Once again, The World That Never Was found itself swamped under rain. Most of the members grumbled something about it being just convenient that two days before they had to go back on active duty, it would start deluging.

There were other members who weren't as... opposing to the sudden onslaught of thunderstorms. Naturally, as a water elemental, Demyx was one of them. In fact, he'd been standing in front of the windows of his room since he'd woken up, simply watching and enjoying the soothing percussive tapping of the water as it hit the windows, punctuated every once in a while by the deep rumble of thunder.

A portal swirling open distracted him from his thoughts, while several choice words from a female voice were the first to emerge from it.

"God damned rain, I swear... I hate that stupid... 'go out in the rain, Larxene...'" she stepped angrily from the portal, and glared back at it as it closed. "'You're the only one who'd survive if you got struck'... asshole of... who does he think he is?"

"Now why'd you have to go out in the rain?" Demyx inquired, turning around to look at her. He had to suppress a laugh when he found her completely soaked to the bone.

The lightning elemental rolled her eyes. "The rain is agitating the Heartless, and they're all trying to flock into the castle for shelter. Kingdom Hearts knows how much Xemnas hates those little shadows ruining his false sense of light. And Kingdom Hearts also knows how much I hate getting water in my coat." She slapped her forehead again, turning back to face him. "Ah damn it, I came here to check on you, not complain about Xemnas and his stupid girly habits. Feeling any better?"

Demyx blinked in surprise. "Uh... y-yeah. Yeah, I am. A little sore from my muscles all seizing up... ah but don't worry! I'll be okay. I think I said that yesterday, and here's proof of it today."

"... You're such a dork," Larxene laughed, shaking her head.

"Only sometimes..." he answered back with a wide grin, leaning against the window and looking outside.

She sighed, running a gloved hand over her wet hair. "... I... for what... the first time in my non-existence? Yeah. I feel like I need to apologize, still. What I did wasn't exactly-"

"You were scared," the Nocturne interrupted, and his words rang through the air like a gunshot, calling forth immediate silence.

"What? I was n-"

"I could feel your hands shaking. You were trapped, and you were terrified, but without a heart your mind didn't know what the heck to make of it, so you went on the offensive," he turned back to her, shaking his head. "Something really bad must've happened to you when you still had your heart."

She just stood there, staring in shock. She began to speak several times, but failed to come up with a complete word. Finally giving up, Larxene just folded her arms over her chest and glared sullenly at nothing.

Demyx let the silence linger for a few moments, watching his companion and waiting for her to say or do something. It was rude to interrupt someone's thinking after all.

Finally, the lightning elemental sighed again. "Why can't you be the goofy moron everyone thinks you are?"

He shrugged. "Because... I'm not? You look cold and wet... want me to get you a towel or something?"

Larxene bit her lip. "I need to get out of this coat... it's freezing and wet..."

"Well, can you take it off? Uh... what I mean is... are you wearing something under it?" he chided himself mentally, she could take that to mean so many different things, and none of them had too appealing of consequences in Demyx's mind. "I mean... you seem like you want to stay here, and well, I wanna keep talking to you, but if you wanna run back to your room you can."

The Nymph sighed. "Marluxia's looking for me. I don't think he's happy, either."

Demyx laughed. "He'd never think of looking in here, huh?"

"He really doesn't like you," she admitted.

"He's gonna be thrilled when he finds out I kissed his... uh..." the water elemental trailed off, blinking, but before Larxene could say anything, he changed the subject. "If you wanna use the bathroom to dry off a little bit, go ahead. I don't think drip-drying is going to be comfortable or fast."

She nodded quickly and disappeared into the back room. A few minutes later, she re-emerged with another large, fluffy blue towel draped over her head and shoulders, her coat, shoes and gloves missing, but the pants still there. Demyx looked up, then quickly turned away. Towel or no, she was still showing a lot of skin. For a few moments, it would seem the lightning elemental didn't see what Demyx was doing, but was certainly surprised to see him shove his coat at her.

"Wha-?" Larxene looked down, blinking at the black mass of leather clenched tightly in the Nocturne's grip. Slowly, she reached out and grabbed it, surprised to see his hand fall away and him return to facing his back to her. She paused for another moment before slipping it on, dropping the towel in the process, and was immediately drawn to the warmth lingering inside of it, as well as the pleasant smell. However, that wasn't the only pleasant thing she was treated to, for as soon as she was done zipping the coat up she bore witness to Demyx's unclothed back.

It was, she decided with a smirk, very appealing. He did run a little bit on the thin side, but he had good muscle definition, particularly around his shoulders and upper arms, and managed to do so without looking disproportionate. A strange, quiet sound escaped the back of her throat just as it looked like Demyx was going to turn around, and without warning, she slipped her arms around his middle, holding him steadily and firmly. Demyx stiffened in surprise .

