Hey guys! Hope you enjoy the New Year's special! Once again this episode is sort of removed from the actual story line.
"Yes! It still has some battery left! I can't believe I forgot to plug it in last night…"
"Here, Xion." The camera focused on Roxas extending a hand towards it. "You record all the episodes, why don't you let me try today?"
The picture spun as Xion handed Roxas the camera. "Oh, okay. Are you sure you don't mind though? It's a party and I don't really talk to people all that much anyway…"
"No, it sounds fun! Besides, you should enjoy the party too. Not all of the members are that bad."
Xion giggled and nodded. "Okay. Thanks, Roxas."
"Roxas! Geeze, where'd you go? Roxas!"
The camera turned away from Xion who was crouched on the floor by her bed holding an electrical cord. It faced the door just as Axel poked his head in. "Hey, Xion, have you seen- Roxas! There you are. I thought you said you were going to the bathroom. Wait, why do you have the camera? Aren't you coming to the party, Xion?"
Xion answered, "Roxas offered to record the party for me so I could enjoy myself more. Ready, Roxas?"
"Yup. This isn't so hard."
"Well, I don't know how much more fun you'll have without the camera. New Year's Eve at the castle isn't exactly a party," Axel said.
"What do you mean? Everybody's out there celebrating," Roxas said.
"Yeah but, I don't know, usually the only thing anyone likes to do at these types of parties is play drinking games until Luxord starts acting like a doofus. After that we all listen to Saïx go schedule-crazy and act like, well, Saïx."
"Drinking games?" Roxas asked, "What's that?"
"They're, never mind. Let's just get out there and mingle or something until the ball drops."
"Ball drops?" Xion cocked her head and followed Axel out the door into the hall. "What ball?"
"It's- really?" Axel sighed and answered, "Every year this giant ball in New York City travels down this stick-like thing, stopping at exactly midnight and marking the new year. Because of the time difference, we watch it a little sooner-"
"Sooner? Xion asked, "Where is New York and how can we watch it happen sooner of it hasn't happened yet?"
"It's a world you two haven't seen yet and Luxord makes it happen," Axel answered. Saïx takes care of the scheduling and Luxord speeds time for just long enough for us to count it down. Saïx doesn't normally get too involved with most holiday celebrations, but he loves scheduling."
"Oh, okay?"
The three of them reached the mission room before Roxas or Xion could ask any more questions. Axel sighed and shook his head before facing the camera and pointing a thumb over his shoulder. "What did I tell you?"
Roxas zoomed in and saw Luxord laughing loudly with one foot on a coffee table and his fists on his hips in a victorious stance. The members sitting at the table holding playing cards: Lexaeus, Vexen, Xigbar, Xaldin, and Marluxia all looked irritated at Luxord's behavior and Marluxia tried to poke the boot off the table with a pencil.
Roxas asked, "What's wrong with him?"
"Is he-?"
"Every year," Axel muttered. "Eh, they were a boring bunch anyway. Where do you think everyone else is?"
"There's Zexion over there," Xion pointed towards a sofa set a little distance away from the rest of the ruckus. There Zexion sat with a set of black headphones on reading from his lexicon.
"Also like every year."
"Guys! Guys! You've got to help me!" Demyx came running out from beneath an unoccupied coffee table. "You've got to hide me so Larxene doesn't find me!"
Axel rolled his eyes. "Aw geeze, what did you say this time?"
"Nothing! Larxene found out that we know she has a crush on me and now she wants to kiss me when the ball drops!"
"What? How did she find out?"
"Roxas? Wait, aren't you usually… doesn't Xion normally do the whole record-y thing?"
"We switched places today," Xion answered. "So how did Larxene find out? Was it the web show?"
Demyx jumped at the mention of Larxene's name and grabbed onto Axel's arm. Axel immediately began trying to push him away by the face. "I don't know!" Demyx's voice was muffled now. "Save me please!"
Roxas asked, "Why does she want to kiss you when the ball drops anyway? Why not just kiss you when she found out?"
"Because," here Axel finally managed to dislodge Demyx and shove him a few feet away, "In some worlds it's a custom to share a 'New Year's kiss' with the person you love to start off the new year with them. Kind of stupid if you ask me since we can't exactly love to begin with."
"What's love?"
"We're not getting into this now."
"Demyx! You'd better be out here if you know what's good for you!" Demyx squeaked and dropped to the floor, crawling behind the nearest sofa just as Larxene entered the room. She cursed. "Hey, dweebs! Larxene crossed over to Axel, Roxas, and Xion and placed a hand on her hip. "Have you seen Demyx? We only have five minutes till midnight and I need to find him before then."
"Nope, sorry haven't seen him," Axel lied effortlessly.
Larxene huffed, "Fine. If you do make sure you keep him here. Oh, and if I find out that you're hiding him I swear I'll… well, I'll just leave that up to your imagination." Larxene spun on her heel and stalked off to find Demyx.
"Is she gone?" The whisper was barely caught on camera.
"Yeah, seems like you only need to keep this up for another five minutes. Shouldn't be too hard," Axel said.
Demyx stood and brushed himself off, "I guess… She's just so scary."
"I think it's kind of sweet," Xion said. "She just wants to start the year with you, Demyx."
"No! She wants to own me!"
