Sahxyel: Oh yes. I know it. It's in my bones. After this chapter, my reviews will be possibly boosted to pass 100. So, I promise that this won't suck.
Danny: On the THIRTEENTH chapter. Eerie man.
Random Moogle: Scary.
Disclaimer Guy: Hmm, an odd circumstance isn't it? That the thirteenth chapter is named what it is and the fact that 100 reviews will be reached very soon. Anyway, Sahxyel owns nothing.
Chapter 13: Organization XIII
Towering in the reaches of dark, Nexaild could only stare and marvel at Castle Eternity. In its own way, the castle was eerily beautiful with the marvelous architecture but at the same time imposing with animosity. Completely forgetting Demyx's presence, Nexaild walked forward slowly before stopping again, allowing his newly acquired staff to touch the brown-gray cobblestones that the two were standing on.
"This is surreal." Nexaild murmured, gripping his staff tightly.
Demyx started to walk towards the castle, "Well, it gets weirder." he said passively, motioning for Nexaild to follow. Nexaild hesitated, eyes still on Castle Eternity, before he followed the Melodious Nocturne down the cobbled path to the front entrance.
Despite the dark that surrounded the entire castle, it seemed to radiate light itself. Everything was illuminated, casting shadows over the unseen dirt that could have possibly been floating in the dark abyss. "Amazing." Nexaild thought, his eyes traveling to the very same symbol that both were on his vest's zipper and inside the orb of his staff. "This place though, it seems sort of familiar. Maybe I've been here before?"
They approached the towering front doors, Demyx was humming something a little upbeat but Nexaild was still in awe, he was staring at the symbol on the door. The very same symbol.
Clearing his throat, Demyx rapped on the door nine times. A low creak came from unseen hinges as the door slowly opened, revealing another man in a black leather cloak. He was also fairly young, with silver-blue hair that fell in his face.
"So, you've returned Number Nine." the man said, sounding a little monotone. His visible eye fell on Nexaild, who was standing behind Demyx and looking inside with a small curious look. He didn't say anything, but gave a small nod. "Take him to Number Four, he's in the meeting room with the other members."
"Okay." Demyx replied, giving an odd goofy smile. "Come on Nex!" Humming again, Demyx walked pass the man, heading inside. Nexaild looked at him cautiously, before following inside. The man crossed his arms, watching both of them walk away before shutting the doors.
"Who was that?" Nexaild asked quietly. He did this out of the notion of the silence. It permeated the entire castle, making their walking sound like a racket as they headed down one of the various halls.
"One of our members." Demyx explained, unlike Nexaild he didn't keep his voice down. "Don't mind him, he's usually like that." Unable to think of anything else to say for the moment, Nexaild decided to look around the interior of Castle Eternity.
The inside of the castle was much more grandeur than that of the outside. Arches and a combination of metal and marble enhanced the strange beauty. Naturally like the outside, the inside was also pure white, as far as Nexaild could see was a white expanse. Moldings on the floor and ceiling seemed to represent something that he knew nothing about though. Pictures of horrible monsters and a key were the most prominent out of the various carvings in some of the walls. Demyx didn't even look at some of the carvings, which depicted even stranger creatures, unlike the other creatures, it was very wiry in stature. Nexaild stared at the picture, it wasn't familiar at all but it made him think for some unknown reason.
"Here we are." Demyx said, gesturing to a simple white door. "Stay here, I need to talk with them first."
Nexaild shrugged as Demyx headed inside with the swish of his cloak. Drumming his fingers against the cool metal of his staff, Nexaild leaned against the wall opposite of the door, looking off into space.
"This is unreal. I have no heartbeat, I can't remember anything, and I'm standing inside a huge castle in some unknown realm. I made this staff appear out of nowhere, like Demyx did with his sitar." His blue eyes traveled up and down his staff. Green streaks of neon colored light raced from the bottom of the staff, racing upwards and fading in color once reaching the very top. The orb, although hovering a few inches from the top, looked gooey with air bubbles (or something like that) inside, among the symbol. "Do I have something in common with these people? Can they tell me what's going on?"
The door opened, with Demyx coming back out. "Okay, come on in." he said, not unkindly.
Pushing himself away from the wall, Nexaild followed Demyx inside the room.
The room, although small in general space, had a high vaulted ceiling. It was also white, with thirteen throne-like seats that looked like they were made with the white marble. The 'thrones' went from the very highest, to the shortest. A majority of the seats were filled, excluding the fourth, sixth, eighth, ninth, and thirteenth. All of the members had their hoods up, but Nexaild could sense them staring at him.
"Okay Vexen, here he is. His name's Nexaild." Demyx grinned, "Or Nex for short."
