Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, etc.
Impromptu Party:It's All In The Planning
Xaldin very nearly didn't bother doing his bit. He portalled to the door of the great leader's office and was kept waiting for nearly ten minutes before being allowed in. Patience was not his strongest suit and he considered leaving at least three times.
"Xem, look at this," he said, barrelling into the room at last, "I won something, but as usual with this stupid magazine there's a catch! I have plans for tonight, and no-one to take anyway, and so I wondered if you might find a use for it. Seems a shame to waste it, especially when the bastards have rigged it to be almost impossible to use, so I just thought if you had a lady or someone we don't know about," he winked, "you might find a use for it, just to serve them right!"
"Very thoughtful, and commendable, of you, Xaldin, though I personally don't have time for anything outside of Kingdom Hearts; however, I think I might find an alternative use for this, and I agree that they should be made to make good on their prizes, but I suggest this stays between us. You haven't told anyone yet have you? That would be very unfortunate," said Xemnas, very pointedly for someone with no plans to use it, as intended, himself.
"No I haven't told anyone!" lied Xaldin, acting affronted, and pointing at himself with a big 'Who?Me!' look on his face. "I'd rather not admit I won that anyway!" he added, truthfully.
"Well, then, I thank you again, and you're dismissed. I am in the middle of some rather important business to do with Kingdom Hearts, in preparation for us all getting back down to work tomorrow, and it may well take Saix and myself away from the castle this evening – another reason why I wouldn't be able to use your generous gift."
The phrase 'methinks, you protest too much' came to Xaldin's mind as he hurried out of the study. In spite of being a founder member, like Xigbar, he'd pretty much gone along for the ride at the beginning; well, nothing else had really been an option, Xehanort and Even had pretty much bullied them into it with the whole 'do it or die' attitude! Also, like Xig he couldn't stand being around the creep more than absolutely necessary, and even that was a pain.
He raced off to Lux's room to tell him the good news, and so that Lux could get off on his quest to drum up some guests.
The boys were still out shopping.
"How many of these lanterns do you think we'll need?" Rox asked the other two. Since they had arrived at the mall, which had a pretty little garden restaurant serving fantastic dim sum, Axel's mood had improved somewhat. He'd realised that even if someone was made an example of, it was fairly unlikely to be him, he didn't want to think of who it might be as that would drop his mood again, and anyway, all the others seemed happy with their chances, so why not him?
"Take a dozen," said Axel, to Roxas's great surprise, handing him his munnycard.
"I should pay?" asked Roxas, dumbstruck.
"Sure you should pay! I like this shop and I don't want to get barred, who knows when we'll need it again. So pay already!"
Demyx couldn't help but smile at Axel's convoluted logic when it came to paying bills. He and Rox could never figure out where Ax got his money from either, it wasn't as if they got paid, but Axel's card never got rejected.
"Ax, can I ask you something a bit personal?" said Demyx, as Roxas headed for the checkout.
"Sure, my angel," said Axel, slipping his arms around Dem's waist. "You can ask me anything," he whispered in hot breaths next to Dem's ear.
"Where does the munny come from? Rox and I have zip, apart from the occasional post-mission 'bonus' that Xem doles out."
Axel stood back a bit, but still with his arms clasped around Dem's middle.
"Aaah! All you have to do is ask! We don't get paid as such but you have access to a share of the Organization's cash and there's lots of it. You just need to ask Xem for a card, I never mentioned it 'cos you almost never need it, but I should have thought of it before I went to Oblivion. It will have a limit on it depending on your length of service, missions completed and what have you, but it'll still be more munny than you have ever seen! We own property on hundreds of worlds, one of Saix's jobs is to make sure the rent gets paid on time – and it does!"
"Hey Rox," said Demyx, detaching himself from Axel with a quick kiss, and bounding over to the other blond, "we're rich!"
"Come again?" said Roxas, looking slightly bewildered, and wondering if Dem had taken leave of his senses.
"Loverboy has been holding out on us! We can have one of those card things too, and we've got a big stash of cash to back it up!"
"So how come we've only just found out?" asked Roxas, a little suspicious of this sudden good fortune.
"I guess Axel's right. We don't need to use munny much, and when we do, we use his, or Lux's, or Xig's, so we've never thought to ask!"
"How weird is that! But you're right, we haven't actually paid for anything the entire time we've been here. We either portal or someone else is there with a card! Strange!"
"Well, you two, if you're still wanting to throw a party I suggest that we move on. Luxord is good but I doubt he can throw the entire universe back two hours while you sort out your financial affairs!" joked Ax. "We can get some of those Dim Sum 'to go' on our way back, for the party, it's a bit pointless lugging food around for hours and right now I think we'd better head for Christmas Town and fairy lights, you know how fast the good ones that change colour and everything, get sold out!"
