Hunting Trip

Two weeks passed.

The only interaction Izzie had with Saix in that time was to tell him about two days after they sparred that she and Iris hadn't fed since the beginning of October, making it five weeks without their…sustenance. He said he'd inform Xemnas, then get back to her.

And that didn't happen.

He wasn't sure what about the little vampire it was, but something rubbed him the wrong way. He knew that he didn't like that she avoided him, not speaking to him or even going near him unless she needed something from him, especially since she seemed to have no problem with everyone else. She took a liking to Axel and Demyx, same as Iris, and the four would talk in the Grey Area all the time. She even spoke with Xaldin and Lexaeus regularly, giving them pointers on their fighting strategies. She talked with everyone. Except Saix.

So maybe that was why he hadn't said a word to Xemnas about the girls needing to feed. Like he was punishing her for avoiding him. If Iris-in place of Izzie-asked him, he only said he'd get back to her.

Today, after the workday had ended and dinner was over, Saix was in the Grey Area along with Xigbar, Axel, Demyx, and the girls. He was standing in his usual spot in front of the huge wall made of glass, flipping through papers on his clipboard to make sure he had everyone's reports from that day. Xigbar was standing over by the Moogle shop, trying to haggle with the little creature that operated it and not succeeding. Everyone else-like usual-was sitting off to Saix's left, chatting.

"So everyone here has a special power?" Iris asked, leaning forward so she was on the edge of the chair she was sitting on.

"Yep," Axel replied. "I control fire and Demyx controls water." As he spoke, he snapped his fingers, and a tiny little flame appeared, flickering on his index finger for a moment before snuffing out.

"I can make clones with water," Demyx told Iris. "I don't like to get my hands dirty, so I use them for fighting and stuff." Iris's eyes were wide, sparkling with interest. She looked like a kid on Christmas morning.

"Really?" She breathed.

"Wanna see?" Demyx summoned his weapon, a light blue sitar, in a burst of water bubbles, and plucked its strings, playing some sort of song. The notes that came out of it were rather eerie.

However, from the melody came a huge blob of water, which shaped itself into a clone of him. He strummed his sitar, each note making the clone move in different ways, from waving at Iris, to shimmying its shoulders, to lifting its middle finger at Saix-who luckily wasn't looking at it.

"Cool!" Iris gasped in wonder. Demyx smiled, playing a certain melody to make the clone bow.

"For something so "cool", you'd think it'd be remotely useful." Saix mumbled, loudly flipping over a page.

Demyx narrowed his eyes, and with a flick of his wrist, the water clone lost its shape and flew at Saix. He ducked to the side, some of the water splashing on his left hand. The rest showered the window wall and the floor.

"You utter brat!" He shouted, flinging his clipboard at Demyx. It spun through the air and knocked him on his head. Iris snorted trying to hold back her laughter.

"Chill out, man," Axel said with his own smile as he picked up the clipboard and handed it to Saix as he wrung out his sleeve. He snatched it from him.

"My hand is soaked," He growled, pointedly glaring at Demyx, who stuck his tongue out as he rubbed the side of his head.

Axel's smile turned into a mischievous smirk. "Well I can fix that."

"Don't-!"

But he had already flicked his index finger into the air, a burst of fire appearing on Saix's left hand for the briefest of moments before it extinguished into thick black smoke, leaving his glove completely singed, ruined. Eyes so angry they nearly turned black, Saix yanked the glove off, using the ruined leather to slap Axel's cheek. This time, Iris laughed out loud.

"I'm going to leave," He said each word calmly, carefully. "Before I put your heads through a wall." He began stalking toward the exit.

"Hey, before you go, I got my mission report from yesterday," Demyx said, jumping off the couch toward Saix and handing him three pieces of paper.

"Oh yeah, I got mine too." Axel fished around in his pocket and handed him two folded pages.

"How many times do I have to stress that a mission report is due the day of the mission?" Saix grumbled as he shoved the ruined glove into his pocket and swiped the reports.

"Counting this? Three-hundred and four." Axel replied, earning him a sharp glare.

