Disclaimer: I don't own any of the following.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Xion's Tea Party

It was pretty easy, getting through the city. Axel and I knew it well, and there weren't very many enemies. You might expect Dusks, or some type of Nobody, but what faced us were just Shadows. We cut through them easily.

After that one point, none of us said anything. It was strange, though. The silence was actually better than if we talked. There was, oddly enough, less tension this way.

Finally, finally, we reached the Castle. It had taken us minutes to get to but weeks to find, when it reality it had been under our noses all along.

Axel sighed. "How do we get in?"

The street ended abruptly. Above where the Castle floated, the world dropped into nothing. I looked down and hoped I wouldn't fall. That didn't seem like it would be fun.

Sora summoned a Keyblade. "Easy." He flicked his wrist, sending a jet of light to some unknown point. A transparent, greenish bridge formed.

I hesitated, and so did everyone else. "So should I… should I go on ahead?"

Sora thought a moment. "Not yet. We should at least all go in together."

We all walked across the bridge. I was afraid to look down. It would be pretty difficult to fall, I knew, but seeing that plunge into nothingness didn't give me a good feeling.

The bridge led to Nothing's Call, the very bottom of the castle.

"We should split up after here," Sora said uncertainly. He gestured to Donald and Goofy. "You two will go look for Kairi. It'll be somewhere nearby- near where they kept you, Myde, right?"

"But I don't really know where that is…" I trailed off.

He nodded once. "Axel, do you know?"

Axel went over to them and gave them directions in a hushed voice. I took Jim from the air into my hands. During this whole day I'd nearly forgotten he was there.

"Jim," I whispered. "I want you to go with Donald and Goofy." It would pretty much be a beacon to my identity. If Xemnas saw him, this whole plan would be worthless. But we were already here… Why couldn't Sora and Axel go with me now? We would catch him by surprise regardless. He couldn't have noticed us yet.

Jim whimpered.

"It's alright," I told him. "I'll only see you in a little while. You help them find Kairi, okay?"

He looked sad, but nodded.

"Okay," Sora said. "So while you guys look for Kairi, Axel and I will wait for Myde's signal. Your Majesty… you just do whatever you want." He still looked ashamed after what he said to the King.

"But what is the signal?" I asked.

"Snap," Axel told me, looking as if he had remembered something. "It could mean anything to Xemnas. It's what opens the Round Room door, right? So we'll know when you're there Sora and I will tail you a few rooms behind. Just snap near the receiver."

"O…okay."

Sora smiled. "Thanks. I know this is hard for you."

"I'll be fine." That was my automatic response, but I wasn't sure I believed it.

So the six of us set off on our opposite ways, the King going with Donald and Goofy. The last thing I heard before I stepped into silence was Axel talking to Sora about nothing much.

I walked onto the elevator. There was absolutely no sound here, throughout this whole place. The only thing I could hear was my breathing, and, very faintly, my heartbeat. Was it that obvious? Could I really pass for an injured Luxord? I pulled my hood up.

How had I managed to live in this place for so long? The absence of sound and color was almost mind numbing. How come I hadn't lost it? Well, I hadn't had a heart to point out these things. Then, everything just was.

I was surprised how quick the walk seemed. None of the Dusks encountered me- yet. What did they do in their spare time, I wondered? They could think, though only barely. What was fun to a being without their own form, mind, or heart, and a half-ruined soul? Probably staring into the blankness, or daring each other to jump off the walls to see what happens.

I was anxious. There was no other way to describe it. I'd never been this nervous, not even when I'd played a solo when I was still in high school.

I walked through the wide arena and onto Naught's Skyway. The moon was so large- how much bigger did it have to get in order to be opened?

A Dusk suddenly appeared in front of me. I gasped, hoping the sound didn't carry over the wire.

Who are you, human? The Dusk's voice appeared in my head as though written.

"I… I…" I swallowed. "It's me… Demyx." It had been awhile since I spoke that name out loud. Then I realized the stupidity of my action. What if this Dusk just whizzed right on over to Xemnas? I shouldn't have said anything. "I mean…"

I have no intention of going to the Superior, the Dusk continued. Serves him right, if he is destroyed, for he lied to us, he lied to us all.

"…I know."

The Dusk crept closer. It has been a while… Master.

"Master? But…"

I used to be a Dancer. Once all the others 'betrayed' him… left or were killed… he turned us all into Dusks or Creepers.

"Oh… thank you."

The Dusk nodded, and disappeared.

"This day is just getting weirder and weirder," I murmured.

Over the receiver, Sora laughed. "Even though I only heard half of that… what happened?"

"One of the Dusks found me. It won't give us away. It used to work under me."

