Chapter 22

Xellhack

As Larxene stepped over Kellach's rigid back to her allies, they slapped her high fives. She then scoffed, putting her gloved hand to her mouth in a giggle.

"Try to dumbfound me now, you little insect!" Larxene cackled evilly, giving a kick to Kellach's gut. He responded with a guttural choking groan. He could not move a single muscle. He had lost the fight just there. How could he have been so thoughtless? He growled angrily. But it came out as a purr. Larxene continued to chortle as her partners looked over Kellach's body.

"Well it wasn't easy, but we finally got him," Axel said, looking at Marluxia. There was an awkward tension between the two. They just stared at each other, stealing glances at Kellach every few seconds.

"Well are you going to pick him up or what?" Axel asked him, his hands on his hips in annoyance. The two nobodies once again stole glances at each other. Marluxia was still stunned by the fact that he almost had died from the same thing his attacker had been killed of….by his own gloved hands. Axel was afraid that Kellach was faking his whole paralysis like before, waiting to strike again.

"Oh for dusk's sake!" Larxene growled, pushing the two babies aside. She strode over to Kellach and looked in his eyes. He stared back, for once looking frightened. Larxene showed no compassion for this monster. Instead, Larxene raised the heel of her foot, and smashed it into Kellach's temple. The effect was instantaneous. His eyes flicked closed, body going limp. The second his eyes closed, the bluish haze of the barrier evaporated. No souls had been taken. He wasn't getting up for a while. Larxene then bent over, grabbing the unconscious nobody by the legs. With brute and surprising strength she slung Kellach over her right shoulder. Axel and Marluxia stood open mouthed.

"Wusses," Larxene scoffed, "I have more balls than the two of you put together," she laughed. She then turned to face her fellow nobodies.

"Let's take the bounty in," Axel said with a sigh, he wanted out of this creepy place. Marluxia and Larxene agreed with him. A dark portal of black materialized before the three, the gateway to HQ. The three took one more sweeping glance at the cavern, seeing the vast battle scars the four nothings had created on the desolate spit of earth.

"We're done here," Marluxia muttered while taking a step inside the dark portal, "let us return as we do not want to keep The Superior waiting," and with that, Marluxia and the two others entered the portal.

Blood. Spit. Poison. That's all he tasted. He looked to his side, seeing black. Surrounded by shadows, so much he swore he could hear silence. Was he dead? No, he heard a scream. The dead don't hear. But there was a pounding in his head. He still couldn't see. There were still senses present to him though. Cloth nestled against bare knuckles. His gloves had been removed. He wondered how little clothing he really had on. He got his answer when he finally tried to move, a stroke of silk caressing his bare back. So he was naked aside from some sort of cheap material for legging warmth. He gained some more sense. He realized his tongue was slit.

"I must have bitten it when…..when I fell, that explains the metallic taste," Kellach thought. His memory was blurry, pieces floating around on a fogged lakefront. More sense, his nose twitched at the smell of something sweet. So sweet it made his nostrils burn. He moved his hand to rub at his nose. The attempt was grueling. He realized that he had probably been pretty hurt. One more sense.

"So you have done it?" a commanding voice from afar said. He sounded leader-like. As if he knew he was the boss.

"Yes, Superior. We have captured the rogue Nobody." Said a man. This one sounded a little more laid back, although Kellach could still hear daggers in his tone, "You should see him in his, confinement."

"Oh will you stop calling Mansex Superior before I puke a lung? Christ, Mar Mar, sometimes I think your genitals don't hang," said a girl, vindictively, as if her voice was a weapon. Kellach shuddered as the conversation he was eavesdropping on continued.

"Larxene, you hold your tongue," said the commanding voice, "now be gone you two, get the ritual ready for our special guest," Kellach heard two pairs of boots tap away to the left of his peripheral.

"Seriously Mar, enough perfume?" Larxene muttered with a cough as the two left the area. Kellach rolled over to his side. He was starting to get his vision back. He was in a metal containment area. The walls were a metallic purple, with silver etchings carved along in lines. He didn't dare lift his body, the pain it induced before was unbearable. His eyes glazed over to his right. Metallic bars locked him in the violet vault. He could vaguely see through the bars, all white. There wasn't a single detail ahead of him, almost like a void. It made his head hurt, throbbing so much he had to lie back down on the cold metal floor of the container. He suddenly beat his fist against the hard container's floor, causing his already sore knuckles to ache. Now even more hurt than before, physically and mentally, Kellach crawled into fetal position on the cold metal floor, and attempted to get at least a little sleep.

With a rough stab in the back from an unknown force, Kellach was roused from his fitful sleep. He turned around quickly to retaliate, but was silenced with a vicious flow of electricity through his body.