"Don't say a word, or move, or I'll fry you again..." With that warning, Larxene buried her face in the crook of his neck and closed her eyes. Slowly Demyx relaxed into her grip, a small smile tugging up the corners of his mouth, enjoying the peaceful silence that descended.

Their reverie wasn't to last too long however, as Axel came jogging through Demyx's door. "Hey! Dem, have you seen..." he gaped, jaw dropping, hand coming up to point as a reflex of shock.

Demyx blinked at him. "Oh hey Axel, what's up?"

Axel continued to gape. "What the heck is that?"

The Nocturne remained playing dumb, furrowing his eyebrows. "What the heck is what?"

"That," Axel finished, jutting his finger to the blond head resting on Demyx's shoulder.

"Aww, Axel. I don't think she'd appreciate being called after an inanimate object. Even without a heart we still have pronouns, you know."

"He's right. Now get out of here, number eight," Larxene growled, moving her head slightly so she could rest her chin on the shoulder in front of her, rocking up onto her toes to gain the needed extra height. She then proceeded to glare at Axel fiercely.

"Ah... uh..." the red head looked between the two of them. "Uh..." He looked back at the door for a moment, then resumed facing forward. "Marluxia was wondering if you've seen Larxene."

Demyx laughed, and leaned back slightly. "Now why would I have seen her around? She doesn't like me enough to give me the time of day..."

"I don't know," Axel replied. "But he's making it a point to annoy us to look around. He sent me here because he can't stand coming in here for some reason."

"I'm glad he can't," Larxene sighed, closing her eyes again. She was warm and content now, and would hate to have it interrupted.

Axel smirked. "Well, if you haven't seen her around, I'll be off." He threw a look over his shoulder as he began sauntering out. "You owe me for this one."

"I'll get you back later, you snarky bastard," the lightning elemental shot back.

Axel just laughed before stepping through the door again.

"I'm honestly surprised he did that..." Larxene said, eyebrow raised.

"Oh, Axel's not that mean unless you do something to him..." Demyx replied. "Besides. It pays to scratch his back every once in a while so he'll scratch yours."

The Nymph 'humphed.' "You're saying you're friends basically, right?"

Demyx did something akin to a snicker. "Well yeah. He's got his nose too far into everything not to be his friend."

"Feh," was her only response.

The Nocturne shook his head, before carefully stepping out of her grasp. Surprisingly enough, she let him, though she immediately missed the warmth of his presence.

"I better go put on a shirt before people get weird ideas... the rumors will be flying if anyone else walks in here," he called, walking towards a smaller, closed door. Larxene watched him go for a minute, admittedly just to watch him walk around shirtless before she turned back forward and walked to the chairs across the room, plopping down sideways in it like she usually did, taking a moment to lift up part of the hood of the cloak and bury her face in it. Some part of her kept calling her actions silly and childish. Nothing could come out of this. Those thoughts were ignored, and pushed to the back of her mind.

It didn't matter that nothing could come of this. What counted was that she enjoyed what happened.

Demyx emerged a few minutes later, in a somewhat baggy black t-shirt, and plopped down on the chair semi-across from hers. It didn't take long for someone to speak.

"Hey, do you think the Superior's plan'll work? That this big old glowing moon-thing will actually be the thing to give us our hearts back?" Larxene said thoughtfully.

"Well..." Demyx threw a look over at the 'big old glowing moon-thing'. "I can't say it isn't strange... or an eccentric idea. And frankly, I don't think we should be rounding up hearts like cattle in this way, but... we've got to trust the Superior knows what he's doing. He wouldn't be leading us if he didn't have some intelligence."

"Hm. I wonder... if we do manage to get our hearts back... do you think we'll end up in the same place?"

"What do ya mean?"

"Like, when we lost them, didn't you wake up in Twilight Town, too?"

"Yeah, I did."

"So what's going to happen when our hearts come back? Are we going to just magically teleport back to our home world, or wake up in one place...?"

"I don't know. I think it would be nice for all of us to end up in one place, though. It'd be fun to see what everyone was like back when they were..." Demyx trailed off, finding it hard to force out his next words. "Back when we all were decent people." He looked at the ground and fell silent.

"You alright?" Larxene asked, watching him.

"I never really thought about it before. I mean... what we are going to become...? The Organization and all... I mean, it's not like I like being a Nobody and having this dull ache in my chest while the rest feels numb... but when we get our hearts back, we'll all go our separate ways. And furthermore... we won't be us anymore. You know? As Nobodies we're just like... placeholders until our hearts get back and take over again... I don't even know what I'm talking about anymore..." He scratched his head and laughed sheepishly.

