Chapter Four…
--
Porcelain Dolls…
How lovely and exquisite they are. Beautiful yet so fragile… and, oh, so easy to break. Of course, if dropped, they crack.
And that is exactly what happens when you mistreat them.
How careless had he been. His one and only doll broken again. This time, maybe, beyond repair. How could he have done such a thing? He promised he'd care for him. He promised so much. But in the end, because of his foolishness, he broke Saïx. He shattered his Luna Diviner into thousands of pieces.
This was not supposed to happen.
"So… what now?"
Bronze colored eyes flickered over to the Free Shooter. In the same instant Xemnas' angry, frustrated eyes met with Xigbar's hazel ones, the older man looked away with a nervous smirk, regretting that he even spoke. Xemnas' eyes went back to the pearl table top where the reports sat as he thought the answer to Xigbar's question. The rest of the occupants of the table were seated quietly lost in their own thoughts, too intimidated to word them to their superior. It was completely awkward and unnerving to have an angry leader in the room. Xemnas was twice as frightening and perilous when angry and no one wanted to risk beheading to question why he was in such a mood.
"Unbelievable," he sighed deeply for the umpteenth time today.
That's exactly what it was. Utterly unbelievable. To be sitting there of course. Xaldin huffed in annoyance. He didn't care what the superior did now; he just wanted this meaningless meeting to be over with. Why did he ask for a meeting in the first place? And in the middle of the night? If it was so urgent why not say what it is and get it over with? Xaldin sighed again as he thought against questioning his superior.
Yet Vexen was thinking the exact opposite. What was so important that he had to be disturbed from his work? "Sir, if I may ask, what is it that you need from us?" the scientist finally voiced, stressing the "is it" part.
Xemnas looked over to his subordinate with a cold glint in his eyes which nearly made the Chilly Academic shiver, despite himself. Xemnas looked back at the table and sighed for the last time and finally spoke.
"Do you all remember our first experiment six years ago? The one in Resplendent Void?"
"Six years ago… our first experiment?" Lexeaus questioned, blue eyes squinted slightly in confusion.
"After we had become Nobodies," Xemnas answered. "Do you not remember when we had discovered how Nobodies were truly born?"
His five subordinates at the table all pondered, thinking quietly to themselves. This annoyed the Enigmatic Man and he huffed in exasperation while shaking his head in disbelief. He pushed the papers in front of him toward the Whirlwind Lancer which he picked up and looked over quickly. His eyes widened slightly before narrowing and eyebrows frowning as he continued to look over the reports in his hands.
"These… they're about Number Seven… and the episode six years ago." Xaldin's eyebrows frowned in thought. He flipped through the pages once again before passing the papers over to Xigbar. Xaldin kept his blue eyes on the table in thought as the free shooter scanned the papers with his one good eye.
"Of course, how could I forget? But, why bring this up now? You had us swear never to mention it again, especially not while Number Seven was present."
"But… you continued to study him," Xigbar said while passing the reports along. "And so have Vexen and Zexion."
Xemnas remained silent, only leaning back in his seat and resting his arms on the arms of the white chair. He kept his gaze on the table, thinking thoroughly on his words.
"Xemnas?" Xaldin questioned with a quirk of one of his thick brows.
"Did he… find out?" Zexion breathed as his blue eyes darted over to the silent Enigmatic Man.
"That he's been our test subject for the past six years?" Xemnas let out a grim chuckle while running a gloved hand through his white mane, "That and much more."
"So, he has regained his memory?" Vexen asked. Xemnas shook his head.
"He hasn't remembered a thing. It was those reports he read and those alone he goes by. He is confused because he has no clue what to believe."
"How did he get his hands on the reports?" Xigbar asked.
"He found them somehow," Xemnas lied. He decided against telling them what really had happened to avoid questions about their relationship.
"So how did he take the news?"
