Demyx
Demyx held his sitar close as he peeked into a corner, ready to attack anyone that happened to sneak up on him.
Ever since he returned from a mission from one of the higher Xehanort's – he stopped trying to figure out who was who since there were like four of them now – something had been amiss inside the Castle That Never Was. Demyx returned to chaos!
Well, not literally because the castle was found near the Darkness of Kingdom Hearts and that was literally chaos, but more a mix of literal and figurative. Several rooms, which Demyx didn't even know existed, were left open for everyone to see. Shelves and furniture were thrown, pushed and tattered beyond recognition by scratch marks and oddly shaped burn marks. Papers were scattered everywhere, and if Demyx didn't know any better, he would've said that someone was smashing glass on purpose.
It looked like someone or something searched the place for something they had no idea where to find. Demyx wondered if it was one of the Guardians of Light. Could they have already figured out their plan with the Replica's to fill up their ranks? He doubted it. He just came from spying on them; afar, and he knew they were nowhere closer to completing their seven as they were completing their thirteen.
Whoever trespassed into the castle didn't know what they were doing. Demyx knew there were only two ways to get into the World that Never Was. The first was through a Dark Corridor, which every Organization member knew how to operate. If it was one of them, then all these mess was unnecessary. The second was through Memory's Skyscraper that connected to some portal in Twilight Town.
People believed that place was haunted so Demyx doubted it was just some random teenager looking for a rush. Still, whoever left the castle in shambles was either an unforeseen foe, which was highly unlikely, or it was just one of Vanitas' unchecked emotions having a fit again.
However, the more he considered that fact, the more it didn't make sense. Chaotic as they were compared to Heartless, it didn't explain the expanse of the destruction. Vanitas wasn't even in the castle, and those creatures only spawned where he went.
Demyx filed in into his quarters and let out a devastated scream when he stumbled upon his bed in tatters, and his vinyl collection, which he started collecting as a Nobody, in pieces on the floor.
"DUDE, THIS IS SOOOOO NOT COOL! I SPENT ALL MY MUNNY ON THIS!"
Demyx held his favorite vinyl close and silently wept. He could excuse the wreckage of other useless items in the castle, but he drew the line when the intruder touched his stuff.
He followed after the trail of disarray around the castle, and when it kept going on for floors higher up the castle, the more Demyx felt terrified for himself.
If he didn't catch the intruder before the bosses return from their respective missions, The Xehanort's, as he liked to call them since they were all the same person just different iteration, then it'd be his life on the line. He was already benched thanks to the Replica program, so if they found out that he let some weakling walk in and mess everything up then he's definitely dead. Thrice.
He didn't become a Nobody, then reformed as a human, then recreated as a Nobody again to suit the Organization's schemes just to be killed again for something as stupid as failing security guard duties; which by the way isn't even his job.
He just happened to stumble upon it first, and by virtue of being a reserved member, he obviously had to deal with this without disturbing the others.
Demyx heard something crash in a nearby store room and instantly rushed towards it. He held his sitar at the ready and – the door suddenly opened then someone crashed into him.
Demyx fell back as he was pushed down by another person's weight. The intruder scrambled to their feet, not bothering to apologize for slamming unto him and ran off. He couldn't recover fast enough to catch the intruder when a hoard of aggravated Floods rushed after the fleeing figure.
He let out a frustrated growl as he threw one of the creatures back into the room and kicked the door close. No one steps on him and gets away with it. Demyx picked himself up from the floor and ran after the negativity demons with the intent to kill – the Unversed, not whoever broke into the castle. He needed them alive to clean up their mess, not make another one.
Demyx followed the creatures towards a dead-end hallway and almost tripped when the intruder pressed themselves closer unto the wall; their eyes narrowed in terror at the monstrous devils that twitched menacingly before them.
Demyx couldn't believe his eyes. It was a kid.
How did they get here! he screamed to himself.
