I feel obliged to put a little warning label of sorts here. This is the part where the romance side of the story starts to ebb its way in, and a few of these will involve both parties being male. If the thought of this scares or angers you beyond reason, there is a little button that says "Back" just up at the top of the page. Alternatively, there is a "Review" button down the bottom where you can leave nasty scathing reviews in your raging anger. You know, either one : )
But to the wonderful majority of normal people who want to keep reading, HELLO! For some reason it didn't take me five months to write the chapter, so we can all breathe easily once again. A major thank you written in the clouds goes to BlueAcidRain for being amazing and having epic Beta powers. She also has fanfics up herself, so I heartily encourage the reading of them. GO GO GO. Thanks also gets sent out to luckless-is-me and doomshuriken for swiftly replying after such a long delay. Reviewing is good : D I encourage that as well. That is all.
Next Life - Chapter 8
Demyx wandered idly through the aisles of the supermarket. With shopping list in hand, he was keeping a close eye out for the plethora of downright strange objects Zexion had asked for. Apparently Zexion had been entirely serious about Demyx having too much sugary food in his house, and everything he had asked for was thus completely, sickeningly healthy. It was by far the worst shopping list Demyx had ever encountered.
Awful or not, Demyx was somewhat determined to actually get everything on the list. Zexion was moving in – a fact that still excited Demyx to no end – and so he very much wanted to give his guest every reason to actually stick around. Still, what on earth would someone want Corn Oil for? Corn had never seemed particularly oily to Demyx, so he was somewhat confused as to how anyone would even make the stuff.
Nearing the end of the inventory Demyx soon found himself in the refrigerated section, and so once again checked the almighty list of awful food choices.
Milk
With a grin, Demyx's hand darted towards the chocolate milk, but then froze once he registered the rest of Zexion's notation.
Milk – Not chocolate milk
Demyx frowned for a moment, weighing up his options. Then he grabbed both kinds, smiling to himself in the process. There, now everyone was happy.
Most of the other items on the shopping list had informative notations like that too; next to Bread was a very detailed account on which brand had the highest nutritional value compared to value for money, Bottled Water had a small table of chlorine to water ratios, and Fruit was heavily underlined, accompanied by an incredibly lengthy description on how to recognise which ones were ripe and which ones were absolutely not to be 'accidentally' forgotten. Demyx was almost baffled by the whole insistence on fruit thing. He'd always assumed them to be the trophy food of the kitchen, the one that people proudly displayed in bowls on the counter but never actually ate. But there you go, apparently Zexion wanted to eat bananas. Go figure.
In a very gleeful detour down the confectionary aisle – the one place that the list very heavily suggested that Demyx should avoid altogether – Demyx started to hear voices. After quickly dismissing the idea that the gummi bears were indeed talking to him, Demyx stopped moving to hear a little better. Apparently the people in the next aisle over had decided that there was no better place to discuss current events around town than in the soup section. To each their own, he supposed. Demyx settled down to eavesdrop.
"Did you hear," one mysteriously voiced individual was asking excitedly, "about P&P Laboratories?"
"The one run by the twins?" the other voice responded.
"Yeah! A whole bunch of people were rushed to hospital from there last night."
"No way! What happened?"
"It was some sort of freak hurricane, but only on the inside."
"Inside the laboratory?"
"Yaha. With all these weird ground cracks as well."
"Oh that's nothing. Have you seen what's been happening at that castle? You know, the one just south of the suburbs?"
"Yonder Castle?"
"Yeah! Over at Yonder Castle, there've been sightings of this huge beast thing."
"Oh! Speaking of beasts, did you hear about Cid?"
"Wait, Principle Cid or Air Pilot Cid?"
"Um, neither. Regent Cid."
"Regent Cid? He's my favourite! What happened to Regent Cid?"
What had happened to Regent Cid, however, Demyx never got to hear, as he was immediately distracted by the person who had just walked into his aisle. With his long ponytailed black hair, unmistakably streaked with grey, there was no way Demyx could have missed Xigbar in any situation.
