Hey guys, I'm back again and—
DOOM! (falls over)
Oh crap! The "DOOM" is back too! Run! Run for your life! It's back! It's back! (starts running around like crazy)
Kaz: What the—
DOOM! (Kaz goes flying)
Me: (watches him disappear over the horizon) Whoa…I didn't know Kaz could do that!
22: Night Terrors I Can't Escape
"The war wasn't over. The story didn't end there. Not for Bobby. Not for Saint Dane. And not for us. Did you seriously think it would be any other way? Like I said, we're not done yet." –D.J. MacHale in the 'Pendragon 9: Raven Rise' preface
"This isn't real…" His words had no conviction, he was shaking, crying, hugging himself, "None of it is…it's not real…" If he said it enough, it would all stop and go away, "It's not real…"
He didn't know who he was anymore. A combination of a fifteen year old boy named Tom Majors and the newly spawned Nobody Number XV, Xhostam, the Winged Slayer smashed together by the nightmares he was locked in.
He huddled on the sidewalk, sobbing, rocking back and forth with his arms wrapped around his chest like he'd fall apart if he didn't. He'd been through horror after horror after horribly nightmare and he just couldn't escape.
He'd watched Kaz die countless times…
He'd seen Xilvin Fade on innumerable occasions…
He'd been unable to stop the Heartless from destroying the world so many times…
He'd gazed on helplessly as Perim collapsed into war…
And he couldn't get out.
He was going mad in here. In this…this personal Hell.
The person who was not quite Tom and not quite Xhostam tilted their head to the sky and screamed in pain and sorrow, their face flushed from the heat of the fire that was burning down his quite little hometown. There would be nothing left. There would be no one left.
"Let me out!" He screamed, curling into a ball on the concrete, "Let me out! Somebody! Anybody! Help me!"
But no one answered.
And then he was falling again. Falling into another nightmare.
"HEEELLLPP MEEEEEEEEEEE!"
Tobias strolled into the Organization's room unannounced and stopped dead in his tracks. The iron smell of blood filled his nose as he gazed at the motionless figures of Xilvin and Xhostam, both stripped to their boxers on the white table tops.
"What happened?" He demanded in a chilling voice, glaring daggers at the members of Organization XIII, "What happened to those two?"
"They fought their Heartless and lost." Luxord replied in monotone, shuffling his worn deck of cards, "Brutally so. We only just managed to get them back here in time."
He didn't say the words but they were implied, hanging in the air like a dark fog. They could have Faded…
"They're okay now, though." Axel said from his perch on the top of another table nearby, "Roxas saw to that." He tilted his red-spiked head, indicating the sleeping Number XIII who was buried in a sleeping bag and breathing evenly, "Poor guy's exhausted."
Tobias made a noise half-way between a groan and a sigh. He ran his fingers through is hair, chewing on the inside of his lip as he thought about what he was going to do, "They fought their Heartless, correct?" Demyx nodded, "And lost." Another nod, "Then they aren't strong enough. They need help. In Perim, it's survival of the fittest, every Creature for themselves; anyone who can get their hands on the best battlegear and mugics is guaranteed to come out on top." His eyes narrowed behind his glasses, "If there was less of that, the Tribes of Perim could become united and sort through more important problems. You're an Organization! So get organized and help those two fight off their Heartless! Bring Thomas and Kazdan back! Close that stupid hole you ripped open! That's the whole reason you're here! So do something instead of standing around and feeling sorry for yourselves!" Tobias had ended his speech in a shout and was now standing with his fists clenched, glaring at the Nobodies, breathing heavily, "I'll leave you to sort yourselves out." He breathed, turned on his heel, and left the room, slamming the door behind him.
Demyx winced at the loud noise and cast a glance at Luxord but the Gambler of Fate was looking elsewhere. The Melodious Nocturne sagged in his seat, looked around the room one final time to make sure no one wanted him for something, and then produced his sitar with a flourish. He strummed a couple of tuning cords and then settled back and started to play.
