The end of their vacation was imminent- it was only meant to last seven days, and while Demyx would admit the next three days after the first couple weren't nearly as exciting, he didn't want to see it end.
Tensions in the Castle were at an all time high, earlier that day the Superior had once again called the lot of them together simply to yell at them for not collecting enough hearts, harassing the keybearer, or other such evility they were supposed to perform, so the whole Organization decided to gather together and beat each other up in 'friendly' competition to let off some steam.
Naturally, Demyx preferred to stay out of conflicts with anyone, refusing to let the Superior ruffle him in any way. He would do what he needed to do later, there was no use yelling at him when a simple please and thank you would suffice.
Marluxia, strangely enough, had also opted out of a nice chance to fight, but rather than staying and observing had retreated into his room.
Xigbar slowly tottered off of the platform, gingerly reaching around to pry loose a chunk of ice that had firmly imbedded itself in his rump. Vexen hadn't wanted to go down there, but with a crafty distraction from Zexion, Lexaeus had picked him up and fairly well thrown him down there. Now that the battle was over, Vexen had won through a careful 'firefight' between himself and Xigbar, rapidly hurling small chunks of ice at him like bullets, while simultaneously blocking himself from projectiles from Xigbar's gun. It had actually been a very close fight.
As one of the more... irritable members of the Organization, Larxene had jumped down next onto the makeshift arena before anyone else could get the chance before glaring up at the rest of the Organization, daring any of them to go down there and get their asses fried.
There was a murmur throughout the men, trying to decide who actually wanted to go down there and tempt her famous temper, when suddenly Demyx felt an arm sling itself around his shoulders and Axel's voice call down. "Hey, Larxy!" She twitched. "The Melodious Nocturne up here'll take you on!"
"What?" Demyx turned to look at Axel. "No I won't."
"Sure you will..." Roxas snickered from somewhere behind him. "You don't have any other choice..."
Demyx let out a cry of surprise as he, like Vexen before him, was unceremoniously tossed over the railing. Righting himself surprisingly easily in mid-air he landed hard on the ground below and groaned. "Aw man... not this again..."
He stood up and readied himself, the fights didn't start with a word or any other preparation, someone just started moving. Unfortunately, for the first few seconds neither of them moved and the men up above them started to get restless, whispering amongst themselves.
Finally, Larxene looked up at the collection of the rest of the members, and sighed. "I don't wanna fight him!"
"Aww why not?" Axel called back down. "Not in the mood for a one-sided beat down?"
"Not particularly, no. He's not even going to try."
"Oh come on, even if he did try it would still be too easy, so why not just take the opportunity to kick him around, then fight someone else more seriously?" Xigbar added, limping up to the guard railing.
Demyx clenched his jaw and his fists and locked eyes with the woman standing across from him. He blinked at what he saw there. She didn't want to fight him, and from the look she was giving him it was obviously for more reasons than she was willing to tell the rest of the Organization.
"Demyx..." the voice was calm and deep and everything the Superior hadn't been less than an hour ago. The entire Organization turned to look at him, wondering just how the heck he managed to appear like that. "Fight her, or you'll be chasing down Heartless for the rest of the week. Hold back and I'll make sure you do it through your next vacation as well." Someone in the crowd up above snickered.
The water elemental sighed and turned back to the center of the makeshift arena, to his opponent. He had to do it now, didn't he? He closed his eyes and let his carefully constructed mask fall away, slowly revealing the Nobody he had been trying to hide. A moment, two passed and finally his eyes snapped back open. They were as cold, unforgiving, and emotionless as the sea they were colored after.
Larxene flinched and took a step back, growling softly. "This is why I didn't want to fight him..."
A slow smile crept over his face, breaking into a wide grin even as a low, sinister chuckle escaped his throat. He steadied himself then threw his hand up into the air, summoning his weapon, Larxene following suit with her own.
She tightened her grip on the knives, focusing on his hands, waiting for them to strum out some note and summon up water. A tense silence followed, everyone waiting on who would be the first to move.
Finally, something happened, but the first moves were so fast, the entire Organization had to confirm with each other that they'd actually happened.
Demyx slammed his foot down, startling Larxene to dodge an attack that never came. As soon as he'd established which direction she was going to run, he sent an actual attack to intercept her. Unfortunately for him, her reaction was just a tad faster than that, and she stopped short and switched directions on a dime. Scowling, he sent another attack after her but this time she knew it was coming, jumped straight up in the air, and did one impressive back flip over the dying remnants of his first attack, during which time she chucked her entire handful of knives at him, accompanied by a thunder spell.
