Like a puzzle, the pieces are coming together.

Unfortunately for you readers, only the edges are done~

At the same time that Luxord had left to go into Marluxia's room, Axel went over to check on Zexion. Well, it wasn't really checking; he was just going over to interrogate him. Besides, the Schemer's rambling was carrying through the walls, and Axel was starting to feel that he would go crazy as well. He creaked open the door slowly, and hesitated before walking in. Zexion was in the same position that Saix had left him in, and was still going on with his little word chain. However, he stopped his rambling once Axel walked in, and was staring at him intently. Once again, he repeated the question that was ignored earlier by Saix. "Who are you?"

Axel looked down on the boy with an expression of confusion and minor pity. So it seemed that the Schemer really had forgotten everything. He came over by the bed and sat down in what was to him an effort to make his presence a little less unusual. "I'm Axel. You probably don't remember, but we've known each other before."

Zexion gave a slow nod, and then spouted out another question. "Where is this?"

And so Axel gave his answer in the shortest and simplest way possible. While he was somewhat sure that Zexion's intellect hadn't deteriorated (Otherwise he wouldn't have been able to use so many words for his ranting), he didn't want to cause too much confusion. Zexion, of course, would just pause for a moment before firing off another brief question. Oddly enough, the boy was acting rather emotional for a Nobody. While his reactions did confuse his interrogator, they weren't too bothersome. This continued for a few minutes until Axel finally got tired of the monotonous cycle. Now it was time to ask something more interesting. "So, what was it like being…dead?"

Zexion stared at Axel, his eyes widening with stress. However, once he took a couple of deep breaths he felt better. "It was like…" He stopped for a moment and looked around as if afraid that someone might be watching them. "A dark…shadow-filled…abyssal…endless…eternal…infinite…"

Great. Another word chain. This time Axel was prepared though, and snapped his fingers to catch the boy's attention. He had already assumed that it might not be so hard to stop Zexion from rambling on, and his conclusion was correct. Shaking his head like he was shooing away bugs, the Schemer stopped talking and looked up at Axel. Of course, the redhead had even prepared an explanation. "You were going on with words and stuff. How about I just give a snap every time you ramble on about something?"

Zexion gave a nod of approval, and then continued with his explanation. "Torrent…current…" Snap. "There was no way…path…direction…" Snap. "Out of…away from…the beating down. It stripped…removed…" Snap. "Everything I had." Zexion stopped, sensing that his partially incoherent explanation might be enough for Axel.

"Eh, good enough. Now, about the snapping…" He was about to continue his impromptu counseling when a loud screech sounded through the room. Summoning his chakrams, which were starting to heat up in his hands, he dashed outside the room and looked around the halls. There was nothing out of the ordinary from the looks of it; it was often too dark to see the rooms on the end, which for some reason were spaced out farther than normal ones, so he sent away his weapons and re-entered Zexion's chamber. The boy looked up at him curiously. "And that was…?" It was obvious that he expected clarification on the source of the sound.

Axel shrugged, instead walking past where his acquaintance was sitting. "I have no idea. A Heartless probably got in and they must've taken care of it."

Oh, how wrong he was, for in a minute or so he heard footsteps from outside the room. He opened the door again for what felt like the millionth time, and he spotted Luxord walking down the hall at a brisk pace, dragging along what looked like another member with his cloak fully on. To Axel this looked humorous, but when the Gambler spotted him and broke into a half-jog, he sensed that something weird was going on. What was it with this day and impossibilities? First they had Zexion come back from the dead, and now this weird screech? Luxord stopped in his tracks as he came close to Axel, trying to catch his breath; even Nobodies got exhausted at times. The cloaked figure almost bumped into his companion, but stopped just in time. "Axel…" The Gambler sounded utterly beat.

"Let me guess, another strange and inexplicable problem?" When Luxord nodded slowly, Axel almost collapsed. The man explained everything that had happened, first by revealing to Axel that all of the members had been brought back except for Vexen, whose whereabouts were still unknown, and by telling him about the monster that had killed Larxene. Axel listened closely, but he was also looking at the figure that was still attached to Luxord. From what the man was saying, Larxene had been killed, so the only real options for the identity of the cloaked one, if he was one of the ones brought back, would have to either be Lexaeus or Marluxia. From the looks of it, the person under the cloak was not huge and burly. When Luxord finished reporting the disaster, Axel walked up to his companion. "Marluxia, I'm guessing?"

In response, the Assassin turned his head towards Axel. "It's been a long time. However, there are more pressing matters here."

"You're right…" The redhead glanced back at Zexion, who had stood up and was at the entrance to his chamber. Axel turned back to Luxord, who was already looking worriedly at the room across from them, where Lexaeus was. "I'm guessing that leaving them alone isn't the best idea."