Back at the castle, Xemnas was both secretly delighted and feeling quite pissed off. He wanted to call a meeting to announce that he and Saix would be away overnight on urgent business and to tell his followers, as he thought of them, what they could and could not do in his absence, however half of them were out, and out of uniform, and had apparently switched off their mobiles for the holiday. Saix was packing their costumes for the evening, he was undecided whether they should wear them for dinner, or just briefly afterward, to kick off their evening! Just thinking of how Saix looked in his, made his legs feel like jelly, so maybe after dinner would be better!
Luxord had just portalled back to his room, to find Xaldin dozing on his bed. Lux flicked a few cards at his face which provoked some very rude language, but also had the desired effect of waking him!
"Well, I've got a mixed bag coming, females of various ages, some male card playing buddies of mine, and some whose gender is somewhat less clear, even to me!"
"Should make for interesting then!" observed a now, fully awake, Xaldin. "The boys must still be out, the great leader has called and cancelled a meeting no less than five times, and then left that message up on all the screens."
Luxord turned and looked at where Xaldin had been pointing. 'All Organization members out vacationing to report their return to Saix, on arrival!'
Lux pulled out his phone, switched it on and speed dialled the number 7.
"Number 10, present and sober!" he yelled down the tiny machine, sounding decidedly wasted, and grinning and winking at Xaldin at the same time.
"Lux, sober up, there's going to be a meeting!" Saix rasped infuriated, and slightly deafened. "Do not go out again - until afterwards, anyway. Are we clear?"
"Sure thing, my cutsie little blue bugger! Want to come and keep me company?"
"Uurrgghh! Just sober up, you sick bastard!" spat Saix, slamming down the phone at his end.
Xaldin had nearly fallen off the bed from laughing, and Luxord's eyes were twinkling wickedly.
"Only you would get away with that Lux!" commented Xal when he had breath again. "Do you think we should hurry the boys up a bit, it sounds like those two are gagging to leave!"
"No, I think we have a different issue to deal with right now. I haven't had a chance to tell Xig about any of this yet! I have found Rox about four different girls to choose from, but I don't think they'll find him terribly impressive if Xig's jumping all over him, and time tricks or no, I think we should discourage his party trick, it's never very pleasant if you're the one underneath him at the time, and while I think of it, we should make him take a packet of antacid before the party – or knowing Xig, maybe two! We'll have to call him over here though, Xig only bothers debugging his room when he's really mad at Saix. The rest of the time he just enjoys insulting him, knowing that he's listening to every word."
Xaldin flipped his phone open. "Get over here, you dopey old git, we need another hand for poker! Now!" They heard a blaster shot.
"Guess he tripped over his guns again," noted Xaldin wrily, "he really shouldn't leave them lying on the floor like that!"
It was some minutes before Xig actually arrived, in sweats but with a large plaster taped across the top of his bare foot, and a large bruise on his forehead.
"Fucking guns are always in the sodding way. And why didn't you tell me you were here? I've just spent five minutes trying to portal into your room," he pointed his beringed finger at Xaldin, accusingly, "which is on lock-out, and so I kept banging straight into the wall or the door!" he said pointing at his forehead. "You owe me, brother!"
"Actually Xig, that's why we called you over," said Luxord in calming tones. "We're not playing poker right now, we're actually planning a party!" Xig's eyebrow, shot up in surprise and a grin appeared on his previously thunderous face.
"OK, I'm in!" he said, rubbing his hands together expectantly. "What's the occasion?"
"Last day of the vacation, Axel's better, we deserve one – you pick! Who needs a reason for a party?" said Xaldin.
Xig's face developed a sly look. "Do the big guy and the blue bugger know about this?"
"Obviously not. If they did it would ruin the whole point. We've invited outsiders, and then Lux will pull his trick, so that's not a problem, but even if we'd bothered to try and get them to agree they'd have been a complete wet blanket on the whole thing! No we've found a way to get rid of them for the night."
"Good. Outsiders you say, even better. Can't wait to show them all, my trick!" said Xig, winking deliberately with his one good eye.
"Er, Xig, about that...It's not that we want to put a damper on your fun or anything, and if you absolutely have to do it then just make sure there's no one under you at the time, but if you could not do it for once, it would be better. Humans, somebodies, just aren't used to seeing people suspended from ceilings with nothing but fresh air, and it might frighten some of them! And there is another thing," added Luxord, in his most charming tone of voice, "we've invited some ladies, well, women and girls anyway, and it'd be really great if you could find one you liked and kind of escort her around for the evening."
"What the old fart with the goatee, is trying to say to you, the old fart with the eyepatch, whilst trying to avoid the risk of being shot the minute he leaves the room, is keep your big meaty paws off Roxas tonight. We haven't gone to all the trouble of getting women in here for you to hit on one of our own lot! Oh yeah, and take a lifetime's supply of antacid tablets, 'cos girls don't go for guys who trump their national anthem, and I'm sure Lux will have invited some biker chick that you'll like, haven't you Lux?" said Xaldin, looking hopefully at the guy with the goatee.
"Totally have. Annabel, she's got her own Harley, and boy can she ride that thing!" laughed Luxord, colouring up just slightly as he remembered a spectacular date some months back. Their phones chose that moment to go off. Xaldin answered first since he'd been playing around with his since ringing Xig.
