And now we're in the Organisation :D Lumaria is still in there but Marluxia is also in there too, let the madness begin...
I woke up in purely white room, staring up at a purely white ceiling with a single light bulb hanging from the centre, with no idea where I was. I was lying on a bed with crisp white sheets covering me. My head was pounding (as if I had been repeatedly hit in the face with something hard), my mouth felt dry and my vision blurred every so often. I blinked and reached a hand up to rub my eyes. As I moved my muscles felt stiff and heavy, as if I had been lifting weights for the entire previous day. When I reached up to rub my eyes I realised that I was naked and ice cold fear swept through me. Here I was lying in a bed in a room I had never been in before with no idea how on earth I got there and at some point I had been stripped of my clothes.
I tried to sit up but the pounding in my head intensified until my skull was practically throbbing under my hand and I lay back down. I closed my eyes and tried to remember what on earth had happened to me. I struggled through the fog of my mind but all I could remember was waking up in this room, in this bed. I had no idea how I got here, whether I was actually supposed to be here, hell, I wasn't sure if I even remembered my own name! It was too foggy, too hazy, to make out anything passed waking up.
The throbbing in my head began to subside underneath my palm and I decided to try sitting up again, this time more slowly so that I wouldn't pass out or vomit (the pounding in my head and the dry taste in my mouth made it impossible for me to rule out a concussion). Ever so slowly I managed to make it up to a sitting position, leaning back against the headboard of the bed as the world span slightly. Once it stopped I looked around the room; everything was white except for a long black leather coat hanging over the back of a white chair with black trousers, black boots and black gloves folded on the seat with it. A jolt ran through my entire body as the memory suddenly sprang back into my mind.
Fire, and lots of it, filling my flat and destroying everything in its path. A figure coming out of the fire – a figure who looked like someone I used to know – cornering me. Pain shot through my chest as the memory of the figure's hand plunging into my chest and clasping my heart. Watching him pull it out, still dripping with blood, and it turning black in front of my very eyes before he shoved it back into my chest. It was only after that point that my memory started to fade again, although I did remember the figure's last words; 'Welcome to The Organisation'.
The Organisation…I guess that was where I was now. Was what happened in the fire my initiation? Now that that memory had returned somewhat I had the vague memory of seeing something similar done to someone else but I couldn't remember who. In a way it didn't seem important – it didn't feel important. It was only then that the thought struck me; aside from paid and terror at having woken up in a strange room, completely naked, I hadn't felt anything since I had woken. I hadn't felt relief, sadness, or any other kind of emotion that would have seemed normal in this situation.
I heaved myself out of bed, still feeling stiff and tired, and walked over to the chair with black clothes on it, the only colour other than white in the entire room. There seemed to be no other clothes so I pulled them on; they fit me perfectly. This should have disturbed me, should have caused some kind of worry or panic to set in (it's hardly normal for the only clothes in the strange room you've woken up in to fit you perfectly unless they had been specifically made for you.) However the clothes were comfortable and warm against the slight chill in the room so I didn't stop to complain. Once dressed I left the room to go in search of other people.
The corridors of wherever I was were the same brilliant, pure shade of white that my room was. There seemed to be no windows to the outside world and the only light was artificial, from more light bulbs strung from the ceiling. The artificial light only made the walls seem ever brighter and I found myself having to squint slightly as I made my way along the corridor. The place was deathly quiet and I was beginning to wonder if I was the only person here when I heard voices from behind me.
I turned to see two men walking towards me; one was tall and slender with a multitude of red spikes and inverted teardrop tattoos underneath his eyes the other was small, much smaller in comparison with deep purpley blue hair that hung over one side of his face. The taller man looked up and grinned at me.
"So you finally made it out then?" he asked rhetorically. "You were out for a good week, thought I was too hard on you." he finished before even giving me a chance to speak. The shorter man smirked and softly snorted with laughter.
"Too hard?" he asked derisively. "Axel I'm shocked to hear that statement come out of your mouth."
"What can I say, Zexion?" Axel shrugged, smirking. "I'm not always such a hard arse on my victims."
"Well this one is still alive so I'm classing that as personal progress." the one named Zexion relied. "What is your ranking number?" he asked turning to me.
"My number?" I asked. It was the first time I had spoken and my voice came out sounding horse and slightly deeper than I imagined it to.
"Number 11." Axel stated proudly. "I should know; I bought him in myself."
"What do you mean by number?" I asked still confused.
