Sorry I haven't been updating or, to tell the truth, even writing on Sleepless. Unfortunately the inspiration for that fic seems to have died. This is what you get from thinking up a 10-minute plot.
-sobs- I mourn my Chrono Cross game. My dad murdered it. And I was on the fourth page of the walkthrough, too! Stupid cursed game...
Once again the dysfunctional duo found themselves falling from a portal, although this time it definitely wasn't Demyx's fault. Physics seemed to have ignored them this time though, and they were falling very slowly. Eventually they made it to the ground, which was a dead-end round room. Stretching off in front was a crooked hallway decorated with flowery pink wallpaper and many paintings. The floor was made of unevenly sized tiles in orange and brown, making for a very strange combination on whole. Demyx wrinkled his nose up at the décor. "Zexion, why do we keep winding up in places with gay colors?" he asked. The senior member ignored him and instead pressed on into the hall. The hallway ended in a door that revealed itself to be a three-in-one when Zexion pulled open the knob, making the actually doorway somewhat smaller than it had appeared. With a glance back at his companion the Nobody stepped through into the room beyond.
The room was small with a table taking up most of the floor space. The table had two bottles on it, one with an orange label and the other with a blue label. There was a pair of ugly orange chairs, a very neglected plant, a hole in the wall, and a very, very small door. The doorknob appeared to have a face on it, and Zexion was about to take a closer look when he heard Demyx gasp behind him. "Zex, look up."
The ceiling was what appeared to be another room, with two tables and lamps. After instinctively crouching down, the Nobody realized that the tables were staying where they were without any hint of moving. Almost like they were screwed into the ceiling. Demyx shuddered and went further into the room, going over to the table when he saw the bottles sitting on it. "Wonder what these taste like?" he asked absently. Before Zexion could stop him he grabbed the blue bottle and took a swig out of it.
"Not bad!" He commented, licking his lips and offering the bottle towards Zexion. "Wanna try?" Zexion wrinkled his nose in disgust. "That's had your mouth on it," he said.
"Germs are the least of your problems."
The Organization members whirled around the see a purple and pink striped cat sitting on the table. Its face was stretched into a grotesque grin, and it was balancing the orange bottle on one foot. Zexion heard Demyx mutter something about gay cats under his breath.
"Nobody you know is here, but they were apprehended by the queen." It said. "You could always visit them, but you have to get smaller to go through." At this point it picked its head up off its body and stood up. Demyx let out a startled yelp and scooted back a few feet, but Zexion hid his surprise. He had heard of the Cheshire Cat before and was thus only slightly freaked out by the thing's antics.
"How do we get smaller?" he asked it. The cat juggled its head back and forth between its paws before pointing at Demyx, who let out another yelp. "That one's already taken the first step, though if you want to follow you can't mind germs. They're really not that bad, compared to the alternative. You could wind up wearing a dress." With that the cat began to disappear, leaving its grin behind before it disappeared too. Both Nobodies stared at the place where it had been before Demyx let out a groan and palmed his forehead. "What a roundabout way to tell us that this stuff will make you shrink," he said, looking at the bottle oddly before holding it out to Zexion. "Here."
The Nobody took the bottle and chugged the contents, making a face at the taste. He sat it back on the table, waiting for something to happen. What happened was a sudden change in perspective and an uncomfortable feeling of vertigo before Zexion found himself standing at an impressive 5 and a half inches on the floor. Next to him, Demyx was already messing around, trying to scramble up onto a nearby chair. When he couldn't make it, he turned back to Zexion. "So now what?"
"I guess we go through there," he replied, gesturing towards the gaping hole to the left of the door. Demyx stared at it for a total of maybe two seconds before flailing his way into the darkness. Leaving Zexion to stare at him and the new use of the word "flailing".
