Chapter 13: Ready for what will never be

Scout's Stats (from 358/2 days. Yes, I was bored and this idea popped in my head)
HP: 8/10
Strength: 7/10
Defense: 6/10
Magic: 2/10
Attack Speed: 10/10
Critical %: 2/10
Critical bonus: 4/10

Luxord was poised and concentrated on the cards in his hand. I glanced up at him briefly and noticed the glee in his frosted blue eyes. "Wipe that smirk off your face before I come over there and wipe it off for you!"

His grin only broadened, "We haven't played like this for a while! When was the last time it was just the two of us?"

"When Zexion and I were sent to recruit you." An image of the Cloaked Schemer burned into my memories and with a sough I rubbed the picture from my golden retinas. He's nothing but a broken promise… "I was just about ready to strangle you during that mission."

The platinum blonde chuckled, "Me? I was the one who saved your life."

I folded my hand, "Damn I suck at this game!" We were gambling over a chunk of silver, but I was so stocked up it was nothing more than bauble to me.

Skittles left his corner of the room and approached us, "Would you like to synthesize anything with that silver, kupo?"

Luxord sighed and collected the cards scattered on the table, "All 398,552 munny I still owe Xemnas. That would be really nice!" He shuffled the deck, "That's the last time I get drunk on a mission and try to gamble for the hell of it."

I slapped my hand over my face, "Smooth move, Luxord."

Skittles watched us start up a new game.

Two Months after Scout's Recruitment into the Organization…

"Alright you two, this is the overall briefing," Saix clipped dog tags around Zexion's neck. The cylinder-shaped, silver metal tag had VI carved into it. "You will go by your original Somebody names, Ienzo and Zane. You will be wearing these clothes to blend into the background and not your Organization cloaks. Lord Xemnas has already given our target a dog tag with X on it. He knows he is a Heartless, but we need to convince him to join the Organization before the other Heartless get to him first. You have five hours. I will meet you back here." He clipped the bead-chained dog tag 0 around my neck, "Don't gamble away all of your munny. You can find your target in the casinos."

Silently he backed into the dark portal behind him.

I was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt with a black arrow pointing upward on my chest. Over that I had a camouflaged vest and matching cargo pants, kept up by a black belt, with black boots. Zexion wore a black sleeveless shirt over long-sleeve mesh netting, and his blue jeans were ripped at one knee. His chain belt was too long and hung down just past his thigh.

Zexion slipped on fingerless black gloves and cleared his throat, "Well, where are we supposed start looking? I don't see casinos anywhere around here…"

I shrugged, "Guess we'd better start walking then."

There was silence as we stalked down the dimly lit streets. Something caught my attention from the alleyway, and I turned briskly. It was a hooded Organization member—a golden eye flashed from the darkness.

"Hey, Scout!" Zexion called from the end of the block, "Hurry up!"

I had glanced at him briefly, "Coming!" But when I returned my attention onto the cloaked figure, he was gone. I figured it was just a member sent to keep an eye on us, or maybe just to hunt some Heartless and make our mission easier.

We found ourselves approaching a large 4 story building, aglow with brilliantly dancing lights that painted the block rainbow through the windows. Two security guards stood patiently by the gaping doors, and a line of people were fenced in by red velvet ropes.

"We'll start here," Zexion muttered.

I nodded and we made our way to the guards.

"Excuse me, guys," I glanced down at my watch. 4 hours and 50 minutes to get this stupid mission done with, "My friend and I are here to see a man named Roldu. Have you heard of him?"

One of the guards laughed, "Sure, I know him! He comes here all the time. What are your terms for coming here?"

I hadn't thought of that one. Zexion quickly said, "Business."

The other guard smirked, "Ah, I see… Get in the back of the line, kids!" I stared down the block as the line only branched to the end of the street. "Nice try, but no game!"

I felt a sudden shift in the atmosphere and a lone figure appeared behind Zexion and me. At first I sensed it to be a Heartless, but when I craned my neck around I noticed the Heartless was human. "Come on guys; be nice to our new players! I'm Roldu. Who might you be?"

Zexion and I swerved, edged on by the darkness we could sense coming from his body. "I'm Ienzo, and this is Zane. Let me see your tag."

Roldu smirked, "Ah, so it's that time for me? Tell your friend Xemnas I have no intentions on joining the organization! I'm perfectly fine here, heart or not."

I snapped the dog chain off his neck and noticed the X had scratches all over it. He had probably been trying to neglect the fact he was being hunted by a bureau of Nobodies. "Number Ten." I handed the tag back to him and he clipped it around his neck. I flashed my number, "I'm Zero. This is Six." Zexion flashed his own numeral.

