"With… Demyx?"
"Yes," said Saïx. He promptly turned away from Nalax.
"…You know he won't like that," she said quietly, not knowing what else she could say.
"He never does," he said simply. "And that is never of any concern to me. Find him quickly and get to work. You still have one more mission left today."
She did as she was told, focusing on blocking out her worries as she made her way to Demyx's room. A mission with Demyx - after Axel had told her that he had changed, and then given her the impression that he intended to completely forget about Demyx because of it. She told herself that she didn't want to think about it.
His door was open when she approached, and he was sitting cross-legged in the middle of his room, sitar in his lap. He looked up when he sensed her.
"We have a mission together," she told him quietly.
"Ugh, you're kidding," he said, expressing only a feigned irritation. His sitar disappeared.
"We have to find a mansion in Twilight Town and report back its location…"
He yawned and stretched, and then quickly stood. "That's better than I expected, I guess," he said in a sigh. His tendency towards drama certainly hadn't changed. "Are we leaving now?"
She nodded.
Demyx made to leave the room, and, almost awkwardly, she stepped out of the doorway to allow him space. He then closed his door and opened a Corridor. "Go on," he said in a bored tone, motioning towards the portal. "Ladies first, ladies first."
She entered and stepped out into the Sandlot of Twilight Town, Demyx not far behind. "It should be somewhere outside of town," she muttered, and he nodded and led the way.
"I don't get why they need two members just to find some mansion in a dinky little town," he complained. "It's not like it's all that difficult. I mean, c'mon, even me - I don't need a partner to do this kinda mission."
Nalax said nothing to this, trying hard not to take his ramble personally. Her mind just couldn't fathom how the person she had thought to be the most friendly of the entire Organization, how her very first friend upon coming here, could have changed in such ways. The things that had changed, like his friendliness and his caring, hurt; and then there were things, like his love for faking emotion, that had remained the same and now served to haunt her about the missing friendship.
She wanted to know why it happened. What had caused him to stop caring about Axel and her? There had to be a catalyst. She just didn't know how to ask.
And even though Axel didn't, she wanted Demyx back.
"So…" she said, barely loud enough. They were in the middle of the Tram Common by now. "Where have you been lately?"
He looked back at her with a strange expression. "What do you mean by that? I've been where everyone else has been."
"No, I meant…" She hesitated. There was a coil of nervousness in her stomach that kept trying to form. "I meant… why haven't I seen you? We used to sit in the courtyard together…"
He scoffed. "Ha, yeah, those were the old days."
"What do you mean?" she asked him as they entered a hole in the wall that led to a small forest.
"I mean the old days. Which means that was then, this is now, and all that."
"…But we're… friends, aren't we?"
His eyes narrowed and he let out a bitter chuckle. "Friends," he spat. "I should have known better than to fall for all that. It's kind of funny - looking back on it now, it should have been obvious what you were doing… but then to suck Axel in like that and get him to turn on me, after we'd been friends since before you ever toddled along? I didn't see that one coming at all. What a fast ball."
"What are you talking about, Demyx?" She tried not to let her eyes betray her hurt, but he wasn't looking at her anyways. He was cold and far and away.
He let himself finish before he bothered to answer her. "And then what perfect timing, for Roxas to be there to replace me. It's all pretty funny," he laughed. His face changed very suddenly from bitterly amused to an unnatural sort of cold. "Saïx finally told me about how you are. I don't know why I didn't see it sooner - your power gives you away, completely! And then I suppose I should have known that Axel would take to you - he has that 'gift for manipulation,' too. In fact, Saïx said he wouldn't be surprised if Axel was the only one to come back from Castle Oblivion."
It took her a moment for her to realize she was shaking. "You think I've only pretended to be your friend all this time? You think I've been using my powers to make you and Axel like me?"
"Duh," said Demyx. They were coming out of the forest now. "So you can stop with the whole pity thing now. You may be a better faker than me, but I still feel nothing for you. So, uh… heh - I'm off the hook."
Though her vision had begun to blur, she could still make out the mansion laid out before them. It was over.
Without another word, she opened a Corridor of Darkness where she stood, and left Demyx standing there in front of the gate. She reappeared somewhere in the Castle That Never Was, and in the time it took to get from there to where Saïx was in the Grey Room, she had expelled all of the synthetic emotions from her being.
A/N: Next chapter will be up Friday or Saturday. :)