Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts II is copyright Square Enix, as are Demyx and Xigbar and Axel and Roxas and ya know those people. I cannot own them, but maybe one day I will join them, eh? Eh? XD

ALSO : the title is unceremoniously stolen from Depeche Mode, so I apologize, but it was too good not to use and come on, how could I not?

Authors Notes: It seems that these snippets are getting progressively longer. Maybe, one day, one of these will be long enough to be an official 'chapter'. XD

Oh, and yes, I do not know how to write anything that DOESN'T end depressing and/or angsty. So yeah. ENJOY.

Background Music: AFI's "Decemberunderground"

Title: Music for the Masses

Author: Zoshi the Confused
Rating: PG-13 to M (eventually)
Category: Kingdom Hearts II

Genre: Adventure/Angst

Contains: (or will contain) Shonen-Ai/Yaoi, Violence, Adult Situations, and Swearing

Sentences or phrases done in Italics thoughts

Select words done in italics emphasis

"Axel! Hey, Axel!" Demyx called, trotting up tot the red-haired Nobody.

"I'm busy."

Axel's response was automatic and of used, and he quickly cast around to find something to focus on. Fixing his gaze on a point across the room from him, he started towards it. Demyx followed behind him, hands hidden behind his back and a wide cheshire grin on his face. Axel spared a glance back and sighed. The blond was worse than a puppy dog when it came to following people around, especially when he had that look on his face.

"Whaddya want blondie?" Axel said, turning around and crossing his arms. He gave Demyx his best impatient look and hoped the other would pick up on it.

"Okay, okay, check this out… " Demyx was practically bouncing. "Check this out – you ready?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Axel said, giving an aggravated sigh. Why was he always so hyper?

"Ta-da!" Demyx revealed what he'd been hiding with a flourish. Axel blinked, then raised an eyebrow in puzzlement.

"It's one of your water ball things, so?" Axel said, not really looking at it.

"No, stupid, look inside it…" Demyx said, still grinning, and held the ball of water up to Axel's face. The fire-elemental backed up a little, eyeing the ball of water warily. A sudden flicker of movement inside of it caught his attention, and his eyes widened as he leaned in closer.

"Is that a fish?" Axel asked, his voice barely above a whisper. A streamlined, dark green shape pulled to a stop in front of him, teardrop tail spreading into an almost perfect half-circle, dark green and fringed in white.

"Yeah, isn't he awesome?" Demyx beamed, pulling the ball back to himself and looking at his fish proudly. The fish turned, swimming over to face its owner. "His name is Requiem and he's called a 'Betta', and he's still young, so he'll grow a bit…"

"Demyx…" Axel began, his eyes suddenly serious.

"Just don't tell anyone, all right?" Demyx looked at Axel sternly. "If anyone finds out… well, you know… Vexen would be all over him, experimenting and all that to see how he's being affected by this world, and Xemnas…"
"Demyx," Axel started again, watching the blond. Technically, he wasn't Axel's most favorite being in all of the worlds, but once, long ago, it was Axel's job to keep him following the rules and keep him out of trouble. That time was long past, and Axel himself could hardly be said to be doing such a great job of following rules himself, but old habits died hard, it seemed. Besides, this could cause problems for all them. "Where the hell did you get a fish?"

Demyx pulled the water ball close to his chest and glared at Axel suspiciously.

"You are going to tell them, aren't you?" He admonished, cradling the ball in his arms. "I thought at least you would think its cool. I mean, you do this kind of stuff all the time…"

"Yeah, well, at least I'm not enough of an idiot to show people…" Axel snorted, shaking his head. Demyx glared at him some more, petting the ball.

"Hey, all right, you wanna get in trouble, you go right ahead…" the red head raised his hands. "I'm not getting involved. But if Xemnas finds out you're bringing in stuff that doesn't belong here…"

Demyx snorted, looking down at his fish.

"As if any of us belong here." He muttered. His tone was dark, but his face brightened as he watched his new pet swim around. "But he's pretty, isn't he? Look how happy he is…"

"Hmph… Sure he's… pretty…" Axel said, raking his fingers through his hair and turning to leave. "But is he worth getting your ass beat?

"But he's real, you know? Really real… " Demyx's voice sounded almost hopeful, but for what?

"That's more than any of us can claim…" Axel responded with a laugh. Silence followed him as he made his way to the door, and he thought he'd finally gotten the last word, when, suddenly, Demyx spoke.

"Its just, I don't want to forget… I don't want to forget what its like to care for something…"

Axel, hand on the door handle, smirked and opened his mouth to speak. A moment passed, and he closed it again, eyes narrowed and cloudy. For once, he didn't have response.

Endnotes: The idea behind this is, that if I were Xemnas, I wouldn't want my underlings bringing in things that would distract them from our cause, especially ireal/i things that have hearts unless they're absolutely needed.

Or something like that...

Zoshi