Story Disclaimer: I do not own kingdom hearts. This statement applies to all chapters.

2. Morning After

The whole night was spent trying to come up with a plan. I crashed around sunrise. So when I was shaken awake I felt anything but refreshed.

I kept my eyelids shut, refusing to budge. The person that had been shaking me decided on a different approach. I felt something sharp jabbing me in the stomach.

"Hey!" I jumped off of the ground I'd been napping on and crawled over to the far side of the cell. I looked over to see what had hurt so much. I saw a guy with a blonde mullet, holding a sitar. The sitars pointy end had been what woke me. Couldn't he have used a kinder method to wake me?

He grimaced for a second, maybe out of guilt, and then replaced it with an apologetic smile. "Um... Hi. Now that you're awake, uh, let's get you out of the dungeon. 'Kay?" His babbling took a moment to register; I was still eyeing his sitar wearily. "Oh! Don't worry," and with that it disappeared, this time in what looked like black vines.

I walked up to him, glad it was gone. "My name's Xaine… so where do we once we're out of the dungeons?"

"I'm Demyx and I'm supposed to give you a tour of the castle," he replied. Well, that didn't sound too bad. I'd be the first and only human to ever explore the Nobodies' castle.

"Cool," I said. "But, um… what about the whole 'useful' thing?" I asked, not entirely sure he even knew what I was talking about. But apparently word had gotten around because he had an answer.

"Yeah, about that. Superior said he'd know depending on the next few days. I think you should just tell one of the higher ups what you can do. That way you don't actually have to do anything, at least not right away."

That would work out great. "Thanks."

The castle was, wow. The basements contained gyms, a pool, labs, and a few storage rooms. The ground floor had a kitchen, living room, a dining room, library, casino, and bathroom. All the rooms were white and black, with lots of oil paintings and tapestries lining the walls.

The stairs were about the only thing I didn't like. They were made of glass. There wasn't any ground beneath them, just endless darkness. They went up to the next floor. It looked sturdy enough, but I was dead scared of heights… especially when I couldn't see anything below.

Demyx started to climb the stairs. "You coming?" he asked when I didn't follow.

"Um, I'd rather not."

He walked down the stairs and back to me. I flinched, expecting him to drag me up. But he asked me a question instead. "Would you rather we took a portal up?"

How considerate of you Demyx, you are so much kinder than Axel. "Yes Please."

He smiled, than another one of those cloud doors appeared. Up close it looked like poisonous gases. Ever heard of dementors? Well, this cloud gave off the same sad, hollow feeling they do.

"Don't worry Xaine," Demyx told me. "Just keep your eyes closed." He held out his arm. I was scared of the portal, but I took his arm anyway. Anything was better than the stairs. "You can squeeze my arm if you're scared, okay?" he said. Then he walked into the cloud, and everything went dark.

I didn't take his advice; instead I kept my eyes open. It wasn't really that scary, aside from the feelings. It was all to dark to see anyway. I briefly wondered how nobodies found their way through this place. Halfway through I saw glowing yellow eyes all around us. It wasn't until I spotted sharp claws that I realized they belonged to heartless. I held back a scream.

I squeezed Demyx's arm. He stopped, and then shouted something at the heartless. I couldn't understand the words, but they got rid of the shadows. He pulled me through what looked like a white cloud. Then we were back in the castle, on the second floor.

"I told you to keep your eyes closed," he hissed at me, annoyed. I just shifted my feet. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breathes. "Sorry… It's just- Next time I tell you to do something, please do it."

I nodded. He looked away after that. We stayed there, in the hall, for who knows how long. Finally he spoke.

"Okay… time to show you the rooms, follow me." His voice was friendly, but it was strained. I wondered if it wasn't just my disobedience that was bothering him.

He lead me through a greenhouse, the best greenhouse I'd ever seen. Once out he pointed to three doors. "The door next to us leads to Marluxia and Larxene's room. I'll tell you who they are later." If only he knew that I already memorized the entire Kingdom Hearts characters. I wondered what he would do if I told him about my world. "The other room is Luxord's."

"And the last room?"

"That one's mine." I felt sorry for him, sharing the hall with psychos. He smiled, amused by the look on my face.

The next hall had Zexion's and Axel's room, along with a small bathroom. Thankfully, the stairs leading up to the next floor were made of white marble, and there was plenty of floor beneath them. The third floor consisted of Lexaeus's, Vexen's, and Xaldin's room. Xigbar also had a room on this floor, but it was currently being used as a shooting range.

Demyx decided now was a good time to bring up my current dilemma. "This would be a good time to talk to one of the higher ups, since we're by their rooms." He was right, now was probably a good time. I mentally debated on who would be easiest, and most important to talk to. Vexen scared me, and Lexaeus just didn't seem the type of person to care. Xaldin was intimidating, but so was Xigbar. I figured I might as well talk to Xigbar. Demyx seemed glad it was Xigbar and not someone else.

Before we even got to knock we were ushered in by the Freeshooter. "Lady," he shook my hand. "Non-gentleman, how can I help ya?"

Demyx nudged me. I looked at Xigbar, gulped, and stated my case. "Do you think you could do me a favor?"

"Depends on what it is."

"Well," I started. "Could you tell Xemnas what I can do for the Organization?"

"And what might that be?"

"I can give him information on the keyblader and Maliceifent, concerning future events." I stated. Then I added meekly, " If that's not enough I could clean."

"Hmm… that would be helpful. I'll tell him. And don't worry kid, if you're tellin' the truth then I'm sure Xemnas'll keep ya." That had been the end of the conversation.

After the tour, Demyx took me down to the kitchen for lunch. But before he could get any food for us, a dancer appeared. It looked stressed, as if was having a bad day. It said something to Demyx, then disappeared.

"Looks like there's a meeting… Can you wait here for a while?" he asked.

"Sure," I said as he walked off.

It wasn't I had almost finished my soup that anyone came for me.

"I swear to god, if Xemnas says this is permanent I'll cut out his spine," growled someone out in the hall.

"Calm down Axel, it's not that bad," I heard Demyx say. "Besides you're the one that brought her to the castle."

"I didn't mean to- ugh, I'm going to go crazy if she's anything like you." After that rude comment Axel and Demyx came into the room.

"Hey Xaine," greeted Demyx. Axel just glared at me. My first instinct was to cower and run. But my second instinct was to stand my ground and fight. Instead, I simply remained in my seat and stirred around my nearly empty bowl of soup.

"I have news," Demyx continued, "Turn's out you're not sleeping in the dungeon tonight." My eyes widened, if that was what they were talking about in the hall- "You're going to be spending the night with;" please, please don't say it-, "Axel."