Thanks for the reviews! I appreciate it! And yes, I know this chapter is shorter, but I noticed that I hadn't updated this story for over a month, so...

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Kingdom Hearts (2).

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Vexen exited the room with the eight dusks, trying to push away thought of what Xemnas would do if he caught him disobeying orders. Vexen scowled. He needed to punish Marluxia somehow for doing this to him. Vexen glanced up briefly to see that the eight dusks were still around him (they were leaping around and being excited).

Vexen went back to being lost in his thought again. What could he do to punish the scythe-wielding nobody? It had to be done secretly, and in a way that Xemnas couldn't trace it back to him...

Vexen was jolted out of his thoughts when one of the dusks began poking him. "What is it?" Then, Vexen noticed that five of the dusks had gone missing. "Where did they go?" Vexen demanded of the remaining three. When he saw that they seemed to be shrugging, Vexen heaved an exasperated sigh. Great. Just great. Now there were dusks loose. If Xemnas or Saix found out…

Vexen shuddered. He didn't want to think about it. "Come on, let's go find them." He told the dusks as he created a portal and walked through it. The three dusks followed, twitching with excitement.

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Demyx was hanging out in his bedroom, playing his sitar and singing softly. He was glad that he wasn't chosen to go to Castle Oblivion. There was a good chance that the six that were there would have to fight. And he didn't really feel like fighting.

Demyx left off playing his sitar and singing, his eyebrows furrowed in worry. It was only a matter of time before Xemnas sent him on another mission. And the Superior knew that he didn't like to fight. Demyx dismissed his sitar, sighing miserably. Great, now he was depressed. Maybe he should go and bother Roxas to cheer up or something.

Something darted past Demyx, causing the sitarist to jump in surprise. 'What was that?' He wondered, glancing around nervously. Demyx turned, and came face to face with a dusk hanging upside down, twitching. Demyx let out a surprised cry, and then gasped as two other dusks latched onto his legs. "What are you doing?! Noo! Let go of me!"

Thirty minutes later…

Demyx was huddled up in the corner, with three dusks leaping and bounding around him.

Demyx was rocking back and forth, muttering. "I'm in my happy place… I'm in my happy place…" Over and over.

The three dusks didn't seem to notice the effect they were having on Demyx, and continued to leap around and play.

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Inside Roxas' room…

Roxas and Luxord were playing Go Fish, since Roxas refused to play anything that remotely resembled poker (although Luxord convinced Roxas to include money).

At the moment, Roxas was winning, with many pairs, a small pile of munny in front of him.

Two dusks suddenly came into the room, and watched Roxas and Luxord until they noticed them.

"Hey Roxas."

"Hmm?"

"Do you think dusks know how to play card games?"

"Why?"

"It'd be more fun with more players."

"You better not be trying to get me to play poker with you and the dusks."

Luxord looked at the dusks. "Do you want to play poker?"

Roxas held back a laugh. A dusk...playing poker? That was like trying to get Larxene to be friendly.

After a few minutes of argument, Luxord finally managed to convince Roxas to play poker with him and the dusks. Surprisingly, the dusks actually knew how to play. More and more munny began piling up in front of the two dusks as they began to win each game.

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That was a bit odd. Oh well, please review and let me know what you thought of this chapter, or just leave some kind of comment.

I think there'll be one or two more chapters, depending on how long I can keep the story going (I'll probably come up with names for a few of the dusks at some point in the next chapter, and possibly the one after that). Dusks will be bashed in the next chapter, which I hope to get up between Friday and Monday, along with a few other chapters for other stories.

Until then, thanks for reading and/or reviewing!