"Heh. I wonder if my guys will be as merciful." It was Axel's voice, tinny and distant.

None of us said anything after that point. I just kept walking. It was so eerie, to just plow on through without even having to fight. Everything seemed to just be so easy.

I made it all the way to the Proof of Existence without anything happening. It was close now- everything was going so fast. I wondered if my proof would still be there.

The Proof of Existence was like the opposite of a graveyard, yet it had the feeling of the latter. It was a large, almost balloon-shaped room, which had once been cluttered with the doorways to the special rooms of Organization XIII.

We'd each been given one, and allowed to do whatever we liked with them. Now, however, all of the doorways had been smashed, aside from four- Axel's, Luxord's, Saïx's, and mine. I wondered why he'd kept them here?

I decided I'd go into mine, to see what had happened to it. It had been a while.

I stepped through the blue doorway. The first thing that I became of was sound, and color, though there wasn't much of it.

There was grass under my feet, and it was warmer in here than in the rest of the castle. I pulled down my hood and breathed in deep.

At the south end of the place was a waterfall, leading into a sort of pool. There were some rocks at the side of it.

Here was the surprising part, though.

A girl was sitting on one of the rocks.

It wasn't Kairi. That I knew for sure. This girl had black hair, and a coat like the one I was wearing. She was playing with a seashell.

"X-xion?" I asked, squinting. "What are you doing here?"

"So you remembered," she said, smiling. "I'm surprised. Hello, Demyx."

"But I thought… you were…" I realized that once she'd disappeared, I'd had no idea what happened to her, other than everyone forgot she even existed.

"That I'd vanished?" She supplied, and gestured to the rock next to her. "Sit down."

I did, wondering when I'd hear Sora's voice, questioning who Xion was and what was going on here.

"This is a pretty place you've created," she told me.

"Thank you." Tentatively, I added, "How are you here?"

"I'm a memory," she said, very matter-of-fact. Her eyes flashed, though, and I could tell she didn't like it one bit. "When I… disappeared, everyone forgot I existed because I was made from memories, a puppet. Everyone aside from you."

"But why me?"

"I honestly don't know. But because you alone remembered, I can at least stay here, for the time being, and have some level of existence." She picked a something up from the warm water next to her and set it on her lap. It was a teapot. "Tea?"

"Um… sure?" She handed me a teacup. "So you're not allowed to go anywhere else?"

"See, I'm not really here," Xion explained. "Like I said, I'm a memory. This isn't really happening on the outside. This is all in your head. You remembered me- so I manifested in a place that belonged only to you. In reality, you're just sitting here, staring into the distance."

"Oh." That would explain why the tea had no flavor. "How… how are things?"

Xion laughed. "Fine, I guess."

"Did you show up because you wanted to, or because you had to?"

"…A little of both. It gets kind of lonely. I don't have anyone to talk to."

"Where are you, when you're not here?"

"I'm not really sure, Demyx."

"It's Myde. I'm human now."

There was silence.

"You know," she said finally, "I'm sorry for taking your place between Axel and Roxas."

"It's… no problem." I set the teacup aside. "I really wish we could have been friends, Xion."

She smiled. "Me too. You should probably go now. The others are probably getting worried."

"How did you know about…"

She waved, and disappeared.

I jumped as though I had just woken up, and looked to my side for the teacup, trying to find proof that the conversation actually happened. It wasn't there.

After that weird mind trip- or was it a memory, like she said? – I felt weirdly shaken. It seemed like seconds that I was next to the Round Room. But I didn't tell Sora that I was there. I sat down along the wall and rested my head against my knees.

What was going on with them now? I wondered. Did they find Kairi yet? What were Sora and Axel doing? They'd said they'd be at least two rooms behind me.

Did they go into my Proof of Existence? What reason did they have to do that, though? Would they have seen Xion if they'd gone in?

Maybe I just made Xion up. It made sense, considered no one remembered her but me. But if she had been real, why was it only me who remembered her, when Axel had been much closer to her than I ever had? Where was she now?

I couldn't do this.

My head thumped against the wall. Dozens of things could go wrong. What was with this plan? Why didn't we all just walk in together? Why didn't we just wait for Xemnas to destroy himself? He was already most of the way there already. He hadn't touched anyone in a while.

I felt anxious and stressed. I played such an unnecessary key role. It would be easy for him to figure me out- he would know me when I spoke.

I almost couldn't breathe. But why was I freaking out? I had been totally calm before. I slipped out the earpiece, the plastic still warm. I put it in my pocket.

They were expecting me to confront him. They were expecting a show, one way or another. Now was not the time to freak out.

