They searched. All five that were left searched high and low through every world Xemnas thought Roxas might be hiding in.
After Twilight Town, Larxene and Demyx were sent to look through Castle Oblivion again. They found torn paper, broken chains, destroyed pillars... and a massive overgrowth of vines though the former master of them was obviously long since gone.
The rest turned up empty, too, upon their next gathering. Not a sign could be found of the missing Key of Destiny.
They searched, taken to a world covered in ocean save for the small seaport sitting on a small island. Larxene was thoroughly surprised when Demyx stripped completely bare and bade her do the same. He told her that the town was not where they wanted to search. The place they were going was out there, in the ocean, and she better take off her clothes or lose them upon their return. She did as he said, and her confusion was soon swept away.
Roxas was not in this world, just fish and strange, finned people. Larxene made a snarky comment, wondering how it was the merfolk mated.
Demyx was all too happy to show her.
They searched.
And damn it she wasn't supposed to be able to look up and see the floor, she left that to Xigbar! She was going to mutilate that stupid, grinning cat.
They searched.
Demyx found himself on the lam from a nasty, spotted feline with huge fangs, trying to run through the thick underbrush of a jungle. Something went skidding past on the branches overhead, grabbed a vine, swung, and landed on more branches. The Nocturne took his cue from that and followed suit. The cat was left scratching its head in his wake.
They searched high and low, through the back alleyways of Hollow Bastion, though that got them very little. Most people were too afraid of them to speak anything, even some of the shadier characters who offered their knowledge for money seemed to conveniently disappear when the Nobodies were near.
They searched. Castle after castle, the next the same as the last, the princesses within offering little by means of help; they could sense the darkness the Nobodies exuded. Finally, Larxene got pissed off and started cutting them up, one by one, until they gave out facts. Of course, she didn't mean to kill the sickly pale one with dark hair. She didn't mean to piss off the weird, stubby men that seemed to stalk the anemic princess. And she didn't mean to throw Xigbar in the way of that axe.
But Larxene did mean to take the frilly tiaras from each of the girls as a symbol of her visit: Payment from them for her doing them the favor of not actually killing them. Even the one she did kill.
They continued searching.
"Did you hear... people have been spotting someone walking around that looks like him..."
"He who- no way! You mean M-mmm!"
"SHH! Don't speak the name of dead people!"
Demyx pulled on the drawstrings of his hood, trying to make the hole as small as possible, and hurried out of the bar.
They searched.
Or rather, they took a break in this world. Larxene had found some hot springs in the nearby mountains and they rested their sore shells, working kinks out of muscles and softening calluses. Demyx seemed to remember their mission half way through, but Larxene pinned him down and nearly made him forget his own name the second he opened his mouth.
All searches were becoming more and more fruitless, being taken to worlds farther and farther away from anything even vaguely likely to hold Roxas.
The open plains blazed past under Larxene's feet, her flexible spine spring-boarding powerful hind legs and making the edges of her vision blur. She stopped eventually, breathing heavily, before turning to look behind her. Her pursuers were gone, naturally. A smirk alighted her face then, pulling her lips back just far enough that fangs gleamed white in the savannah sun. She flicked her tail- it was straw yellow with black rings, and padded away quietly, thoroughly enjoying the cheetah body she'd taken on in the strange, animal world.
They searched, though their strength was starting to wane from all of the activity, their minds losing the sharp edge that had kept them alive until this point. They looked high and low though little mistakes here and there would result in various injuries, but Xemnas wouldn't stop laying on them worlds to look through, so they recieved little time to recover between looking.
Finally, it seemed as though the Superior had a temporary break in his insanity, and finally took stock of his subordinates. They were bedraggled, even the mighty Saix was bent over his own lap, elbows on thighs, sagging in his seat. Xigbar looked like he was dead, his sunken, ringed eyes closed, with no sign of movement from his body at all. Demyx and Larxene weren't much better, as he was practically carrying her, she being reduced to one weight-bearing foot from where her ankle had been bitten by a wolf. Neither of them could actually make it to their own seats, both forced to lean against the wall near the door. Axel was probably in the best shape of all of them, most of what he did involved compiling information and searching out promising leads, but he was showing the wear of long, sleepless periods of research. The whole lot also showed another trait of their exhaustion: black coats that had once fit with a tailor's precision now seemed baggy, almost draped over their forms. The strain of all the searching had trimmed pounds from all of them, pounds that none needed to lose, and added an extra- dangerous- frailty to Axel and Larxene: two who were already thin.