"Poorly, as assumed," Xemnas sighed. "That is why I called you five here. Number VII has yet to go berserk but anything could make him snap. We cannot risk that. He will become unstoppable and I do not want to harm him. He is valuable to the Organization and we must not have him leave either. I cannot approach him for he now knows I am the one responsible for what he is."
I am the one responsible for what he has become, Xemnas thought regretfully for a second but then shook his head to rid the thought.
"Man… it's been six years though," Xigbar grunted in bothersome as he scratched the back of his head. "And that's a really long time."
"Six years too long. For six years we've ignored it—we've forgotten it. For six years Number VII has been oblivious to the truth. And so many years it has taken me to realize my stupidity. We made a mistake but we've continued to ignore it, completely knowing it was there, right in front of our faces. Until it grew into a problem. A problem I did not see because I was too blinded by foolishness to see it before."
"Was it really foolishness?" came Zexion's voice, soft and almost distant. Xemnas' light brownish red eyes met with Zexion's light blue. "It's… something no one else could ever understand. Right?"
Xemnas gave a humorless chuckle as he brushed away a few strands from his eyes. "Of course, you would know such things."
Zexion smirked slightly, "Xemnas, you're losing your touch. You're like an open book."
Xigbar blinked in confusion as he looked from Zexion to his Superior. "What's this about books and such?"
Xemnas sighed, picking up where he had left off. "Our mistake—my mistake, has confused Number VII. He will probably harm the others so we cannot leave him the way he is and we cannot afford to have him leave."
"Sir, are you suggesting that…" Lexeaus trailed off, slightly shocked in disbelief.
"Your orders are to find Number Seven and confine him." Xemnas regretted letting such words leave his lips, but they were already out before he had a chance to stop himself. Somehow, for some odd reason, he actually felt an ache where his heart should've been. A mental image of the past flashed before his eyes, the painful remembrance overwhelming him with nausea. He quickly put his face into his gloved hands, taking in deep and heavy breaths. I promised… I promised I'd never lock him away again. Why… am I doing this?!
"Xemnas?"
The Enigmatic Man fell back to reality, removing his hands from his face and letting out a deep, shaky breath. I shouldn't be doing this, he thought. I can't do this again. I cannot do this to him again… but…
"Go. You have your orders," he said lastly, looking away almost in shame.
His subordinates all obliged, leaving the room quickly and leaving their higher up alone. He stood up once the door shut and made his way to the only window in the room. He looked through the oversized glass shaped as their symbol and looked up at their Kingdom Hearts in making.
"I cannot take back what has been done. I can only beg for your forgiveness. And maybe… you'd consider loving me again." Xemnas let out a heavy breath as his eyes averted away from the small heart shaped moon. "Once we attain our hearts, you can do as you wish… and finally leave this hell."
--
Angry cries echoed throughout the corridors of the castle. Saïx roared furiously as he swung his claymore at his tombstone with all his force yet was unsuccessful in breaking it into pieces. His existence no longer mattered to him. He did not exist. He no longer needed proof. It was only a lie. His existence was fabricated from the beginning. He should've never lived. Why continue to live when you have no heart?
Again he lifted his weapon over him and brought it down fiercely, crying out. Yet the headstone did not break. This only infuriated the berserker further and he began swinging at the stone several times, snarling ferociously as he battered it with intense strength.
Nothing. Neither a scratch nor a dent.
"Agh! Dammit all!" he cried, slamming his claymore to the ground. "Damn it all to hell!" he said once again before falling to his hands and knees in front of the memorial.
"I'm... so confused," he sobbed almost pathetically. He had become so helpless—so weak. How could he let himself come out in such a way? He shut his eyes tightly, struggling to keep in the tears that threatened to fall. "I am… not… weak! I won't… I won't!"
Not for him!
"Saïx."
Golden eyes snapped open and an audible gasp echoed in the room. The blue haired man quickly moved to his feet and instantly turning around, facing the one who caught him in such an embarrassing state. His face flushed instantly, seeing Number III standing at the doorway with his hands behind his back as usual and his face firm. They silently stared at each other, tear filled yellow eyes locked with strong blue ones.
