Sorry about the long wait for this chapter, if anyone is reading. I hope you enjoy!
Note: All speech in the first half was written by Destiny, and I thank her for doing so. I would not have wanted to try to remember some of it.
After leaving Xemical and Aryx with two members that I knew I could trust not to give them all the wrong information, I left my dimension and quickly headed to the Double It! canon, intent on hunting down my fellow author. I had to make sure she knew about this new pair of swaps. And warn her about Xasech.
I picked a corridor at random, and found Destiny appearing halfway down. "Destiny!" I called as I ran up to her. "Caixsa and Xasech—"
"—Have been swapped for Aryx and Xemichal. I know, and God have mercy on your soul."
"What do you mean?" I asked, unsure about exactly what she meant when she said that.
She sighed before replying. "Nothing you need to worry about yet. But… where is Xemichal."
"In his makeshift room." I hope, at least. But I'm sure Sejox wouldn't lead him stray... Wait, what was it that happened when Xemical joined his Organisation?
"I need to talk to him." I nodded, and we headed back to my canon to the spare rooms at the end of the Corridor of Eternal Rest, looking for the right name tag, finding it quickly. The room had better still be tidy... I thought as Destiny opened the door. But when I heard what was going on inside, I was stunned into silence, grateful that I had my blindfold on. I'm pretty sure my face was burning red, and I think I missed some of the conversation from shock.
"..see how you all were doing." I head Destiny say as I finally tuned in.
"We're just fine. Now go away," Xemical hissed. I didn't have to guess who the other person was.
"Do you want me to add another scar to your collection?" I could picture Destiny standing on her toes, glaring and trying not to make it seem like she had to crane her neck to make eye contact with him. "I didn't think so." She said after a pause. "Come on, let's go. Aryx is next."
Destiny semi-pushed me out of the room. "What. The. Hell?" I gasped as the door closed. That was a pretty big thing for me to say, although I don't think that quite translated like that to Destiny.
"I have to censor most of their activity. They are quite the hormonal teenagers." I remained silent after that, but I was pretty sure I was still blushing.
"Is there anything I should know about him?" I asked, checking if I should even enter the room or not.
"No. Not really." I gave a sigh of relief, which was covered by the sound of a drill inside. "Sounds like he's fixing up his machines. Come on."
We entered, and the sound of the drill stopped. "Dest!" I heard him stand up and dash over. "It's good to see you here! How's Xion? Is she doing okay? She's not crying or worried sick, right?"
"Don't worry, Aryx," She reassured him. "Xion's a strong girl. She's perfectly fine."
I heard him sigh in relief, his not as unnoticed as mine. "Good. I was just worried about her."
"I came over to check up on you guys. How are you?"
"Pretty good. Mostly working on my gear." He lowered his voice a little. "The sound overpowers all of the noise Xemichal and Clairex make."
"Remind me after all this is over to make the walls soundproof." I made a mental note to do that as well, just in case.
"Can do. That'll be nice. I mean, it's not like I don't like them—oh, wait. I don't—but I can't stand listening to their 'activities'." Aryx spoke.
"I can't blame you. Take care, Aryx."
"Bye, Destiny." He spoke as the two of us left.
"I see why Xion chose him instead of Xemichal." I commented.
"Yeah. I can't blame her either."
"Are Xemichal and Clairex… usually like that?" I asked, honestly nervous.
"No," I sighed in relief at Destiny's reply. "Normally they engage in BDSM. I guess they don't have their toys, so they're going vanilla." I couldn't help pinch my nose in irritation.
"Why are they like that?"I asked.
"Search me."
"No, I mean, why did you make them like that?"
She froze, completely silent. She seemed stunned. It took her a few seconds to reply. "It doesn't matter. Come on, we need to go see Xenri."
"She's been here a while. I thought you were checking on the newly swapped." I asked, confused.
"Xenri's a special case. Today was supposed to be her exam."
"Exam?"
"Her monthly check-up. For the baby. She's six months in, now." My eyes widened in realisation, and I knew this was probably going to be my cue to leave soon.
When we got to Xenri's room, I stayed by the door instead of entering, knowing Xenri probably wouldn't want me intruding on the scan.
She looked up as Destiny entered, speaking. "He took a while growing last month. He's finally getting big," she said.
Destiny smiled kindly, myself giving a smaller one, and rubbed her belly. "Hey, little guy. Won't be long until you get to see the world, huh?" Destiny spoke.
"You'll get us home before then, right? Axel will want to see his son being born."
"It's a boy?" I asked.
Xenri shook her head. "We've haven't seen yet. We haven't had the equipment. But I have a feeling…"
"You asked Ula, didn't you?" Destiny's question was really more of a statement.
"She's not sure either. But she thinks he's a boy."
"Well, you're lucky. Today you'll know for sure," Destiny spoke, pulling out a machine I recognised as an ultra-sound scanner. "See?" I took that as my cue to leave.
I headed straight for Xasech's room to collect some things I knew he'd probably need to keep... Well, to stop him from becoming more insane than he already is. It wasn't a long trip, and I quickly reached his room, opening the door without knocking.
"Stay quiet you two."
"Okay..."
"That's not quiet enough."
"Shush, both of you."
I looked around the room, quickly spotting the three patchwork dolls sitting on the desk in every room. "Hello Palette, Stencil, Crayon." The three dolls seemed to shuffle slightly. "Just a sec you three, I'm taking you to see Xasech." There was no response, so I carefully picked the three dolls up and entered the Corridors of Canon.
Something I should mention about them, while the dolls are technically alive, they are more like animated object, and so can be taken into the Corridors, like the security tape I found, and the book Destiny got earlier. It is only living beings, such as Nobodies, that cannot pass between dimensions. Authors excluded, of course.
Anyway, I quickly headed for where the bedrooms were in Destiny's canon, finding my way to Xasech's temporary room quickly, knocking before entering. Xasech was sitting up on the bed, a sketchbook and a red crayon in his hands. He was looking towards the top of the paper.
"Xasech. I brought you your friends." I said, and he looked up, a smile suddenly appearing.
"Palette! Stencil! Crayon!" He called, jumping up and running up to me, taking the three one by one before staring to check them all for damage, muttering to them, ignoring me.
"I'll just leave you with them then." I replied, leaving without a word. He was distracted by them, I knew I wouldn't get much conversation, and I could already tell that he was fine. Now I just had to check on Caixsa.
His room was next door to Xasech's, and as I expected he'd already filled the room with mist. It was a sort of defence for him, it meant if someone entered his room at any time, they would be at a disadvantage if a fight broke out.
"Hey Hawk." He said.
"Hey to you as well."
"So, what's going on back in our canon?"
"You swapped with Aryx, the guy with machines for arms."
"Oh, him. I bet he'll get along well with Kraxnf." I heard the sound of a page turning.
"So how are you?" I asked.
"I'm fine."
"What definition of fine? Happy? Angry? Depressed? Good?"
"None of them." He replied with a sigh. "Numb I guess."
"Right." I heard him sigh.
"You already knew how I felt, didn't you?"
"Yep. I just wanted you to realise exactly how you felt."
I left the room, a goodbye not having any place at the end of that conversation. I heard another page turn before I closed Caixsa's door, then I headed back to my canon, a small idea forming in my head.
As to what that idea is, you will have to find out next time. Which I will be working on soon. See you guys then!