Heartless

As more time passed, Izzie found herself curious as to what exactly everyone here was gathered for, and why they called themselves Nobodies. She and Iris talked about it, but this was out of their realm of expertise. When Xemnas and Xigbar initially spoke with them, all they mentioned about themselves and the other members was that they had convened for a purpose, and that everyone possessed special abilities. They did not elaborate on that. If either of them asked anyone else, even Axel or Demyx, they skirted around the issue, saying that if the higher-ups didn't think they needed to know, then they probably shouldn't say anything.

It was frustrating.

Tonight, Izzie sat in the Grey Area, alone for once. It was about eight-thirty at night-though here, it was always night. Day never came. The only light that came from the outside was from the strange, heart-shaped moon hovering in the atmosphere. There weren't even any stars.

Everyone was off doing their own thing.

Across the castle, Izzie could hear Demyx, rocking out on his sitar, Xigbar was playing a drinking game with Xaldin and Larxene-Larxene was winning-Vexen was mumbling to himself about why the data on something was wrong, and Axel, Luxord, Lexaeus, and Zexion were all in the library, talking and reading. Iris was with them. In a way, Izzie was glad Iris had made new friends. She was just worried about the pain the kid would go through when they finally went back home. She hadn't been told much, but she knew that somehow her world and this one were not connected. Without the dark corridors, there was no way to travel between them. She didn't know how that worked, like most things around here.

In the dim lighting of the Grey Area, Izzie read one of the books she'd gotten from the castle's library. It was thick, old, with no title on its cover, but it was interesting. It was about a creature called "Heartless". Apparently it was a being that used to be a person who was consumed by the darkness. The person turned into a creature of the dark, working to steal hearts from other people and make more of its kind. Heartless came in many shapes and sizes, taking form depending on the strength of each person's heart. A weak-hearted person would become a Pureblood, a tiny, weak little black shadow looking thing. A strong-hearted person might become a Devastator, or a Strafer, depending on the person. As she read, she wondered who wrote this book, and why she hadn't seen it before. Maybe it was a book that only existed in this world. It would make for interesting folklore.

Thunk.

Izzie's head jerked up toward the large window wall to her left, slowly closing her book as she did so. Outside was the same as it always was. Dark, quiet. Setting the book to the side, Izzie pulled herself to her feet and walked over to the window, placing a hand on the warm-to her-glass and looking out at the city. The streets were empty like they always were, not a soul to be seen. She frowned.

Slam!

Izzie let out a shocked shriek when something vaguely humanoid yet an inky black color slammed onto the window, clinging to the glass with long, slender fingers. She skittered back as more and more of them jumped to join the first, their combined weight proving to be too much for the glass to handle. It began cracking, creating huge fractures from the floor to the ceiling.

The glass shattered, hundreds of the creatures tumbling in the Grey Area and skittering toward Izzie. They surrounded her, their glowing golden eyes zeroed in on her. She lowered herself into a crouch, baring her fangs and letting out a low growl. However, before either of them could strike, there was a shout from behind her, and the creatures that had the back of her disappeared into black smoke.

As the smoke cleared, she saw a very familiar person standing protectively in front of her, though, it was the last person she would have expected to come help her.

Saix, with his claymore in his hand, looked over his shoulder at her.

"Get out of here." Izzie blinked, taken aback and completely unable to respond for a moment. The creatures began jumping at her, and Saix swiped his weapon at each one. "I said go!" He shouted.

Finally, Izzie's head cleared, and she grabbed one of the creatures midair, swinging it around as hard as she could into another one; they vanished into black smoke.

"I'm not gonna leave you by yourself!"

"Stupid," He growled this under his breath, but Izzie heard him loud and clear. "I do this for a living. Has she ever even seen a Heartless before?"

Heartless…It wasn't a story. They weren't made up. Izzie backed up a little, her eyes zeroing not on the Heartless-they weren't even able to even get to her-but instead on Saix as he swung his weapon, preventing any Heartless to get near her.

Before, he had been strong, but obviously more controlled. Now, he swung his claymore almost recklessly, not caring about the furniture he broke, his motions looking like he was sweeping the floors. He twisted his torso, swinging his claymore high into the air as he himself jumped, spinning his body and slamming the weapon into the ground, creating a visible blue and white shockwave that radiated around the room, knocking the enemies off their feet. Izzie felt it as well-it shook her body, seeming to electrify the soles of her feet, and her muscles bunched, tensed, her body instinctively readying itself for a fight with him. In her conscious mind, she knew he probably wouldn't turn on her, but her instincts warned her; the energy he was exuding was beyond rational. He moved like a newborn. Brute strength, predictable moves, but also a force of destruction.