Right now Demyx had a bone to pick with Xigbar. He'd walked right past Demyx at the hospital yesterday and hadn't even so much as looked in his direction. It was intensely rude, and completely uncalled for. Well, unless Xigbar was pissed at him for ditching him at the coffee place the other day, but apart from that there was absolutely no reason for him to flat out ignore Demyx. Catching Xigbar's eye, Demyx took a step forward.
Before he could get any closer, Xigbar hurriedly turned around and near ran out of the aisle, quickly heading off to the left.
Oh no you don't.
Demyx hurriedly placed his shopping basket down on the floor before quickly taking off down the aisle in the direction Xigbar had disappeared. He made it half way across the distance before skidding to a halt, turning to face the shelves of miscellaneous food items. Right there, in the small gap between the boxes of cereal, Demyx could see into the next aisle. Currently leaning right up against the shelves of said other aisle was a very dishevelled ponytail of black hair, clearly striped with grey. Hiding, was he?
Fending off the extreme desire to tug on the ponytail, Demyx leant close up to the aisle and put on his very best whisper voice.
"Xigbar. I can see you."
If it could be said that a stationary man could get any stiller, Xigbar did. Then he spun around, all smiles and enthusiasm once more.
"Hey! Kiddo! Totally didn't see you there!"
Demyx didn't buy it, not one bit.
"You're nuts. Why would you avoid me, of all people?" Demyx hissed through the cereal boxes. Try as he might, it just didn't feel right to talk at a normal volume when addressing boxes of food, so fierce whispers would just have to do.
"Uh, don't even know what you're talkin' bout!" Xigbar laughed nervously, clearly not having the same issue with volume Demyx was. "I was just uh... I really needed some of these!" Xigbar's hand shot out, grabbing the nearest reachable product.
Demyx blinked.
"You ran down this aisle for...those?" Xigbar nodded in response. "For pantyhose?"
The colour drained from Xigbar's face as he finally glanced at what he had picked up. He was silent for a very long moment before speaking again.
"Uh, look!" he cried, pointing dramatically with pantyhose in hand. "Behind you! A distraction!"
Despite himself, Demyx spun around, caught up in the dramatic tone of Xigbar's voice. Of course, there was nothing there, but before he could turn back around his hands flat out started vibrating.
A low rush of blood seemed to roar through his ears, and as he spun back around to face Xigbar, Xigbar was gone, pantyhose and all.
The vibrating quickly subsided. Demyx was left staring at his hands. They felt slightly numb.
His mind quickly raced past that minor inconvenience and eagerly tried to figure out what was going on with Xigbar. Running off like that, in the middle of a conversation. Odd how he hadn't made any noise when he left, but Demyx supposed he'd been too distracted to notice. Xigbar was really racking up a list of things for Demyx to be pissed about lately.
With an exasperated click of his tongue, Demyx stalked back to his shopping basket and bent to pick it up. He got exactly to the point where his hand had grabbed the basket's handle when his hand did its weird little vibrating thing once again. There was a slow moment where Demyx wondered whether he should continue picking up his basket or not, but when nothing happened he slowly straightened and quickly left the aisle. Perhaps he was having... uh... sugar withdrawal symptoms, or something? Yeah, that'd do for now.
Yet as Demyx drove home from the supermarket, he couldn't help but wonder if the entire world was going crazy around him. Xigbar was acting just about as suspicious as ever, Zexion had some secret background plot that he hadn't quite explained yet, and Demyx had just not been able to reason out the whole 'dancing coffee' scenario he'd been landed in the other day. Everything was nuts, absolutely completely nuts. With a grim nod at nothing in particular, Demyx decided it was time that the universe was going to get a strict talking to. He would figure one of these things out. He would completely reason out just one of the things on his crazy list and shame the strange occurrences straight back into their little hidey hole in the bottom of the ocean - or wherever their normal choice of residence may happen to be.
Xigbar wasn't exactly going to be easy to get a hold of, and Demyx had absolutely no idea where to start on spontaneously floating hot drinks, so he settled on Zexion. He smiled despite himself.