"Comrades," Xemnas said, and the word echoed through the huge room like a cannon firing. All eyes were on him, sunken and hollow, empty in a way that even Nobodies' should not be. Except Larxene; she was trying to summon up some anger- the effort showed on her face. "I see... what you have been doing is a great service to our Organization. So many places have been crossed off our list as places where Roxas is or could be. For these last few months, you have toiled so diligently, resting so little in your chases. No more! Today I announce a resting period. A whole week in which for you to rest as much as you need. After, searches will continue, however, I will stagger who is searching when and where, allowing you more time between worlds with which to rest and recover. Now, go forth and rest your tired, wounded, sick shells, rebuild your muscle mass, fill back in those gaunt cheeks. You are all dismissed."
Demyx nearly jumped and whooped for joy, but kept that in check; he'd have time for that later when he wasn't so completely exhausted. He left the room immediately, taking Larxene with him, and slowly made his way down the hall and to his room, his being the closest. Both of them barely had the strength to get their coats and gloves off after entering, and Demyx had to help his companion remove the boot from her bitten leg. Sleep reigned after that.
For the next few days, the Castle That Never Was became steeped in silence, the occupants too blatantly exhausted to make trouble for each other. It should have been unnerving. Should have, but everyone was too tired to care anymore, and in fact, began to become very used to it, so it came as no surprise that when the ninth and twelfth members spoke to each other, they had started doing so in hushed tones. Conversation, however, was brief and didn't hold much variety, a few words over food or when they were both awake at the same time.
So it was luck indeed when the realization struck Demyx that he'd never asked if Larxene remembered her original name, and both were awake and merely basking in silence. It took a few seconds for the water elemental to gather the words he was going to ask, his fingers thoughtfully stroking one of the Nymph's long, proclaimed bangs.
"Hey, Larxene?" He questioned finally, his voice soft and almost hoarse sounding in the empty silence.
Her fingers halted their trailing over his 'XII' scar. "Yeah?"
"What's your name?"
An odd question. Larxene rolled over onto her stomach so she could make eye contact, one brow raised. "My original name?"
He nodded.
"Well," she smirked at him, preparing to completely enjoy the look on his face when she told him. She laughed at her own imaginings, because this was just going to be too good. "My name is Lucidia."
"Ah-" Demyx began, but stopped, a hundred different shades of confusion roaming across his face, finally converging to form one hell of a bewildered expression. "...ehh?!"
Larxene burst out laughing, she could literally see his mind trying to take 'Lucidia' and reform it into 'Larxene'. "Or if you prefer, I am Her Royal Highness, Princess Lucidia anir F'ialgrim."
A hundred more questions flashed in his eyes, only to be replaced again and again. Finally, he seemed to get his gaping mouth to work, just enough to squeak out a question. "You're a princess?!"
"Yes."
"Ah... I... uh..." no words would come out again, so rather than embarrass himself more, Demyx snapped his jaw shut and just pleaded to her with his eyes to explain, even while his mind kept reeling with the newest information and... I've been sleeping with royalty?!
Larxene simply laughed in return. "You were expecting something normal?"
"I... Larxene, please. For the sake of my sanity. Please explain... everything... as much as you can..."
"Well, I was born in this tiny little world beyond the back o' beyond, as you like to call it. The eldest daughter of... uh... four I think. There may be more, I don't know. I ran away when I was fifteen."
"Runaway princess?" Demyx finally found something his brain could comprehend and clung to it desperately, his laugh reflecting the turbulence in his mind.
Larxene shifted back to her original position, head resting comfortably on the Nocturne's shoulder. "Runaway princess. Runaway bride. That year I was supposed to be wed to some... moronic ape of a man nearly three times my age. I had met him once... he was nice enough, but you could smell the greed on him from nigh a mile away. I knew he was just putting on a facade... But he was rich, and as royal families go, you have the eldest son take the throne, send the rest out to join the church, and marry the daughters to the wealthiest nobles you can," She sighed, and looked away. "I liked my family well enough, but I just couldn't take that...chauvinistic dick for a husband, so I left."
"Ah, ok... what about your name?"
"I'm right at that part, actually. I ran as far away as I could, and finally managed to find sanctuary in some tiny little... hamlet in a forest. Naturally, I couldn't just walk in there and tell them who I really was, so I went in under disguise. I cut my hair..." She paused to reach up and tug at a strand of blond that laid along her neck. "I'm still not used to it being this short... and took the name of one of the servants of the castle." A shrug. "Arlene."