Xaldin quirked up an eyebrow in question, as if to say, "are you alright?" Saïx did not answer his silent question. Instead, he turned around to pick up his claymore, completely ignoring Xaldin.
The older man sighed and lowered his head. "Saïx… I must ask you something. Are you planning to leave the Organization?"
The berserker did not turn around or even answer. He simply kept his head low, contemplating whether or not he should answer.
"Why do you ask?" he finally said.
"You want me to be honest?" Xaldin asked.
"As honest as you can be."
Xaldin let out a deep breath before saying, simply, "I have orders from Xemnas to detain you."
Saïx let out a laugh, a dry and humorless laugh. "Is that right?"
Xaldin looked up at the berserker, his eyes meeting with his back. "Only if you try to leave. Or go berserk. Either way, you have to come with me."
"And if I don't?" he drawled.
Xaldin frowned and his eyebrows furrowed. "I suggest you don't try and protest. It'd be much easier for all of us."
Saïx allowed a small smirk to tug at his lips. The familiar smirk that only played on his lips when he craved for blood; when bloodlust overcame his entire being. He wanted to spill blood tonight, and much of it. Even if it were his own. He could almost taste it.
"Why should I make things easier," Saïx began, turning around to face the whirlwind lancer once again, smirk still on his face, "when it matters not what I so or do. It doesn't change my fate."
"Saïx…" Xaldin breathed in a warning tone as his six lances appeared around him. "Don't."
Saïx chuckled as he tightened his grip around the handle of his claymore and getting into his fighting stance. "Spilling a little blood won't make much of a difference."
--
"What is it, Zexion?" Lexeaus asked while looking at said Nobody in question. Vexen looked up as well, temporally stopping his search for Saïx's documents. They were recently given new orders to find anything regarding Number VII, so now they were in Vexen's laboratory.
Zexion's sapphire orbs were narrowed in thought and his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. He tilted his head slowly to the side, causing a few loose strands of silver to uncover his right eye. His fellow Nobodies continued to stare at him in question, awaiting a reply from the younger male.
"I smell… an unfamiliar darkness," Zexion finally voiced, breaking the thick silence in the room.
"Unfamiliar?" Vexen asked with a quirk of his blond brow.
"He has a strange scent."
"A male?"
"I'm not sure," Zexion's eyes averted to nothing in particular as he spoke, "but his smell… it's odd."
"Maybe he's wearing funny cologne?" The question earned the scientist a fierce glare from the Zexion. The blond only smiled sheepishly and shrugged before turning his attention back to the papers on his desk. Lexeaus only sighed and shook his head.
"Wait….." Zexion trailed off, walking over to the open window in the room. "He's here… He's in the city."
The other two occupants of the room looked over to the silver haired boy again. They waited silently for him to throw out more information about the unknown trespassing through their city.
"He's full of Darkness… almost like the Superior. But…"
"Like the Superiors," Lexeaus repeated grimly.
"But… his scent matches Saïx's. Almost identical," Zexion finally said while moving away from the window. "This isn't good. Xemnas has to be informed."
"What is he? Human?" Vexen asked as he stood up from his chair while holding Saïx's documents in his hands.
"He's… a Nobody… but…" Zexion, once again trailed off, hesitating to finish.
"This isn't sounding very pleasant," Lexeaus commented.
"I must speak with Xemnas," Zexion said quickly as he opened a portal. But before he went through the scientist called to him. He looked back to the blond and was handed the papers.
"Make sure he gets this."
Zexion nodded before walking into the portal of darkness and disappearing into the void.
"Does he know something that we don't?" Number V asked, blue eyes on Vexen's back.
The Chilly Academic only sighed as he moved to the window Zexion had just looked through. The moon heart's radiance shone through the glass brilliantly, lighting up the darkened room. Vexen's green eyes looked up to their Kingdom Hears in making before speaking.
"Maybe… Zexion knows too much."
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