"The Organisation is comprised of ranking numbers." Zexion stated in a bored voice. "Those with a higher rank have been a member longer than those with a lower ranking number. The higher ranks also have more standing and power than the lower ones – if you disobey an order from a superior that is classed as treason and you will be put to death for it. Learn who out-ranks you and show them respect. If you are Number 11 then, as it stands, everyone out-ranks you."
"So try not to piss people off." Axel grinned.
"Essentially yes." Zexion confirmed. "For now it is best to keep your head down and stay out of trouble, unlike Axel."
"I do stay out of trouble!" Axel exclaimed raising his hands in defence.
"Yes but you do have a tendency to rub people up the wrong way." Zexion chided. Axel barked with laughter that echoed down the corridor.
"What can I say?" he shrugged. Zexion rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"Take my advice and don't use him as an example." he told me. "I best be on my way; I believe Vexen has requested my presence in the basement. Good afternoon Marluxia, Axel stay out of trouble."
I watched Zexion continue on down the corridor until he reached the end and turned in, what I assumed, was the direction of the basement. As I watched him go I was assaulted with another hazy memory – it was of a woman holding a photo of a boy who looked exactly like Zexion. In the back of my mind I could recall her begging for my help to find the boy in the photo, except the boy in the photo wasn't called Zexion. His name was Ienzo and, the more I thought about it, I didn't remember my name being Marluxia. I guess that was what I was known as here as that was what Zexion had referred to me as but for some reason the name didn't feel quite right somehow.
"So," Axel began catching my attention and bringing me back to where I was. "as you're a newbie and everything, and you just woke up, you need to report to The Superior."
"Superior?" I asked. Another memory shook me; three girls in an alleyway standing over a terrified looking man. 'The Superior wants him alive,' one of them had said 'so we take him back alive.'
"The leader and founder of The Organisation; Master Xenmas, the Superior." Axel told me. "He sees all our new recruits when they are brought in. I'll take you to him."
"Ok." I replied obligingly, not wanting to disobey an order from a higher rank (although Axel didn't seem as if he particularly cared about the ranks) and followed him down the corridor. "Axel?" I asked after a moment's silence.
"Yeah?" he replied turning back to look over his shoulder at me.
"Where are we?" I asked. That had been the second most burning question in my mind since I had woken up, the first being what am I doing here but I didn't think that one would get answered.
"In The Castle That Never Was." Axel replied, as if that was sufficient enough of an explanation. "The world you came from, the world we all came from, is just one of an infinite number of worlds all running within the same time frame. This Castle just happens to be in a world that was never supposed to exist, hence The Castle That Never Was."
"What do you mean 'was never supposed to exist'?" I asked.
"Well technically we aren't supposed to exist." Axel stated. "As beings without hearts we shouldn't be able to live or exist but we do. There's no explanation for it but we are still living, breathing beings – we just don't have hearts." I nodded rolling that prospect over in my head. Evidently that was why I felt nothing, why I felt hollow and why I felt as if something was missing somehow.
"Axel?" I asked after a pause. "why do I remember you?"
"I knew you before." Axel replied a little quietly.
"You remember what it was like not being a…" I began.
"A Nobody?" he asked. "That's what we are Nobodies. Yeah I remember, only flashes here and there, but enough. Yours will come back in time."
"Does it feel strange?" I asked. "Only half remembering who you were?"
"I guess so." Axel shrugged. "I don't tend to think about it much." As we turned down another corridor a gangly man with a strange haircut (halfway between a Mohawk and a mullet) almost bumped into us. He took one look at Axel and his eyes widened in fear before he darted away as fast as humanly possible. "Some of us are more like our Other selves than others." he smirked cocking his head in the direction of the retreating man.
"Seems a bit skittish, doesn't he." I remarked. Should have been killed when The Trio had the chance, he doesn't need to live. Wait, that wasn't my thought. That wasn't a thought I would have had. It was almost as if there was another, angrier and colder, version of myself inside my own head that had suddenly awoken. Axel laughed darkly.
"He won't live much longer unless he toughens up." Good, why bother making someone that pathetic into one of us. There it was again, that voice in my head. It didn't sound like what I thought I would sound like but, then again, I wasn't even really sure what I should sound like so maybe I was as much of a bastard as the voice in my head made me out to be. I shook the thought out of my head for now.
"So why does The Superior want to see me?" I asked.
"Who knows?" Axel replied. "When he called for me it was to give the my first mission so I believe he'll do the same with you." he told me as he stopped in front of a door, also white – everything in this castle seemed to be white – with a large Roman Numeral I in silver mounted on it. "He won't bite, honest." Axel grinned before heading off down the corridor.