"Correct." The Gambler opened the Silent Hero's door, only to find him resting peacefully. "We need to alert everyone else and get these three out of here. Unfortunately…"

"You'll have to tell Superior." Axel snickered a little, and then went to grab Zexion, who still hadn't fully ventured outside the comfort of his room yet. "I'm sure that will end well." Upon getting a loose hold of the boy's arm he tugged him outside. Luckily the Schemer did not resist, and followed his partner closely.

"Xemnas was never one for big surprises." While Luxord was summoning a few of his Lowers to guard Lexaeus, Marluxia was leaning against the wall opposite from Axel. "Still, this is one announcement that must be given."

"Yeah…By the way, I'll drop off some roses after the funeral." Axel began to head off towards the lounge, Zexion tailing behind him like some sort of stray animal looking for food. Before he disappeared into the lightless corridor he gave a casual wave, as if signaling a preemptive goodbye to the Assassin. Today's meeting was going to be very fun.

The feel of the meeting room was more tense than usual as the members appeared. Xigbar had contacted Saix earlier, and now the second-in-command was going to alert the Superior of the fact that there was some sort of miniature crisis going on right now. Demyx was looking down at the floor, which wasn't very far away, since his throne ranking was one of the lowest. Roxas and Xion were uncomfortably sharing the same seat, since the Superior had not yet put in a throne for her. Xaldin and Xigbar appeared to be engaged in a serious conversation, for their voices were low and could hardly be heard. Zexion was trying to avoid staring down at the ground below, since as far as he remembered this was a first for him, and Axel was tapping his fingers impatiently on the arms of his throne. All of them were trying to stay occupied with something else, but were obviously failing.

Once Saix and Xemnas finally appeared in their thrones the room's atmosphere relaxed momentarily, but soon regained the charged feeling that it carried before. Xemnas looked down on all of them, stopping a few seconds to gaze at the couple of thrones where there were now members that had once died, but otherwise showed no emotional reaction. In fact, he never did unless it was involving one of his speeches with Kingdom Hearts. He finally spoke, his voice resonating through the room. "There is…a crisis, as Saix had said?"

Luxord nodded, and looked up at the Superior's throne to respond to him. After all, he had seen the most, so it was only right for him to be the one reporting. "Yes. Earlier today many of us found members who we knew had died in Castle Oblivion. The ones that have awoken show serious trauma in various ways." He glanced over at Marluxia momentarily before continuing. "There is also a more pressing issue. I witnessed the most horrible scene of my entire non-existence. Larxene, one of the members found, was brutally killed by a monstrous creature. However, the truly vexing thing was that while it shared many features with the Heartless, it also looked much like her. It disappeared before I had the chance to attack it, but it definitely seemed to be quite a danger."

Xemnas's eyes flickered over to the empty throne next to Luxord, where Larxene might have been sitting in right now if it weren't for the creature. He sighed deeply, as if about to reveal some dreaded secret. "I believe I know the thing you are speaking of, Luxord."

Silence bogged down the room, and all eyes were on the high throne. Well, almost all eyes. Marluxia was actually a little bit off in his 'gaze', and had turned his head more towards Xigbar than the Superior. This slightly creeped out the Freeshooter, but he didn't want to run the chances of finding out what this mystery beast was. Xemnas cleared his throat, and began to speak.

"When I was a Somebody in my days of working with Ansem the Wise as his apprentice, we had stumbled across an interesting piece of research involving the Heartless. We were testing how our subject's Darkness to Light ratio, that is how much darkness was in their hearts, would affect their overall appearance as a Heartless. Many of those with good morals and such only became weak Shadows. Criminals and the dark-hearted, on the other hand, turned into much stronger and more grotesque beasts. Oddly enough, some of the strongest retained a humanoid form while gaining mutations that would obviously twist and deform their appearance."

Xemnas paused, letting his followers take everything in. After a few minutes of stunned silence, Demyx finally spoke up. "So…you're saying that the weird thing might have been Larxene's Heartless?" While the Nocturne wasn't always the brightest tool in the box, at times he was greatly insightful, much more so than the more analytical members. All looked towards Xemnas, expectant for his approval or disapproval.

The man hesitated for a moment, and then nodded slowly and deliberately. "Yes, I am."

Just then a loud crash shook the whole room, breaking up any thoughts that might have been forming in the Organization's heads. A Gambler Nobody warped into the meeting room, shouting loud, clear, and desperately panicked. "Master Luxord! We were unable to fight the creature off in time…It…Well, It…"

"It did what?" Luxord glared down at his servant, his stern voice seeming louder than normal.

"It took Lexaeus, Master!"

Whee, the Lowers are back again! :D

I always liked those guys. Anyways, this feels short than usual for some reason…

Oh well. You know the drill: Review and critique. ;)

And just so you all know, I'll probably be a nightly updater most of the time.

I also have one request: Please tell friends and such about the fic if you really like it. More people noticing this makes me happy. :3