Demyx knew the possibilities, but the idea still shocked him. Even as a curious, good for nothing, trouble making child he was, Demyx wasn't dumb enough to leave a trail of evidence behind. He's too lazy to do that anyway.
A Flood pounced on the child, who screamed and only raised their arms to protect themselves. Demyx's body moved on instinct and summoned his Arpeggio. He quickly played a tune on the instrument then a pillar of water burst from the ground. It blew away the Flood inching itself towards the child, and returned it to its creator.
The child lowered their arms and peered behind them to watch Demyx with pleading eyes. Demyx cursed his soft spot for children and threw away all ideas he had of torturing them in favor of saving them. He maybe a Nobody, but he wasn't heartless.
The Floods glared at him for his unwanted intervention, and Demyx bravado was quickly wiped away. Red eyes narrowed as they scurried over; their spindle like arms and legs shaking and bending in unimaginable ways as they approached.
Demyx waved his hands in surrender. "W - Wait! This is just a big misunderstanding!"
The Unversed jumped and swiped its pointed limbs at him. Demyx raised his sitar and pushed them back with a wall of water. He swung Arpeggio around and a wave of water trailed behind its base, creating a barrier of dancing water around him. He managed to reduce their numbers in half with his flashy, dance like moves, but the last few that stood increasingly grew cautious of his distance and backed away.
They stood closer to the child now, who still stood at the end of the hallway. The Unversed twitched as they slowly trudged forward, and Demyx smirked.
"You chose the wrong person to mess with today," he said and spun his weapon over his head. He hit a specific note and bubbled up orbs of water fired at the pests without mercy.
The Flood disappeared in a flurry of purplish black smoke, and Demyx released his weapon. The water that doused the space dissolved along with his magic. Demyx swept a hand through his hair and sighed, "Well that was a lot of unnecessary work. I am so not doing this again."
He caught the child looking at him from afar and Demyx smiled. "Thanks for saving me sir!" he said in a higher pitched voice and raised his leg like some damsel. "I was veeeeeeeery scared of the monsters I didn't know what I'd do." He wiped fake tears off his eyes, and sniffed for effect.
When the child didn't react to his theatrics, Demyx dropped the act and groaned. "Hey, I just saved you! Some words of gratitude would be nice."
The child frowned, seemingly apprehensive of his presence despite having protected them from the much deadly Unversed, and anxiously looked around for a way to escape.
Demyx bit his lip and reworked his strategy. He'd always been the best in socializing in the old organization. Still was, if he were to be honest, and if this child was terrified and confused of where they were, being confrontational about it wouldn't help them relax and open up.
"Sorry," he apologized, "I'm just really stressed after seeing what you did back there. The place is a mess, and being the resident disappointment, I'm sure they'd blame me instead of some trespasser like you. You being here is already a problem I can't explain so… truce?"
The child silently mulled over the proposition then nodded. They didn't say anything else as they walked towards him, clearly more open to hear him out more with the peace agreement between them. Demyx can't help but feel a strange sense of déjà vu at their behavior.
"How'd you even get in here?"
They shrugged, unsure, and Demyx sighed.
Of course they didn't know. When he first woke up in the castle too, he initially thought it was the afterlife, then he realized that the afterlife didn't need to have matching uniforms, so that was obviously not it.
The kid wasn't wearing the standardized coat, so they weren't a new recruit. Besides, even if they were, they were most likely just another reserve like him. That didn't sit well with him, even with all the evil he'd supposedly done as a Nobody.
"Well, whatever," he said so dismissively that his lack of concern over finding an unwanted person in the castle surprised the child. The confused look on their face suggested that they were expecting him to do something else, but whatever that was, Demyx didn't bother to find out.
"I was huntin you down to capture you but I changed my mind," he said with a grin. "I'm going to force you to clean up your mess and be there to supervise."
The child's eyes widened, a bit offended by his honesty. They shook their head in protest then mimicked two pointy antennas on their head. They pointed to where the Floods used to be and huffed.