As the numbers of Heartless depleted, the air suddenly wavered, and when Izzie looked, a huge, pitch black creature began rising from the ground. It rose nearly to the ceiling, had huge, glowing golden eyes, but no discernable nose, mouth, or ears. Its upper half was sculpted, its body narrowing closer to the hips. Its feet were squiggly, hands human-shaped. But the most noticeable feature this creature had was the huge, heart-shaped hole in the middle of its chest.

Saix fell back from it, putting distance between himself and it. As he backtracked, Izzie noticed his hair was beginning to stand on end, not like it would if it were affected by static, not individual strands, but full locks of his hair rising off his back, curving. The spikes at the top of his head split, got messier. She stared, her eyes widening as a blue aura began surrounding him, huge waves of energy radiating from his body.

"Leave, Isabella. Now." She inhaled sharply at the drastic change of his voice. It was deeper, guttural, sending warning signals all through her body.

The power Saix had been channeling before surged, peaked, and as his body changed, his weapon changed. The head of his claymore morphed, the blue head opening and a glowing white aura extending from each blade, creating sharper, longer blades. His hand loosened on its handle, and it flipped about on its own, moving to hover behind him as his feet left the ground. Izzie stared, frozen, as Saix levitated high into the air, his claymore rising just a head over him. He extended his arms, holding them to the sides as if to hug the huge creature, his fingers curled like claws. Outside the broken window, the heart-shaped moon seemed to glow brighter, pulsing with energy. With each throb of the yellow light that surrounded it, the energy around Saix responded, throbbing as well. His claymore twirled, and the moment its head came back to the point just above him, he let out a powerful, furious, ground-shaking shout. His very voice seemed to hold power as well, for in response to his roar, a shockwave erupted from him, slamming into the creature and knocking it onto its back.

And then, he moved.

His body moved impossibly fast-at least Izzie thought-his arm snapping back and grabbing the handle of his claymore, and when he began attacking it was all in sequential. There was no pause, no break in movement. Saix slammed his claymore over and over and over again into the thing, each hit making waves of blue energy crash into it. Each time he brought down his arm, he let out a scream, his voice tearing savagely from his throat. Izzie had seen fights in her life. She'd been in fights. She'd seen violence.

But nothing like this.

A Nobody, Izzie had thought, was closer to human than anything else. The other members she'd seen in action moved like a human warrior, even Saix. But now…he was definitely closer to vampire than human. His body wasn't blurring, but possibly the only reason for that was Izzie's quicker senses. He was so parallel to a newborn that one who didn't know better would assume that was exactly what he was. He was so frantic, so erratic, so powerful, so…furious. He was terrifying.

Izzie was terrified. Of Saix.

The creature couldn't put up one ounce of fight. If it even moved its arms, Saix slammed his claymore into it, knocking it off balance. He swung his claymore over his head, and brought it down on the creature's arm; it sliced clean off, hitting the ground so hard large cracks formed in the concrete. Izzie stared at it as it began evaporating, and soon, it was gone.

The creature itself finally responded, swinging its good arm and catching Saix around the waist and launching him across the room. Izzie let out her own agonized cry when she saw this, spinning around as his body slammed into the far wall. She heard something inside him crack.

His body fell back to the ground, and when he landed squarely on his feet, she felt a shock of surprise shoot through her stomach. Then Saix lifted his head, and when she saw his face, the fear she'd been feeling returned.

The scar on his forehead had grown, taking up most of his face, and was more ragged. Through his sneering lips, she saw his canines had extended to form fangs. And his eyes. His irises were glowing a bright yellow, looking like two small moons in his eyes. With a start, Izzie realized-Saix was a lunatic, a berserker. He was drawing power from that moon hanging over the cityscape. She'd only heard about them from word of mouth, from legends and stories. Quite frankly, she didn't think they existed.

Saix rocketed past her, completely oblivious to the fact that she was still there, and sprung up at the creature. With another savage shout, he swiped his claymore across the thing's neck. It stiffened, its head slowly sliding off its shoulders and crashing to the ground. Its body began folding down, but before it could hit the floor, it evaporated, leaving nothing of its existence behind but the absolutely destroyed room and the incredibly unhinged man.

Izzie was breathing hard, terror radiating through her body. She stood, frozen, as Saix's shoulders relaxed, the aura around him dissipating. His hair settled back to its original state, and his claymore returned to normal, but only for a second before he dismissed it. She heard him take a deep breath, and then he spun to face her. When she saw his features were normal, some of her fear faded. Then she actually looked at his face.

