"The Time Has Come"
Axel walked across the snow. His boots made crunching sounds among the broken and burned weapons around him. His black robe blew in the cold polar wind.
"Jeez this pisses me off" he said. "Can't people just get used to the fact that people use Dark Corridors these days?" He kicked a blackened skull. These people had panicked as soon as they saw him step out of the dark hole that had opened in the air. He had been forced to fry them. Things weren't the same these days. Damn those recombination chips he thought. The recombination chips were a technology that Xeonhort had been experimenting with, when the accident with the Heartless had happened. He then became preoccupied with the task of destroying civilization, and the universe. However, Xemnas had not forgotten his predecessor's work. When one joined the Organization, a chip was implanted in their right arm. The chip was, Xemnas had said, to keep track of them; to remind them of their duty to the Thirteen Order. But, it was much, much more than that. Xeonhort had been developing a theory as to what would happen if the darkness patterns that made up a Heartless' body could be encoded on a chip. He reasoned that if said Heartless was destroyed, and then the patterns on the chips might very well reassemble themselves. Xemnas had tried to do the same thing with Nobodies, with some adjustments. It had worked. Axel reasoned that this was unfortunate. He had wanted to die. He wasn't happy that his particles had been reconfigured and that his consciousness and memories had been put back into place along with his body. He remembered everything up to the moment of helping Sora. Xemnas had come back as well…but Axel thought privately that either the Superior had gotten a bad chip, or that the ruination of his Kingdom Hearts had wiped out what ever remnants of sanity he had. Oh, Xemnas was still as smart as he had been before, and he still barked out orders as he had before…but sometimes his eyes got a glazed look in them, and you could see the madness that burned within. Axel wanted to get away from this ship of fools and commit suicide somewhere, but he was one of the ones under watch. So were Larxene and Marluxia. For being traitors to the Organization. He sighed. Well, at least they would have their old castle back soon. That witch Maleficent had taken it from them, and she was going to pay for it! Oh, she wouldn't die quickly---not if Saix had anything to say about it---but she would die in slow, worrying agony. He was sick of living in tents in the Land of Dragons. It was sort of fun, watching the Chinese and the Huns fight all the time on the fields below, but even that was getting tiresome. And having to hear Xibar's stories about how he had successfully condemned a Dragon, by turning it into a Heartless. Any reminders that the Dragon was defeated by Sora and his group was just begging for a shot with his crossbows.
"Axel!" a voice said, shattering the relative solitude of the snowy mountains. Axels turned to see Larxene and Vexen teleport a few feet away.
"Axel, what are you doing without a minder?" Vexen asked, annoyed. That was another one of Superior Xemnas' rules. One of the watched had to have a minder. Someone had to be with you when you went more than twenty feet from the camp. Apparently, Vexen was acting as Larxene's.
"Well, maybe I decided to get a breath of fresh air" Axel snapped. "What is it with you people? Haven't you ever heard of privacy?" he envied #13. Roxas. He was at peace with his Other now. He was a Whole. They on the other hand were just castaways, the empty shell of a being that had fallen into the darkness with just memories as consolation. For such a fallen creature, Roxas had been one of the only members of Organization XIII with a sense of humor. Well, Larxene had a sense of humor, but that was the kind that thinks that strangling a helpless baby is funny. Roxas had a nice, clean sense of humor…such as putting Jalapeno peppers in Xemnas' chili (which the Superior liked extra mild). Roxas had gotten six weeks lab cleaning duty and permanent removal from cooking duty, for that. Yes, he missed Roxas. The new #13 was a cold, and ruthless, willing to harm anyone to get what the Organization wanted. Axel had only met him once, and was glad that the little snot was away serving on his prolonged mission.
"Privacy does not exist for one such as you" Vexen said as coldly as the wind around them. "Or you" he said to Larxene who was giggling into her gloved hands. That got her to shut up Axel saw.
"Well, I didn't come here to argue with you" Vexen said. "I came to tell you that Superior Xemnas has called a meeting of the Thirteen Council."
"More like the Twelve Council" said Axel. "Thirteen only comes when he absolutely has to, or when he gets some new piece of info."
Larxene shrugged. "He's a little snot" she said, unknowingly agreeing with Axel, whom she had despised since the unfortunate Castle Oblivion incident which had led to her "death."