He began reading over the reports as he slowly walked toward the hall leading to the bedrooms, sliding his fingers down the side of the papers. Suddenly he jerked his hand back, frowning as he stopped moving to observe the newly formed paper cut on his index finger. Izzie's head popped up, her eyes wide in her head as a thin stripe of red oozed up from the small line on Saix's skin.

As Saix rubbed his thumb over the small injury, a movement out of his peripheral vision caught his attention, and he looked up to see Iris pushing herself up from the chair a few feet from him, her once jovial expression melting to savage, her eyes black and wild.

"No!"

In the next instant, Izzie was in front of him, crouching defensively. One of her hands snapped back and pressed into his stomach, shoving him backward. The strength she used was so great that it knocked all the wind out of Saix's lungs, and he gained air as he went flying back over the couch, slamming into Xigbar. They went sprawling to the floor several feet away. Demyx and Axel jumped to their feet, unsure of what to do as Iris slammed into Izzie, the sound like crashing boulders.

Iris shrieked a snarl at Izzie as her arms went around her, restraining her as she flailed, trying her damndest to shove past her and get to Saix.

Axel hurried over to the two men as they tried to untangle themselves from each other, and grabbed one of Saix's arms, helping him to his feet. Demyx helped Xigbar. As he stood, Saix lifted his head to see Iris's empty eyes zeroed on him, her jaw snapping inches from Izzie's face.

Izzie growled, the sound coming from the center of her chest, rearranging her grip on Iris so the child was lifted back against her shoulder. She continued snarling, kicking her legs and swinging her arms. Her fist landed on Izzie's face, making another sound like two rocks knocking together, and she said,

"Stop the bleeding!"

Axel's hand clamped down around Saix's finger, squeezing as tightly as he could.

"Are you trying to break my finger?" Saix growled, trying to pull his hand away. Axel held onto it anyway, giving him a look that said, "I don't believe you right now", and said,

"Would you rather be the kid's lunch?"

"Let go!" Iris screamed. Her voice sounded different than it usually did-it was guttural, unrestrained, and almost demonic. As she screamed and snarled and hissed, Izzie lifted her as high as she could and streaked from the room with her, out of sight.

After they were gone, Demyx let out a high whine, his body shuddering unpleasantly.

Drama queen. Saix thought.

"Let go." He yanked his finger from Axel's grip and looked at the tiny cut on it, smeared with red but no longer bleeding.

"Dude, do you have any idea how close to death you were just now?" Demyx cried, a look of disbelief on his face.

"Well I'm fine."

"Yeah, and had Izzie not acted, you wouldn't be," Axel chastised, the tone he was using completely unlike him.

"How do you want me to react?" Saix asked, totally exasperated. "It happened, it's done, and everyone's fine. Though I will have to have a talk with Xemnas-"

"You better tell him that those girls need to leave the castle every once in a while to…well, you know!" Axel interrupted. "Izzie warned you two weeks ago that they hadn't been fed in a while and look what happened!"

"That's what I was going to do!" Saix snapped.

"Alright, alright, chill out," Xigbar interceded, giving Axel a gentle fist bump against the shoulder. He didn't touch Saix for he knew he probably wouldn't get his hand back unscathed. "Axel, you're freaked out. Understandably so. Saix, you're…well, you're you. Let's just relax and be grateful nothing too terrible happened, eh? C'mon. Let's go report this to boss man."

He jerked his chin, and Saix sighed, pushing his ungloved hand into his pocket as he and Xigbar headed for the Round Room.

After he and Xigbar reported what happened to Xemnas, Saix was walking down the hall to his room, when he came across Izzie, standing a few feet from his door.

"Gonna kick us out?" She asked.

"No and more is the pity." Saix replied, twisting the doorknob and entering his room. Izzie followed. He glanced over his shoulder at her, sneering slightly as he tossed his ruined glove into the waste bin by his dresser. Pulling open the top drawer and grabbing a new one, he said, "Don't I have to invite you in in order for you to come into my room?"

Izzie snorted, rolling her eyes. "That's a myth, Saix."

He remained silent as he pulled the new glove onto his hand, flexing his fingers to stretch the leather. He hated breaking in new gloves.

"So where is Iris?" He asked flatly.