Roldu sighed, "Here, come in with me. We'll talk over a drink and some cards? What do you say?"

I scratched the back of my head, "I guess. We have time."

"But I," Roldu remarked and dragged us in by the wrist, "Have all the time in the world…"

"Dammit…" I glanced down at my watch, "Less than an hour. How the hell did we get stuck in here for so long?" I was surprised I could even see straight at this point. "Hey where did Zexion go?" My partner suddenly slapped me on the shoulder, "Oh, hey there!"

"Haven't we been here long enough? I just gambled away all my money to Roldu over there." He jabbed his finger at the blonde man who was raking in his prizes like a child on candy.

I lifted myself away from the bar and stalked over to the Heartless, "Roldu… Have you made up your mind yet? We're running low on time."

Roldu chuckled and dealt out his cards to the other people around the table, "Tell you what, Zane? If you can beat me in this round then I'll join your Organization!"

"What if I loose?" I just had to ask, didn't I?

"You have to spend the night with me partying!" He flicked out a hand for me, "And you're luck will run dry with your Superior. It's not fun to gamble on thin ice when odds are against you."

I picked up the cards and pulled up an empty stool. I could suddenly smell alcohol on him like poison, but I refused to back down. "Fine, but I am going to strangle you."

"Ha! You know how to have a good time!"

Zexion rubbed at my back and I glanced up at him, "Hey, Roldu, try some of this before your game. It might make you wasted enough to loose so we can at least drag you into our Organization." He handed the gambler a shot of something even stronger than what I was getting a whiff of before.

Roldu chuckled and toasted the air, "Don't get your hopes up." And he took the swing, "What the hell is this stuff?" He glanced at his cup, "I'm seeing colors!"

"Maybe that's just the lighting because you're DRUNK!" Zexion retorted.

"INDEED I AM!" Roldu exclaimed. The whole table laughed.

"Quickly, Zex," I uttered after seeing my chance, "Crack him over the head with something!" We were going to have to bring him home by force.

VI scanned around briefly and came up with a wooden stool from the bar. "Like this?"

I shook my head with disappointment and laid my cards face-down on the table before standing. "No, this one." And I picked up my stool.

"What's the difference? It's still a chair."

"Yeah, but this one's made of metal!"

Zexion's jaw dropped with disbelief, "I thought we're trying to knock him out, not kill him! Are you drunk too?"

"Just a little!" I reclaimed my seat and joined back into the game.

Zexion rubbed at his weary eyes, "Saix is going to kill us..."

The round went on for what seemed like forever before I finally laid out my hand. Roldu smirked and dominated me with his, "I win! It seems Lady Luck wasn't on your side this time, my dear. You lost the bet fair and square!"

Zexion, who had been studying us the whole time, quickly spoke up and said, "Correction, Roldu… You didn't win."

Roldu quirked an eyebrow, "What?"

"Yes. I've noticed how the cards you use are different from the ones at the other tables. I figure that these are you weapons, and you know which card is which by only looking at the back," He picked a card up from the table, "On the back you have an image that matches every card around it. But it's what's on the front that makes every card unique."

"So you're saying I lost because I'm using different cards than the other tables?"

"No, I'm saying you cheated." Roldu barked a brash laugh. Zexion rolled his eyes and continued, "If you know your weapon as well as I do my own, then when you shuffle your deck you can make any card you want the card that is played into your hand."

I was too drunk to have noticed all of that.

The un-recruited Nobody smirked, "And so you have caught me. Alas, luck cannot outwit someone with such great observation skills! But, I'm afraid you are wrong this time around. It wouldn't be fun if I cheated my way through games."

"No, it wouldn't. That's why you did it this one time."

"Hardly." Darkness rose faintly from Roldu's body, possibly out of agitation.

A sudden roar from outside caught our attention. Zexion and I locked glares and started for the door, "Roldu!" I called back, "Stay here or so help me I'll bet the living crap out of you with the closet thing I can find!"

We raced outside and found the security guards on the ground, groaning with pain. The other people were screaming and running like ants away from whatever it was that was here. "What's going on?" Zexion hissed, "Is it a Heartless?"

There was the sound of wind beneath powerful wings, and I pulled Zexion out of the way as a massive Heartless shot by.

"Wavecrest!" I exclaimed.

"What is it doing here?" Zexion questioned to no one in particular, as if the air itself was supposed to give him an answer. The Heartless swung around and with another mighty roar it charged at us. "Let's get away from the civilians!"

We sprinted down the closest alley, but it wasn't wide enough to let the Heartless pass. It reared back and hissed, then soared up and over the tops of the skyscrapers.

"I think it's after Roldu!" Zexion remarked to me, "The darkness coming from anyone without a heart can sometimes attract Heartless!"