"No, I get what you're trying to say. We get our hearts back, the Organization will disband, we'll all go home to mommy and be happy. We'll probably forget about our time spent here, wandering the middle of gray nothing... and we'll forget each other... and even if we do meet, we won't fully recognize anyone because... no one will be how we remembered them. Yeah, I mean, I hate half the people here, but still. Then I have to ask myself... do I want to remember what being a Nobody was like?"

"I do."

"Why?"

"Because it's an experience of my life. A unique one, and at the same time, one I'll never want to repeat. Now I know how not to be an idiot and get my heart taken. With a little luck, I might be able to keep my water manipulation powers, and fortify myself that much more against the Heartless."

"With a little luck. Since when have any of us had luck? We've got to be the unluckiest bastards in the universe."

"Oh I dunno. I thought Lady Luck was sleeping with Luxord."

A laugh. "Different kind of luck."

Demyx grinned. "Not that I'm complaining about you being here or anything, but what are you going to do about Marluxia?"

Larxene's face darkened somewhat, and she took to staring at the ceiling. "I don't know. I guess as soon as my stuff dries out, I'll go find out what the heck he's making such a ruckus over."

"It should be done soon..." Demyx looked away.

"You don't want me to leave, do you? You realize that Marluxia won't leave anyone alone until he's found me, right...?" she replied, sighing softly.

"Yeah, I do. But-"

A crash interrupted the proceedings, followed by a particularly long list of vilifications.

"Ah hell... there he is..." Larxene groaned, leaning her head back.

"I thought he wouldn't come in here?"

"He must be really desperate. Keep quiet if you know what's good for you."

"Oh, I know..." Demyx sunk down into his chair, putting himself out of sight for the moment, suddenly glad that his chair conveniently faced away from the door. He was smart enough not to get between the other two.

"What the HELL are you doing in here?" Marluxia burst out. "This is the idiot's room."

"Maybe because I want to be?" Larxene snipped back icily.

"You want to be in here? Why?"

"Maybe because it doesn't reek to high heaven? Perhaps because it's not violently, and admittedly very ugly pink. Maybe because the owner is a half decent conversationalist?"

Marluxia snorted a laugh. "Conversationalist... Too stupid to tie his own shoes is more like it."

Demyx winced and whispered, barely audible to himself, "Oh come on."

"In any case," Marluxia continued, looking around the room distastefully. "We have things to do, Larxene, and you know it. Come on." He turned around.

"What are you, my mother?"

Marluxia paused, and suddenly the air in the room tensed up. Demyx flinched.

"No," the pink haired male said. "But I am your lover."

Larxene laughed bitterly, then shot a retort, words dripping in honeyed venom. "Right. Lover, because you can really love without a heart. You tell the same to Naminé?"

Demyx felt his lungs stop working all of a suddenly. Marluxia was doing what with who? If he survived this, he was going to have to drop that one on Axel.

"That's none of your concern," Marluxia ground out through clenched teeth.

"Riiiight. I'm your 'lover', but I can't know about your personal life. Because that makes sense," came the reply, and Larxene crossed her arms.

Marluxia turned back to face her, then seemed to notice that the coat she was wearing was awfully big in the shoulders and dragged on the ground. "That's Demyx's coat, isn't it?"

"Oh, is that jealousy I see rearing its ugly head, Marly? You really shouldn't get so uptight over it. I mean, if you can pound Naminé on the side, why shouldn't I be able to try something new?"

Demyx was going to bring that up with her later, but as he thought on it a little more, he realized she hadn't tried anything sexual yet. It left him somewhat confused as to the nature of their relationship.

"For your information," Marluxia growled, trying and failing to keep his temper down. "I have yet to engage any... illicit activities with her."

"Key word, yet," Larxene pointed out venomously. "You saving her for a special occasion, then? Christen your newly acquired castle and higher position in the Organization with her virgin blood? Are you just using me to slake the lust that's for her on the side then, Marluxia?"

Marluxia was silent for just long enough that Larxene pounced on it. "I knew it. You're disgusting. Go back to your little girl, you deranged freak. We have no more to talk about."

"Oh yes we do, Larxene. Where is the little prick anyway?"

"Uh oh, Marluxia's resorting to name calling now. Time to tuck tail and go home," Larxene mocked.

"You stay out of this... where is he?"

Demyx took a deep breath, swallowed hard, and popped up in his chair, turning around with a wry grin. "You shouldn't frown so much, Marluxia. It'll make you age faster."

-

A/N: BUAHAHAHAHA. Cliffhanger. Yeah. To the ice elemental in the peanut gallery: through the boot, they can't be made of too tough fabric XP. I forgot to mention that. As well as a couple other things. I don't know if I'll edit the last chapter, I'll admit it was a tiny bit rushed.

As for the rest of you reviewers! I love you all! Bestow upon me your kind words! It keeps me motivated. :D