Nexaild was about to protest against his unwanted nickname, but noticed the third man standing on the floor. He looked older than Demyx, maybe in his late thirties or even forties. Long dirty blonde hair was his hairstyle, going pass his shoulders. His eyes were cold and calculating, but alight with some spark of interest at Nexaild. It was unnerving as the three stood there in absolute silence.
"Interesting." Vexen murmured, his voice was sharp and strangely icy. "Although I must admit, I had slight hope to see another Nobody other than us."
"Excuse me?" Nexaild asked, suddenly reminded of the word. "Did you just say...nobody?"
A small murmur broke out between some of the members, but Nexaild couldn't make it out. "Yes I did. Although by judging your face, you have no idea what a Nobody is."
He blinked, "Well, what is a Nobody?"
Demyx small grin vanished as he looked off to the side awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. Some other members shifted uncomfortably. Only three managed to stay the same, Vexen and the members in the first, third, and seventh seats.
"A Nobody is a being that has lost his or her heart." Vexen explained, looking very stoic, "Some poor soul who has had the will to continue on, irregardless of nature's physics. Unfeeling-" Demyx twitched at this, "and empty shells."
Nexaild stayed silent at this remark, looking blank. "What!"
Murmurs broke out again, louder than normal. This time, Nexaild could pick out some words. He could only identify something about double hearts, and strange occurrences. "What's going on?"
"Now, let me question you this Nexaild." Vexen started again, silencing the members instantly. "Do you remember before you lost your heart?"
"Well, a little." Nexaild thought, thinking about the rush of memory at Vlad's castle. It wasn't much to work on though. "No." he replied flatly.
"Hmm..." Vexen stared at Nexaild thoughtfully, but a slight frown was on his face. He gripped his staff tighter than earlier, the green neon lights raced even faster through it with the orb glowing a little brighter. "Very well, I shall leave the explanations to my comrades." Vexen walked slowly pass Nexaild, stealing a glance at him in the process, before slipping out of the room.
Soon it was silent inside the room again. Nexaild could feel the members stare at him, so he shifted uneasily.
"On behalf of the Organization, I welcome you to Castle Eternity Nexaild." a loud, monotone, but commanding voice came from the man sitting at the first throne. Nexaild had the impression that this guy had to have run the whole show, there was an air of importance that made Nexaild bow his head down.
"Thanks." He said, again uneasiness entered his mind.
"I can see you have already discovered your element." the man replied, Nexaild was about to ask, but he continued. "Every Nobody adheres to a special element, one that they can control. For example, Number Nine controls the element of water." He gestured to Demyx, who immediately looked alert.
"Yes Superior?" Demyx asked, looking very serious but nervous in an undertone. The 'Superior' gestured again, "Show him an example, should he need to protect himself."
Demyx looked like he would have objected, but he obliged. In a rush of water droplets, the large blue sitar appeared in his hand. Nexaild wondered how he could make his staff disappear and reappear like that, but decided to ask later.
"We-well," Demyx stammered, his eyes traveling to the four that were sitting at the higher seats. "all you have to do is focus your mind. Want the attack you perform." The Melodious Nocturne strummed the sitar harshly, causing a large geyser of water to erupt from behind him. The water itself showed power, blasting as high as the fourth throne. Soon, the water geyser subsided leaving a wet puddle on the floor.
"Hmm, I guess that explains that blast from my staff. I needed to get rid of the wolf...thing, so it blasted it." Nexaild thought, surprised.
With a simple gesture, Demyx made the water vanish along with his sitar.
"Is there anything more you are curious about?" Superior asked, his voice pierced the silence like a knife to bread.
Nexaild looked off awkwardly, "I'm...wondering," he started slowly, "How can someone lose their hearts? I mean, is the organ itself stolen or something else? What could do something like that?"
"I believe I can answer that." another member from the seventh seat said. His voice was oddly quiet, but foreboding too. "The heart, in essence, is stolen. Not the real organ, it is something far more wondrous and mysterious." He murmured, "The only force that can remove the form of that kind of heart is something that can be classified as darkness."
"Darkness?" Nexaild repeated, sounding confused. An exasperated sigh came from the eleventh seat, but was quickly silenced by a look from the Superior.
"Darkness and Light." Superior started, "They are the forces that make a heart, per say. Light and Dark are equally in work, inside the hearts of any being." He moved a hand over his chest, then clenched his fist. "We lack both, instead only gaining a new force. The force of Nothingness, for we are Nothing."
Nexaild stayed silent, his face remained emotionless as he digested the information.
"Hearts are stolen by creatures of darkness, called Heartless." he continued, "Heartless, however, are not heartless. They have hearts captive within their being, awaiting to be released. Until a heartless is vanquished by the proper weapon, the heart cannot be released."