It was definitely the worst nightmare by far.
Even the ones of death and destruction weren't this bad.
Here there was nothing.
He was locked in darkness, unable to see, unable to speak, unable to move. He was nothing in an expanse of nothing with only an awareness.
And it tormented him.
"Better to be Nothing than to be a Nobody." Axel had said but if this was Nothing than an existence, even if it was a false one, was far better than this!
He was going crazy.
He'd never get out.
He'd rather Fade…
"I was so happy when you smiled; your smile breaks through the clouds of gray, far from the sunny days that liiiiiieeee in sleep. Waiting with patience for the spring, when the flowers would bloom renewed again. Knowing there's more beyond the paaaiiiinnn of today." Demyx had his legs crossed, singing softly as he strummed away at his instrument, "And though the scars of yesterday remaaaaaiiiin, you can go on living as much as your heart beeeliiieeeevvveess. You can't be born again although you can change. Let's stay together allllwaaaaaayyyss."
The Melodious Nocturne's song ended and he slumped dejectedly in his seat, unable to think of another song he could play. Axel and Luxord had left to see if they couldn't patch up the hole between the worlds, leaving Demyx with the unconscious forms of Xilvin and Xhostam and the sleeping Roxas. It was too quiet.
It reminded Number IX of the night he and the other Organization members had broken through. He'd sat in the—what did they call it?—OverWorld themed Cafeteria, surrounded by peaceful darkness and sleeping bodies, and had played a lullaby. In the middle of it, someone had started crying so he'd stopped to see if he could figure out who it was but the noise never came again so he'd picked up his song again.
Maybe that's what he needed right now; a soothing lullaby.
Demyx struck up a slow tune, the notes floating out from beneath his fingers as he closed his eyes, leaned back in his chair, and sang softly,
"When the moon peaks through the apple trees, and the stars hide in the leaves, and the miiiisssst roolllls down the valley on kitten feet. When the sun has slowly slipped away from the laaavendeeeerrrrr skkyyyyyyyyy. Then the mountains fill the night with a sweeeeet lullabyyyyyyy."
Deep in his own music, the Melodious Nocturne didn't notice Roxas stirring into wakefulness and looking around. Those neon blue eyes swiveled around automatically and locked on Xhostam.
"When the air is full of lilac blooms, like the water in a stream. When the blaaaackbiiirrrds on the branches begin to dream. When the angels pour the milky way from the heeeaavvveeeeenss on hiiiiiigggghhhh. Then mountains fill the night with a sweeeeet lullabyyyyyy."
Roxas stood up and, ignoring his fellow Nobody's song, walked over to the Winged Slayer. He reached and let a hand hover over Number XV's forehead. Xhostam's breathing hitched and his face became screwed up with something like pain.
"Moooooooonlight. Staaaaaarrrlight. Soft as snoooooowwww. Iiiiinnnn aaaaa meeeedooowww firrreeeeflliiiieeesss gloooooww."
Beside him Xilvin rolled over on the table, throwing an arm over his face. So the Howling Storm had never been unconscious, just sleeping off the after effects of the massive healing job he'd undergone.
"When the morning is a mile away, over the hill and 'cross the creek. When the owwwwwllls and whhhhiiiiperwhils playin' hide-n-seek. When you're cozy and beneath your quilllltttsss. And you're cloooosseeen your eeeeyyyyeeesss. When your dreams are taking flight! 'Till the early morning light! Then the mountains fiiiilll the night with a sweeet lullabbyyyyyyy! Then mountains fill the night with a sweet lullaby…"
Before Demyx could finish striking the last strain on his sitar, Roxas turned to him and said, "Don't stop singing! Do what you were doing before! A lullaby! Come on, I think it's waking Xhostam up!"
