My World

Chap 15 – Unveiled

It was colder outside than Mickey had anticipated. And the temperature seemed to have dropped another ten degrees when his ship had landed to his destination. The World that Never Was.

He had not told the others where he was going and what was he to do because he knew they wouldn't have allowed it – never in a million years. He had his own investigation to work out, and it was he alone who felt he should carry the burden of sneaking into enemy head quarters at night. The three children had already done their part, and were off doing their own work. Now it was his time to do his job, and that was to protect his kingdom.

It was difficult, navigating through the dark and desolate world crawling with multitudes of Heartless and Nobodies. A heart as strong as his would've been detected miles away by any Heartless or Nobody. However, he was careful not to run into public areas where his appearance would cause immediate detection, cloaking himself in the black over coat and darkness, most of the mindless goons would waddle their way towards his direction only to find nothing there. Though stealth was never exactly his forte, he did have to arm himself with a mechanical crossbow for instances where he had been found out.

It felt as if it were days, weeks, and months till he had finally reached the Castle That Never Was. When in actuality it had only been about two hours. He took a half an hour rest, surveying the castle perimeters, of course, heavily guarded with higher ranking Nobodies and just around the bend, a back entrance. Mickey had to think of a plan to try and avoid as many of them as possible, and just as soon as he began to formulate one, the idea struck him full force. One of the oldest plans in the book.

Create a diversion.

Now the question was – how to go about creating this diversion. It didn't take too long to figure that out, as he realized he wasn't dealing exactly with the brightest tools in the shed. He picked up hard heavy rocks and proceeded to throw them far from his standing point. At the sound of the rocks hitting the ground from the opposite direction from where he stood, the Nobodies immediately bounded off in the direction to scout out the area. While Mickey, snickering, was able to slink by them undetected into the Castle That Never Was.

It was another of Xemnas' meetings. He sat smugly in his seat, as the other members surrounding the table all sat in awkward silence, fidgeting in the thick tension. They had talked amongst themselves about the situation, sans The Superior, and they all agreed that one of them should bring the matter up during the meeting. However, they hadn't talked about exactly who it would be to start the topic of conversation.

It was quiet for a long while, and Xemnas was about to speak till a voice crudely interrupted him.

"The clown – has to be stopped! Immediately!" Apparently it would be Zexion who would bring the matter up, but Xemnas did not stir from his seat and seemed to have even snuggled further into it.

"He's chewing his way through the core of this organization; he snatches memories and apparently steals away in the Room of Sleep! He may be defenseless but he is cunning and untrustworthy. I advise we break our connections with this being immediately and either return him back to his holding cell in his own universe or destroy him." Zexion folded his hands neatly on the table top, all eyes went from his direction to Xemnas who sat himself straight in his chair and coughed politely.

"There is nothing to worry about with him; I've sent Axel and Roxas to check on him to make sure he wouldn't be pulling any," he smirked, "pranks on us."

"And by "check up on him" I hope you mean, kill him." Larxene scoffed in her seat. "And that little hench wench of his too."

"We have yet to receive from him the final key to our plan," Xemnas remarked, not paying any attention to Larxene's sudden burst of insubordination. "Until then he can not be removed. But hear me," Xemnas brought his hands up and rest his chin on his knuckles, "When his part to play is over, he will be - exterminated."

There was silence, till a familiar voice spoke up, "You've been trying to reassure us with that line over and over again! But simply sitting on our hands and waiting will not be enough this time! That clown will have by that time have stolen our kingdom from right under our noses!" Larxene's cheeks were flushed in frustration. She has always been hot-headed and vocal just like her associate, Axel. But this level of outspokenness from her was just uncalled for.

"And I don't know about the rest of you," Larxene glares at the faces around the table, "But I'm not about to lose to a loser!"

There was silence again, though this time tension crackled and threatened between conflicting parties. "I would have to fully agree with Larxene here." Marluxia began giving his two-cents.

"It appears Xemnas is playing favoritism with the rookie." Marluxia snickered. "They've been talking quite a lot over at Castle Oblivion, and even here in the Castle That Never Was. Perhaps Xemnas is paying the clown too much regard rather than his own colleagues. If I were The Superior of this group, I'd be sure to keep on eye on the hired help rather than befriend them and let them rob us blind." Voices began bubbling out from the steaming pot of the meeting.