With a cry of surprise, the water elemental dove out of the way, the attack barely missing him, but the dispersion of the lightning catching him and stalling him as several hundred volts coursed through his body for a split second. Seizing the opportunity, Larxene did a rather impressive back-handed throw of the set of knives in her left hand, and Demyx barely had time to drop to the ground and cover his head, listening as the kunai whizzed by dangerously close.
As soon as he heard them pass, he was on his feet again, facing her.
Another standoff ensued, almost exactly the same as the last one the only difference being their positions had shifted to the counterclockwise by ninety degrees, and a little more distance had been put between them.
An impressed whistle sounded from the peanut gallery.
"You called it, Luxord," Xaldin stated, nodding his head down towards the battlefield. "They are almost evenly matched."
"Man..." Xigbar scratched the side of his head. "And here I was thinking the kid couldn't do anything right..."
"You've never had to be on a mission with him, have you?" Luxord asked, a smile tugging up the edges of his mouth. "That... kid... could very well be the one to save your arse if you are."
"Heh," Axel waved his hand. "I don't know about that, but he's tougher than he looks. That's why I volunteered him, I knew he could hold his own."
"I love it when people underestimate the underdog..." Luxord laughed. "It only leads to them emptying their pockets for me..."
"She's still got the elemental advantage here though, right?" Xigbar asked. "And the speed advantage."
"Speed, yes, elemental... I'm not so sure," Roxas said, tilting his head at the fight.
A confused look passed between several of the members.
"He means lightning is a double-edged sword as an element, keep watching and you'll find out why," Zexion finally said, breaking the silence.
Another short pause, and then the fighting resumed. The second round was much like the first round, both combatants playing the strategy of attack, flee, attack, flee again. It seemed like it would end up with neither of them coming out on top, when suddenly, Larxene was reminded of what excess amounts of water will do to a smooth surface.
With the screech of wet rubber failing to get a grip, the lightning elemental stumbled and Demyx took the opportunity to thoroughly soak her in frigid water.
With a yelp of surprise, partly from slipping, and partly from the sudden shock of cold moisture, Larxene managed to right herself again and glared at her opponent.
"Sorry," Demyx said. "Had to."
With a vicious snarl, the blond woman was up and charging him, keeping him busy with well-placed kunai throws. The only real place she could do any good amount of damage now would be in close quarters.
Of course, it wasn't as easy as it looked, her first punch managed to embed all but one of the knives she was holding in right hand in the back of his sitar, and popped her wrist painfully in the process. She took a step back, re-figuring her angle of attack, but as she did so, Demyx replaced his grip, grabbing the long instrument by the neck in his right hand before swinging the bulky object towards her. It was only through a rather impressive back-bend she managed to avoid being knocked out, and recovering quickly, actually used his own momentum against him by knocking into him and sending him towards the ground. With a yelp he was forced to release his hold on the sitar or end up going face first into it.
The blue instrument went sailing for the crowd of Nobodies, more particularly Axel. Unfortunately, the pyro didn't get his guard up in enough time to stop it. Fortunately, however, once it hit the threshold of the battle arena, it dissolved into water and rather than painfully whacking Axel with a large, solid object, it simply sprayed water in his face. Roxas turned and laughed at his best friend accordingly.
While that had happened, however, Larxene managed to pin Demyx down under her foot and was rather successfully and menacingly pointing a handful of kunai right into his face. Demyx, however, would not be deterred and while still grinning up at her, slowly moved his hands up to her ankles, lightly trailing over them with the backs of his knuckles. Her eye twitched slightly, and he could feel her toes curl slightly. But she was distracted just enough that she couldn't do anything when he suddenly seized her ankles and literally pulled her feet out from under her. A moment of wrestling later, and Demyx had her pinned.
"Whoa-ho! When did this turn sexual?" Xigbar said, the first to notice, and all of the ambient chatter suddenly ceased, even Roxas' laughing at the fuming Axel.
"I do hope he realizes Larxene doesn't do bottom..." Axel snickered in response, still wiping his face off with the back of his sleeve.
Silence again.
"Uh... why aren't either of them moving?" Roxas asked, eyebrows raised as he blinked.
"Ah, there we go. Kind of hard to do anything with your hands above your head," Xigbar replied a moment later, looking down at them through the sniper scope of his joined guns. "Can't tell anything else though."
Larxene growled, clenching her fists and trying to get any of her limbs free, but finding herself unable to. She glared at Demyx, who simply smiled lopsidedly in return.