Even though it wasn't a clear indication of speaking, Demyx oddly enough understood it. The child was making an excuse, and that the mess wasn't their fault but the Unversed.
The way they communicated honestly reminded him of how Roxas and Xion were when they first joined the Organization. They were people of few words, Xion even more so, and the only way to tell what they were thinking was through reading their body language and taking a good long look on their facial expression.
Demyx prided himself in being the best at reading them both, and while that didn't help his case in figuring out Xion's real purpose in the Organization or figuring out Roxas' emotional constipation was something else different. All he knew was that he was good at translating non-verbal talk.
Who knew that underrated skill would come in handy in the future?
"Maybe if you didn't break in then they wouldn't have attacked you," Demyx said, and the child huffed. They gestured something again which Demyx didn't quite catch. "What was that?"
The child waved it off. "Well that's sounds like it means something. Can't you just say it out loud?" Demyx suggested, and the kid bit their lip.
They then gestured something that roughly translated to, 'I can. I just don't trust you.'
Demyx scoffed. "Well that's not going to save you from fixing what you destroyed so get moving."
He pushed the child from the shoulders to get them moving but the child stood their ground and pouted. They then reached out their hand, and Demyx stared at it, dumbfounded before it clicked a second later. "You have some nerve to ask for something when you're the one who started trouble in the first place!"
The child shrugged, looking smug as they kept their outstretched hand towards him.
"I can kill you, you know."
The child didn't blink as though responding with, 'I know and I don't care.'
Demyx shuddered at their lack of self-perseveration. First they storm an unknown castle, fight with Unversed, and now they have the gall to order around someone who was clearly more powerful compared to them.
Demyx was actually impressed, and if he's allowed to be, a little terrified. Maybe this kid was not who they appear to be and was actually more powerful than he looked.
With that in mind, Demyx tried to argue with the kid using only nothing by his stare. The younger only looked back at him with empty dead set eyes. Seconds later, Demyx's lips quivered and he looked away in defeat.
"Alright fine!" he cried. "You win! Sheesh. You're just like Sora, never backing down when you should. Kids these days huh?"
The child's eyes narrowed when he mentioned Sora's name, but Demyx didn't catch the reaction fast enough to actually comment on it. "So, what does the not-so mute kid want in return for doing the labor I don't want to do?"
They pointed to themselves, to the ground below them, then jabbed their thumb behind their back.
"You want to bail?" Demyx asked, unsure if he read that right. The kid nodded. "Oh yeah, I can definitely do that. The earlier you're out the longer I get to keep my head on my shoulders."
He grabbed them by the shoulders and pushed them towards the general vicinity of their clutter. The child was surprisingly more cooperative after he agreed to help them out of the castle. They worked slowly and struggled to lift the heavier furniture, so even if Demyx said he'd stay out of cleaning, he ended up helping anyway.
It's not that he pitied the kid's efforts, but Demyx was starting to worry that the kid's terrible sense of pacing would get him more trouble than necessary. It was just about time for him to report his reconnaissance to the bosses, if he was even a tad late, it'd be a nuisance to explain.
When they finally finished the last room, Demyx laid down on the ground with a triumphant sigh. "That's all of it!"
The child looked down at him from where they stood and shook their head in disbelief. "Hurry up. You promised to get me out of here," they finally said.
Demyx shot up to sit upright, and pointed a knowing finger at the child. "YOU REALLY COULD TALK!"
The child rolled their eyes. "Of course I can, I told you I can. Now will you stop playing around and actually get me out of here?"
"What's the rush anyway?" he asked as he stood up and dusted his coat. "You don't know even know where 'here' is."
"I know enough." The kid turned away from him before Demyx could press further. Then all of a sudden, questions that Demyx chose to ignore in favor of appeasing to the child's good graces rushed back.
