Organization XIII (the originals) convened in the surprisingly deserted Grey Area later that day, this time without Anix and Kyrox and certainly without Axille falling out of portals in the ceiling.
"Is everyone agreed?" Xemnas asked, looking around.
"Aye!" Xigbar said, "Get Xisel out of the castle, fill in the others, and get to work!"
"...Thank you for repeating everything I just said, Xigbar." Xemnas said, annoyed.
"Anytime. So, who's doing what?"
Zexion cleared his throat.
"I suppose, being Xisel's mentor and all, I should be the one to get her away from the castle." he said.
Xemnas nodded. "Agreed."
"But where're you taking her, Zex?" Roxas asked, "'Cause I was wondering if you could bring Axille along? She might get in the way when we're decorating...Actually, scratch that. She'll get too excited and quite possibly wreck the place."
"And while you're at it, take Leixym too? She put gum in my hair earlier! Gum, I tell you!" Demyx exclaimed, patting his mullet mournfully, "Took me ages to get it out."
Zexion didn't look pleased, but he agreed.
"And Axbrem while you're at it? Without Ly or Seal around she'll only burn us to ashes alone." Axel said off-handedly.
"...Sure...why not? I'll take all the particularly annoying neophytes to Halloween Town and we can go trick-or-treating." Zexion said sarcastically.
"Wonderful, now that that's settled..." Xemnas said. Zexion was flabbergasted.
"What, wait! Superior—!"
"So numbers XV, XVIII, XX, and XXIII will be joining Zexion for a distraction at Halloween Town." Xemnas said. "Roxas, Axel, and Demyx, go ensure they are aware and get them, er...prepared. Costumes or whatever it is humans do. Zexion, go find Xisel and get her ready. The rest of you, find your neophytes and meet in the Hall of Empty Melodies in about thirty minutes."
"Sir, yes sir!"
Zexion was cradling his head in his hands, dreading the mission that lay before him.
When Xisel walked in, however, he couldn't help but stare in surprise.
"Is something wrong, Zexion?" Alice the doll asked.
"Er...Xisel, are you wearing your hair differently?" the surprised Schemer asked. Xisel's hair had been swept away from her face and was being pinned to the side of her head with a clip, revealing her jade green eyes for the first time since she joined. She was clad in a gothic black and purple dress and adjusted the matching headband she was wearing subconsciously.
"Erm...yes." Oz, who was seated on Xisel's other hand, said, "It's a special occasion, so we're going out differently."
"Ah...I see. That's very—holy Edward Elric, Leixym what are you wearing?!" Zexion exclaimed, looking over Xisel's shoulder at the ocean-wielding fifteen-year-old who had walked in with Demyx.
"Edward Elric is right, Zex!" Leixym exclaimed. She was dressed in a red cloak that covered a black outfit and from the sleeves, Zexion could see the fingertips of pearly white gloves. She had even styled her hair differently; it now framed her face in two sets of bangs and the rest was pulled into a tail behind her head. Her eyes remained unchanged though; they still smiled at him in the usual blood-red color, behind a pair of glasses.
"That's a...detailed costume, Leixym..." Zexion said. "Did you happen to see Axel or Roxas on your way down?"
"Present!" Axel's cheery voice called from the doorway. He and Axbrem appeared, Axbrem in a white angel's coat.
"An angel? Dude, seriously?" Leixym laughed, "Yeah let's make Halloween Opposite Day while we're at it!"
Axbrem smirked and hefted a scythe into the air. It looked real, even the blade was shiny. "Not quite."
"Angel with a scythe...that's a new one." Zexion said.
"Now all we need is Axille and we can get going!" Leixym exclaimed, picking up her candy-collecting bag.
"Here we are!" Roxas shouted from the entrance. He walked into the room with Axille at his side, holding a large, loose sack over her shoulder.
"Seal, what the heck are you wearing?" Axel asked.
"Skater boy." Axille answered, lifting up the coal black hat that covered her head. Her costume comprised of a black and white jacket and black jeans. She was wearing a chain necklace from who-knows-where and it was decorated with a silver Nobody symbol, and she had styled her hair differently so it was spikier and darkened with streaks of black.
