia grinned back, "He's got to."
They popped their heads out of the water as they reached the cliffs near the human town. Swimming alongside it they barely made out a small cove tucked away which they eagerly swam to.
Inside they saw trinkets and shells decorating the bottom of the shallow cove. Most of the objects were half buried by the sand, but a small music box was lovingly put on the only shelf in the area. Larxene picked it up and turned the knob, a tune warbling out, distorted a little by the water.
It certainly was something Demyx would treasure. Sadly, however, while they had found his favourite spot, they hadn't found him.
Marluxia frowned, "If he isn't here, where…"
The music box was placed into Larxene's pocket and she turned to Marluxia, "I guess it's time to try another world."
His eyebrows pinched together and a small grimace appeared on his face before being replaced with an expression of determination. Marluxia nodded and opened the portal to the next world.