The Thirteen Council was called when a pressing matter had come up. It was when all of the members of Organization XIII gathered to present their feelings on the matter. Not that it really mattered. Like their existence, it was a farce. Xemnas did whatever he damn well felt like doing, and the rest just followed like sheep. Axel sighed. He didn't know how much more of this he could take. He was beginning to think he was going loony toons. It was this situation. Living in tents, hunting for food, watching people fight day after day…the monotony was killing him slowly. He didn't know why he didn't just end it…perhaps because he still entertained the hope that he might meet her. Lea. She was the reason that he had joined the Organization. The mysterious young woman who haunted his dreams at night. Axel sometimes had a horrible feeling that Lea was his Other. He wondered. Wouldn't that beat all! His Other, a female. If that was true, then he might just continue being a Nobody. Horrible, sick laughter bubbled in his throat…then he suppressed it. Now was not the time to have a mental breakdown. Save that for later. If he was going to go mad, he would die before he did it before these two.
"Well, hurry up pyro!" snapped Larxene. She formed a Dark Corridor and vanished inside of it.
"You heard her" Vexen said imperiously. "Get in, before I report you." He vanished as well. Axel sighed and stepped into the portal, wondering what this meeting was going to be about.
The inside of the Meeting Tent, which doubled as Xemnas' sleeping area was dark and smelly. It stood in the center of the Camp That Never Was. It was large enough to accommodate all the members. Someone (probably Xibar) had spray painted the Organization's symbol on the side of the tent.
"There you are, old boy" Luxord said to Axel as the three of them appeared in the tent. He had engaged Xibar and Marluxia in a game of poker.
"We thought you had finally run off" said Xaldin. He was watching the game, his six lances in one hand. Even at this calm scene, he had a small current of wind generated. He wasn't known as the "Whirlwind Lancer" for nothing.
"I had some business to do" Axel snapped. He didn't know why the other member didn't seem to trust him anymore. Admitted, they didn't trust Marluxia or Larxene much either, but they seemed to have it in for him. Perhaps it was because he had helped Sora, and that was a big no-no.
Before Axel could think anymore about anything, the man himself stepped forward. Xemnas, Once Xeonhort, Superior or Organization XIII. He seemed to cast a pall over the room. Cards were dropped, idle chit-chat stopped; eyes were drawn to him, to the aura of power that he projected. This power was not dark, it was not light, it was nothing. It was as if a huge space had been cut out of the fabric of existence and cut into the shape of a man. That was Xemnas.
"Sit down, all of you" said the Superior. They all sat in the camping chairs that made up the Number Seats that had once been used for meetings like these. "It has come to my attention, via Zexion, that something has happened. I myself sensed it, although I did not give it much notice at the time."
"And what would that be, sir?" asked Saix. Axel snorted in disgust. Saix was Xemnas' right hand man. If anyone was going to inherit the position of Superior if Xemnas kicked the bucket, it was the "Luna Diviner". He had the brains---and, Axel grudgingly admitted---the power to step forward to take that role. Worse, Saix seemed to know this. It bled into every action the man took. Axel hated Saix even more than he hated Larxene.
"I was about to say that when I was interrupted" Xemnas said, looking at Saix. The Luna Diviner looked away quickly. Axel gave a small smile of satisfaction that he quickly covered.
"If Zexion would be so kind as to explain the situation" Xemnas said. "I will explain why it is so important to our …'existence'."
Zexion stood up. The Cloaked Schemer cleared his throat. "Three days ago, I was gathering berries from one of the bushes…"
"You mean, I was gathering berries, and you were sitting on a rock, talking" Lexaeus muttered.
"And I was suddenly assailed by a sense of darkness so immense that it was overwhelming."
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Xibar. "Are you saying that there's some other force out there?"
"That is exactly what I'm saying" said Zexion, nodding his head. This nod caused the hair piece in front of his eye to flop. He hurriedly placed it back down. "What I mean to say is that there is a darkness out there…but at the same time it is like a thousand hearts."
"A darkness…" there were mutters among the assembled members.
"A darkness in which a thousand hearts are buried" said Xemnas. "What is more, this creature, whatever it is, appears to be mobile."
"But that would mean…" Saix said, his voice choked with awe.
"It would mean that we have a walking Kingdom Hearts said Xemnas. "Maleficent must have unknowingly used the power of Kingdom Hearts to create this being. The thousands of hearts must have been absorbed into the very stone of the Castle" said Vexen. "Since energy never can be destroyed, it merely found another pathway, becoming the energy that powered the machines. I can guess what she did. She used my machines that I used to create…to create that replica."
"This is totally awesome!" Demyx cried. "All we have to do is find this thing, and we've got instant Kingdom Hearts!"
"Yes…" said Xemnas, and Axel saw that glazed madness come into his eyes again. "We will have Kingdom Hearts this time…and this time…things will be different. Much different." He raised his hands. A cloud of Sorcerer Nobodies appeared before him. "The go!" he cried. "The time has come. The time for us to regain our castle is nigh! We will punish the fools who thought to use it for their own inept ends! LET US REGAIN OUR HOME!!!" he roared. All of the members opened Dark Corridors at the same time. The time had indeed come.