"Okay!" Roxas exclaimed as he dried off his brow, his chest heaving in exhaustion. "It's almost down! I'm gonna give him all I've got!" He charged at the Heartless, which was still recovering from the Keybearer's last barrage, and gave it a good smack across the head. In response, the Heartless shrieked and clawed at him, letting a burst of sickly purple smoke escape from its mouth.
Roxas reared back in surprise, and brough his Keyblade to guard himself, but a card bigger than himself had already been placed in front of him, as a protecting wall, before Luxord charged past him, and dealt several blows to the Heartless with his smaller cards. Their target finally exploded in a mix of darkness and the same purple smoke from before, and Luxord shielded himself lightly before turning to look at Roxas.
"Don't get surprised that easily," the Gambler said calmly. "We have information about most Heartless. It would make it easier for you to fight them if you read up on them."
"Sorry," Roxas mumbled and rubbed his head where he felt a particularly throbbing bump. "But we got it anyway right?"
Luxord nodded. "Indeed we did," he said, and dismissed the large card-shield he had summoned earlier to protect Roxas. "Are you alright?" He suddenly said, after having taken another look at the younger Nobody. The boy was still breathing heavily and the sweat on his brow looked more like cold-sweat than the sweat of effort.
"I don't know," Roxas said and wiped his brow once again. "I'm a bit... dizzy..." He swayed a bit before collapsing on the ground.
Luxord hurried over to him, wondering what could have happened. He turned Roxas around, looking at the boy's sweaty face and pale lips. His breathing sounded wheezy by now. He shook the Keybearer lightly. "Roxas?" He called, but Roxas didn't respond. Suddenly, it hit him, and the Gambler's eyes widened at his current realization.
"Poison..." He mumbled, and made to lift Roxas from the cold ground, but then he noticed his vision wavering slightly. He looked down at his hands to concentrate on something, before his vision cleared again. Was he injured? He barely recalled having been hit at some point. No, he had actually gotten out of this fight fairly well. But then...
Once again his eyes widened, when he realized that the smoke had appeared again when the Heartless died. And he had been standing practically right in the middle of it. Luxord chuckled to himself at the irony. "Can't do anything right, can we?" He said to himself, still chuckling slightly.
"I'd better get you back, Roxas," he then said. Once again he moved to lift the boy off the ground, but this time a wave of dizziness hit him, just like Roxas had described, and he found himself half sitting, half lying on the ground next to the boy. Now his vision was even more blurry than before, but he fought with all his will against unconsciousness.
"This really is magnificent," Luxord said, his hands clasped behind his back as he looked around in Marluxia's garden. Everything was so... lush. Marluxia sure had talent when it came to this.
"Of course it is," Marluxia said arrogantly. "I wouldn't expect anything less from me." He was currently messing around with a formation of flowers of bright colors and beautiful petals.
"How do you manage to grow plants without sunlight?" Luxord asked, looking suspiciously at all the plants. Flowers, trees and whatnot.
Marluxia chuckled, still occupied with his plants. "Some plants don't need the light," he said quietly, but Luxord could still hear him. "Just like some people don't. Some plants are born to grow in the darkness. They relish in it, and they become bautiful. Perfect."
"I like the sun, though," Luxord said lamely, knowing very well that Marluxia wasn't just talking about plants anymore. But he kept from prying. He heard Marluxia scoff, as the Gracefull Assassin turned to face him.
"Why are you here?" Number XI asked.
"I just wanted to talk," Luxord said and let his arm hang by his sides instead. He could tell that the hidden hands were making Marluxia extra careful. "You seem to be... to be giving people as Vexen quite a hard time as of lately."
Marluxia grinned. "He's always going on and on about ranks, Luxord. He thinks that he's worth more than you and me just because he's Number IV. I am not going to let someone as weak as Vexen be superior to me, just because of a number. I'm not going to let anyone do that." He took a step closer to Luxord.
This time it was Luxord's time to scoff. "Does it bother you much? And do not compare us," he said simply, resisting the urge to step back. "I am still Number X, whilst you are XI. Ranks might not determine your strenght in the Organization, but acting is disrespectful as you have been doing, might not win you back more respect."
Marluxia glared at him for some time. The silence was so tense. And then that damn smile came up again. So perfectly in place. Marluxia chuckled. "You know..." He suddenly said. "Time really is an interesting element. I bet you're having fun with it."
Luxord lifted an eyebrow.
"It's a powerful element is it not?" Marluxia stepped closer to him again. He let out a dark chuckle. "Controlling the very sands of time? You do know that an hourglass is a well-known symbol of vanitas, right? The brevity of life."