His eyes were back to normal, and so was his scar, but he looked mad as hell. "I told you to leave!" He snarled as he marched up to her.

"I…I-I…" For the first time since she became a vampire, Izzie was at a loss for words. She was feeling a swirling torrent of conflicting emotions. She was terrified, relieved, confused, proud, nervous, happy, and gracious, all at once.

Saix stopped a couple feet in front of her. "Why didn't you listen to me? Isabella. I'm talking to you!"

"I-I couldn't…I couldn't…leave you…" She stuttered out.

"You're an idiot. Or suicidal. That Darkside, all those Heartless, they were after your heart. If they touched you just right, you'd have gotten it ripped from your chest. That's how easy it would've been to them! When I tell you to leave, you leave!"

"I'm s-s-sorry…"

Saix's irritation finally cleared enough that he was actually seeing and hearing Izzie. She was fumbling over her words, her voice shaking as some weird substance dripped from her eyes. Tears? Did tears look like that? They were a metallic color, rather thick looking, and when they plopped onto her shirt, they singed its material.

"Did I scare you?" He asked her dubiously, a feeling of disgust bubbling in his chest. However, he wasn't sure the disgust was geared toward her.

"Yes? No? I don't…know. I-I was scared, but I don't know…of what…" She looked around, her eyes darting to and fro without staying on any object for long. All the damage to this room, minus the window, was done by him. Saix had the strength to break the couches clean in two, to smash the coffee tables, and leave giant cracks in the concrete floor. It was easy for him. Izzie had never thought any being with a pulse could do such a thing. Not even werewolves in their human form possessed such strength.

"Isabella. Look at me." She brought her eyes from one of the decimated coffee tables to Saix, who was staring down at her without an ounce of emotion now. "What scared you?" He asked, no sympathy or compassion in his voice. Izzie flinched.

"You," She whispered back.

Now, Saix flinched. It was the smallest contraction of his face, the tiniest twitch of his shoulders, but she saw it. Even if he wasn't aware of it, something in him didn't like that she was scared of him.

"In all my life I've never seen someone do combat the way you did. Screaming and throwing and…all of this," She gestured around the room. "All of this damage, except the window, was done by you. I didn't know a living being could be capable of such ruin. That was what scared me,"

"Maybe now you'll not underestimate me," Saix replied, his voice somehow more dead than before. Izzie shook her head.

"That was what scared me initially."

He felt his eyebrows pull down, and he crossed his arms. "Then what?"

Izzie lifted her eyes, then pointed over her shoulder, at the imprint of a body in the wall behind her. "That's from you. That thing catapulted you across the room, and when you hit the wall, I heard something inside you crack," Her eyes wandered to Saix's torso. "That scared me worse than anything you did."

"Oh, now you're worried about me?" Saix scoffed. Though, now that she mentioned it, he could feel the aches of fractured or broken ribs. He ignored it.

Izzie's eyes snapped back up to him, and she glared. "Yes, I'm worried about you! It's not…not…!"

"Normal?" He completed flatly. "Well, you're right, it isn't normal, but guess what? I'm not normal. Nobody here is. Stop expecting human behavior from us."

"I expect no reckless behavior," She snapped back. "You're being an idiot!"

"This is my job. I have fought countless Heartless before that and I will fight countless more. I have been hurt countless times and I will be hurt countless times more. This is what I do, what everyone here does. It's not your normal, but it's our normal. If you refuse to see that, you're gonna have a really rough time here."

Izzie glared angrily at him, her little hands balled into tight, shaking fists at her sides. She didn't know why she was so upset with him. Logically speaking, he made sense. This was his job, and he was damn good at it, she had to admit, but at the same time, she wanted to lock him in a room somewhere and throw away the key, make sure he never got out so he couldn't do this again. The memory of his body hitting the wall, the snapping sound from his ribcage, it hurt her. Hurt her in the same way watching the Council move against Iris hurt her. Izzie gasped.

"Iris!" She spun on her heel and started running toward the hall.

"She's fine," Saix called. Izzie whirled around, pausing for a moment.

"How do you know?"

"I was in the library when this started. So were Lexaeus, Zexion, Axel, and Luxord. At the very least, Axel would've stayed with her, made sure no Heartless got to her, either."

"Why…why didn't you stay with her?"