"Hey," Roxas said, "This whole time you've been hiding from Larxene in the mission room?"
Demyx laughed, "Not the whole time, I first hid in the men's shower because I knew she couldn't follow me in there, but then I got hungry so I came back here. She was here though, so I hid in the round room for a while, then I…"
"Okay, okay, we get it: you're very sneaky," Axel said.
Demyx stuck his tongue out at Axel.
"But, wait," Roxas said, "Why didn't you just go to a different world if you wanted to hide out from Larxene? I bet she would have a really hard time finding you in Wonderland or something."
"Ooh, or Agrabah! It's got all those secret areas and sand and stuff," Xion added.
"The only problem is I don't know where all those places are," Demyx said sulkily.
"What do you mean?" Roxas asked, "Don't you have missions there?"
"Not really. I'm not a fighter like you guys are. I'm more of a… a recon guy."
Roxas asked, "Like Vexen?"
"Not like Vexen. I kind of just explore the Doors to Darkness and see what I find, you know? Who needs to know where they're going, right?"
"Um… sure, Demyx," Xion said.
"That's genius!" Axel shouted suddenly. "She'll never know where to find you if you don't even know where you are!"
"Really?" Demyx seemed caught off guard until he let the words sink in. "Yeah huh? I am a genius!"
"DEMYX!"
"Eep!" Demyx jumped and ducked behind Axel. "She's coming!"
Axel shouted, "Then go!"
"Oh, right." Demyx held out his hand and opened a door to darkness. He rushed through in just enough time for it to close before Larxene entered the room.
"Where is that stupid idiot?"
Axel shrugged, "Men's room?"
Larxene snarled, "I. Already. Checked. There."
"Oh."
"Axel, if I found out that you've been hiding him from me I will gut you with my dullest Kunai and let Vexen use you as a model skeleton!"
Axel remained expressionless the entire time Larxene drew closer and closer to his face with a kunai. When she finished speaking her own face was less than an inch away from his and the Kunai was pressed to his throat. It was then that Saïx entered the room and turned on the large TV previously concealed behind one of the mission room's false walls.
"Luxord, it's eleven fifty-nine."
"Right-o mishter bosh-guy!"
Saïx growled and took a seat muttering, "Every year."
Everyone who had been playing with Luxord relaxed as he stumbled his way out of his seat. Marluxia smiled and dropped his hand of cards, "Finally we can stop this madness."
"Whatsh am I doing again?"
Everyone groaned and Larxene crossed her arms angrily, no longer at Axel's throat.
"I can't wait to see the ball drop!" Xion smiled back at the camera.
"Oh," Luxord started laughing way too loud, "Of courshe!"
The TV suddenly switched from the Moogle store commercial it was displaying to that of a crowded city square. Tons on confetti was raining down on thousands of happy people who cheered and kissed each other.
"What?" Saïx raised his clipboard to frantically check his schedule. "How can this be?"
"What's wrong?" Xion looked up at Axel, "Did something happen?"
"I think we… missed it?"
Saïx slammed his clipboard down and turned on Luxord who was already passed out on one of the sofas. "It's twelve O'one!"
"You mean he moved our time forward too?" Xigbar scowled at the sleeping Luxord. "That's just great." He sat back and crossed his arms in annoyance.
"Happy New Year!" Marluxia threw fistfuls of pink rose petals from his pockets into the air. "Happy New Year everybo-"
"Can it, pinky." Xaldin stood and walked towards the hall, "I'm going to bed."
"Aw sorry, Xion," Roxas said. "Maybe next year we'll get to see it right."
"That's okay, it was still kind of fun helping Demyx, even if he didn't have to hide after all."
"Speaking of Demyx," Axel said, "Is that him?"
Everyone still in the room turned their attention to the stage being displayed on the television. Demyx stood on it and scratched his head in total confusion while everyone around him continued to celebrate.
"What?!" Larxene immediately opened a door to darkness.
"Wait, do you even know how to get there?" Axel looked like he was trying hard not to laugh.
"I don't have to right now," Larxene answered, "He's there in their time right? That gives me a couple of hours to track him down and drag his stupid butt back here. Stupid moron." Larxene entered the doors to darkness and disappeared.
Axel chuckled, "At least this year was memorable, right?"
"Hey, she found him!" Xion pointed at the TV screen and everyone turned to see Larxene exit the door to darkness and chase Demyx off stage. The camera angle shifted then to show more of the crowd, but the two of them were still visible in the background: Larxene straddling Demyx and punching him repeatedly while Demyx kicked and tried to swat at her.
The conscious members that remained in the room started laughing except for Saïx who merely shook his head and left the room mumbling, "They're both getting extra missions for this."
Roxas suddenly stopped laughing and his hand was visible tapping on Xion's shoulder for a moment before the camera was angled to the floor. "Uh, Xion? I think your battery's about to die."
"Oh no! Quick let's say our thing!"
The three of them huddled with the camera's shot with the TV in the background. Xion started, "From Organization XIII, this is Xion!"
"Roxas."
"And Axel!"
Simultaneously they all said, "Happy New-"
Aw! They didn't get to finish. Oh well, Happy New Year everybody! I hope you enjoyed this final 2012 holiday special and I really hope you enjoy the new year! Please review!
