"Is something the matter?"
Xenmas's signature trait was his long silver hair that climbed down his back. If Ansem had not combed back his hair and tanned himself, both of them could have been mistaken for each other. Xenmas hung his black trenchcoat in the closet and picked a white labcoat to go with his ivory vest and slacks along with the purple ribbon that hung around his neck. Lately, he and the others living with him felt an irritation while walking around in the sunlight, which was why they usually wore those black trenchcoats whenever they decided or planned to go out. Xenmas figured this was part of the condition as well since his loss of feeling also came with this burning irritation.
He looked out of the window of the white hall onto the pitchblack city below. This city was perhaps the biggest world ever in existence, but none dared to live in the city itself as the Heartless made their appearance on the streets, and nobody had made any attempt to reclaim the city. The name of this world, The World That Never Was, was perhaps true to its name. This was the reason why Xenmas had spent his younger years overlooking the construction of this white floating castle and moving said castle here: he wished to liberate this world. In fact, Xenmas was not alone; he and five others he had known formed the Organization for this task, and with the latest addition of Roxas, they became known as Organization XIII.
Each member of Organization XIII, including Xenmas himself, were blessed with unique abilities, but Xenmas believed that Roxas was perhaps the strongest of them all. That boy not only had an understanding of the Keyblade, but he also was the first to volunteer in fighting this world's Heartless on the ground whereas the others simply commanded their troops. Maybe Roxas was related to Sora in more than skills, Xenmas thought, and with the exception of the short blond hair and the white and black clothes he wore off duty, Roxas was like an exact duplicate of Sora. Xenmas shuddered, hoping that Roxas would not end up as the one after his brother. There goes Roxas, leading the Dusks into battle.
What were those Dusks? Furthermore, what were those white amorphous creatures? When the Organization had first encountered these creatures, the members found that they could control and summon them with ease. Maybe it was because those white creatures were an enemy to the black Heartless and were in need of allies. Whatever there were, there weren't enough of them to stop all the Heartless in the city. Xenmas was currently searching for a way to completely eradicate the Heart with one swift motion, and two of his collegues had already proposed a suggestion each. In fact, they were just coming into the meeting room at the same time he was, which was composed of 13 thrones of different heights arranged evenly in a circular manner.
Vexen was one of Xenmas's friends in the early days, a scientist with a stern face and long blond hair. He too wore white casually like Xenmas did, but his coat ended just below his waist and he had a blue tie around his neck. The ground he was standing on became cold even in this heated room; Vexen controled the power of ice. His trademark weapon was a blue shield with five extensions.
Marluxia was one of the Organization's later recruits. He was a leader of a group that attempted in eradicating the Heartless, but for reasons unknow, he was a member of Organization XIII. Unlike Xenmas or Vexen, he casually wore a white tanktop with green jeans and a red shirt imprinted with various flower designs. He was known for his control of nature and his pink scythe, two elements that often makes his opponents drop their guards.
"Vexen, Marluxia, I am glad both of you came." Xenmas tried to smile. "Now, I heard that both of you have interesting proposals to help rid of the Heartless infestation. If they are reasonable and obtainable, we will have half of Organization XIII to focus on the chosen project. Vexen, you may start."
Marluxia glared at Vexen, but Vexen cleared his throat. "As you already know, certain individuals are able to control the Heartless..." Vexen chose not to mention any names as they were aware of what Ansem had gone through. "We have already determined that they are controlled if the controller has darkness in their hearts."
"But as we already know, our conditions somehow prevents darkness in our hearts, and whoever we hire to control the Heartless will eventually turn on us." Interupted Marluxia.
Vexen ignored him. "Anyway, you remember the clone I was creating of Ansem's servant, that silver-haired boy? He too was able to control the Heartless. The sample I have of his DNA is dated around when he was taught how to control the darkness, but-"
"And how do we make sure he isn't going to betray us like he did with Ansem the Second?" Marluxia interrupted again.
"sigh Even if his body is infected with the darkness, the clone will have a blank mind. If we could use Namine's power on him, we should be able to give him a past and a reason to do away with the Heartless."
Marluxia cringed upon hearing Namine's name. Although she was found by the Organization before Roxas, she did not want to join as one of its members. She was a young girl around the age of Roxas with yellow hair and blue eyes wrapped in a white dress and sandals. She had the uncanny ability to alter the memories of others, and even though she had not touched the minds of any of the Organization members so far, it was this power alone that made Marluxia uneasy.
"So how is the prototype coming so far?" asked Xenmas.
"Judging by the scanners, the darkness within that body is slowly disappearing. As I was going to say before Marluxia interrupted, I would need a more recent sample of the servant in order to complete the clone. He is the only controller of the Heartless that is still alive..." Vexen thought a bit, "and is mortal."
"I will take your proposal into consideration." Xenmas turned to Marluxia, who had calmed down. "What do you propose?"
Marluxia stared at Xenmas, Vexen, and back. "Actually, I have two proposals. We can see that the Dusks and their other versions are enemies with the Heartless. Some of the Heartless are artificial, yet they would go after hearts like their natural counterparts. Therefore, if we can create our own Dusks, we would be able to increase our force gradually until we can overwhelm the Heartless."
Xenmas pondered upon this. "Interesting...controlling the Heartless and creating our backups. So Marluxia, what is your second proposal?"
"Getting Sora to help us."
Xenmas stepped back, acting surprised by this suggestion. "...Why him?"
"Sora wields the Keyblade, correct? The reason why the Keyblade is feared is because it can lock away the heart of the world, the Heartless's main target. Even though Roxas had found this world's keyhole to the heart, his current power only made a barrier on the keyhole without reducing the number of Heartless on this world. We simply have Sora to reseal the world and the Heartless should be significantly halted."
"Indeed...But what if he refuses? You can't threaten to hurt his friends...even with what happened..."
"I will do what I see fit, even if I have to use that...girl."
"Very well then." Xenmas turned away from the two. "Both of you shall use Castle Oblivion to carry out your research. That is where your prototype was, Vexen, am I correct. You are allowed to bring any materials you need as well as Namine and three other members. Both of you are dismissed."
Marluxia and Vexen bowed, though both may be snarling at each other. As the two left via portals, another portal opened, and a man with an eyepatch and two peculiar guns appeared, wearing a black trenchcoat. Xenmas knew him as Xigbar, a man who was not only a great shooter but also one that can manipulate gravity.
"So, Xigbar, where have you been these last few days?"
"If you want to know, you better be prepared for some bad news..."
