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:

OMG this was just too much fun.

Not as sad as I wanted it to be. Am I losing my ability to angst? (gasp) The Horror! That would be f-ed up indeed. (nods)
Anyways, enjoy. These two are just too damn fun to write together. XD

Background Music: My Chemical Romance "MAMA"

We're damned after all

Through fortune and flame we fall

And if you can stay then I'll show you the way

Back to the ashes you call

We'll all carry on

When our brothers in arms are gone

So raise your glass high

For tomorrow we die

And return from the ashes you call

x

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

It wasn't that it sounded bad, not really. The music was sort of soothing, in a "making your whole body go numb from the emo-ness" sort of way.

It was nice, Axel admitted, except that it was giving him a headache. Yes, that's what it was. He was not, not, going to admit that the notes wafting up from the lower balcony were making him go searching for tissues.

He grimaced, setting his shoulders. There was a job to do, and it seemed he was the best one to do it. Actually, it was more like he was the only one to do it. Summoning a portal, he stepped out of his fiery-red cielinged room and into the watery blue cielinged front room a floor down.

Axel grimaced again as he looked around. It wasn't that the room wasn't nice, not exactly. It was just that there was water everywhere. Water in decorative bowls, water in water fountains, water in a wave machine. Water boy even had a freaking water clock, for crying out loud! Did that thing even work?

Shaking his head, Axel walked over to the half-open bedroom door, from behind which came the melancholy strains of music. He reached out and pushed the door all the way open, moving into the room. The bedroom was empty, and slightly messy, per the usual. Demyx was on his balcony, apparently. No wonder the notes found it so easy to travel to the upper floor.

Axel walked over to the large double doors that opened out onto the balcony. Leaning against the doorframe, he watched as the blond musician, his back to the doors, launched into another heart-wrenching piece. Heart-wrenching, as if they had hearts to wrench. But if they didn't, then why did the music bother him enough to make him come down in the first place?

Axel snorted. Surrounded by all of water boy's worldly possessions, he was starting to think like him too. He shifted his stance a little, and accidentally nudged against the not-entirely-open door he was next too. The door swung open all the way with a thud.

Demyx jumped at the sound, the last note off his sitar ringing sour. He turned his head, puzzled, only to become even more surprised and confused when he saw Axel.

"What are you doing here?" Demyx asked, turning all the way around to face the red head.

"Well, you're always begging me to come over and hang out with you." Axel said, grinning. The nicer he was, the easier it would be to get the blond to stop playing emo songs.

"Yeah, well, I didn't ask you this time." Demyx frowned. His fingers plucked at a few strings as he looked at Axel uncertainly. "What're you really here for?"

"Oh, come on. Can't a friend visit a friend once in a while?" Axel said. He walked over and sat down cross legged in front of Demyx.

The blond raised an eyebrow at the words, looking unconvinced. From what he understood, friendship meant effort from both sides, and he was more than certain that he was putting in a lot more effort than Axel. He wasn't even sure if whatever it was they had could even be called a friendship, not anymore. An acquaintanceship, maybe, but friendship? Demyx couldn't actually think of a time he'd felt that they'd had an actual friendship, not even in the beginning. Had it all been in his head? Had he really been so blind? He sighed, his shoulders falling slightly.

"Whaddya want, Axel?" He asked, eyes downcast.

"Aw, come on. Cut down on the gloom factor, would ya?" Axel said, leaning back on his hands.

"Why?" Demyx asked, looking at him gloomily.

"Oh, please, its not like you're actually feeling it," Axel rolled his eyes at just how obvious that fact was.

"Why do you always say that?!" Demyx burst out angrily. Axel blinked, taken aback. He'd expected a reaction, but he hadn't expected it to be so… thunderous.

"Because its true. Duh." Axel said, frowning at the blond.

"All of you say that. All of the time. No feelings. No hearts. All of it over and over again." Demyx was ranting now, waving his hands around. "Over and over and over. Like some sort of freaking mantra or something. Why? Why do you all keep at it?"

"Like I said, because it's true." Axel raised a hand as Demyx sputtered again. "The Superior said it himself. We have no hearts. And because we have no hearts, we don't have emotions."

