Chapter 14

Vexen's face contorted in glee as he looked out across the hall. Amidst the sea of impatient faces were a good half dozen pillars of light shining out of select individuals. Vexen was utterly ecstatic in his success. It had worked! Out of all his plans, the simplest idea had proven the most effective. Success was such a wonderful feeling. Xemnas wouldn't kill him after all!

He had to admit, he was impressed with his own handiwork. The sheen of ice particles across the hall had acted exactly according to plan; Vexen had used his power on such a scale that everyone in the vicinity who could feel the vibrations would, effectively trapping them while the ice created something like an aurora. As such, Vexen could easily identify all the people in the room who he knew from his past life, even in costumes as they were.

Near the right side wall were numbers VIII and XII, faces aghast as they realized what was going on. How very convenient. XII was next on the list, after all. It was good to know she'd walked right in through the front door – it made the next step in their plans easier to say the very least.

Huddled by the back, near where the musicians had been playing, were numbers VI and IX. VI had been expected, but IX was a pleasant surprise. Xemnas hadn't been able to discern his identity yet, but there he was, right in the palm of their hand. What a marvellous success this plan had been.

And near the entrance were... Vexen frowned. Who were they? They didn't seem to be Organization members, or at least, he didn't think they were. His memory wasn't perfect in that area. Nevertheless, they were reacting just as strongly. Not red like VIII, nor blue like IX or yellow like XII. One had an aura of pure white, the other black. The only upside was that they looked just as confused as he felt. They would have to be dealt with, just to be safe. He would have all the time in the world to figure out who they after their capture.

Of course, the plan had been somewhat designed to find Marluxia as well, but Xaldin had somehow managed to persuade him into co-operation beforehand. Remarkably convenient, that. Clearly he had underestimated Xaldin's ability to play with people's minds.

Now that the ice had been working for a while, there were a few other dimmer lights appearing across the hall as well. But they were of no consequence; people from a past life who had less significant connections to his heart. Simply put, they didn't matter.

After a while the ice faded from sight. The lights around the room continued to glow; they would survive for a few more minutes, until the tremors from his powers died down.

"Thank you," Vexen said into the microphone. "You may all leave now, unless you wish to die a very painful death. Except for you, of course," he said, giving a significant glance to each of the people who had been glowing. "You know who you are." As he stepped down from the podium it was pleasing to see the perplexed faces of the irrelevant people gathered before him, all looking like they were trying to figure out whether he'd been joking about the death threat. In truth, he hadn't quite decided yet.

"We have to get out of here," Riku said, tugging on his sleeve, trying to pull him toward the door. "Come on!"

"But if we leave now, we might never find Kairi!" Sora complained, resisting him. "We can't leave her here."

"Sora, this is no time to argue." Riku gave him a very serious frown. "If we get caught then there'll be no-one left to save her." He turned away, looking around the crowd. "Besides, I can't protect you if we're trapped."

The other people in the crowd seemed to be quickly coming to the realisation that the party was, in fact, over. The room was filled with disgruntled murmurs and outright complaints, but they were all heading for the doors without delay. Death threats could do that, apparently. They looked downright miserable too, which seemed a little over the top from Sora's point of view. They didn't have to worry about saving their friend from psycho crazy people, and they weren't glowing with a creepy magical light either.

For a second, he considered whether Riku was right. If they snuck out as a part of the crowd, they might have a better chance of snooping around the hospital to find Kairi. The only problem was that there were two large, burly men standing on either side of the exit. Both had the same glowing auras he and Riku had going on, and it didn't take long to realise they were staring straight in his direction. It was very freaky, and probably meant they weren't going to let him just walk out the front door – which meant that Riku's plan was busted.

Riku swore when Sora pointed them out, and then he looked around the hall, searching for another way out. Sora was impressed by how calm he looked, despite the swearing. But then, he'd always been so calm and collected, at least on the outside. The inside was another matter entirely.

Riku tugged on his sleeve again, drawing his attention to the far wall. It was lined with what looked like janitor's closets, but one of them was open. Three people in full body costumes were standing just outside it and were staring right at them, gesturing for them to hurry. One of their costumes was... a moogle? Another was a cat. It would have looked a lot more comical if he wasn't so busy worrying.

Sora exchanged glances with Riku, who shrugged. "We're kind of out of options," he said.

And so they went for it.

"Demyx, we have to get away!"

"What? How do we do that?"