"Yeah!...No!...It's a holiday, they probably don't even have their phones!...I think they went to the beach, do you expect 'em to stick 'em in their speedos or something?...You're a moron, too!" and he flipped his phone shut decisively.
"Saix!" guessed the other two. Even Xaldin wouldn't have called Xemnas, a moron, to his face – unless he was very drunk!
"Look, one of us had better go get those three back here soon or this is all going to fall around our ears. Those two lovebirds will start snapping at each other out of frustration, fall out, and then they won't leave!" Luxord said, sounding a little frustrated himself.
"I'm ringing Axel," said Xaldin, with his phone to his ear, his hand over the mouthpiece. "It's a phone I got him while he was in sickbay, a prepaid job with some naughty stuff on, I thought might amuse him whilst he was alone in bed!" The other two rolled their three eyes! "I'm sure he'll have it with him!"
"Hey, Ax, where the hell are you? The boss babies are going to fall out at this rate, you need to get your asses home so we can have this goddamn meeting and ditch them....Then if you need to, you can go back out for other stuff while we decorate...Yeah, and fuck you too, you arsehole!... Just get back – NOW!" boomed Xaldin, snapping the phone shut. "Dickbrain," he muttered to himself, a second before the three youngsters portalled into Lux's room.
"ET, phone home! More to the point, get your swim gear on sharpish, and tell the boss you're back from your day at the beach, then maybe, if they haven't already started trying to kill each other, we can get this show on the road!" Xaldin yelled at Axel.
The three portalled out to change and within minutes the call to meeting, in the dining room, in whatever you were wearing, came through. Everyone smiled when they received the message, realising how desperate Xem must be to leave, if he didn't want the meeting in Hall and in robes!
One minute later, everyone was in the dining room. Xemnas couldn't believe how fast they'd all arrived, and Saix was pleased to see that Lux had taken his advice!
"Saix and I have discovered some information which may be to our benefit, and we will shortly be leaving to check this out from two completely different sources. If you need us we will keep our phones on..."
"Yeah, right!" thought Axel,
"...I will be in Hollow Bastion..."
"So that's what they're calling Agrabah, these days!" thought Xaldin, smiling to himself.
"...and Saix will be going to Olympus Colisseum, to meet a new informant!"
"Geez Louise, the guy sounds convincing, or convinced by himself!" thought Xigbar.
"In our absence, at least one of you will remain here at all times. Our quarters will be locked out, but the library computer will function as the co-ordinating computer. The dusks are not allowed near the drinks cabinet in the lounge..."
"And neither is Luxord!" interposed Saix.
"...and all personal vendettas must and will be put aside! I will not permit you to kill each other in my absence!" Xemnas declared, looking directly at Xigbar.
"That's fine," said Xig, his tongue so far in his cheek he stood a chance of choking on it, "I'd so much rather do it when you're here to enjoy it, Xem!"
"We really don't have time to waste on idle chit-chat, Xem!" said Saix, "We need to go and meet our contacts now!"
"Too true. We wish you a pleasant evening – who knows what tomorrow holds!" said Xemnas as he portalled.
"OK, Dem's room everyone!" shouted Axel, winking, and portalling to Lux's, hoping everyone else would have the same sense. They didn't. It was a few more minutes before everyone had assembled in Luxord's room.
"Why did you say Dem's?" complained Roxas.
"Think about it! We've been out all day, Lux or someone has been here, bar the meeting – and all household dusks in attendance at that – all day. Who's room is safer?"
"Irrelevant now. They just portalled," stated Lux, who could feel the change in the fabric of time.
"Where to?" Axel asked.
"No idea! I just feel them leave the immediate vicinity. Again irrelevant. We now have one hour to get this party on the road, so move it, move it, move it!"
"Xal, you and Xig take decs, the lanterns, fairylights and streamers are in Rox's room. Lux, this could be a big mistake but there's a load of bottles in my room," said Dem, "make some decent cocktails. We're going out for some more food, we've ordered some seriously amazing pasta, but for how many?"
"Well, we've got forty definite so far, have you ordered enough?" asked Lux.
"More than enough, we kind of like it, so we've ordered for 200!" admitted Axel.
Roxas looked thoughtful for a moment.
"You know how it takes you ages to get ready for anything, Dem? How's about you stay here, set up the sound system, and then hit the bathroom! Lux can you lot dig out that fondue set we used a couple of months back, and the chocolate fountain. The chocolate for it is in Ax's room unless someone's eaten it. Ax and I can handle picking up the pasta, and we already have the Chinese, the Indian and the Greek food hidden in the white double oven!"
"OK, I'll stay here, but will you get some of those breakable plates those Greeks use, just so we can hit Xiggy with them if he goes all ceilingy!" requested Dem, ducking in case of action on Xig's part, but all that came out was a chuckle.
Tonight was going to be good. They were all going to make sure of that!
Will they pull it off successfully? Read on!!