And so, Demyx soon found himself sitting on the couch in his lounge, very patiently waiting for Zexion to come out of the shower. In truth, he wasn't very good at the whole 'patient' thing but, try as he might, he'd never managed to have a proper conversation with anyone in the shower before. Which perhaps explained why he loved baths so much more, but that was very much besides the point.
What was not besides the point, however, was just how much weird junk Zexion was going to have to explain. They hadn't talked much on the way back from the hospital yesterday, and Zexion had quickly gone to bed far before the sun had gone down, so this was the first chance Demyx was getting to discuss the sudden jumping-out-of-thin-air routine he'd pulled there. There was also the whole turning-up-at-your-house-in-the-middle-of-the-night thing, as well as the sneaking-into-work-for-reasons-I-didn't-explain, and the I-finished-off-your-favourite-cereal-but-didn't-replace-it-like-a-normal-person-would situation. That was a lot of explaining.
As he casually watched his beloved goldfish swim around in circles, Demyx gently admitted that if anyone else had strung up so many missteps in just two days he'd probably be furious with them beyond measure. Xigbar was proving an excellent example for that, whom he was most certainly very miffed at, but Zexion? No, he definitely wasn't angry at the guy. He just... wanted a few answers. Answers that he very much thought he deserved.
The reason why he wasn't even the slightest bit mad at Zexion was a little harder to answer. After a long moment of elegant fish observing, Demyx put it down to Zexion just plain being the person he enjoyed having around the most. The past few years had left Demyx with considerably fewer solid friends than he would have liked, but that was a subject he very much did not want to think about.
Demyx was saved from his own thoughts when Zexion finally walked into the room. Of course, the manner in which Zexion entered into the room sent all his carefully planned questions flying out the door.
Zexion had paused at the door upon seeing Demyx, a faint blush creeping up his cheeks – the blush undoubtedly stemming from the fact that he had a towel around his waist and absolutely nothing else on his person.
Demyx gulped.
With a fierce determination, Demyx kept his eyes locked exactly with Zexion's, flat out refusing to look anywhere else. The plan worked precisely until Zexion himself looked away, leaving Demyx's eyes to immediately disobey him. Zexion seemed the same as he'd ever been; thin, with the impression of lankiness despite his short height. It had always been much more obvious once he had his shirt off, but it managed to look good on Zexion nonetheless. That, combined with his oh-so-wonderfully flat stomach and soft looking skin had always been somewhat of a point of envy for Demyx while growing up, but now…
Something was rising inside Demyx, something that definitely, definitely wasn't envy. A faint fluttering feeling, somewhere in his chest. In sheer horror Demyx pushed it away. Pushed it away and set it on fire, and buried it deep underground. But it sat there, still taunting him from beyond the grave, every bit as obvious as Demyx did not want it to be.
Mentally refusing to acknowledge it any further whatsoever, Demyx got to his feet and smiled at Zexion. He didn't quite trust himself to say anything about his current state of attire, so just avoided mentioning it altogether.
"Um. I have a few questions I need to ask you." Demyx's eyes ran down Zexion's chest again before quickly snapping back up to meet his eyes once more. "Uh, you know, when you have clothes on." Demyx was very hurriedly trying to prevent his cheeks going red. He wasn't succeeding, but he did try.
Zexion simply nodded before walking past him into the kitchen. It was all Demyx could do not to watch him walk as he did even that. Then he recalled with a jolt that the kitchen was indeed where they had left the majority of Zexion's clothes the day before. Knowing Zexion, he'd probably just grab the required garments before modestly getting dressed in the guest bedroom as was proper, but the faint possibility that he might just be getting dressed in the kitchen rose to mind nonetheless. Immediately infuriated with himself for wanting to peek in just in case, Demyx stormed off down the hallway.
Only when he was safely in his bedroom and behind a solid door did Demyx allow his mind to linger on the thoughts he'd been avoiding. He had rather truthfully assumed that he'd gotten rid of this issue before, but here it was again, threatening to pull up his entire past with it. Any other guy would have been fine, any other guy, but Demyx just could not afford to have any sort of attraction to the one guy in the world that actually trusted him as much as he did.