I stood up, put the earpiece back in, and pulled my hood back over my face. Ignoring the fact that my heart was about beating out of my chest, I walked over to the door and snapped, once.

The door slid open.

Kairi sat in the cell, looking around. It seemed like she had studied every small detail- the ceiling, the floor tiles, the barren whiteness of the castle hall outside. She was bored. And she had no idea how she was here.

It had all gone very quickly, from the moment she arrived in Twilight Town, to Axel kidnapping her, to that blue-haired man finding her and locking her in here. It had seemed like only hours ago.

Kairi had lost all sense of time. What day was it? Had she only been in this room for a few hours?

She gazed tiredly out of the bars. They were just a hair too narrow for her to squeeze through. The redhead jumped. Something was staring at her.

She'd been used to being here alone.

It looked like it was made of water, the creature, and was maybe the size of her fist. Large eyes bored into hers, but the action wasn't intimidating; it was childlike.

"Hello," Kairi said to it, wondering if she was going insane. Her throat was dry.

The creature fit itself through the bars and floated over to her. It squeaked once, quietly.

"Hello," she repeated.

The creature hovered next to her and started screaming loudly.

"W-what's wrong?" Kairi asked it.

Someone else appeared at the bars of her prison cell again. The creature stopped making noise and passed through the bars again. Kairi crawled over.

She knew this person somewhere- his face was familiar. It was Sora's friend… right? "Goofy?" She asked tentatively.

"Hi there, Kairi," the captain said with a smile. "We'll get you out of there in a minute." He turned. "She's down here, fellas!"

A duck- Kairi recalled his name was Donald- hurried over, followed by a mouse.

"Hi," she greeted them.

"Hi, Kairi. Get back," the mouse advised.

She crawled to the back of the cell.

"Donald, cast Fire on the bars."

Donald look confused, but obeyed. The smell of burning metal reached Kairi. The mouse jumped, summoned a Keyblade, and cut through the partially melted bars as if they were nothing more than butter, creating an opening more than large enough for her to get through.

Kairi walked over and stepped out of her prison. "Thank you… but what's going on? Where am I?"

"Organization XIII's stronghold. They're the ones that kidnapped you," the mouse explained.

"Sora asked us to find you," Goofy said.

Kairi's heart leapt. "Sora? Sora's here?" She felt a little disappointed that he hadn't been the one to free her himself, but she would get to see him. Finally.

"Yes. He's trying to find the leader right now. I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Mickey, Riku's friend." The mouse offered her his hand and she shook it.

"Where is Riku?" She asked. "I'm worried."

"I'm not sure," Mickey admitted.

Kairi smiled. "Well, let's go find Sora!"

"Sora!" The shout behind him startled the Keyblade master out of a sort of trance. It was a familiar voice- though unlike any of the ones he'd heard today. He turned just in time to see a redhead girl in a pink dress running to him. It had been a year- she was so much different.

The girl stopped short. "Sora, it's really you!"

He stuttered. "K-kairi?"

She nodded. "I got tired of waiting… I just wanted to find you… and now it's real."

"Kairi…"

Simultaneously, the two stepped forward and hugged each other.

"I was so worried, when I heard about you," Sora murmured. "I wanted to find you myself… but I had to stop Xemnas first…"

"I understand," Kairi said, letting go of him halfway. Her face was shining. "Now we can stop him together." She smiled, but was finally able to take in the rest of the scene. Her eyes landed on Axel, and her expression deflated. "What… what's he doing here?"

Over the receiver, Sora heard someone snap, once.

Mwahahaha! Evil cliffy. It was actually supposed to be even eviller (ignoring the fact that that's probably not an actual word), but I decided I had to finish up at least one subplot before the end of the chapter. So Kairi's rescued! Yay!
I know in the game she was actually rescured by Namine, so don't worry, she'll make a cameo eventually. Though I think my favorite part in the game is the Sokai reunion. It was so sweet.
Riku will appear, too. I don't know how or why yet, but he will. My writer's block is finally gone so the next chapter will be easier to write.
I'll leave you to your own thoughts on the whole Xion scene. She's one of the characters I like better in the series, and I really want to see her out of the bash-zone she was in in Days.

Thank you Shattered Glass Memories, roxy mccartney, Reku14, The Moon's Berserk, Kai-Alaric, Ravenr20, Zemby, kitkit11183, anonymous reviewer Momo, and of course Anna for reviewing last chapter.

It looks like this update will be the last one until after the holidays- because of that, Merry Christmas, Happy beltated Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, happy whatever else you may celebrate... and have a good New Year's as well. Hopefully 2011 will be better than this year was.
Next update: approx. Jan 1