I skid to a stop, "Then why the hell are we running?"

"To lure it away!"

The Heartless screeched and swerved around back towards the glowing building where other people where racing out into the street to get home. I slapped my hand over my face, "That idea didn't work, now did it?"

"It almost did!" He whined.

We went back for the building, and we pushed through the crowd. I was screaming for Roldu. The Wavecrest landed on the rooftop and roared again, also searching for the blonde. The people finally cleared out and left the silence to me and the damned Heartless perched on the roof.

Zexion was gone, too.

I drew out Carron and aimed it at the Heartless above. Three arrows shot and nailed it in the face, but it didn't flinch. Instead, its beady eyes speared me with a glare. "Ah, shi—"It sprang from the roof and darted at me like a blur.

My arrows shot and half of them missed. I quickly reloaded, but not in time as its wing struck me directly and sent me into the wall.

Blackness took over for a quick second before I found myself on my knees, spluttering blood. "Dammit!" It came at me again, and through blurry eyes I was yanked out of its range, letting it slam into the wall head-first.

An arm was hooked into mine, "Come on! Snap out of it!"

I blinked at the figure's face, "Roldu? Where did you go?"

"I hid behind some garbage cans, but I saw you take that blow. What kind of Heartless is that?"

I glanced over at the withering creature, "Wavecrest. It's drawn to your darkness, you dumbass!" I cracked him over the head with Carron, "And didn't I say to stay put or I'd beat you with the closet thing I could find?"

"Ow! Sorry, geez!"

The Wavecrest rose to its feet and hissed again, its head gyrating towards me with sharp cracks in between.

Pages, like from a book, struck the pathetic beast like a twister, and in panic it lifted into the sky. Zexion appeared beside me, "Hey, sorry I'm late. I got lost in the crowd." Wielding Lexicon proudly he had his dancing pages strike the Heartless again.

I shot with Carron, and to my surprise a familiar set of cards was added into the barrage. Beside me, Roldu was waving his arm around and his cards followed his every command like an army.

The Wavecrest roared and started soaring off, but a vaguely familiar voice rang out from the building above us, "Have no fear, Xigbar's here!" And the cloaked figure leapt across the roofs in long strides. He easily caught up with the Heartless.

"Xigbar?" Zexion scratched the back of his head, "What's he doing here?"

I shrugged to Roldu, but the man said in reply, "Let's go!" He raced after the Heartless. I pumped my fist into the air and tailed along. Zexion shook his head and caught up with us easily.

Xigbar leapt from the nearest building and landed on the Wavecrest's back, sending it off course and spiraling towards the ground, "Sorry about this!" He pulled out his dual arrow guns and sniped the creature in the back. It cried out in pain.

It crash landed into the pavement and tore up the whole street.

"Xigbar!" I went for the twitching creature, "Can you hear me? Are you alright?" No response. Zexion and Roldu moved large chunks of rock and debris from random piles, but the Heartless's tail began to shift. To my relief (for some odd reason) the Freeshooter crawled out, scraped up and bruised but still breathing.

"Ow, my damn hip! I'm getting to old for this shit!"

I offered out my hand but he ignored me and rose to his feet.

Zexion approached, "What are you doing here, Xigbar?"

Xigbar checked Sharpshooter for any signs of damage before replying, "Me? Well, I was here before but I left… and Saix sent me back because you guys were ten minutes behind schedule."

I yelped and checked me watch, "Damn, how time flies!" We were twenty minutes late now.

"Literally," Roldu muttered and nudged the Wavecrest with his foot. Suddenly, its body faded and a grayscale heart lifted into the sky. "It seems we've been gambling for almost an hour. No wonder you're so hard to beat."

I glanced at Xigbar, "Why'd you help us? We could've killed it ourselves."

He rolled his eye, "Titch, as if! Besides, I just wanted to protect-" He quickly caught himself, "It's actually really fun to jump on the back of flying Heartless and I haven't done it in a while! I just saw my chance and wanted to take it!"

"Well, that only leaves one thing to do now…" I turned to Roldu, "How about now? Do you want to—" But he was gone. "You have got to be kidding me…"

"You're going… why?"

"Because I want my heart back. If I can get it back, then I can be with you forever! Nothing will unbound us, not even bad luck! All I need is my heart…" Roldu had his arms around his best friend, Kin. Her shoulder-length red hair clashed with her amber-fire eyes and densely freckled face, but he cared for her nonetheless. "I didn't want to gamble with this either, but now that I think about it… It's worth a shot."

She backed away from him, "When will you be back?"

"I don't know… but will you wait for me?"

"Yes. I'll wait."