"I don't know! We just do!" Zexion felt sick. Demyx had been safe, had been anonymous and completely unknown to Xemnas before tonight. But now he was exposed – he was quite literally a beacon that Organization XIII could follow at a glance. Zexion knew it was all his fault. He was going to get Demyx killed.

"Did you see that?" Demyx asked. "I think YRP just helped those kids from the elevator escape."

"The band? Where?" he demanded. He hadn't seen anything, but Demyx was avid that it had happened.

"This way. Come on, we can escape too." Demyx led him to one of the far side of the room, furthest from the exit. He went straight to one of the many doors and opened it. It was empty.

"It's just a broom cupboard," Zexion said.

Demyx bit his lip. "I didn't make it up. It really happened."

"I believe you," Zexion said, trying half-heartedly to soothe him. When it came down to it, people disappearing into a closet was probably the least weird thing going on right now. Still, they were trapped, and the room was almost out of people. The stream of costumed guests had shrunk considerably, most of them having already left the room. If it hadn't been Lexaeus and Xaldin guarding those doors, Zexion might have considered making a run for it. As it was, they were trapped.

"I'm sorry, Demyx," he said. "I never meant for this to happen."

But Demyx just folded his hands behind his head, shooting him a smile. "Don't worry, we'll figure something out." Zexion said nothing in return. He just hoped desperately that Demyx was right.

Axel gave Larxene the thumbs up. "Excellent work by the way. I can see they really fell for your trap."

"Oh shut up," she snapped.

Xigbar caught up to Xemnas just as he reached the elevator. Saix and Marluxia gave him a flat look –the former out of disapproval, the latter mostly because he was being mind controlled. He ignored both of them, speaking to Xemnas.

"Hey sir, leaving so soon?" he said, trying to lighten the mood. It didn't work. Xemnas just looked at him coldly. Oh well, he'd it tried the friendly way. This time Xigbar just held out his arm and pointed to his watch.

The three other men all looked at it, watching as the two hands revolved at alarming speed in opposite directions. Saix frowned. Xemnas' eyes narrowed. Marluxia's face fell into a lazy grin as he tried to poke it.

Xaldin needs to work on getting his mind games right, he thought.

"Namine, it's time."

She looked up at him, face painted with worry. For a moment he thought she would refuse, but in the end she nodded, drawing her expression into one of focus. He saw nothing else, but he knew what she was doing; snapping the last few chains of memory back in place, putting the finishing touches on the hearts she had access to.

Luxord continued his part as well. His eyes were closed, and he was half aware of the fact that he was idly shuffling the deck of cards he held in his hands. It didn't really bother him; his mind was focussed on rearranging the flow of time. It wasn't too hard, really. He was only changing it in one place, just one floor of the building. Still, concentration would intensify it dramatically.

And it was working. He could feel the effects of it all even from down here in the parking lot.

The room was next to empty now; all the people who had been allowed to leave were gone, leaving just a handful of people scattered around the hall. Before Zexion could think any further than that, a tremor went through in the room. No-one said anything at first, but then it happened again. Colour flooded through his mind, a rush of images he couldn't understand.

Physical twitching rocketed up his arms. He gripped them tightly, trying to ignore the numbing sensation. He looked to Demyx, only to find him doing much the same. He looked scared.

"Zexion-"

Demyx interrupted himself by suddenly arching back and falling to the ground. Before he hit the floor, water erupted into life in the air around him, a writhing mass of water floating in a sphere around Demyx's unconscious form.

For once, logical thought was replaced with pure erratic worry; what if Demyx drowned?

He took a step forward, but felt his control over himself slip away. Before he knew it he was on the floor, watching powerlessly as memory flooded his mind. He could remember so much. He was Zexion, the doctor who lived in Pleasantview. But he was also Zexion, the Cloaked Schemer, number VI in the Organization. Before that he had been Ienzo, adopted son of Ansem the wise and scientist at Radiant Garden. Three lives worth of memories, all crashing down on him at once.

But he could not afford the time to sort through them right now. He struggled to catch his breath at first, but forced it to return, and he forced each of his limbs to move as he got to his feet.

Zexion couldn't see Demyx or the room around him; all he saw was darkness. No, shadows. Illusions? Of course, he could control those. It was easy. He hadn't been able to five minutes ago, but he had in his past life – which he remembered now. Precise control of such a basic illusion hardly even warranted thought now. With his hands upraised, he made an opening gesture. Immediately, and obediently, the dome of shadow around him followed suit; it opened and faded away, leaving Zexion standing on the dance floor.

