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: LALALA more depressy-ness but this ones a full half-page longer than the other ones. Or so. Lalala…

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

Demyx groaned as he read over his assignment. Xigbar grinned crookedly, patting him on the back a bit roughly.

"Hey, at least you don't have to fight anyone this time, eh kid?" Xigbar laughed at Demyx's glare and headed back into the castle.

Demyx sighed, stuffing the paper into his pocket. He didn't like being reminded of all the times the others had to show up to save his ass from getting whomped. He knew that eventually Xemnas would grow tired of constantly sending Xaldin or Luxord out to help him, and he'd be left there to fend for himself, for better or worse.

Focusing a moment, he summoned up a pathway portal and walked through it. The sense of hanging in mid-air was unnerving, but he'd gotten used to it a long time ago. He headed forward, darkness and colors fluctuating around him, swirling like a kaleidoscope. He didn't remember exactly what world he was going to, but it didn't matter.

Reconnaissance, he sighed. That meant running around and trying to figure out how many hearts could possibly be gained from that world. It was a pain, and a bore, but Xigbar was right, at least he didn't have to fight anyone this time. Lately, it seemed the only assignments he was getting were reconnaissance ones; which meant that Xemnas was losing faith in abilities.

Not surprising, Demyx thought, brushing a hand through his hair, considering I don't have all that much faith in them myself.

He hurried along the pathway, darkness nipping at his heels as he crossed into the opposite portal and stepped onto solid ground. The portal behind him closed with a near-silent hum, the only sound that he could hear. He looked around, suddenly nervous, as silence assaulted him. The sky above was a horrid ash-grey, tinged with purple and dotted with dark clouds. No birds winged in the sky, nothing moved on the ground. Dim houses lined the empty street, and Demyx saw curtains shifting slightly in broken windows. Off in the distance, on the horizon, a deep unnaturally red glow hovered, as if something massive were burning just somewhere out of sight. Demyx's fingers twitched nervously as he hummed a lighthearted tune to himself, trying to keep his mind off of the emptiness of the place.

"You're here for the hearts, right?"

Demyx jerked, snapping around to face the direction the quiet voice came from. A young girl stood in front of him, dressed in a dark grey parka and black snow pants. A dingy looking black and white mutt sat at her feet, watching him with unblinking eyes. Demyx glanced around quickly, taking in the lack of snow, before turning back to her.

"Uh, y-yeah…"Demyx stammered a moment, more than a little unsettled by what had happened. He mustered up his remaining courage. "How'd you know that?"

The girl looked at him with unnaturally dark eyes, her stance too rigid to be normal. The dog at her feet didn't shift its stance.

"Another one came before, a weird guy with long hair and funky sideburns…" The girl's voice was quiet, very near monotonous. "He liked to stab things."

Demyx grimaced; it must've been Xaldin.

"You won't find any." The girl said, and Demyx blinked, taken off guard by the comment.

"What?" He asked, confused.

"Hearts. You won't find any here." The girl said. Her still voice, her rigid stance; something began to click in Demyx's mind. Why was this so familiar?

"Wait a second…" His eyes narrowed as things started falling in place. "You're…"

"I'm just like you, I guess…" The girl answered, for the first time moving to shrug. "Me and my dog are all that's left here."

"You mean, everyone's gone?" Demyx exclaimed in disbelief. He glanced around, as if expecting to find someone walking out of the dark houses around them. "Xaldin was just here."

"A month ago, I think…" The girl said, her eyes motionless. The dog still sat there, unmoving, watching him with its big, brown, unblinking eyes. "These black creatures came, and people started disappearing. And then, some of them came back, but they weren't the same. They didn't feel right. Kinda like that guy that came before. Kinda like you."

The girl paused here, as if considering whether she should continue.

"I guess… I just didn't want to leave my home."

She turned her head suddenly to look to the east. Demyx followed her gaze, gasping. Black cracks were appearing on the horizon, streaking through the ash-grey sky.

"See, it won't be long now. I won't have anywhere to stay." The girl said. Demyx, still stared at the sky, at the blackness spreading across it in jagged lightning strikes. He looked at the girl to ask a question, and stopped, gaping, at what he saw.

"What the hell…"

The girl looked at him.

"What?" She asked.

"You… you're disappearing!" Demyx took a few steps towards her, hand held out. The girl looked at him flatly, emotionlessly. It was almost as if she couldn't feel the fact that her legs were almost entirely gone, and that her body was beginning to turn transparent.

"I figured it out, after a while. We don't have hearts, do we? We lose them somewhere along the way, when those black things attack us... So what's left holding us together?" More of her body was fading as she spoke, her legs gone and her arms gone. The dog at her feet gave Demyx one last unblinking look before vanishing into oblivion.

"The only reason I managed to stay is because I wanted to, because I had the will to go on like this, right?" Demyx nodded, and the girl continued. "Then, it only makes sense, that we can only exist as long as we have the will to…"

The words sent a cold shock through Demyx. Existing only as long as they have the will to, that was a Nobody's lot in life. Existing only as long as they had a reason to.

The girls body was gone, her head was beginning to go transparent, and still Demyx found himself unable to speak.

"You should get out, leave, while you still can…" The girl said, but her voice was an echo. She was gone, and the darkness in the sky was beginning to crash down around him.

Endnotes: There HAVE to be other Nobodies, ones who aren't with the Organization. Its kinda hard to believe that there are only 13 nobodies in all of the worlds. Oh, and yeah, the girl isn't really based off of me, I don't think I'd be able to be that cool, but the dog is totally my dog Maja, who is insane. XD

Zoshi