Chapter 2, The Experiment

Vexen did not sleep well. One would think being conked on the head would make one more favorable to sleep, but Vexen was a unique case. He spent most of the night endlessly pondering last night's incident, contemplating his poor fortune. Rejected projects, head injuries, useless space rocks—Vexen's suffering was truly of a unique variety.

"Who stole my roses?!"

Marluxia's voice rang from the hallway, catching Vexen's attention. Xaldin's rough brogue followed.

"What the devil would motivate anyone to steal your prize plants?"

"A jealous devil, that's who."

"As if we could feel envy."

"We have some convincing actors in this troupe, Xaldin. You tend to be one of them."

Vexen rubbed his eyes, very much annoyed that this was the world he was waking up to.

Xigbar's voice was the next to sound off. "Now, now, gentleman. Take it easy. I think there's a simple solution to this."

"What's that, Xigbar?"

"A Mexican stand-off, of course!"

Vexen groaned, having enough of this childish squabbling. He stormed out of his room, not bothering to comb his hair. "Will you ingrates shut up?! What's this nonsense about roses I'm hearing?"

Marluxia explained, "They're gone. Vanished. It's a shame. They were mature, too." He glared at Xaldin. "Not like certain brutes would understand."

"I'm sure there's a simple explanation. Let me…what's that stench? Somethings burning."

Xigbar shrugged. "Probably Axel starting a fire for kicks. You know how he likes to light it up."

Vexen dismissed the sniper. "But it smells like…"

Burnt gummi.

"Let me investigate the flowerbed!"

Marluxia waved Vexen off. "Do as you wish. I need to procure new seeds." He stormed off.

Xigbar scoffed with a smirk. "That, Xaldin, is why a hobby isn't good for you. Makes you all stuck-up."

"I dare say that problem isn't inherent with his hobby, Xigbar." The two Organization members left Vexen to his own devices.

The academic rushed into Marluxia's room, digging the soil of the flowerbed, only to find the gummi from last night, smoking. "By God!" He tried to pick it up, but his hands were scorched by merely touching the material. "Damn! How did it get so…hot?" Vexen astutely noted the lights above the soil, hovering his hand right below them. "Artificial sunlight…heat! The gummi censor is reactive to heat!"

Excited by this discovery, Vexen picked up the gummi, only to drop it due to its searing touch. Thinking again, he grabbed it by his sleeve and ran into the hallway.

"Zexion! Zexion!" Vexen tailed his apprentice down in the Grey Room.

"Oh, Vexen," Zexion greeted his mentor. "You seem spirited this morning!"

"The gummi block from last night is functional! It works, Zexion!"

"Really? How so?"

"Have you heard about Marluxia's missing roses?"

"Everyone has. He's passive-aggressively accused everyone of stealing them. Why do you ask?"

"This gummi destroyed them! Extinguished them from existence without a trace!"

Zexion cocked his eyebrow. "What are you…?"

"The censor in the center, see?" Vexen huddled close to Zexion, showing him the meteorite. "It's reactive to heat. Feel it!"

Zexion placed a hand on the rock before quickly retracting it. "Ow!"

"Marluxia's artificial sunlight cooked it slowly overnight, causing the censor to…"

"Destroy the roses?" Zexion questioned in disbelief. "No offense, Vexen but this sounds like a mad raving…"

"Don't believe me? Fine! We shall conduct an experiment!" Vexen stroked his chin, his mind immediately getting to work. "First, we need a reliable heat source…"

"That's easy," Zexion interrupted. "Axel."

"I said reliable, Zexion."

"So…what? You just want to heat this rock in the rec room's microwave? If you want results fast, Axel's your best chance."

"Fine! We'll bring him in on this!" Vexen threw his hands in the air, pacing frantically. "Next, we'll need a subject. Preferably an animate specimen…"

"Wait wait wait wait wait," Zexion interrupted yet again. "You find a potentially dangerous piece of space weaponry, and you want to test it on a living being?"

"Of course! What kind of reaction am I going to get from vaporizing something like Luxord's Connect Four set? We need all the details! All of them! And a living guinea pig will tell us all we need to know about this gummi's power."

"OK, say we use a living and breathing organism for our research," Zexion countered. "What organism is it? There are no animals here, and Marluxia's flowers are gone. That would leave us Organization members as the only living beings left in the castle, which opens an even bigger question. Who would be stupid enough to allow themselves to be the target of a potentially dangerous superweapon?"