"In the atrium. She won't come out of there until she's fed. Which, by the way, is something I hoped you talked about with Xemnas?"

"It was," He replied as he turned to face her. "It's after hours now, but tomorrow I'll take you to your world so you can…do whatever it is you do to get what you need."

"Good."

"But." Saix stressed the word, raising his voice just a little so he knew he had Izzie's attention. "I will be with you the whole time. If you try anything funny-"

"What? What'll you do?" Izzie interrupted, getting so close to him she had to crane her neck to see him. "In case you forgot, I was the one who nearly broke your leg. I was the one who literally threw you across a room not even an hour ago. Do you really think you could stop me if I wanted to try anything funny?"

Saix glared down at her, his fingers constricting against the top of his dresser. He felt the wood splinter and crack.

"Alright," He answered after a moment. "Then I'll take you to a world. Not your home world." At this, Izzie's eye twitched.

"What?"

"If I take you to a world you have no ties to, no home, no friends, no nothing, you'd be less inclined to try and play games. Remember, your only way home is me. No one else has authorization to open a dark corridor to your world, and Xemnas won't oblige if you ask him. The chances of you seeing home again all lie with me. Keep pissing me off, and you'll never go back."

He saw when a fire ignited in those impossible green eyes of Izzie's, her jaw clenching and her hands balling into tight fists. She glared silently at him for a while before she lowered her eyes, letting out a breath and turning her back.

"Why did I save him?" She mumbled, but not low enough that Saix didn't hear her.

He remained silent as she exited his room.

The next day after he sent everyone on their missions for the day, Saix took the girls to the world of Twilight Town, guiding them to the thick expanse of woods outside the town's limits.

"Since Twilight Town has no blood banks, you're just gonna have to make do with animal blood." He told them as they came to the heart of the forest. He turned back to look at them, and continued, "One of you will go at a time. The other will stay here." Izzie and Iris exchanged glances.

"Go ahead, Iz." Iris said, waving her hand nonchalantly. Izzie gave her a look.

"I think you should go first. After all-"

"I don't need reminding about my blunder yesterday," Iris warned lowly.

"Then you go first."

"But you're the one who-"

Izzie began speaking over Iris, who continued talking, and in milliseconds, their voices blended together to form a humming sound, their lips moving so quickly it looked like they weren't moving at all.

"Alright, knock it off." Saix called, irritated. The girls looked at him as he fished around in his pocket for something, and after a moment, pulled out a coin. "We'll flip a coin. Someone call it." He flicked the coin into the air, and Iris said,

"Heads!"

He caught it in his palm. "Tails. Isabella, go on."

"But-!"

"Go."

She glared at him as he snapped at her, pointing off into the woods, and Iris bumped her with her elbow.

"It's fine, Izzie, really."

She sighed, and with one last glance at Saix, turned and ghosted further into the forest. Iris watched after her for a little bit, then turned and looked at Saix.

"So, um…sorry about yesterday."

He gazed down at her, his expression flat, as he replied, "Sorry for what? Nothing terrible happened."

Iris blinked, surprised at his nonchalance, stunned into a silence as he turned and sat on a large rock. He lifted his hand, and in a plume of dark smoke, a clipboard appeared, several papers attached to it. He began reading over them.

"U-uhm…you do know I was going to kill you, right?"

"Yes. But you didn't."

"'Cause Izzie stopped me. If she wasn't there, you wouldn't be here now."

Saix sighed, placing his clipboard next to him and folding his hands over his knee. "So what do you want, Iris? Do you want me to be afraid of you? To not want to be around you?"

"Well, no, but a little apprehension to be around me, especially the day after I tried to attack you, would be appropriate. You're not exactly gracious about us, but…I dunno, it seems to me like you don't have any self-preservation instincts. Everyone else avoided me this morning."

"I have self-preservation instincts," Saix told her. "When I'm actively in danger. What happened yesterday was nothing. What you want is for me to be afraid of you. But I can't be afraid of you. I don't have that ability."

"You know the inability to feel is a symptom of psychopathy." Iris said, a small smile on her face. Saix rolled his eyes.

"Please. All of us could feel at one point, but can't now. There's a difference between us and a psychopath."