"What weapon can make a Heartless release a heart?"
"A Keyblade." the member in the twelfth seat spat, contempt in her shrill voice. Again, Superior flashed a look, humbling the member instantly.
"Yes, a Keyblade." he murmured, "A blade that could either bring peace to our world, or chaos and destruction." Superior sounded like he could have been angry, had he of had emotions. "Because of that blade, we have found ourselves in this realm instead of our own."
Eyes widening, Nexaild decided to venture in questioning. "Your world?"
"That's right, we aren't originally from this realm." a member in the third seat drawled, an accent could be heard lightly in his speaking. "We were destroyed before we could discover our hearts, sent to this realm to stay like this forever. Until we can find a way back, our hearts will forever be out of our reaches."
"Wow, that's harsh." Nexaild thought, "Is my heart in their world though?" His fingers drummed anxiously on the metal of his staff.
"Don't fret, your heart was lost in this realm." a voice said from behind. "There is a good chance it's out there somewhere."
The man with the silver-blue hair had entered the room, looking stoic like earlier. Nexaild was surprised, "How'd you-?"
"You shouldn't think as loudly." the man said, still sounding flat in voice.
Finally, it occurred to Nexaild that the man had the power to read minds. Weird. Shifting again, his attention returned to the polished marble floor.
"Is there anything else?" Superior's voice came again, questioning in tone.
"No." he replied, fairly sure he was already confused enough, but the explanation seemed plausible.
A small nod came from the leader of the Organization, "Very well. Number Nine, take Nexaild to the study. Be sure to answer any more questions that plague him."
Demyx's voice was quiet, "Yes Superior." The Melodious Nocturne motioned for Nexaild to follow, walking around the silver-blue haired man and exiting from the room. Nexaild followed, his mind distracted by what he had learned.
The study wasn't far off, and was very spacious to Nexaild's surprise. A small bookcase filled with strange titles lined the shelves. Some were entitled with the words: Darkness, Heart, Keyblade, and Reports. He picked out one, only to find the text too confusing.
Gray colored couches were pushed up against three of the four walls. The fourth had another carving, showing a full Keyblade, to what Demyx said.
The Keyblade seemed unimposing. It resembled a simple key, with a keychain of a mouse head linked to the hilt.
"So, how'd this destroy the Organization?" Nexaild queried, his fingers barely touching the delicate carving.
Demyx rolled his eyes. "Keyblades are diverse. See the keychain? It can change and upgrade to more powerful versions." He frowned, "The Ultima is a powerful one, but Fenir can cause a good amount of damage too."
"Can I see what the others look like?"
"If you want to have an entire tour of Castle Eternity." Demyx replied blandly, "And this place is huge."
Being somewhat tired, Nexaild decided to not ask. He instead settled in a gray chair that was next to the bookcase.
Not long later, he fell asleep.
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"This won't do." Vexen growled, typing furiously. Eyes glued to the screen as numbers and figures raced across, the Chilly Academic continued to type. Soon the script stopped with the final outcome.
The heart seemed to show a little resemblance between the Other's DNA and the Nobody DNA. The heart had both attributes, like some mismatched puzzle. Taking a deep sigh, Vexen stared at the container that the heart floated in. An aura of gold came from the glass, repelling the darkness from causing contamination.
Now that the studying had been complete, all that remained was the end. In which they had to put the whole kid back together.
But Nexaild not having memories disturbed Vexen.
"If he doesn't have the memories, then that means that his Other's byproduct contained them." he reasoned, scanning the answer with calculating precision. His fingers drummed the desk, somewhat impatiently.
"He won't be complete until we get the ghost back." he said to particularly no one. "Until then, they cannot merge."
"Any progress?"
Vexen casted a glance, seeing the figure of Number Three. "Unfortunately, our experiment cannot move on until we are sure on the remerging process." He frowned at the screen, "If not, we could be holding our hearts and not even an effect will happen."
"It will be hard to apprehend him again." Xaldin replied quietly. "Last time, we had luck and his weakness of surprise. Now, he will be expecting us, along with Number Eight."
"Yes. Our weapons alone will not even faze a ghost here. It WILL be difficult to obtain him again." Vexen agreed, still studying his monitor. "The improvements will not be ready for at least another two or three weeks. The light chamber will not last that long however." he gestured to the case with the heart. The aura was still glowing brightly.
"How do we go about obtaining him again?"
Vexen looked off thoughtfully, "Demyx said that Spirits was Nexaild's element right?"
"Right."
"Well, according to Number Nine, his staff was able to produce the ecto-beam that damages ghosts. If we can harness that power, we can continue on with the experiment."
