Morning arrived as unrelentingly as Mr Slater. He was leaning over me, almost completely naked, shaking my shoulders to wake me. I mumbled something most probably rude, not actually sure what was coming out of my mouth.
"Hey, it's no fun being your boyfriend if you're just going to sleep!"
Reluctantly, I sat up, and stretched, still beneath the snow-white duvet of the spacious double bed, yawning rudely. "Come on, get up!" irate, I climbed from the bed, following Mr Slater over to the massive wardrobe, that seemed to be part of the wall. It was a massive walk-in closet inside, almost a room in its own right. The closet was almost two by six metres long, with two rails stretching the entire length on either side, with masses of clothes hanging from them. Well, one had a huge load of clothes all crushed together, visibly pushing against the walls. The other had less garments hanging on it, nowhere near as jammed as the other rail, but as Mr Slater pointed to them, I realized that they were now mine, and hugged him again.
"They mightn't all fit properly, because they used to be mine, but they're there. You can't wear all your blacks again, because the Organization will spot you a mile away." I nodded. Beneath the rail laid a few cardboard boxes, which I silently questioned Mr Slater about with a hand-shrug. He answered with a gesture, and there were accessories and several pairs of shoes in there when I opened it.
"They're in good nick, but, like I say, they're all old misfits." I thanked him anyway, and as he pulled a sharp blue suit and black trench coat out, I rifled through to find a few matching garments, and came out with a simple grey suit. I questioned whether or not Mr Slater had ever worn anything but a suit. The trousers were a little baggy, so I grabbed a belt from the box, and a silk handkerchief looked good with the blazer, so I popped that in, too. There was a skinny tie that I looped around my neck, loosely, and checked myself in the full body mirror.
"Not bad." Mr Slater was standing behind me. "I remember what
you said last night, that Xemnas, Luxord and Vexen would be the only
ones who we'd need to dispose of?"
"Mm?" I was brushing
my hair down, in a sickly comb over. My hair looked darker, and I was
almost unrecognisable without my signature mullet.
"I'm not sure that was accurate." He said, quietly. "Whilst only they might know of the reasons behind your betrayal, they aren't likely to be the ones hunting you about it, really, are they? Vexen is a scientist; Xemnas is the boss, but Luxord is the only tracker. And if we kill him, does he have friends keen on revenge?"
That was a real damper of the spirit: Xigbar and Xaldin were the closest to Luxord after I used to be, and still, they were close. As second and third in the order, if they wanted to kill someone, they only had to ask Xemnas, who would certainly not complain in our case. I remarked so to Mr Slater, who said "sugar," irately. I would have used a different word, in his shoes, but it would have started with the sound 'sh'.
"I think we should deal with Luxord, first." He said, after a while. We were sitting on the bed, both lacing up our identical dress brogues. "We cannot touch a higher member until the lower ones are mostly out of the way, which means we need to start from the bottom and work our way to the top. I suggested Luxord because he is one of the hunters of the Organization, and has some strong personal motives. Besides: he deserves it."
I couldn't help but heartily agree.
It was dark again, in Traverse Town. This time, we were in the Third District. It was just one huge concrete platform, where the market used to be held. Tonight, all that was held was a young woman, gagged and bound, left on the floor, unharmed. Yet. She was breathing fast and shallowly. Making a lot of noise, she sealed her fate.
Mr Slater and I watched from the shadows as the heartless approached, tentatively at first, but then, from nowhere, dashed a soldier heartless, that jumped onto her chest. It clawed through the skin and flesh, before disappearing. The woman's body began to fade into nothingness, but her heart stayed where it was, the golden entity, so pure, mutating so softly at first. I couldn't watch the whole thing, and turned, sobbing into Mr Slater's shoulder at the terribleness of it all.
"Remember… we're doing this to be together. Always."