"What is that difference?" Iris jumped onto the spot next to him, crouching and looking much like a frog. Saix gave her a look.

"Because we had emotions in the past, we're able to understand the emotional reaction people have to things. We just aren't tied down by them."

"Tied down?" Iris repeated, raising her eyebrows.

"That's what I said." As he spoke, he picked back up his clipboard and flipped the first page, his eyes skimming over the words on the second. Iris watched him, not understanding his thought process at all. "How did you become a vampire?" He asked suddenly, making her start.

"What?"

"I know you understood that question." Saix flipped the papers down onto the clipboard and lightly tossed it into the air; it disappeared into smoke.

"Izzie turned me."

He rolled his eyes, taking a deep breath, before saying, "I know who turned you. I'm asking how it happened."

Iris sighed, lifting and lowering her shoulders exaggeratedly. "Well…have you ever heard of the Salem Witch Trials?"

"No." She snorted.

"You guys really didn't do your research before showing up in our world, did you?" Saix glared at her, and she stuck her tongue out at him. "Anyway, I was born in 1683, right? Nine years later in 1692, the Salem Witch Trials began,"

"What were those?"

"Exactly what one would think," Iris replied simply. "People were accused of being witches, there was a trial, and those found guilty were put to death."

"Witches exist in your world as well?"

"Well, not the witches you're thinking of. There's no wands or cauldrons or pointy hats. Instead, a real witch is simply in tune with nature. Their emotions tend to influence the elements. Animals are more inclined to like them. They can learn spells and cast them, but those spells tend to be geared more toward influencing a person's actions or the way nature works. They can't do anything with the mind or with inanimate objects. But during the Salem Witch Trials, accusers said they saw certain members of the town consorting with Satan or demons. They said they saw rituals being performed outside of town. In reality, none of this was true."

"Why did they lie?"

Iris tilted her head thoughtfully, pursing her lips. "Well, not every accuser was lying. See, the grain supply of the town was infected with a fungus that caused hallucinations and erratic behavior. The two main accusers are thought to have been infected with the fungus. But back then, disease wasn't known to be a naturally occurring phenomenon. It was thought to be punishment from God for doing the wrong thing or not doing what one was supposed to. Salem was a strict Puritan town. People were made to attend church a great deal of the time. Everyone had to live and all their actions had to be based for God. The Puritans believed that men and women were equal in the eyes of God, but not in the eyes of Satan, who would constantly attempt to force his influence on the weaker of the two sexes-the women. So all day every day, a Puritan woman would do her best to keep Satan from her body."

"That's absolutely ridiculous." Saix scoffed.

"Yes, it is," Iris agreed. "But back then, we didn't know better. And when you're raised with these beliefs, it's extremely hard to just stop believing in them. So, women who did not conform to the Puritan belief system, or women who were unmarried or had no children, were much more likely to be accused than the classical Puritan woman. People were also accused if there had been a quarrel with their neighbors. In 1692, a girl named Abigail Williams and another girl began having fits. They shrieked and howled and complained of feeling like they were being pinched or pricked with something. In the winter of that year, my father came home telling us of a slave named Tituba, who had been accused of practicing witchcraft by the girls. I didn't think much of it, other than it was strange. Before I knew it, the people being accused were being sent to death, more and more people being accused left and right." Iris's eyes narrowed, and her upper lip curled in distain. "Abigail and I never got along. She was two years older than me, and thought she could boss me and everyone else who was younger than her around. I never listened to her or did what she told me to do. I should've guessed she'd accuse me. A few weeks after my ninth birthday, my parents and I were walking home from church when Abigail pointed to me and started screaming. Her cousin Betty, who was my age, saw this and began following suit."

A scream pierced the normal quiet of the day, sending birds flying to the sky. I glanced over and saw that girl, Abigail, her thin finger pointed in my direction and screaming bloody murder, her face twisted in what looked like fear. Betty came to stand beside her and pointed as well, opening her mouth and letting her wretched voice free. I stopped walking, staring at them as they continued screaming at me. My mother clenched her hands tightly against my shoulders, and my father stepped in front of us.