That clicked in Demyx's head, all of the letters fit.
"And that's what I was known as for the... rest of my life. And the rest? Is really disturbing, graphic, and you probably don't want to hear about it."
"Couldn't be any worse than mine... if I could remember all of mine," Demyx laughed, shrugging.
"Oh, yes it could, but let me ask... did your number plague you before you lost your heart?"
A raised eyebrow was the water elemental's response.
"Like, just before you died, did you find the number nine all over the place...? Nine o'clock, nine... anything?"
He thought about that for a moment. "I... don't know... but... yes. Wait, yes it did. It was nine o'clock at night just before I left the party." A sheepish smile. "Go pick up more alcohol. Uh, the address to the place was 99, I remember that. Don't remember the street, though. I guess... I guess nine was following me around."
"Strange coincidence, you think?" She sat up, propping herself on one arm.
"It was the same for you then... midnight when you lost your heart? Or midafternoon?" He asked, looking up to meet her.
"No, midnight is when they finally found me... but you probably don't want to know the re-"
"Tell me."
"Are you sure about that?"
Demyx nodded firmly.
"Four years. It took them four years to finally track me down, four years to catch me. It was midnight, and I was sleeping, naturally, when the door crashed in. On the other side was the Duke... the man whose marriage I'd fled from. It was... it was raining that night. Badly. Some vicious sort of thunderstorm. They dragged me out of the house and into the nearby woods, tied me to the roots of some old, bedraggled tree. And then... well..." she adjusted her position so she was sitting, one knee drawn up to rest her chin on, her face a careful blank as she nodded at Demyx. The man paled, and gulped in response, understanding. "There were twelve men there that night, the Duke and eleven of his... assistants or something. And all twelve of them were allowed to have their turn."
Now, the Nocturne found himself physically ill. He fought hard not to break eye contact and retch over the side of his bed. The irony of the number of men wasn't lost on him at all- not only was Larxene number twelve, there were twelve males in the Organization.
"That's just the beginning. It gets worse. Are you still up for listening?" She asked, her face still perfectly blank and impassive.
Demyx wrangled the nausea down enough to swallow hard again, and nod. His voice was shaky when he spoke. "That's what I'm here for."
"The entire time I was staring up into the sky, trying not to choke and drown on the pouring rain, I was wishing with all my heart and soul that some random bolt of lightning would be kind enough to find its way down and strike me. After all of them were satisfied... well. You've seen my scar, right?" She traced a finger over her lower belly. The water elemental nodded affirmative; he'd seen the scar many times before, though it was white against her pale skin so one would really have to be looking to see it. "He told me as he pulled out this big hunting knife, if I was not going to marry him and bear his children, he would make sure I could have no other man's."
Another slow stomach flip racked Demyx's body with a wave of nausea. Once again he came so close to losing it.
"I finally got my wish, just after he'd splayed my stomach open. Lightning hit, but not me, nor any of the men. It struck the tree I was tied to, splitting it in two and setting it on fire. I don't remember much after that, but what I do remember was being free, and watching as I gutted the Duke with his own knife the way he had gotten me, only more violent... much, much more violent. The other eleven I ran after, one hand wielding the knife, the other trying to keep my stomach together. They grouped together and tried to come after me, but I... I was so angry. So hurt... I couldn't feel the pain anymore... just this strange satisfaction that came with watching the knife I held spill their blood. Finally, they managed to overtake me, but just as they did, fate decided to intervene again. The shadows of the forest came to life, and began slaughtering the men... I had called the Heartless to me, though I didn't know that until later. And when they were done killing the men and eating their hearts, they came after me," she finished with a sigh, sliding her eyes shut, the perfectly blank Nobody face remaining strong on her features. "The past sucks..."
"For all of us," Demyx whispered in response. He held his arms out then- a childish invitation for a hug- but the Nymph took it, curling back up against him much the way she had been, and another long silence descended between them. For some reason, he wished he was still able to cry, for then he would do it for both of them... because something told him Larxene wouldn't even if she could.
-
A/N: ANGST.
Yep, that's pretty much it: and I answered the request for telling Larxene's real name. Bet you weren't expecting that one. Any other requests?
Review please.
Btw: Guess what chapter number this is. Yep. It's twelve. Ecks dee.