The deep blue walls of his room hardly held the safety they usually did; now they just gave the impression of drowning. Demyx wasn't entirely partial to flashbacks, but the thoughts came unbidden anyway, and escaping them was impossible.
It had been a day not terribly unlike this one, with both Zexion and himself mucking around his house after classes one day. Demyx couldn't quite remember how he'd done it, but he'd managed to walk in on Zexion without a shirt on, just like today. They'd both taken it completely in stride, neither even flinching as they both settled down to watch whatever it had been on television.
It had all gone swimmingly well until Demyx had found himself paying far more attention to Zexion's half nakedness than to the television, and so started the onslaught of curious self dilemmas and revelations that had plagued Demyx for the next following months. He'd managed to come to grips with it all eventually, admittedly slowly, but still finally realising where his heart lay. That was, until Zexion had brought it all crashing home with a completely innocent question.
"Hey Demyx."
"Yeah?"
"Are you gay?"
Demyx's middle had roared in turmoil. He'd been both ecstatic and completely terrified out his mind; much more of the latter than the former. His mind had tried to speak sense to him, telling him that this was the chance he'd been waiting for for so long, and that he should make the most of it. He had very much agreed with it.
But then, one look at Zexion had been all it'd taken for his resolve to melt completely. The words had risen to his mouth, and he'd trembled. Sweat had seemed to pour from every inch of him. The look in Zexion's eyes had just been too much for him to face. Could he really face the judgement of Zexion? No, he couldn't. He couldn't handle that. His fear took over and his mind had fled.
"No."
And that was that. The sinking feeling of complete and utter failure had engulfed him.
Zexion just nodded. That was the worst part about it. A simple nod that said he would have done the same for the other answer, for the answer Demyx so badly wanted to admit but just could not find the courage in himself to do so.
Demyx had never forgiven himself for that. For not being able to tell his closest friend the one thing that practically haunted him more than any other. He'd mentally beaten himself up over it continuously until finally accepting that he was a coward, and that the chance of anything happening between them was just about as farfetched as anything could get.
After accepting the impossibility of it all, he'd managed to move on and forget that it had ever happened- or at least, he had thought he had, but here he was again, proving himself wrong.
Back in the present, Demyx's head spun around as Zexion entered the room – clothed, thankfully. With a rather casual glance around the room, Zexion walked over and sat on Demyx's bed, as it was quite clearly the only part of the room that wasn't entirely covered in one type of junk or another. After a second of hesitation, Demyx strode over and joined him, letting his thoughts wash away from his mind as he remembered just what he was going to ask him. Everything else could wait, this stuff was actually important.
"Zex," Demyx began, "I don't mean to sound sceptical but... on the night you turned up here. What were you running from?"
It was touchy ground, he knew, but he really needed to know, so he waited. Waited, and desperately hoped he wouldn't be losing a crucial friendship over prying too much.
Not that it was an effortless friendship as such. They weren't entirely alike. Zexion was very... stern, at times. He was prone to frowning a lot and gave a good amount of flat looks. He also had this way of seeming to be stoically enduring a situation rather than enjoying it, but Demyx had known him long enough to gain a certain familiarity with his attitudes. It was easy enough for him to decipher what Zexion was meaning most of the time, and there were a plethora of things they could laugh about with each other. Zexion wasn't very prone to laughing with a great deal of people.
"I killed Roxas."
Demyx frowned. So it had just been guilt over a lost patient after all? Well, that was disappointing. No stunning revelations there.
"The receptionist said you shouldn't blame yourse-" Zexion was shaking his head, so Demyx stopped.
"I killed Roxas. I pulled out his life support."
Demyx's train of thought skidded to a halt.
"...like, accidentally?"
"We were having an argument. I ...might have meant it."
A chill spread throughout Demyx. Zexion had killed Roxas on purpose. The logical part of his brain was telling him to recoil from him completely- to run away and never look back.