---
The first thing that Zexion noticed when he came out of the dark tunnel was that he was standing in a hole in a hedge (needed that like a hole in the hedge). The second thing was that there were several sharp implements pointed at his trachea, bowels, and kneecaps. The weapons were held by what looked like sentient forms of Luxord's cards, only dumber. He could see Demyx in a similar predicament, only with his esophagus, liver, and spleen in jeopardy. One of the black cards, a three of spades, gestured violently with his spear, forcing Zexion to scoot back a few inches to save his left kidney from a very violent and painful demise. "You are accused with trying to steal the Queen's body parts and are sentenced to immediate decapitation!"
From further up Demyx made a squawking noise, like a duck being stepped on. "What? But we just got here!" Another squawk led Zexion to believe that Demyx was now dealing with a ruptured spleen. "Well don't we get a trial or something?" he whined. The cards exchanged glances before a nine of diamonds put down his spear and made a hand signal. Before they could react the two Nobodies found their arms bound behind their backs and a bunch of spears jammed into their butts. Fortunately the distance they had to march was only about twenty feet, and the duo were forced up onto a witness stand staring directly into the face of something uglier than Saïx after a drinking night.
It had two beady little eyes peering out of flabby fold of flesh. Its hair was pulled back into a tight bun, which wasn't helping its appearance any. Meaty slabs of arms were folded on its lap, and one sledge-like hand gripped a scepter like it was the center of the universe. It was hideous. It was horrible. It was female.
"Now presenting the Queen of Hearts to serve as the persecutor, judge, and jury of this court!" Bellowed a rather small and elderly white rabbit. Demyx tilted his head with a confused look on his face.
"Don't you mean prosecutor?" he asked. The large woman banged her scepter on the stand in front of her.
"Silence in the court!" She yelled, glaring at the two nonexistent. "You two," she pointed the scepter at them to emphasize, "are hereby convicted with trying to dismember me!" Something about what she said rang a bell for Zexion, and he stepped forward slightly.
"Dismember?" He asked. "Your Royal Highness, please excuse my companion." The queen sat back a little, obviously pleased by the comment. Zexion continued. "Did you by any chance see what you were almost dismembered with?"
"Of course I saw! It was a fruity pink scythe!" She screamed. Demyx exchanged a glance with his partner.
"Definitely Marluxia," he said. Zexion nodded and turned back to the enraged queen. "I must apologize, but we really must be going. Court dismissed!" The bonds tying the Nobody's hands suddenly fell away thanks to a handy dark blade. With a cocky grin and a flourish Demyx summoned his sitar and a few water clones. While the cards were busy with the clones, they made their escape.
---
"So, we know Marluxia is here, we just don't know where."
The two were outside the "courtroom", staring at a huge forest of tall grass and mushrooms. Well, at first glance it appeared to be a forest, but closer inspection revealed it to be a room. The sky and boundaries were painted on. Demyx sighed and crossed his arms, glaring at the obstacles like it would make them go away. "Wish we knew where to go," he mumbled.
"Be careful what you wish for!" a familiar voice called from over to the duo's right. Demyx restrained his shriek this time and settled for a small squeak at the cat's appearance. Like before, Zexion showed no reaction.
"Do you know where Marluxia is?" he asked instead. The cat did a little dance on its head.
"Maybe. But unless you like crazy hat's with your military hare I suggest you forget about joining the tea party," it said. Zexion exclaimed a loud "what?" just as Demyx protested "but I don't have a buzz cut!" The two looked at one another as the cat began laughing. "You could have fooled me!" It cackled as it began disappearing again.
"Dammit. I hate that thing," Demyx whined, crossing his arms and staring sulkily into the oversized forest. "So, that didn't help us at all. Now what?" Zexion shrugged and started forwards into the forest.
The two quickly discovered that if the tall grass was meant to be a maze, it was a very poor one. Just a few turns here, a few turns there, and the two were facing another gaping hole in the wall. Demyx tried to look through it, but could see nothing. With a shrug and a glance back at Zexion, he went through.