"Thanks for the tip." I muttered to myself. I turned to look at the door. Despite how purely white it was it felt ominous; I was about to meet the leader of this Organisation that I had been initiated into without knowing why they had chosen me. I reached up and knocked twice on the door.
"Enter." a deep voice said from inside. I opened the door and, before I could enter, out stepped a man with long blue hair, slightly pointed ears and a cross shaped scar right in the centre of his forehead, right between his eyes. He looked at me with disdain, as if I was some creature he had found nesting in the back corners of his house, and it was a look I vaguely remembered. It was a look I had received from someone who looked just like him when I told him what I did for a living. I don't quite remember what that was but I most definitely remember the look.
"And you are?" the man practically growled.
"Number 11 reporting to The Superior." I stated, not really knowing what else to say in this situation.
"Were you summoned?" the man asked.
"I was brought." I replied trying my best to sound respectful – the last thing I wanted to do was get on the wrong side of a higher rank on my first day. Pretentious prick, I would snap your neck if I had the opportunity.
"By whom?"
"That will be all Siax." another voice said. I looked over Siax's shoulder and saw a man with long silver hair sitting behind a desk, rifling through some papers. Siax looked back at the man behind the desk, who I assumed was Xemnas, before turning back to glare viciously at me.
"Thank you Superior." He inclined his head in a slight bow and left closing the door behind him as he did. I stood staring at the man behind the desk, waiting for him to give me his orders. After what seemed like a good five minutes had passed he finally looked up and addressed me.
"So Marluxia," he said, his voice velvety and smooth like silk flowing over skin. "you have regained consciousness after you were brought here a week ago by Axel. Do you remember how you got here?"
"Vaguely." I replied.
"That is something." he stated. "Now that you are member of The Organisation I would like to assign you to your first mission."
"What will I have to do for this mission?" I asked raising a sceptical eyebrow.
"As we are still building our numbers I would like you to recruit another member for me." Xemnas told me.
"Of course Superior," I replied. When standing in front of him I found myself overwhelmed with the compelling need to be respectful, that may have been because the man had the power to end my life if he so chose. "but why send me? Why not Axel?"
"I am sending you on this mission firstly to test your reflexes and how you handle yourself and your powers. Axel informed me of the way you handled yourself before joining The Organisation so I am very intrigued to see what you can do now." Xemnas explained.
I raised an eyebrow; I don't remember being a particularly skilled fighter but, then again, I didn't really have that much recollection of anything substantial. I hoped that I would regain my memories, if nothing else to fill in some of the blanks. I would like to find out more about myself for no other reason than marginal morbid curiosity than any actual desire. I guess now I have the option to start anew and rebuild my identity if I so choose.
"Who is my target?" I asked. Xemnas pulled a photograph from a folder and passed it to me over the desk. I took the photo and a familiar face stared back at me. It was a woman with cropped blonde hair and as soon as my eyes locked with her photographed ones I suddenly found myself assaulted with a flash of memories. Not half memories like the ones I had experienced so far – actual memories that should have made my heart bleed. Memories that should have made me laugh, cry, scream and feel something – anything – but there was nothing.
I remembered Arlene and I remembered Lea. I remembered all the times we had hung out together and I had a lifetime on memories with Lea. These memories all came flooding back to me along with my name – Lumaria. It didn't seem like it should suit me and in my current mind set; Marluxia was beginning to feel like a much better fit for me. I used to be weak, anti-social and scared but now I felt powerful.
I looked at the photograph in my hand and I felt a small smirk play about my lips. I remembered the last time that I had seen Arlene; we had ended up in bed together and it seemed only fitting that I should be the one to initiate her into The Organisation. I slipped the photograph into an inside pocked of my cloak as that same dark, dangerous voice inside my head began shooting thoughts into my head that I would have never dreamt of having on my own. The ways I can make her suffer… I shook my head a little and bowed to Xemnas before turning to leave the room.
"Marluxia." Xemnas said as I reached the door. I turned to see him smirking at me from behind his desk.
"Superior?"
"Bring her back alive." he ordered, still smirking which the dangerous part of my mind that was becoming more and more prominent with each passing second took to mean 'as long as she was alive the rest of the condition I bought her back in was up for debate'.
"As you wish Superior." I smirked, bowing again before leaving the room. I found Axel leaning against the wall waiting for me.
"Got your target?" he asked.
"Yeah." I replied.
"Want me to show you how to get out of The Castle?"
"Please."
"Then follow me." he smirked pushing himself off the wall and walking away from Xemnas' door. I followed silently, preparing myself for what my mission. All I could think about was Arlene…and how I was going to destroy her…