Yet one look at the dishevelled lump that was Zexion was all it took to know that he was crumbling on the inside. Zexion regretted it more than anything else in his entire life, and it was written plainly across the pain in his face. Demyx didn't know whether he himself would have been able to handle that amount of guilt.
Well, you got what you asked for.Demyx grimaced and told the cynical voice in the back of his mind to shut the hell up. It obediently did so.
But the heavy repercussions of the situation hung heavy in the air. Roxas Cain had been killed by the closest friend Demyx had. And here he was, sitting in the same room as a murderer. That thought stung. Demyx immediately wanted to un-think it. This was Zexion.
Demyx looked at him sadly. Yes, this was definitely Zexion, and there was no way he'd be abandoning him, not even now. Demyx told himself that it wasn't just the faint attraction talking there – which was absolutely true. Zexion meant a lot to Demyx, and Demyx was going to stick by him, attraction or no attraction.
But this was not the time for that. Right now was about Zexion, and the poor guy needed him. Demyx had to say something.
He leant over and put his arm around Zexion's shoulder, pulling him slightly closer. Instantly Zexion leant into him, seeking comfort in the simple act that very likely said everything Demyx wanted to say and more. Zexion was shaking, ever so slightly. Demyx felt pangs of guilt, alongside sizable parades of joy, but he mostly just felt sorry for the guy. His heart went out to him, it really did.
After a moment he spoke to him softly.
"It wasn't your fault, you know."
Zexion tensed, but otherwise didn't respond. It was probably just as well, as Demyx knew he'd be objecting fiercely in his mind and feeling the empty blame a thousand fold. Trying to explain that away was not going to help, not right now, but as long as he knew that Demyx was on his side... well, that would have to be enough.
A thought struck Demyx suddenly. One that made him sweat.
"Does anyone know?" Little good his support would be if someone ferreted Zexion off to prison right out from under his nose.
"No," was the simple answer. Then he sat up slowly, and Demyx took his arm away. Once he was upright again, Zexion was silent for a good moment. Then his eyes closed as he cringed.
"No, wait. I think my boss knows."
Demyx couldn't see himself right then, but his mouth had just dropped right open.
"Your boss knows?"
"Yeah," Zexion mumbled dismally. "I think he knew from the very start." He met Demyx's eyes then. "He hasn't told anyone, and I don't think he will."
Demyx mulled this over a bit. He didn't know much about Zexion's boss, but it was a pretty big stretch of trust.
"You're sure?"
Zexion was silent, but eventually nodded.
"He's up to... something. I'm not sure what, but it freaks me out."
After a short span of silence, Demyx put his hand on Zexion's shoulder. He knew it wasn't entirely necessary, but he wanted to anyway.
"Don't worry, we'll figure it out."
Demyx had, of course, simply meant it as generic encouragement, but the sudden shine in Zexion's eyes clearly indicated that he had taken it as something else entirely.
"You want to help?" Zexion asked, as if not quite believing. Demyx grinned and nodded. Grinning was what he was good at after all, and there was no way someone could misinterpret a grin.
"Course! It's practically what I'm here for."
Zexion seemed rather pleased by that. He wasn't smiling as such, but he was sitting a little straighter, and there was a little more heart in his voice.
"Then there's something I should tell you," Zexion said. He spoke rather quickly, as if letting out a flood of things he'd been mulling over at length. "Whether I meant to or not, I think Xemnas may have wanted Roxas dead. But he didn't tell anyone, and he's kept it a secret, so I think he might want something out of me as well." Demyx wondered if Zexion knew just how dangerous that sounded right there. "Xemnas is also leading the search for that arsonist, the one that put Roxas in hospital." Zexion frowned then. "I... don't know what the connection is, but he's up to something."
"And that's why we went hauling ass up to the hospital yesterday?"
Zexion looked a little sheepish, but nodded.
"I don't suppose this has anything to do with the disappearing act you pulled at the hospital as well does it?" Demyx asked. When Zexion glanced at him questioningly, Demyx re-iterated his point. "Poof!" He made the appropriate hand motions. Amazingly, Zexion understood. He looked at the ground, then back to Demyx, his eyes working fiercely as if he hadn't quite finished his thoughts and was reluctant to interrupt them by speaking.
