Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts otherwise it'd be full of yaoi yummy-ness and the Superior wouldn't be as stupid as he is in the game.

*warnings: Language and maybe some horror? Not sure about the horror ;D Keep reading though!

In the last chapter:

Despite the logical choice being to continue on his own and find their target… Zexion turned around and ran, retracing his steps to go find the tall oaf.

" I told him to stay close, but he never listens. This time, his luck might have finally run out."

Zexion's P.O.V.

"Damn." Muttered Zexion as he tripped for the nth time in a disgusting hole that had been hidden under one of the hundreds of puddles that now gathered everywhere in the paved empty streets of the World of Illusion. Zexion had been looking for Axel, 'that idiot', for the past three hours to no avail. With the rain that had started almost as soon as Axel disappeared, it had driven away any scents that could have helped in searching for him. Now, wet and cold, Zexion was in no mood to play games.

"How does one go about getting lost moments after arriving somewhere?" he muttered to himself, his words echoing in the silence that was interrupted only by the pitter patter of rain.

"Stupid rain!" he cursed a few minutes later. It had begun to soak through his leather outfit, making it cling uncomfortably and getting in his shoes which made them squelch with every step he took, not to mention it made his hair plaster itself to his head and face. Overall, he made a fair picture of a wet dog.

Zexion continued, eyeing any puddles that came into view warily and decided to put his efforts towards the matter at hand rather than the rain water that was snaking its way down his shirt.

'What a strange place. No sign of life so far. No sign of Axel so far either.' He snorted, ' On any other given time I would have rejoiced except for the fact that the superior wants him back alive.'

'But still…' he thought, ' it IS rather strange that the Superior would send us to a dead world, or one presumed to be dead to find someone. How could they possibly survive? Then again, they are supposed to be decedents of the keyblade wielders and all know how stubborn they are with dying and all that.'

Zexion continued to walk, stuck in his own thoughts and so failed to notice that the rain had stopped and the fog had once again returned, its tendrils slowly floating towards him in a manner that resembled something sentient and unnatural.

"This seems so hopless. At this rate it'll take days to fi- FUCK!" Zexion was cut off as he tripped. Again.

"Stupid holes! I swear to everything and anything that is holy that I will crush yo… what…?" he looked down to examine the hole he presumed had been the reason he'd tripped to find… fog?

The fog had wrapped itself around one of his slim ankles, firmly holding him despite seemingly being made of nothing but water vapor. It slithered around his foot for a moment before quickly climbing up his leg and soon his torso as well. It encircled his waist and jerked him into the air. His body was quickly slammed back into the ground, his skull making a resounding CRACK! On the pavement.

"… the hell?" was the last thing he muttered before he blacked out.

Axel's P.O.V.

Pain. Pain was all he registed. Or at least what he assumed was pain. Being a nobody, he never really FELT things, just assumed they were there. At the moment, his mind registered an annoying throbbing that he usually only knew was there when he was fighting with Sora and his idot friends or sparring with his fellow organization members… and losing.

"Uugh." Axel moaned, lifting his head from his pillow.

Wait, pillow? Last he remembered he'd been walking behind Zexion when he'd felt something wrap around his neck, choking him…. Where was he now? From where he lay, he could make out nothing but darkness.

Wait, his eyes were still closed. Axel groaned once more, this time at his stupidity.

Prying his eyes open, Axel hissed when light pierced his eyes, displeasure causing a grimace to adorn his features.

"Awake already? My, my… we have a strong one on our hands now, don't we?"

Axel whipped his head around after hearing that voice but regretted it instantly, his vision swirling with a multitude of black dots.

"Now, let's have none of that! You'll just further agitate yourself!" A pair of pale slim hands came into view amidst the black dots swimming in his vision. They grabbed onto his shoulders with surprising strength and pushed him back down onto the mattress he lay in. "Rest. You'll need your energy."

"Fuck… you…!" Panted Axel in between breaths. Despite his best efforts, his lids sank lower and lower until he looked up to see who was holding him down.

All he could make out was a large grin, pale face, and inky black tribal markings before darkness once again claimed him.