"Abigail! Betty! Girls, what is it?" Abigail's father cried, coming to his daughter's side.

"It's her!" Abigail cried.

"It's the girl who has been haunting our dreams!" Betty sobbed. "The girl who speaks in the Devil's tongue! She curses us!"

"Silence!" My father roared. "You know not of what you speak! My girl has done nothing to you!"

"Then why do they cower in such fear of her?" Abigail's father demanded.

Nearly the moment he finished speaking, Betty shrieked, throwing herself to the ground and writhing in what was believed to be agony.

"She burns me!" She cried. "She tries to kill me!"

I stiffened against my mother's chest, her arms going around me as if to defend me from the townspeople's glaring eyes.

"She consorts with the devil!" Abigail bellowed. "She deceives her parents and curses us!"

Without another word, Abigail's father, the reverend of the church, and two other men stormed up to us, the two unknown men restraining my father as Abigail's father and the reverend pried me from my mother's arms.

"No! No, mother! Mother!" I screamed for my mother, shoving and kicking against the men's arms as they dragged me to the jail.

"Stop! Please stop!" Mother cried. "My girl has done no wrong! Please let her go!"

"If you do not cease you will be examined as well!" The reverend snapped. And my parents, fearing for their own lives, stopped protesting. They watched with anger and fear on their faces as I was taken, kicking and screaming, into the jail.

I could swear I saw a smile on Abigail's face before the doors closed.

"A few weeks later, after some very unfair trials and outright lies about me from several local girls, I was sentenced to death by fire. I was the only "witch" in Salem to be sentenced to burn at the stake." Saix listened silently, a little more than disgusted. "They planted a tall piece of wood in the center of town, surrounded by kindling, and tied me to it," Iris continued, her voice bleak. "I remember looking out at the crowd and realizing my parents weren't there. They stayed home. They didn't want to see their only daughter be executed. The reverend yelled some mumbo-jumbo about how I was doomed to burn in hell for my sins, how God was punishing me for going against him, and then, from either side, the kindling caught fire and slowly climbed to me. But I was lucky. Before the fire really spread along my body, I passed out from smoke inhalation. In unconsciousness, everything was peaceful. It was easy there. I'm not sure how long I floated in the dark until I finally felt the fire. But it was in the wrong place. It had started at my feet when I was awake, but here, it began on my neck, and it stayed there for a long time, not moving. My reaction was to get away from the fire, yank myself from it, but when I tried, I realized there was nothing to get away from. It was inside of me."

"There was a fire…inside of you?" Saix asked dubiously.

"Well, it wasn't an actual fire. It was the venom. While I was unconscious, Izzie came. She knew I was still alive and she took me from the town then bit me. When she did that, she released venom into my body. It's what turns people from humans into vampires." She tilted her head thoughtfully, smiling a bit. "It was hard for me. It's hard for everyone who undergoes the transformation…But what Izzie did was much harder."

"How was what she did harder?"

"Remember what Izzie said a few weeks ago when she was explaining our kind to you? She had said that when a vampire tastes blood, a frenzy begins. Izzie is really no different. The instinct to take all of my blood was rampant after she tasted the first drop. She was able to stop because she's so compassionate." Then Iris lifted her shoulders. "But even the most compassionate vampires would have problems with, say, someone like you."

Saix frowned. "Someone like me?" Iris nodded a bit.

"Izzie will probably get mad at me, but I think you deserve an explanation…even if you are a complete crab," He crooked his mouth up to the side as she continued, "Saix, Izzie wants you, and…not in a good way. Every human or, I guess, Nobody, has a different scent to their blood. Someone who smells one way to a vampire will smell different to another. To me, your scent doesn't call that strongly, but to Izzie, it does. You smell good to her. Really good. She avoids you pretty much all of the time, except when she absolutely has to speak with you or be near you, right? And I've seen how that irritates you. You asked me before what her problem is, and the answer is, it's not anything you're doing, but it is still you. She's not repulsed by you-it's the exact opposite. She wants your blood, more than she's wanted any other person's. She avoids you to protect you."

Saix listened quietly, and after Iris finished explaining, he said, "But you were the one who tried to attack me. She was the one who stopped you." Iris nodded.