The top of the lighthouse was silent with just the two of them; I wasn't very sure how I had found him. I appeared, dressed back in my Organization uniform, and I spoke up, "Are you ready, Roldu? Saix already gave me quite a tongue lashing for being late the first time around and not bringing you back."

He pressed a soft kiss at the top of Kin's brow, "Good-bye. I'll be back. Count on it."

I opened the portal of darkness behind me. I knew that girl probably didn't understand what was happening, but she possibly didn't care. All she knew was that he was coming back.

"You're giving her false hopes," I muttered as he passed by me.

Roldu sighed, "Yeah, I know. But then again, I have all the time in the world."

"Not this time you don't; she doesn't."

"Come on I'm ready," He said quickly and stepped into the darkness. "Let's go before I change my mind." I followed him briskly into the swirling abyss of blackness, and deep down in my gut I knew he was lying.

He was everything but ready.

Saix sat on the edge of Xion's bed, studying her sleeping form. "I hope you understand. I'm just jealous because a Nobody like you, who actually isn't a Nobody, can have friends… But I don't know what trust is anymore. Especially after what happened to me. How do you do it?"

He knew there was a familiar presence outside the door so he stood and straightened himself out, "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough," The Nobody replied and he entered the room, "Saix, what will it take for you to forgive me? I didn't mean to leave you… But I was afraid."

"Fear is a feeling, Axel," Saix brushed past the fire wielding Nobody, "And so is forgiveness. And trust."

"Trust isn't a feeling, Saix, it's a motive!"

"So is fear," The Luna Diviner hissed and continued out of the room. Axel shook his head and made his way over to the unconscious Xion, "Sorry you had to hear all that… I hope this doesn't change the way you think of me…" It was like talking to a zombie. "But then again, you probably didn't hear anything. And why would Saix vent to you of all people? Maybe because you won't remember by the time you wake up."

Silence.

"You had better not wake up as empty-headed as Saix."

The sun was melting butter over the horizon, and the reddish glare burned into Roxas's crystal blue eyes. "Axel's late. I wonder where he is… Maybe he's not back from his mission yet." He heard the sound of footsteps and his hopes brightened; but when he noticed who it was he felt his anger boil. "What do you want?"

Saix cast his golden eyes to the sunset, "I have a lot of explaining to do."

"An apology would be nice to being with!"

"I'm sorry."

Roxas nearly fell off the ledge, "What the—Saix? Is this some kind of sick joke?"

VII sighed, "Well, sorry and guilt are feelings and 'I'm sorry' technically had no meaning to Nobodies—" He grit his teeth together, "So I don't know if I'm truly feeling anything right now. But I wanted to tell you something."

The Key of Destiny frowned, "Well, I guess I accept your attempted apology…"

Saix made himself comfortable beside XIII, "What I said about Xion, I didn't mean it. To be honest, I think I'm jealous."

"Isn't jealousy a feeling, too?"

"Perhaps. If anything, maybe I want to protect you."

"Why? From what?"

"Here," Saix held out a familiar snack food, "I know you like these." Roxas arched an eyebrow and accepted the Sea Salt ice cream from the Luna Diviner. Saix nibbled at his own pop, "I think it might be helpful if I told you my story."

Roxas sniffed his treat to check for some kind of poison, "Why are you telling me?"

"It involves Axel, so I think you should know."

"What story is it?"

"The full story about my past."

"Axel's in your past?"

"Yes. He was my…" Saix hesitated momentarily, "Well, my best friend… Until something happened just before we joined the organization." And, with a deep breath, he began his story.

"Hey, Dad!" I waved to Xigbar as he entered the room. Luxord and I were still going at our game of cards, "I've been meaning to ask you something!"

"Shoot," He said and filled the empty space beside me.

"You and Axel went on Demyx's recruitment mission, right?" I received a nod and I continued, "I asked him the other day but he changed the subject. Did something happen that he doesn't want to talk about?"

Xigbar scratched his cheek, "Well… No. We just found him and asked him to join us. He didn't even ask what we did!"

My lips pressed into a thin line. "That's weird. How did someone like Demyx loose his heart?" No, it wasn't weird. The thought had hit me so suddenly it was like a detonator went off in my skull. "Do you know where Demyx is right now?"

"Probably on his mission in Neverland," My father replied.

"Here, play for me! I need to find him!" I shoved the cards in my dad's face and started for the dark rift as it opened on the other side of the room.

"Don't be late for dinner!" Xigbar called.

I waved and entered the darkness. I know you all too well, Dem. You can't keep secrets from me.

-End! Probably my longest chapter yet xD

Next time: Demyx's past, Saix's past, and little bit of the old kick-ass Larxene and Marluxia combo!