"That'll put you in your place, you little pest," Snarled Larxene, taking her fingertips away from Kellach's forehead. She was flanked by two other members of the Organization, as Kellach put together in his head easily. One was tall, and well built. He had a mess of orange hair that stuck out mostly in the back. In his right hand, he held a cruel looking weapon. It resembled an axe, and yet at the same time it was a sword. He was snarling at Kellach, contempt on his face. On Larxene's other side was a slightly older man than Kellach would have expected. He had long blonde hair, and a wrinkled face, no doubt from age. But what stopped Kellach dead in his tracks was a pair of icy blue eye, which drained any attempt to flee or even fight back. This man was without a weapon though, and it surprised Kellach. Larxene then grabbed Kellach's right arm, and yanked forcefully, causing him to lift off his feet and right into the burly cloaked man. It was as if he ran into a brick wall.

"Move it twerp, you're being moved." Larxene barked, walking away down a metal lined hallway. Kellach could only nod and obey, as to not be sliced to bits by the strong man's weapon.

"We must prepare you for the ritual," said the elderly man, as the four of them walked through hallways and rooms unfamiliar to him. Larxene had the butt of her kunai jabbed against Kellach's skin, reminding him yet again how escape really was hopeless. Then they came to the sight of a single double-door elevator.

"Get in, runt," the tall one growled. Larxene shoved Kellach into the elevator. The other two let themselves in.

"Verification, please" said a disembodied voice through the speakers of the elevator.

"Larxene, Xll"

"Lexaeus, V" said the tall man.

"Vexen, lV" Said the elderly man.

"And this one too," Larxene chuckled, karate chopping the back of Kellach's neck, sending him to the floor, unconscious. He couldn't hear much, or really see at all. He just heard bits and pieces.

"Where nothing gathers…..superior better pay me for this……is he dead?"

When Kellach reopened his eyes, he couldn't help but gasp in astonishment. He was in a circular room, surrounded by chairs. These chairs were huge, raising way up into the sky. A cloaked black figure sat in each seat staring directly at Kellach. He tried to run away, he tried to fight back, but he was chained by an invisible force. His arms spread out, as if he were hung on a cross. He was outnumbered. After he could see only eight people, the other six must have been behind him. It was silent in the circular room, save for quiet murmurings from the crowd. Finally, Xemnas emerged from the throngs of the dark portal, holding a book in his hand. The rest of the organization fell silent. Opening the large tome, Xemnas walked forward, striding towards Kellach.

"Great members of our sacred organization! Today, this nothing of the world shall breathe again!" Cheers echoed around Kellach, making his skin crawl. What the hell was going on?

"His heart is foregone. His soul, cold inside. The cloaked black of night will clothe him and make him one of us!" At this, the room exploded with more cheering. The room was alive, and Kellach heard everything. His head was pounding faster than his heart. He was unnerved for what would happen next. Xemnas then began to read the tome.

"Bring forth the dark from the light. Purge the pure, and imbue with shadows. Darkness is eternal. There is no radiance." Xemnas continued to chant from the grimoire, as the others in the crowd began to chant with him.

"Dark, light. Purge, imbue. Darkness is eternal. There is no radiance!" Their words were sharp and powerful, each one a knife in Kellach's back. It was then, when Kellach began to see threads of black in his vision. They were like long, twisted threads, like a raven's feather. The threads weaved into one another, creating patches in his eyesight. It was as if a choking fog was seeping into his vision. All he could hear was the incessant barking of the organization.

"Bathe the boy in blood! Send him to the night! Once was dead, now reborn," Xemnas reached out his hand, his fingers reaching for Kellach's skull. He could barely see a thing from the threaded fog that only he knew was there.

"Once was dead…" His finger was inches from his forehead. No one was chanting anymore. Kellach wished for a sound, a cough, a chuckle, a breath. It could drive him insane.

"Now reborn…" Xemnas' finger touched Kellach's skull. It was as if a gate from within was thrust wide open, with the iron-wrought doors bursting off its hinges. The symbol on Kellach's forehead burned alive on his skin as if he were being branded. Xemnas took a step back in surprise; this was obviously not supposed to happen. The floor began to crack, chips of marble levitated off the ground with pure power and cosmic energy. Kellach was screaming in pure agony, every part of being searing with unimaginable pain. Suddenly, out of Kellach's wailing mouth, came a black, smoky fog. It enveloped his being like a dense shroud. Blue energy crackled around him like a storm. He was dead; he knew it, too much pain to bear. It was over, he was done for. And then it was over. It was done. No more screaming. No more fog. Nothing. Nothing fell to the cold marbled floor.

"Welcome to Organization Xlll, you will now live again. You are number XV, Xellhack." Silence, everyone watched the mass crumpled on the floor, waiting for a response. Then he slowly got to his knees, standing steadily on his feet. He was no longer underdressed, but cloaked in a black garb. His ebony hair with ivory highlights still was unchanged. He stood, smiling, his blue and yellow eyes glinting in the light of the room. The mark of the Orichalcos was incised across his forehead.

"The Blue Flash," at the mention of his title, he flicked his eyes to the Superior, "so how do you feel?" At that, number XV raised his right hand in the air, and made a strong fist. As he did so, the seal flared on the cracked marble floor, energy sparked around the symbol. His eyes sparkled with the same intensity. For the first time, Xellhack spoke.

"I feel, reborn."