"Uh…um…I…" Demyx swallowed and nodded, closing his eyes again and settling into the cool spot in his mind where his music flowed, "Baaaby mine, don't you crrryyyy. Baaaabbbyyyy miiinnee, dry your eeeeyyeeess. Reeesssst yooouurrr head close to my heart, never to part, baby you're miiinnnneee."
He couldn't take it anymore.
It's over.
He couldn't fight any longer.
It's just too much.
The pain, the suffering, the trauma, the tears, the death.
Surrounded by it…
He didn't even know how long he'd been in here.
He just wanted to Fade.
For the sake of his sanity, just let him Fade.
"Tom, what're you doing!?"
Fading. Leave me alone…just let me Fade…
"Are you nuts, dude!?"
No…no…make them stop…all the pain…
"You two are best friends and you owe it to him to apologize!"
What? What is this? This isn't…this isn't…like before…
…"Q-quit!? What do mean by quit!? You can't quit!"
He looks up and sees the disgruntled expression of thirteen Kaz staring at him from across the table.
"And anyway," Kaz continues, pushing his glasses up his nose, "How can you quit life!? I mean, besides…the…obvious way?" Kaz eyes him through his pink-tinted lenses, "You're not…gonna do something stupid are you, Tom?"…
The memories were sharp and clear. He could hear and see everything perfectly.
…"OverWorlders." He mutters sullenly, narrowing his eyes at his best friend.
"UnderWorlders." Kaz replies, crossing his arms with a huff.
"Maxxor."
"Chaor."
"Maxxor."
"Chaor."
"Maxxor rules."
"Chaor rules more."…
He can feel everything! Every single dash of emotion belonging to his Other is flooding into his mind. He grasped at them and pulled, yanking himself out of the darkness.
…"Hey Tom, we got some burgers for you too!" Sarah says, waving him over to their usual table, "I made sure Peyton didn't eat them!"
"Hey!" Peyton's face turns pink but he's laughing with the rest of them.
"This must be what they mean be 'simple pleasures', huh?" Kaz says with a sigh, leaning back in his chair and taking a long drink from his milkshake.
"Yeah," Peyton agrees with a nod, "Hanging out with friends, munchin' on French Fries…"
"Come off it, Peyton!" He laughs, "You're happy anytime you're eating!"
"I was trying to say something really cool! Way to go, Fun-sucker!" Peyton retorts with a grin.
"Yeah…" Kaz suddenly looks like he's in a far away place, "I hope we can always be together like this."
"Don't be a baby, Kaz, you know that can't happen!" Sarah says and the others glare at her, "What? Be logical! Things change! We're going to grow up someday! Of course we're not going to be together everyday like this!"
"Geez, Sarah," He says, "Way to kill the mood. When'd you turn into such a cynic?"
"Wha—hey, I—Tom!" Sarah sputters and they all fall about laughing…
My gosh, what have I been think!?
Fade!?
No way!
Wake up!
Wake me up!
Get.
Your.
Lazy.
Rear.
In.
Motion.
WAKE UP!!
Xhostam gasped as his eyes snapped open and the world spun into a blur of colors. When it settled, he found Roxas standing over his with a satisfied glint in his neon blue eyes.
"Hey," The Key of Destiny muttered, "Glad you're up."
Smoly hokes, this chapter took longer than I thought! Talk about Writer's Block induced filler! Not to mention I had to rewrite this one or there would have been, like, fifty chapters of filler after that.
But anyway, I stole that whole scene in Xhostam's (Tom's?) memories from a scene in the Kingdom Hearts 2 manga. Aheh...I'm so bad. But I couldn't think of a scene that would motivate Xhostam enough to wake up from his nightmares. The memories were induced by Demyx's soothing lullabies.
So, thank you people so much for waiting for me to write this! It means a lot! I'll see you guys in the next chapter! Thanks for reading, please leave a review, and--
DOOM!
Ahhhhhhg! (goes flying over the horizon)