On the World of Sorrow:

If Xaldin's jaw could hit the floor, it'd be lying there right now. The scene before him was completely unexpected. They'd just landed moments before, Marluxia taking the lead and motioning for him to wait. An instant later, he'd heard the pink haired man curse as what looked to be vines shot out of the dark shadow of a nearby tree, completely cocooning him up to his neck.

However, that wasn't what made Xaldin so surprised. The real surprise was that the foliage wasn't trying to kill him but rather seemed to be… snuggling? No, that wasn't right. More like embracing him.

Xaldin shook his head and a grin broke out in his face as Marluxia struggled in the plant's too-close-for-comfort affections.

"Don't just stand there, Xaldin! Do something!" cried out Marluxia as he attempted to free one hand to summon his scythe.

"But just look at them, Marly! They adore you!." Snickered Xaldin, his dreadlocks shaking from his attempt to contain his laughter. "I thought you said these plants were deadly. Now it seems we're more likely to die by a suffocating hug than dismemberment or worse."

Marluxia shot a glare at the dark man who was leaning on the entrance of their gummi ship. "I don't know why they're reacting like this. All previous records of the flora on this world stated that it reacted aggressively and was hostile to any who intruded upon their land." He resumed his wiggling and soon popped one arm free. He used his arm to summon his scythe and made quick work of the vines imprisoning him. Although he detested having to cut them down, they were in the way of his mission. They had to go.

"You could have helped me. Jerk." Marluxia growled in between deep breaths. Having his chest constricted had begun to leave him light headed.

Xaldin shrugged, "You seemed to have handled the situation well enough." He moved from the gummi entrance and leaped down on to the mossy floor of the clearing. "Now then. Let us begin our mission, shall we?"

Marluxia straightened and nodded his agreement. "From what I gleaned from the notes Vexen gave us, the last known established base camp was a few miles from here. I believe it would be best if we started there."

Xaldin grunted and began walking into the forest, not looking back to see whether or not Marluxia followed.

"Xaldin", Marluxia drawled. "The base camp is in the opposite direction. You're going the wrong way."

"I knew that."

Back in Castle Oblivion:

His head felt like it was being used as a punching bag, pain throbbing in his temples. He tried to crack open his eyes, but the light from the room shot little spears of pain through his corneas so he decided that he might as well keep them closed. However, the infernal beeping and dripping as well as the rustle of papers that was echoing in his office was not helping lessen the pain in his head in the least.

The superior sighed and turned on the metal gurney where he lay, looking for a more comfortable position to rest.

'Wait, a metal gurney? Since when did I have one of those in my office?'

The superior shot up, regretting his actions instantly as his head began to pulse worse than before. Bringing both hands up to his eyes, he rubbed his face in hopes to dissipate the sensations in his head.

"Ah… I don't think you should be trying to get up yet, Superior. You took quite a shock, so you might want to take a bit more of a rest so you can recover fully." Came Vexen's familiar voice from somewhere to his right.

The light shuffle of feet was soon accompanied by the feeling of a cool hand press onto his forhead as Vexen came over to tend to the Superior. Although he was not a doctor, Vexen did have the common sense to know that stress induced unconsciousness was not a pretty thing to recover from. Right now, he could be that the Superior was suffering from one hell of a migrane. His suspicions were confirmed as Xenmas let out a low moan as he lifted his hands from his face, exposing his bloodshot eyes to the bright light of the underground laboratory.

"What the hell happened?" Xenmas growled, his eyes squinting to better adjust to the sudden brightness. "Last I remember, I was in my office when Saix entered to inform me about the missions… Oh, shit." Xenmas clapped his hands back on his head, another wave of pain rolling over him as the previous days events came back in a rush.

Demyx and Xigbar were missing in Atlantica.

Demyx and Xigbar were missing in Atlantica during a very important mission.

Demyx and Xigbar were as good as dead when they got back. IF they got back.

Xenmas let out a low moan again and flopped back onto the gurney, wincing when his head made contact with the hard surface through the thin lab coat that had been placed to cushion his head while unconscious.

"Im going to kill those fools, I swear."

Vexen only shook his head in pity and walked back to resume his work on deciphering the foreign text.