"Izzie is older than me. Older and more mature. And even though you and her don't get along, she cares about you. She cares about every living being and doesn't seek to hurt or kill things that don't deserve it. And you're living, so that includes you." Then she leaned forward, her young face suddenly serious. "But that doesn't mean you're fully safe. Everyone in the castle needs to take precaution with us there, but you even more so. If you cut yourself again, there's no guarantee that Izzie will keep a clear head, and she would never forgive herself if she killed you. So, if Xemnas is gonna be insistent on keeping us there, you need to take heed. You're always in danger."

Then she straightened her back, looking off to the left, in the direction that Izzie had run to. "That was quick," She mumbled as she hopped off the rock.

Saix turned his gaze out to the trees, and Izzie ghosted into his view.

"What's out there?" Iris asked as she skipped up to her, her arms looped behind her back.

"Deer."

"And?" Izzie raised her eyebrows.

"That's it. That's all that's out there." Iris's shoulders slumped.

"Aww, I hate deer."

Izzie turned her eyes to Saix as she replied, "You'll just have to suck it up this time."

This time. Apparently she was thinking she could convince him to let them hunt in their home world next time. He shifted his left leg to rest on his right leg as he stared back at her, his face a mask of calm. Iris glanced at him for a moment before looking back to Izzie.

"You gonna be okay?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Yes."

Iris nodded a little, then looked further off into the forest.

"Let's get this over with." And then she was gone.

"I'm not taking you to hunt in your home world," Saix said, preemptively shutting Izzie down before she could even turn her head. She glared at him.

"Did I ask you to?"

"You were about to,"

"Oh, and are you a mind reader now?" As she spoke, she walked a couple steps toward him, but that was it. There was still about twelve feet between them. Saix narrowed his eyes and tilted his head slowly, trying to make the motion seem innocent.

"Why don't you ever get close to me?" Izzie frowned, her eyes guarded.

"What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean. You talk to everyone in the castle, even Xaldin and Lexaeus, and they're just as unapproachable as I am. Yet, you never speak to me, unless it's to challenge me. Other than that, you send Iris to say whatever it is you want to say. Don't think I'm blind."

Izzie stared at him, her expression turning into one of guilt. For some reason, that expression made Saix regret taking the knowledge she didn't know he had and turning it on her. That feeling-regret-only served to irritate him. "Well, you're not nice," She said finally. "I don't know you all that well but even I can tell you're stubborn and mean. And even if I spoke to you more, what would we talk about? I can guarantee that if I tried to get to know you, you'd resist and obstruct my every attempt to do so. If I tried to help you with something you'd be too prideful to let me. You can't expect me to do all the work."

Saix let out a breath and turned his head. He hadn't expected her to tell him the truth, but he certainly didn't expect that she'd attack his character-and be so damn accurate.

Then Izzie said, "I want to, you know. Get along with you, that is. The thing is, if you want to get along with me, you have to put in work, too."

"You're mistaken." Saix pushed himself off the rock and approached her, observing when her shoulders stiffened and her hands turned to fists. He stopped only three feet from her.

"I was only saying that if you want something, you are the one who has to come to me, not Iris. This isn't fourth grade. I don't want or have the time to play he said she said with you." Izzie's eyebrow twitched. "Now, if you weren't going to try and convince me to let you hunt in your home world, what were you going to do?"

"I was going to ask if you would at least let us procure blood packs. We don't have to hunt, humans won't die, and we can get a three months' supply at a time. Then you wouldn't have to take time out of your very busy day to escort Iris and I everywhere." Izzie's tone was mocking during that sentence, and she crossed her arms when she finished speaking. Saix glared at her. She glared back.

Even though he was annoyed, she did have a point. If she could get three months' worth of blood from a bank, he wouldn't have to take her out as often. And since Xemnas assigned Saix specifically to look after the two girls, this was a plus for him.

"Fine." He said after a minute or two. Izzie felt a flash of shock cross her face, but she quickly fixed that.

"Good."

And then she turned her back and walked away, making it look like she was observing the scenery, but Saix wasn't stupid. He stared after her for a bit, wondering why this bothered him so much.

…