"It's possible, I suppose. I never thought of that..."
Demyx let Zexion fall into silence as his thoughts raced. Demyx's own thoughts bounced rather mildly around the room. So, Zexion's boss was some major evil genius, plotting something sinister from behind the scenes. And may have somehow turned Zexion invisible for a brief moment. Or something.
Then a thought struck Demyx, and he felt a pang of guilt. Zexion was being very straightforward about all of this, and Demyx had completely neglected to tell him about his own little insane episode just a few days previous.
"Um," Demyx said. Zexion looked at him calmly. Demyx knew this was going to sound crazy. "So, like, I didn't think this was anything at first, but the other day my coffee may have floated out of its cup." Zexion was still looking at him. Demyx suddenly felt just a little bit like an idiot. "Uh, you know, just on the subject of crazy supernatural things..."
Zexion certainly looked sceptical about that connection, but he nodded nonetheless. "It very well could be connected somehow."
Feeling somewhat of a twat, Demyx fell back on directing the conversation away from himself. "Ah, well, whatever it is, I know you'll figure it out."
"I plan to," was Zexion's response. Demyx frowned for a moment. Zexion was pretty serious about this little mystery that was going on. He just hoped he wasn't still acting out of guilt.
"You know that finding out won't bring Roxas back, right?"
Zexion nodded.
"And you know that it might only make things worse?"
"Yes."
"Then I'm in."
Zexion turned to him then, a very faint curve of his lips showing a gracious smile.
Demyx didn't need the guilt to tell him that most people in his predicament wouldn't quite go that far. Zexion was just damn lucky that Demyx had an inescapable homosexual crush on him.
"Well," Zexion mused aloud, "I suppose, if we're going to try link Xemnas' intentions with recent supernatural phenomenon, we'll have to start collecting data."
"Oh! No sweat, I got that covered." Demyx beamed. Zexion looked at him expectantly. "Well, the other day... you know, the day I went out with Xigbar? There was this thing on the road kinda like... um. Well, I didn't really see it, but this kid..."
Zexion's unamused look made Demyx stop in his tracks.
"Oh!" he sped onwards, determined not to sound like an idiot twice in a row, "But this morning... um." Demyx tried not to feel immediately disheartened by Zexion's frown. He threw his mind out, trying to grasp what he'd overheard at the supermarket. He tried pretty hard, but he couldn't remember a single word. What had they been discussing? Things about... the town... "Uh, do we have today's newspaper?"
Clearly Zexion wasn't expecting anything helpful in a place so obvious, but sure enough, after Demyx had dragged him through the house to the kitchen bench there was something right there on the front page.
"See! Right there! 'Science Mayhem Leaves Three Seriously Injured'." Demyx scanned the article, searching for anything that jumped out at him. "'Heavy signs of wind damage,' 'gaping holes in the floor,' blah blah Xemnas blah blah blah," Demyx quoted dramatically and looked up at Zexion. From the colour draining out of Zexion's face, Demyx knew he'd hit gold. Or a deer. Gold would've been more useful, but Zexion was starting to look sick.
"Uh, you okay?"
"It said Xemnas?"
Demyx nodded.
"Can I see it?" Zexion asked, a trifle hesitantly. Demyx obediently handed him the newspaper and watched him read fiercely. He made a point of trying not to notice what colour his eyes were.
"Wait, that's..." Zexion looked at him, wide-eyed. Blue. Zexion had blue eyes. A silvery blue that stood out against his soft, soft hair. "Demyx, do you remember those people at the hospital yesterday?"
Demyx curiously glanced at what Zexion was gesturing at. The picture for the article featured a whole bunch of unconscious people on stretchers being pushed towards an ambulance. They had pretty crazy hair for a group of scientists. One had short curly hair, another had a whole bunch of black braids, the third had a black ponytail streaked... with grey?
"Oh!" Demyx cried out once more, shocking Zexion in the process. "Yes! Yesterday at the hospital, Xigbar was there with that random group of people."