"I really appreciate you letting me in one of your mad experiments, Vex."

"Oh, it's no problem, Demyx!" Vexen replied to the young Organization member with a jolly enthusiasm as he propped the meteorite on a tripod. "Though I'd appreciate you not calling my experiments 'mad'. Or me 'Vex,' for that matter."

"No problem, my fine science guy!" Demyx shot Vexen a finger-gun before returning to tuning his sitar.

Vexen audibly groaned, propping the tripod to face Demyx.

"So all I have to do is sit here and I'm done?" Demyx asked, still unsure what this gig was all about.

"No doubt the easiest mission you've ever been assigned!" Vexen jovially answered. "There's no foreseeable way that you can possibly fail this." He paused. "I hope."

"Awesome."

Zexion entered Vexen's room with Axel behind him. "I've got our Bunsen Burner."

"Eh, I've been called worse," Axel joked. "What do you need me to set on fire? Make it quick. I got, like, three missions in Agrabah today."

"All in good time, my fiery friend," Vexen assured Axel. "Demyx, are you ready?"

Demyx cheerfully flashed two thumbs-up.

"Excellent! Axel, I command you to…"

"Wait," Zexion held up his hands to stop the experiment before it began. "I need to, uh, confirm something with you, Vexen."

"Oh. Alright, then." Vexen sauntered to the corner with Zexion. "What is it?"

Zexion whispered, "I'm not sure if this experiment's…ethical!"

"Bah! Why do people constantly bring up 'ethics?'" Vexen complained in a slightly louder tone. "They're made up! I thought you knew that!"

"I do but…" Zexion searched for the proper way to say this. "We could kill a comrade right now! One of our own!"

"It's in the name of science, Zexion! And science takes priority over that brotherhood nonsense."

"I think the Superior would disagree with you," Zexion snapped. "You're already on thin ice with him. If he catches wind of this, he'll most definitely terminate you." He did a double-take. "And I can get a two-week suspension for being your accomplice."

"Then I'll die for the greater good."

"Fine. There's no convincing you," Zexion gave up. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Vexen scoffed at this morally pretentious tripe. When did the boy grow a heart? No matter. It was time for the marvels of SCIENCE.

"OK, Axel," Vexen began to explain to his red-haired associate. "When I say so, you will light this meteorite on fire."

"Simple enough," Axel replied. "Can I just do it now or…"

"WHEN I SAY SO!" Vexen bellowed to assert his dominance, though it was a feeble attempt. "Zexion and I will stand by and take notes. Demyx. Do…nothing."

"Alright!" Demyx cheered, still tuning his sitar.

"Splendid!" Vexen raised his hand. "Ready." Axel took out his chakrams. "Aim." Zexion watched with bated breath. "Fi…"

"WAIT!"

The entire group turned to face Demyx.

"What is it, boy?" Vexen asked, hands shaking with anticipation.

"I just want to say your presentation yesterday was pretty neat," Demyx said. "I didn't understand most of it, but I got the gist. Like, clones? That sounds awesome. Like, imagine if we all clone ourselves. Then we'd be Organization 26! Well, uh, 24 now, but 26 when we get our 13th guy! That's an awesome idea!"

"Yes, yes, thank you very much. Now if you'll just…"

"So yeah. I wanted to say you're a smart guy, and I dig your style."

That gave Vexen some pause. It was as if he just felt a pang inside him. Could it be…no. Probably an illusion of some kind, brought on by this simpering idiot praising his work. It was a pity he'd be vaporizing one of the few supporters of his research.

But all in the name science.

"Thank you. Ahem," Vexen reset his count. "Ready. Aim. Fi..."

"Water-boy!"

The group turned in terror to find a very irritable Larxene in the doorway.

"Oh. Hey, Larxene," Demyx awkwardly saluted the savage nymph. "W-what brings you here?"

"Yes, woman," Vexen seconded Demyx's question. "What brings you here? Can't you see we're busy conducting…science?"

"I'm missing one of my knives, and I know that brat stole one."

"Oh, what possible evidence do you have, you crazed banshee?" Vexen yelled angrily.

"Yeah, what evidence?" Demyx repeated with confidence.

"Yesterday, you asked if you could used one of my knives for a sitar pick and I said no," Larxene explained, fuming. "Then you said something about how I'll rue the day before storming off. And here we are."

The room was silent.

"That is pretty damning," Axel chirped up.

"Well, you know sitar picks," Demyx nervously chuckled. "They're pretty small and easy to lose. And your knives work pretty well on the not-sharp side."