The child wasn't wearing a coat, and they certainly weren't a Replica either. However, the possibility of them being another vessel was still on the table. They didn't have yellow colored eyes yet, so it may still be an early recruitment.
The kid still had fight in them; which Demyx experienced first-hand. The kid was a fighter, and Xehanort only attempted to possess those with weaker constitution or identity. If that were the case, Demyx didn't know because the others didn't need to tell him.
All he had to do was follow orders; whether he liked those orders or not was not their concern.
Returning to headquarters in shambles was one thing, but losing an asset was definitely going to get him killed in worse ways. Demyx cautiously pulled his arm to the side. "Who are you really?"
The child looked at his arm and frowned. "To be honest, I don't know either. I just want to leave, and you promised."
"Huuuuuh?" Demyx groaned in disbelief. "Screw the freaking promise! I'd die if I let you go without knowing who you really are! We didn't even pinky swear on that promise so I can break it anytime. And what do you mean you don't know who you are?!"
The child held their tongue and visibly frowned in impatience. All too suddenly the room grew cold and Demyx shuddered. This power reminded him of Xemnas' twin – the one with the large Heartless for a weapon, but more muted. It was darkness in its raw range, but it wasn't of chaos, it was anger. Anger directed at him.
Demyx called for his weapon, but was abruptly cut short by someone's irritated voice.
Vexen stormed into the room and grabbed the kid's hand, who yelled at the former's rough handling. Almost instantly the cold subsided into nothing but a memory.
"I turn away for a second and you disappear!" the blond scientist yelled. The child flinched. "I wasted three cycles watching you instead of prospering my research, then you vanish like a dream! I will not tolerate escape. How did you even leave your pod!?"
The child grunted while they struggled to break free from Vexen's hands, and refused to answer his questions. Demyx guiltily watched as the more Vexen tried to force an answer out of them, the more the child retreated into their selective mutism.
"Vexen, maybe if you –"
"You will stay out of this!" Demyx succumbed at Vexen's tone. "There's an anomaly loitering the castle and you did not think to alert me when you've found it!?"
"That it, is a kid. And how was I supposed to know you were harboring them in the castle in the first place?! I just got back and last I checked you were making Replica's to replace both of us in the Organization!"
Vexen clicked his tongue. "Ignoramus, if I were given a choice, I would dedicate all my time and effort on my life's work. Ansem has given priority to this child," he hissed, unsure whether to refer to them as a person after what they've accomplished. "Their existence is a matter of utmost precedence, and I will not accept any more setbacks with both of my assignments."
Demyx bit back any untoward comment he had for Vexen and simply followed the latter back to the lab.
Vexen threw the kid back into the pod. The child slammed their hand on the glass case, and then looked at Demyx with the same pleading eyes from before.
Demyx turned away, refusing to fall for the same trick twice. He shouldn't feel anything as a Nobody. He shouldn't even feel pity as a vessel of Xehanort, reserved member or not. He needed to follow the plan, even if he didn't know what it was. The child, was apparently a part of it now. Whatever their role was, he had to make sure they stayed and fulfilled it.
Whether Demyx liked it or not, was not the Organizations concern, so it shouldn't be his either.
A/N: ITS DEMYX TIME!
Demyx is one of my favorite Organization members but he has way too little screen time, so I decided to give him one. I was really excited to write this chapter but I took a little too long figuring out how to write it and make it as less serious as Vexen's was; because Demyx is much more of a goofball than Mr. Mad Scientist is.
I also know that he's like one of the rumored Union keyblade wielders because of that one scene in KHIII, but we've never met him as Player. Demyx is also a very different person from his somebody so even if we did meet, he wouldn't remember us. We wouldn't remember him either. ERGO, I give you Demyx caring for Player but not quite attached yet.
Thank you so much for the support from the first chapter by the way! I didn't know people were waiting for a sequel for this series (which plot I'm actually just making up as I go, sorry if I disappoint plenty). See you next chapter!