"Now hold on! Xemnas has been a competent leader thus far! What is there to worry about a mortal clown?" A shout came from within the group and people's voices were trampling over each other.

"It's his trickery! He's a conniving little – "

"Xemnas knows what he is doing!"

"Xemnas knows not what he is doing!"

"Can we please stop talking about the Joker?!"

"And what of his hench wench? She looks like she could – "

"ENOUGH!" A loud booming voice sounded from the highest ranking seat on the table. Everyone stopped their talking and the room fell into a hush. When Xemnas had commanded their full attention, he began to speak.

"I know we are all concerned about the true agenda of this – Joker." Xemnas places his hands calmly on the table top as his eyes roam around the faces sitting. "And some are more – concerned – than others." His eyes linger far longer than they should on the faces of Larxene and Marluxia. "So I'll explain to you my reasoning in my dealings with the clown."

A long pause, Xemnas moved his hands as if he were about to reveal the secretive contents of a package. "In order to defeat an enemy you must first understand him. And he isn't a very difficult man to try and please and understand as he likes to make himself out to be. He wants his own part of the slice of victory we'll be sharing and in talking to him he has revealed so much to me – of his secretive plans that – he has a very hard time actually keeping a secret."

The organization members held their breath and leaned in closer, ready to hear exactly what these "plans" Xemnas had heard were.

"He has set up base in Wonderland, and plans on using one of the Princesses of Heart to relocate and open - the Kingdom of Heart. Something which we've been trying to do for ages. He didn't flat out tell me this but when I told him that the plan he had thought of was a failure – he began laughing."

"He's openly mocking us!" Marluxia piped out. "He already knows we've tried a similar plan and have failed in our endeavors and only wishes to tease us! The sooner we get rid of this miscreant the better!"

"But I haven't gotten to the important part yet," Xemnas turns his head to Marluxia, "He's stated that he knows that it was a failure, and that he was simply jesting, but he says he knows how to get one of the Princesses. Something we've been meaning to get our hands on. He says that kidnapping was his "specialty" and if we promise him some of the power – he'll get her for us. He knows that the worlds – as soon as they get wind of us and our arrival – would hide away their most precious possessions and bring out war. However, seeing as how none of them have ever seen him before, they will be more willing to trust him – the lone stranger." He leaned back in his chair, "As soon as we get which ever girl he chooses to steal away, we simply break our little deal and get rid of him." He smirks in Marluxia's direction, "A good leader, such as I, would understand that you must always be a step a head of the enemy."

Marluxia frustratingly slumps into his chair and says not another word throughout the rest of the meeting. Vexen praises Xemnas' quick-wittedness in "keeping his enemies closer" and jocularly suggests that perhaps they should pick a much more tame associate the next time. Zexion was relieved that the argument over a stupid silly clown hadn't blown out of proportion and sent fissures in the Organization. However, he did take note of people he should keep his eye out for in the near future. Larxene wasn't completely satisfied with her Superior's response. There were too many ambiguous things about the deal, too many visible cracks that the weasel little clown could squeeze through and escape. She would much rather snuff the life from him than let him run small errands they could do themselves. They have captured all seven of them before, what would make it so hard to do it again? Perhaps there was another deal involved, something Xemnas was not telling them?

Perhaps it involved Axel and Roxas, they have been gone for quite some time now…

The organization members began to talk amongst themselves for a few moments till Xemnas had called an end to the meeting.

However, they're "masked" convention, had just been unveiled by a certain little creature. He had ears the size of basketballs and was tentatively listening to their conversations from outside the door. As he heard people began shuffling from their seats to leave he immediately scurried down the hall and disappeared around a bend. All the members dispersed through different areas of the castle, never taking note of the skittering shadows. All of them were too pleased with the fact that soon, Joker's part in their little game would be over and that things would go back to way they were.

Woot! Two updates back to back! Aren't you lucky! Just wanted to show a more active side to Mickey as he goes sloothing around hte place. And the Organization members - as seen in KHII - pretty much the only severe fault of hte Organization (and any bad guy group really) is their lack of loyalty. I kinda wanted to point that out with Marluxia and Larxene who think themselves more competent and kinda wanna run hte show.

As for Larxene - I like her xD. We need some more girl power! YA! To be honest I think Larx and Joker would get along pretty swell - though I could definately see Harls getting jealous xD