Xaldin crossed his arms, "Send his Nobody to apprehend him? You know as well as I that even if we could, Axel would quickly dispatch him." He pointed out, distaste sounding when saying the Flurry of Dancing Flames name.
"We just need to send another member to keep him out of the picture." Vexen replied coolly. "The only other member to make him flee."
"Saix wouldn't be-"
"I'm not talking about Saix." Vexen said icily. "Axel has discovered a way to beat the Luna Diviner, but he cannot overcome Number Eleven no matter how much he tries."
The Whirlwind Lancer snorted, "Xemnas would never trust such responsibility to that traitor."
"It takes a traitor to catch one."
Silence filled the laboratory, only the sort hum from the computer's processing area interrupted the general quiet.
"I will see how this solution fares with Superior." Xaldin said, he turned and walked away leaving Vexen to his devices.
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Nexaild yawned, his eyes slowly opening. He had no idea how long he had napped, it could have been only a minute or an hour to him. Demyx wasn't there anymore, but a note was left on the table on top of a package.
Stretching quickly, Nexaild got up from the chair and took the note. His name was on the envelope.
Hey Nex!
Good news! There may be a chance that we can get your heart back for you, but we need a little help with that.
Superior has decided to give you a temporary placement in the Organization to help us find our traitor (I'll explain later) and capture someone who knows the location of your heart!
The gift is from everyone, it's about your size and is warm (I know, this Castle can get cold) and is the symbol of us Nobodies, aside from the original symbol. You don't have to wear it, but Superior insists.
When you wake up, meet us at the meeting hall. (You know where that is right?) And we'll go over the basics in Nobody training. If you don't want to, that's okay.
Hopefully, I'll see ya later!
Number IX
Nexaild blinked, his heart? They found it? Or at least knew someone who did know where it is! Eagerly, he picked up the package and ripped it open.
A black cloak identical to the other members rolled out, almost as tall as he was, maybe a little bigger. The leather shone dimly in the lighting of the study, and the silver drawstrings clinked together softly. He stroked the fabric softly, marveling at the design of the cloak. Finally, he just held it in his hands.
For some reason, it felt right.
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Sahxyel: Looks like Nex is falling in with the wrong crowd. Unintentionally of course.
Danny: Hmm, interesting I guess.
RM: Reviews, almost there! Whoo! One hundred is so close!
Replies for Reviews:
Cold-heart-Angel23: Major? Hmm. Thanks for the complement, it makes me happy! And I see that Jazz knocking out Axel went over well...
watashi wa jeru desu: Heh, I like those moments too. Sucks, not having alot of internet access. I think I'd die of computer withdrawal or something like that. Wow, that really sucks. And that is a weird coincidence huh? Yeah, I could have done that, but I think it would have killed the mood I was setting. Yes, they are stalkers. Hehehe. I purge into that later on. ;) And don't apologize! I love the long reviews! Yours actually made me as happy as a potato!
best with breadsticks: I know, interesting ain't it? Keeping up happily!
GadgetCid: I am? Wow, I never would have guessed. Maybe. And again: YES THEY WILL SHOW UP. LATER. X.X I get that question alot.
Nobody Famous: Oh yes! Fun it will be! I giggle at the concept of the later chapters. Yeah, I'll explain that. He was already tired from his fights with everyone that day, and was caught off guard. And I see that you like that too huh?
Elvenangler17: Really? Well thanks! You learn something new everyday huh? Hehehe.
KeybladeWizard: Well, wait for Ch. 14 for Danny again. Right now it's all eyes on Nex. And another who likes that!
i AM the Random Idiot: ...I can't disclose the info. So usually, that means yes. And again, it will come important LATER on.
Nex: Nexy-Poo? Can I throw myself off a cliff now?
Static-elf-of-insanity: YES! Now I am as happy as a potato! At least someone knows my standing on Slashy stuff. Thanks for the warning. :)
Garangel: Yes, yes they are.
Angelus-alvus: Thanks. :)
Nefarious Moogle: Wow, I can't believe this has that kind of impact on people. I feel humbled, and yes, my brain is somewhat crazy thinking this up. And that image has also defeated the idea... Another who likes the Axel thing! Yay!
Random Moogle: Kupo Nuts? ...Can I have some?
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Danny: So far, I counted seven people who commented positively about Axel. Hmm.
Me: Oh wow, I love my reviewers. And surprisingly, this is only the beginning of the middle of the fic! So sit back and relax! This fic will be filled with interesting chapters and plot twists and stuff like that to come!
Random Moogle: Here's to 100 reviews! Hooray! So contribute please! It powers up the Pondering Writer!