Saix blinked as now her anger turned on him. She stomped up to him, her body angled like she was about to tackle him. He narrowed his eyes at her, his mouth twitching with frustration. Were beings with hearts this emotional? Did they swing violently from one feeling to another like this?

"I just told you Axel probably did,"

"Probably!" She shrieked back. Her shrill, yet still beautiful voice pierced his ears, making him wince. "I can handle myself! I don't need protected! You should've stayed with her! You know, the child!"

Just as Saix thought he'd have to wrestle a furious vampire off of him, Izzie spun back around and ghosted down the hall, toward the library. He sighed. Then he frowned. Why did he come for her? She had a valid point; she could handle the Heartless just fine-at least, the smaller ones. All they ever did was argue, but the moment Iris had mentioned Izzie was alone, in the epicenter of the attack, this weird feeling shot through Saix's body. It had been like icy needles. He could vaguely recall feeling like that many years ago, but it only happened once, toward the end of his human life. He stopped that train of thought before it could pull the memory out. Shaking his head, he stopped thinking about the possibility of having any emotional reason to protect Izzie. He only did it because she was vulnerable to the Heartless. He did it because if she lost her heart and faded from existence-that thought made him cringe, but he ignored it-then he'd have to deal with another, much smaller, but still angry vampire, and that would've been a headache. He did it because she had a heart. Nothing else.

The doors to the library slammed open, and Axel looked up from his seat in the middle of the room. Iris slinked along the top of the bookshelves, her attention turned to the doors too.

"Izzie!" She beamed, and jumped to the ground to hurry to her guardian, and threw her arms around her. "You're okay!" Izzie let out a relieved sigh and wrapped her arms around the child.

"So are you,"

"Yeah. Axel and Luxord stayed with me."

Izzie looked around, and spotted Luxord toward the back of the library, sitting at a table. He waved a hand. She sighed again, but this time, it seemed less happy. Iris tilted her head.

"What's up?"

"I yelled at Saix."

At this, Axel perked up a little, a small, impressed smile forming on his face. "I really wish I'd been there to see that," He said. As Izzie gave him a look, Iris said,

"What for?"

"I thought he left you alone here."

"Did he say Luxord and I were here?" Axel asked.

"He said that you, Luxord, and Lexaeus and Zexion were here. I don't see the other two, though,"

"Well, they're founding members," Luxord replied as he flipped a page in his book. "Usually if an attack happens, all six of them congregate to find the source of the problem. The Heartless come in from somewhere, and they go close up the entrance."

"While we handle the swarm," Axel added a little bitterly. Then he smiled again, shaking his head in disbelief. "I can't believe you yelled at Saix. Hope no one else was around for that."

"No," Izzie mumbled. "It was just me and him there. I just got so mad that he would prioritize me over a child."

"Hey," Iris grumbled. Izzie patted her head.

"Well, the attack was happening in the Grey Area," Luxord said thoughtfully. "We didn't get much here. You were the one who was in the most danger."

"Yeah, but it's also weird that Saix, out of all people, was the one to go to Izzie," Axel responded. "Usually he doesn't give one single solitary fu-"

"You are in the presence of two ladies," Luxord interrupted. "Watch your profanity."

"Whoops. Sorry."

Iris giggled as Izzie rolled her eyes.

"But what I was saying is that Saix isn't much of a protector. Unless they're useful to him, he doesn't defend people or things."

"So he thinks I could be of use?" Izzie asked, narrowing her eyes. Axel shifted his shoulders.

"Well we all know Xemnas does. I didn't really get that "I'm gonna use her for my own gain" vibe from Saix, though," Then he smiled, wiggling his eyebrows. "Maybe he likes you."

"Stop playing around." Izzie replied, looking unamused.

Axel chuckled, and picked his book back up. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Nice. It was strange, though.

All Saix and Izzie ever did was fight. He was cold, he was mean, and he was always in a terrible mood. He even refused to use her nickname. So why then, did the thought that he could get hurt scare her more than anything else in that moment? Why did his body slamming into the wall make an echo of agony wash through hers? Axel was joking when he said that maybe Saix liked Izzie, but as she thought about her reactions to him-being scared for him, worried for him, even wanting to actually try and be friends with him, it occurred to her that maybe she was the one that liked him. It didn't make sense, it was inexplicable, but the moment she thought about it, something in her mind clicked.

Oh, no.

Did she really have a thing for emotionally unavailable jerks who had terrible tempers and whose only reactions to anything were disgust, anger, or indifference? Izzie groaned, ducking down and resting her forehead on Iris's head. Axel glanced up, and smiled a bit at the confused look on Iris's face.

…