"Then why do I feel?" Demyx asked desperately. Axel bit his lip, his eyes meeting the blonds. After all he had said, he knew he shouldn't be seeing the pain and despair that had flooded Demyx's eyes, but he did. He took a deep breath, wondering when he'd been hired to be teacher.

"They're just echoes of feelings, Demyx. They're just what you're body is remembering. They're not real, just like we're not real." Axel explained, using his hands to help, but gestures didn't really help get this kind of point across.

"No. No, I don't believe that." Demyx said, shaking his head. "No. I have a heart. I know I do."

"Demyx, you don't… none of us do…" Axel said, his voice growing softer. If Demyx didn't get the point soon, he'd just create more problems for himself. Problems that caused disorder and turmoil, the kind of turmoil that could tear a person apart.

"You might not!" Demyx pointed at Axel, then jabbed the finger at his own chest. "But I do. I know it."

"You know what Demyx?" Axel said, finally losing his cool. "Just because you keep saying you do doesn't make it real. "I have a heart, I have a heart." That's your freaking mantra."

Before Demyx could respond, Axel had reached out and grabbed the blond's head in his hands, and begun to shake. He might've been shaking a bit harder than he should have, but at that moment he didn't really care.

"Get it through that thick skull of yours. You. Don't. Have. A. Heart." Axel growled through clenched teeth. Demyx's hands were clutching at his, but he didn't loosen his grip. "No. Heart. Memorize it."

"Let go." Demyx growled back, his voice distorted by the shaking he was getting. His fists clenched tightly around Axel's wrists.

"No." Axel continued to shake him. "Not until you understand."

"I said: Let. Go." Demyx let go of Axel's wrists, and flicked his fingers across the strings of his sitar.

Water rose out of nowhere, and a few seconds later Axel found himself outside in the hallway, in front of a door with the number IX on it. He stared dumbly at the door for a moment, out of breath, his fiery red hair plastered to his head and dripping water. A puddle was forming beneath his feet on the cool white of the hallway floor.

"Oh no. Ohhhhh nooooo…" He said, shaking his head. Fire flared around him, and the air steamed with evaporating water.

"So this is how you treat your friend!" Axel yelled, striking a dramatic pose with his finger pointing accusingly at the closed door. It slammed open, and Demyx stood there, glaring at him.

"Friend?! HA! Don't make me laugh!" Demyx yelled back. "You're just a lap dog, that's what you are!"

"What did you say?" Axel clenched his fists.

Really, who would've thought they'd find themselves in the middle of a shouting match?

"You always talk big shit, but when it all comes down to it you do nothing! NOTHING!" Demyx gestured wildly.

"Nothing?! You're one to talk! I don't see you doing anything, other than whining like a little baby!" Axel jabbed his finger in the air at Demyx.

"I don't have a choice. My powers aren't worth heartless shit, as you and everyone else remind me at every given opportunity!" Demyx screamed.

Both he and Axel were panting with the exertion and the anger by now. They glared at each other for a long moment, the only sound that of their panting breaths.

Axel moved finally, walking up to the angered blond and poking a finger at his chest.

"They wouldn't be shit if you'd only train with them sometimes." Axel said, still seething, but managing to keep his voice a decibel below screaming. "You know, like attacks, maybe? Instead of those stupid water tricks you keep doing."

Demyx slapped Axel's hand away. Hard. His anger had rolled in like a tidal wave, heavy and ferocious and powerful for the short time that it lasted. And now, like a tidal wave, it was beginning the slow process of retreat.

"Fuck. You." Demyx glared straight into Axel's eyes. By oblivion, he was tired. And from what?

"Listen to me! I'm giving you great advice, blondie." Axel growled.

"Fuck you!" Demyx repeated, and with a wordless growl slammed the door shut.

"Stupid Axel!" Demyx collapsed on the front room's couch. He stared up at the water-trailed ceiling, sending his feelings out to the various water containers in the room. The still water in the bowls calmed his flaring nerves, but the wave machine began rocking back and forth wildly. "Stupid Axel and his stupid no emotions."

Suddenly, realization hit him

If they had no emotions, then they shouldn't have been able to get that mad!
"HA! I WIN!" Demyx laughed, thrusting his hands in the air. "TEN POINTS"

Endnotes: And so. Yeah. In any case, water would win against fire. So yeah. XD
BLAH BLAH BLAH the next chapter is filled with silliness. And more of the Organization. YAY!