Chaos ruled the room around him. Different parts of the hall were host to columns of fire, vortexes of lighting and funnels of wind, each shaking the floor violently. Darkness pervaded it all, consuming the walls with tendrils that licked the floor and ceiling. But Zexion ignored all that. He ran straight for the roiling mass of water floating in mid air. Demyx was in there.

Zexion didn't stop when he reached the edge. He took a breath and walked straight into it. He slowed down, feet floating off the floor as the water enveloped him, but he swam forward, towards the immobile form of Demyx. He was just floating there, eyes closed. The water made Zexion's sight blurry; he couldn't see whether Demyx was breathing or not, but there were no bubbles of air escaping from his nose. He could only hope that he wasn't too late.

Soon, and much too long later, he finally swam close enough to grab hold of Demyx's shoulder. He used it to pull himself all the way there, floating above Demyx. Instinctively he tried to call his name, but only a gush if bubbles came out, forfeiting his air supply in the process. Clamping his mouth shut, he leaned in close to Demyx's face. And, in what felt like slow motion, Zexion bashed his head against Demyx's as hard as he could.

Two things happened at once. Demyx's eyes snapped open. And the water suddenly decided to obey the laws of physics. With all the grace of a popped water balloon, the water gushed out over the floor, leaving Demyx and Zexion very wet and gasping for breath, but otherwise alive. The sheer relief that flooded his mind was nigh upon overwhelming.

Demyx looked up at him then, hair damp and clinging to his face, for all the world looking like a fish out of water. Then he smiled that big goofy grin that he saved just for Zexion, the one that made his heart beat faster every time.

"Hi," Demyx said, in his usual chipper voice.

"Hey," he said back numbly.

"I think this is the part where I make a joke about making you wet," Demyx said quietly. He was smirking with the full knowledge of just how terrible his pun was, the genuine mirth lighting up his face. Zexion couldn't think of anything witty to say back, instead realising very suddenly that he was sitting on Demyx's stomach. But he didn't move. His usual inhibitions about personal space went flying out the window; instead he gave into the pure indulgence of having the other man pressed against him. They hadn't landed in a terribly comfortable position, but it definitely helped when he felt Demyx's hands casually snake their way over his hips.

Of course, he remembered now. He had loved Demyx before, in the past, and he was growing to love him again. It was all very confusing, trying to sort out the memories of before from the ones of now, but he figured he could manage. With a tender hand he brushed a stray piece of wet hair away from Demyx's face, earning him both a blush and a grin from the other man. It seemed fair that since they were in this life, he should follow follow the path this life had created. The alternative just felt like cheating. So, under the guidelines that he was very fond of Demyx but wasn't sure if those feelings were completely mutual yet, he regretfully climbed off Demyx and help him get to his feet. This was actually a lot easier said than done, but, they managed.

After pulling him up, Demyx's hand seemed to linger in his own for a heartbeat longer than was necessary. As much as he wanted to spend a few glorious moments overanalysing the implications of that, the situation around them called for his attention.

The other catastrophes around the room had subsided by now. Several battered, bruised and burnt individuals were all standing in different spots of the room. He knew them all like the back of his hand now, his memory flawless, and it stood to reason that they all knew him as well.

They didn't get any time to celebrate this fact, however. First Axel fainted, slumping to the ground with a thud. Larxene soon followed. Unexpectedly, Lexaeus and Xaldin were next. Vexen let out a shrill cry as he followed suit.

Demyx managed to shoot him a quick grin before he blacked out as well. Zexion could feel the pressure building up between his eyes. He would do the same any second.

The doors opened then. Xemnas strode into the room, black and white coat flaring out behind him, Saix and Marluxia right on his heels. He surveyed the room and gave curt orders that Zexion couldn't quite make out.

"Of course," Saix said, more audible as he walked further into the room.

"Pony," Maluxia cried ecstatically.

Then consciousness slipped away from him.

Dear Awesome Internet People, here is your next shipment of fanfiction. Behind-the-scenes updates include delicious cake, sleep deprivation, and the sponsoring of this chapter by the wonderfully fantastic DoomShuriken, who has Beta'd like the pro she truly is. Send her your love! (In a non-creepy way, of course)

And remember that reviews are worth their weight in gold! And since they weigh nothing whatsoever, you can definitely afford to give one. Yay!