This time it was Luxord's time to glare. Was Marluxia challenging him? He straightened his back a bit as Marluxia got closer. "So are flowers."
Suddenly, Luxord felt something like a rope wrap around his right arm, and a stinging pain penetrated through the sleeve of his coat. He looked down, only to see a thorned vine. But the vine retreated as fast as it had appeared, and Luxord put his other hand to his slightly bleeding arm.
Marluxia clucked his tongue. "You shouldn't get too cocky, Luxord," he said. "I may not know my so-called place, but I do know my advantages. This garden is fully mine, remember?"
"What...?" Luxord suddenly felt a numbness in his fingers and toes. Before he knew it, his legs had gives up, and he was lying on the ground, face in the dirt. Marluxia used a foot to flip him over. Luxord couldn't move, and yet he felt his muscles cramp up. His head was spinning, and he could barely see Marluxia. Was he going to kill him now?
"I have an antidote, you know. It works on nearly every poison. Or I could take you to Vexen. He'd probably work slower with the poison, though."
Luxord's eyes widened, if they hadn't already. A dizzy spell washed over him. What was Marluxia up to.
"If you want the antidote now, you have to listen to what I have to say..."
Luxord mustered up a glare. "No... Get me to Vexen..." He bit out harshly.
Marluxia sighed and rolled his eyes. He kneeled next to the Gambler and grabbed his chin. Luxord didn't like the cold touch of his fingers. "You're a stubborn one," Marluxia said. "I'll give you the antidote anyway. But fine..." He retrieved a small bottle from one of his pockets and put it into one of Luxord's. Then he proceeded to lift Number X off the ground. Luxord was surprised at how limp his entire body felt. He was like a ragdoll. Plus the humiliation of having Marluxia fool him, lecture him and then carry him.
Luxord finally managed to fight his way back to his feet. He hadn't passed out, thank God. But he felt the dizziness pulling at the corners of his mind. For the third time he leaned down to lift Roxas off of the ground, and this time he finally succeeded. The only reason the poision worked better with Roxas must be because he was much smaller than Luxord. He briefly wished that he had Xigbar's teleportation abilities. It would make transport so much easier. Sure, portals were a fast way of travel, but Xigbar was just... faster.
"Hold on, Roxas..." Luxord said before he let a portal swallow them up.
When he had left Roxas in the care of others, Luxord returned to his room where Xigbar, once again, was sitting on his bed. Luxord sighed, as he felt cold-sweat on his brow.
Xigbar waved a hand in greeting. "Yo," he said casually. "What's up? I heard the little dude was literally smoked?"
Luxord stared at him for some time. He truly wished that Xigbar would stop talking like that. Sometimes, he couldn't understand a word of what the Freeshooter was saying.
"I think," Luxord said, "I'm going to be sick." And he hurried to the bathroom to retch violently.
"Holy sh – Lux, what the hell?" Xigbar exclaimed, completely caught off guard. He teleported over to the bathroom's doorway.
"Antidote..." Luxord gasped out, dry-heaving for the moment. "In the drawer..."
Xigbar teleported over to the dresser against the wall, and started to go through the drawers. Right now he couldn't really give a damn about how much he messed up Luxord's personal belongings and extra clothes. After some time, he finally found a small bottle. This must must have been what Luxord was babbling about. Wasting no time, he teleported to the bathroom, kneeling next to Luxord, who seemed to have calmed down by now.
"Is this it?" Xigbar asked and held up the bottle for Luxord to see.
Luxord nodded weakly and took it with shaky hands.
"Where did you get that anyway?" Xigbar asked. It wasn't really like Luxord to suddenly have an antidote.
"Marluxia," Luxord said.
"Marluxia?" Xigbar glared at nothing in particular. "Why would Marluxia give you an antidote?"
Luxord didn't answer. But he could feel Xigbar tense against him at the mention of the Graceful Assassin.
The dark-haired Nobody gave the blonde a look. "Be careful with that guy." He simply said.
Luxord tried to nod, but his body felt too exhausted. "What were you doing in my room?"
Xigbar's eyes suddenly widened. "Oh, uhh..."
Oh sweet poison, take me away... XD Yes, still Luxord-bashing but much more Roxas-bashing. And Marluxia's just so deliciously smiley, neh? Oh I hope it hasn't been too long. Writing two fics is suddenly much more complicated! Not that it's hard to write, but I really have to restrain myself from updating one story more than the other!
See ya next time~