"I hope you realize, water-boy..." she growled, tapping into her power. The air around them crackled. If she could do this right, she could avoid the electricity backlashing into her. And with Demyx's coat hiding most of her, she just might be able to do it without catching flak later. She just hoped she'd be able to salvage whatever relationship they had later. "Axel was right... I don't do bottom."
Suddenly, she arched her back, using his mistake of getting too close to her advantage, pressing as much of herself against him as possible, including her lips into his.
And then she ground her electrical power, right into him. The power was enough to literally launch him backwards from his position, and caused him to roll for several feet before finally coming to rest on his stomach.
No one moved for a long moment after that, the audience, or the two combatants. Silence ruled for a period of time, everyone waiting with bated breath to find the outcome of the battle.
Finally, Larxene sat up, clenching the side of her head and groaning in pain. "Remind me never to do that again..." she stated, loud enough for everyone to hear her.
"What did you do, exactly?" Axel asked.
"Uh... I ground..." she replied, but not without a little bit of humility.
"Reckless..." a voice muttered, as Demyx finally moved again, moving his head so he could look across the platform. "You shocked yourself, didn't you? You alright?"
"Yeah..." she replied, furrowing her eyebrows. She'd just fairly well electrocuted him and here he was inquiring about her health. "... You... okay?"
"Well, being subjected to several thousand volts of grounding electricity does tend to hurt a little bit..." he shrugged. "But I'm not fading, so I'll be fine." He smiled at her, and she could tell he was replacing his mask, piece by piece.
Larxene laughed then, she had to or the tension in the place would kill everyone. "Can we call this match yet? I'm sore... and tired... and just nearly killed myself with my own element."
Xemnas, standing up on a balcony above all the others simply nodded.
"Thanks..." she slowly regained her feet, steadying herself before walking forward slowly to the prone form on the ground ahead of her. "Can you stand up?"
Demyx laughed softly, and very slowly began to rise groaning in pain. Just as he was about to proclaim victory and limp his way back to his room, his brain felt like it had suddenly been attached to a rotor, and his knees gave way. However, rather than landing back on the ground with a painful thump, Larxene stepped forward and caught him, grunting under his weight, but rather than making a crack at how he needed to lose some weight, she whispered an apology into his ear.
"That's fine..." he replied. "Don't... worry... about it..." his brain decided then to do another violent twirl, and he found himself clinging to Larxene like she was some sort of life preserver. "Just gotta... make... the spinning stop."
"Take your time," She replied, holding him steady and ignoring the complaints of the muscles in her shoulders from the strain.
Finally after another long pause, punctuated by the few times his grip on the back of her coat suddenly tightened and a small noise escaped his throat, he seemed to regain some sense of balance and gingerly placed more and more weight on his feet.
"Alright... I gotta get to bed or something... this... whatever condition this is sucks," he murmured against her shoulder.
"Well, if it wasn't grounding electricity, I might've been able to paralyze you and you wouldn't be able to feel anything," Larxene replied with a jerk of her head, opening a portal behind Demyx.
"Now why couldn't you do that?" he complained, letting her adjust her position so she could walk him in the portal.
"Oh come on, I'm not that nice of a person," she shot back, grinning at the poor water elemental. She led him through the portal and out near his bed, leading him so he could sit on it. He sat for a moment, then moved himself up far enough on the bed that he could collapse on his stomach on it.
"Thanks... again," Demyx mumbled, turning his head so he could look at her.
"Why are you thanking me? I nearly killed you just so I could win a damned battle," if Larxene still possessed a heart, this might have been the time where her eyes watered up, and she would've apologized profusely. As it was, she simply waited for his response.
"It wasn't all that bad. I'm still alive... and besides," the arrogant grin returned to the Nocturne's face. "I got a kiss out of it. I say I came out pretty well."
Larxene slapped a hand to her forehead. "Oh you pathetic, desperate bastard..." she chided gently.
Demyx laughed and shrugged. "What can I say?"
"How about just asking next time?" the Nymph shot back, quirking an eyebrow as she smirked at him. Demyx's jaw fell open. "It's not like I would've really said no, you realize." With that she turned around, summoned up another portal and left him gaping.
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A/N: Yeah. So. To answer a few questions... because I indeed do read my reviews. I don't know what kind of plant would need mulch like that. Alternatively, I believe I described Marly as having a teal tree in the first chapter, so anything's possible, eh? XD
And yeah. Demyx as a 'happy-schmappy dunce' makes me sigh, unless the genre is for humor and they purposely put him that way. -.o He's not really that stupid, you can't be a complete retard and get into something like Organization XIII. However, a little slow to pick up on signals? That's a trait shared by many males. That can stay. -isagirl-