Thanks for the reviews! This is the last chapter, and hopefully it turns out all right.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Kingdom Hearts (2).
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"Ah man…that was the last of my money…" Roxas said unhappily as one of the dusks swept a small pile of munny towards its already large pile of winnings. The other dusk had a similarly large pile.
Luxord narrowed his eyes on the dusks. They had to be cheating somehow. How else would they be winning every single game of poker?
Roxas really wanted to end the game there and now, but felt compelled to try and win back his lost munny. There was no way he'd leave without it. Roxas couldn't believe that he'd actually agreed with Luxord to play poker with these dusks.
Luxord narrowed his eyes over his cards as he scrutinized one of the dusks. There was no way he'd keep losing. "All right, let's go. Beat this!"
---
Vexen paused in the hallway, doubled over and gasping for breath. He really hadn't needed to come face to face with Saix, then Xemnas almost immediately after. Vexen silently thanked Demyx for choosing that moment to drop in out of a portal, for whatever reason.
Vexen straightened up and glanced around silently. Where in the world were those other dusks?
---
Demyx smiled nervously at Xemnas and Saix as they glared at him in annoyance. Xemnas had just finished scolding Demyx, and was apparently waiting for an explanation. Since Demyx couldn't really think of anything else, he said, "Um…sorry?"
Xemnas sighed heavily, before turning to Saix. "Go find Vexen and bring him to me."
With a short nod, Saix walked off, leaving Demyx alone with an irritated Xemnas.
---
After a half hour of searching, Vexen finally decided to see what Luxord was up to. Halting outside of Roxas' room, he heard Roxas and what sounded like Luxord complaining to each other about their bad luck. Knocking on the door, Vexen entered the room to find Roxas and Luxord playing poker…against dusks.
Vexen breathed a sigh of relief, drawing Roxas and Luxord's attention.
"Hey Vexen. Care to join us?" Luxord asked hopefully.
Vexen shook his head. "No thanks. I just came here to get the dusks." Turning his attention to the dusks, he said, "Come on you two. The others are waiting for you."
The two dusks piled their winnings into bags, and dragged them off to follow Vexen out of the room. Behind them, Luxord and Roxas got into a shouting match about whose fault it was for agreeing to play poker, and how they'd come up with that much money again.
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Inside the laboratory, hours later…
Vexen had managed to change all five dusks back into their human forms. They had all thanked him over and over, and had left quickly before Xemnas could find out. Vexen got up out of his chair, and walked over to the lab entrance, wondering what could have happened to the three other dusks.
Exiting into the hall, Vexen halted, spotting Saix several yards away, claymore out and staring intently at him. Remaining calm, Vexen spoke. "It appears that three of the dusks I was supposed to be watching are missing. You don't happen to know where they are, do you?"
Saix gave a faint smile as he traced one of his hands along his weapon. "Dusks…oh yes. Three were following Demyx around, so…" Saix swung his claymore.
'Killed them then…' Vexen thought as he stared at Saix. "Well, what do you want then?"
"Xemnas wants to see you."
Vexen laughed inwardly. He didn't want to see Xemnas for a few weeks. No doubt he was furious about his orders being disobeyed. "And if I don't want to see him?"
Saix smiled again slightly. "Then I suppose I'll have to take you there."
Vexen backed away, summoning his shield as he did. It probably wasn't the smartest thing in the world to provoke Saix.
Saix didn't say anything else. Instead, he dove at Vexen, swinging his claymore. Vexen managed to deflect it with his shield, but it forced him back several feet.
Vexen quickly froze the floor beneath Saix, making the berserker lose his balance and fall over. Vexen stifled laughter at the sight, but knew Saix heard when he snapped and started flinging his weapon.
Vexen dove for cover behind a chair, which absorbed a particularly nasty attack.
The fight went on for several tense minutes. In that time, Saix seemed to forget that he was supposed to be bringing Vexen to Xemnas, and was trying to pulverize the other.
After being slammed against the wall several times, Vexen was hoping that Saix would come to his senses. But he hadn't and Saix swung his weapon down at Vexen.
The weapon all of a sudden stopped, and Saix was suddenly throw against the wall, knocked unconscious.
Vexen glanced up in time to see someone leave the castle. He assumed that it had been one of the former dusks. Standing up, he approached Saix cautiously. Seeing that the other was knocked out, Vexen froze Saix from the waist down, just in case Saix felt murderous upon waking up.
"Vexen!"
Vexen jumped and turned around to find Xemnas storming over towards him. Trying to act as if nothing unusual happened, Vexen asked, "Yes Superior?"
Xemnas gave Vexen an incredulous look, before shaking his head. "You're lucky I have other important matters to deal with instead of you…Return to Castle Oblivion for the time being."
Vexen left without a word.
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Entering Castle Oblivion, the first thing that greeted Vexen was a grinning Marluxia. Vexen ignored the evil smile on the others' face and stalked off towards the laboratory.
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An hour later, Vexen was staring at a card (which looked like Twilight Town). He twisted it back and forth, thinking about giving it to Sora. That would certainly throw Marluxia off. With a laugh, Vexen pocketed the card and left the area. Yes, that would do quite nicely.
Zexion watched Vexen leave, before going back to whatever he had been working on. He wondered what Vexen was up to.
Hours later, Zexion figured out what Vexen had been trying to do. But now that Vexen was gone, plans needed to be changed accordingly. Zexion wandered around in the lower levels to locate Lexaeus to discuss what should be done.
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Hey, I actually finished a story. Anyway, please review and let me know how this chapter turned out, as well as the story as a whole. I'd appreciate it.
I hope to update other stories soon, but I may put up some one-shots as well.