Zexion had a considering look on his face.
"Xigbar, as in, pirate guy?"
"Yeah!"
"The one who was talking to that one guy outside your house?" Demyx could see where he was going with this; that lawyer who'd been out on the footpath, and Zexion had been immediately suspicious. From memory, he'd had black braids...
Demyx blinked, then looked back at the newspaper. Just as he'd recalled, one of the men on the stretchers had the same style of hair. Demyx very carefully tried to puzzle out what this all meant.
He failed.
"I don't get it." Demyx looked to Zexion imploringly.
Zexion nodded acceptingly, willing to help Demyx connect the dots. It was quite an achievement really, Zexion wasn't very well suffering towards people he deemed idiots.
"So," Zexion began, gesturing with his hands to emphasise, "Xigbar comes to our-..." Zexion paused with a frown before starting over. "Xigbar comes to your house, talks to Mysterious Stranger outside. We then see Xigbar with the same mysterious stranger at the hospital-"
"-and he completely ignores me."
Zexion nodded and continued. "Right, he remains circumspect. Next, Xigbar and same group of strangers are in the newspaper, injured by some unexplained phenomenon. Where do they get rushed to?" Zexion pointed to a single word in the article. "The hospital, run by Maximillion Xemnas, who conveniently provides a cover up story."
Demyx digested that slowly. He supposed it was pretty suspicious, especially when added to the whole Roxas situation. And the floating coffee. And the invisibility. He grimly wondered whether Xemnas was just a twisted maniac who was trying to kill off everyone with an 'x' in their nam-
A thought hit Demyx. It must have shown on his face, as Zexion was watching him with anticipation.
"The newspaper says it happened last night, right?" Zexion nodded in response. "I saw Xigbar this morning. He was fine."
Demyx was half expecting an 'Are you sure?' but no, Zexion accepted it as simple fact. He looked down at the newspaper with a frown.
"Just what is going on here?" he mumbled.
Demyx wished he had some amazing theory to suggest, but he quite simply had no idea either. He had every bit of faith that Zexion would probably figure it out. Zexion was a genius, and Demyx couldn't really compete with him in that area. What he could do, though, was keep things simple. Sometimes it really was the obvious answer that was the correct one, and Zexion had mentioned his habit of overlooking the obvious enough times by now that Demyx clung to it as the one thing he might be able to help with.
"Let's summarise," Demyx said with determination, and felt another small flutter when Zexion looked at him attentively. "The stuff we do know might be important." Demyx held up his fingers and ticked them off as he went. "Xemnas is behind a whole bunch of random things. Xigbar and Team Crazy are running around doing stuff with him. It can't be anything good, since it involves Roxas Cain being thoroughly dead. It can't be anything normal, since it seems to involve the supernatural in some way or another. And," Demyx paused. The last one was the hardest one to admit. "And noting said supernatural things, it definitely involves us."
They both lapsed into silence as they considered just what that meant. Demyx was done pretty quickly, and soon shifted into just plain watching Zexion. He blushed slightly when Zexion looked up at him again.
"What day of the week is it?" Zexion asked.
Demyx glanced over at his calendar. "Thursday?" His eye caught on the date. He looked back at Zexion with excitement. "And tomorrow is-"
"The Masquerade Ball. At the hospital no less." Demyx was taken aback when Zexion suddenly started smiling. He didn't smile all too often. "They'll all be there, and we're going too. We'll have the perfect opportunity to try figure this out." He looked straight into Demyx's eyes then. "Whatever it is they're doing, we're on the way to figuring it out. Demyx, I think we're finally on the right track."
Demyx gulped. He could die happy watching Zexion smile like that. He truly could.
Of course, the smile did not last very long. Half a minute, to be precise; the exact amount of time it took Zexion to pour a drink of milk, take a sip, and dramatically spit it out all over the kitchen floor.
"That milk is foul."
Demyx was slightly miffed at that. He'd only just bought that milk.
Return of the random question at the end? I think so! In the next chapter we meet someone we haven't formally met in the story yet. Who do you think it is? OH THE SUSPENSE!