The first thing Zexion knew was that there was someone singing, rather horribly. Kind of like Demyx when he was drunk. The room was also painted to look like the outdoors, though it was much smaller. A long table sat in the center of the room, ringed by seven armchairs, all of them old and worn looking. Three were occupied. One on the left contained a short man with a large nose and stiff white hair sticking out from beneath a large green top hat that had seen better days. He was across from a very unstable looking brown rabbit. Both were passing tea around and singing something very off key. The Nobody assumed that they were the "military hare" and "crazy hat" the Cheshire Cat had been talking about. Zexion couldn't see the third person because they were sitting in the only chair with its back to the entryway. It was also singing very off key, though he couldn't tell the gender thanks to the others drowning them out. He coughed to get their attention.
The rabbit and the hat-man looked up and immediately after seeing the two, screamed and jumped into a nearby painting. If it weren't for the very world he was in he would be more disturbed. Ignoring the two peering out of their picture like it was a window, the Nobody instead approached the only person that hadn't moved. They were still humming a tune as he reached them, and Zexion placed a hand on their shoulder. The person yelled, leaping up and spinning around in surprise, giving the two a good look. And they were knocked speechless.
The person was Marluxia. But not how they remembered him. For one, he was wearing a short, mid-thigh length dress in a slight Victorian style. The majority of the dress was dark red, with black ribbons around the arms and hem. The chest was corset-like and white, laced with more black ribbon. He also wore a pair of lace-up black stilettos and black stockings, making for a very sexy look. Which was a good thing, as the outfit would have looked very disturbing on a man.
As soon as Demyx found the controls for his voice again, he hit the little red button and stammered out a weak "wow." Zexion just nodded dumbly, still in shock. Marluxia's dark blue eyes narrowed slightly and she glared at them. "What the hell are you two doing here?" she asked in a disturbingly still masculine voice.
"We're, uh, we're here to rescue you!" Demyx said proudly, trying hard not to stare at his transgender comrade. Marluxia sighed and scooted the pink armchair she had been sitting in around so that she could face the other two Nobodies. Sitting down, she crossed her legs and propped her chin in her hands dejectedly.
"Great. Fabulous. So, what's up with the blindfold?" she asked, raising a pink eyebrow at Zexion. "Some retarded fashion statement?"
"What's up with the sex change?" He countered, crossing his arms and glaring at the Nobody. Marluxia leapt to her feet and almost snarled at Zexion.
"I don't know, okay! I just woke up like this after those two poured hot tea on my head!" She yelled, pointing an accusing finger at the portrait and the two creatures hiding inside it. They ducked down below the frame and Marluxia stared expectantly at her superior. "So, what the hell happened to me?"
Zexion shrugged. "I'm not sure. Both of us woke up in Hell before finding Lexaeus." He pointedly 'glared' ate Demyx. "Before losing him in Radiant Garden."
The blonde rubbed the back of his head apologetically. "Hey, we found Xemmy! That's gotta count for something!" Marluxia stared at the two in obvious confusion. "Xemmy?"
"The Superior. Thanks to the world that he appeared in, he was reduced to the age of six," Zexion supplied. Marluxia huffed and looked off, crossing her arms angrily.
"Bet it's better than this," she huffed. "So, the world we revive in has an adverse effect on us, as the last thing I remember was being in nothing. Now what?" Marluxia asked, glancing back and forth between her two higher-ranked fellow Organization members. Demyx shrugged and replied, "We're still hunting for everyone else. Wanna come with?"
Marluxia sighed and rolled her eyes. "Sure, whatever." Zexion opened a portal and the three stepped through.
Tada! Chapter five finished!
As stated previously, I haven't played COM yet, so I don't know if Marluxia sounds masculine are not. Originally Marluxia was supposed to be more emotional, but when I wrote it I was in a more venomous mood. Maybe she'll freak out in the next world? And who all likes Marly's particular thing?
'Til next time!