"Oh, my god," Vexen turned to his guinea pig to find he indeed held the knife as a sitar pick.

"You son of a…" Larxene lunged at Demyx, to which he could only yelp. The two engaged in a scuffle fighting over the miniature blade.

"Stop it! Stop it!" Vexen demanded while also not doing much of anything. "You're ruining everything!" They did not listen. "Don't make me step in!" Still, they did not listen. "Alright! You made me do this!" He stepped forward, but Axel put a hand on his shoulder.

"C'mon, old man. Ya gotta admit, this is pretty entertaining."

"Unhand me, you degenerate!" Vexen shoved Axel's hand off his back perhaps a bit too forcefully, as Axel dropped one of his chakrams, causing it to discharge. The whole room was enveloped in a swirl of flames in an instant, activating the gummi, and sparking a flash of light!

When the smoke cleared, only Axel and Zexion remained in the room, the mysterious gummi having vanished along with Vexen, Larxene, and Demyx.

"Oh, no," was all Zexion could say, as the Organization was suddenly down to nine members.

Vexen awoke in a daze, finding himself surrounded by all manner of greenery. He appeared to be in a jungle of some sort. Is this…what heaven was?

"Ha! Got it! You little worm!"

No. This was hell, quite clearly.

Larxene had finally regained her knife from Demyx, having dusted herself off. "Whatever. Keep it! I'll just, uh…" The young musician looked around, taking in these unfamiliar surroundings. "Where are we?"

"Astute question," Vexen said, his voice trembling with fear. Quickly, he eyed the gummi was on the ground a few feet away from them. "It came with us. Remarkable!" He picked it up, only to drop it. "Argh! Still hot!" Stroking his chin, Vexen surmised, "Axel's fire is ten times hotter than any artificial sunlight. So…if the heat is strong enough…the gummi disappears with the subject! Amazing!"

"What the hell are you on about?!" Larxene snapped at Vexen. "What's going on? What did you do?"

Vexen ignored the shrew. "It makes sense. This is a teleportation device! Wonderful! Which means…" The scientist searched the area and much to his delight found… "Roses. Unrooted roses, most definitely not native to any jungle I've heard of."

"Ohhhhhhh," Demyx nodded as if he understood. "That's what this was. You were trying to solve the mystery of Marluxia's missing roses."

Vexen stared blankly at the youth. "Yes, sure. That's good. Anyway, this is such a fruitful discovery. I…I'm a pioneer! A trailblazer! A…"

"Idiot!" Larxene kicked Vexen in the shin, causing him to convulse in pain. "Stupid idiot! Are you telling us you've teleported us to God knows where?"

"Actually, Axel did. You see, this gummi is sensitive to…"

"I. Don't. CARE," Larxene enunciated carefully. "I just want to get back home and forget about this ever happening." She flashed her hand in an attempt to open a dark corridor. Nothing happened. "What the…?" She did it again. Still nothing.

"Stop fooling around. You have to do it like this!" Vexen flicked his wrist, to no avail. He tried again. "Hgnngh!" Still nothing. "Huaah!" Nothing yet again.

"Could you stop that?" Larxene slapped Vexen's hand down. "You sound constipated, for Christ's sake."

"Constipation to you is effort to the rest of us, you wench!" Vexen scolded the woman.

"Excuse me?!"

Demyx pushed some bushes aside, looking out into the distance. "Uh, guys?"

"You heard me, woman," Vexen ignored the boy and snapped at Larxene. "You. Are. A wench!"

"Guys?"

"You really are something. And by something, I mean nothing!" Larxene exploded. "More nothing than the rest of us! You talk and talk and talk like you know everything when really, you're probably talking out of your ass. Like, really? A teleportation device? What are you smoking?!"

"Guys!"

The adversaries turned to find Demyx, perched on a cliff. "I think you should see this."

Vexen furrowed his brow, curious as to what the matter was. He walked to where Demyx was standing, with Larxene right behind.

"Sweet Jesus…" Vexen trailed off in awe, for before the three Organization members was a land before civilization, a land before technology, a land before time. Indeed, it was a world where giants reptiles roamed the planet. All a manner of dinosaurs traversed the grassy plain below them. It was a stupefying sight, to be sure.

"That wasn't a teleportation device…was it?" Larxene asked feebly.

"No, wench. It was not." Vexen looked off dramatically, stunned by his own words. "It's…a time machine!"

A/N: I'm fond of Disney's Dinosaur.