"Nice 'do, Seal." Leixym snickered.
"Nice coat, Ly." Axille said brightly.
"One question, where's the board?" Axbrem asked.
"I let her wear...this for the night, but she is not bringing a skateboard to Halloween Town." Roxas said firmly. "Too many ruts and slopes, she could break her neck!"
"You sound like your her brother or something, Roxy." Demyx snickered.
Roxas glared, then added, "Then Superior'd break my neck."
"Can we just go?" Zexion asked, cutting across the conversation.
"Right right. Well c'mon, Reaper Angel and Skater-without-the-wheels Boy. Let's hit that Halloween Town!" Leixym said, practically diving through the portal Zexion had conjured.
"She's going to be bouncing off the walls from here to next Halloween...oh well, such is this holiday. Let's go!" Axbrem exclaimed, jumping through the portal after Leixym.
"Oh no," Zexion groaned, having heard what the fleeing brunette had said. He hurried through the portal, warning, "Leixym, don't touch any candy until I—oh, she found some already!"
"Oops..." Demyx laughed.
"Addio!" Axille said brightly, flashing Roxas, Axel, and Demyx a peace sign before trotting through the portal as well.
"...Bye!" Alice the doll exclaimed.
"See you soon!" Oz piped up. Then they and Xisel were gone as well.
"They gone?" a voice whispered from the hallway. With a deep, relieved sigh, Axel and co. turned around to see Xigbar standing in the doorway, holding a crate of decorations over his shoulder.
"Yep, all gone." Roxas smiled.
"Sweetness." the Freeshooter grinned.
"Let's get our party on."
Zexion rubbed his forehead in an exasperated fashion.
They hadn't been there ten minutes before the terrible trio, consisting of Axbrem, Leixym, and Axille, had disappeared into the city to wreak havoc and collect candy, leaving the Schemer and his puppeteer protege behind.
"This is going to be a long night..." he sighed, turning to the goth-dressed Marionette.
"What about you? Do you want to go create havoc with them?" he asked. Xisel shook her head no.
Casting some of her magic, she made Alice and Oz float on either side of her head so that her hands were free to hold on to the black bag she was using to collect candy. Not that she needed any, she just figured it would be nice to bring some back for the others.
"Alright then." Zexion sighed, "Let's go."
"Where to?" Alice asked.
Remembering his reason for being there, Zexion thought up a quick idea.
"Let's go for a walk. I have heard that Halloween Town is three times as frightening on its holiday than anywhere else in the worlds." he said.
"O...kay...?"
"Trick or treat!"
"Wha..?"
BOOM!
Leixym ran away from Dr. Finkelstein's lab laughing her head off. Behind her, the po'd mad scientist slammed his door shut, rubbing soot from his beady black eyes as he did.
The teen met up with her friends outside the laboratory grounds, still laughing.
"Ha ha ha! That look on his face was priceless!" Axbrem exclaimed, holding her sides.
"Yeah! Whoever left these pumpkin bombs everywhere are either totally brilliant or completely nuts!" Leixym agreed.
"I'm thinking nuts, bro." Axille said in her adopted skater-boy voice. She had mimicked the voice from some skater boy she saw in Twilight Town and it had become her own for the night.
Leixym playfully pulled her hat down over her face and the girl stumbled backwards, temporarily blinded.
"Trick or treat!" three high-pitched voices behind the group said. Axille lifted up her hat just in time to see a pumpkin bomb hurtling towards her and it exploded in her face with a loud BOOM, blinding her again and causing her to fall backwards onto the ground.
"What the heck?!"
"See ya later!" one of those voices again.
"Hey wait! Who the fuck are you brats?!" Axbrem shouted.
The departing, costumed kids turned around and a witch, a devil, and a skeleton mask each greeted the three Nobodies.
The boy in the devil mask lifted it up and said, smirking, "Lock."
The tall witch girl removed her mask and added, "Shock!"
And the dopey-looking skeleton boy took of his own mask and exclaimed, "Barrel!"
Then Lock threw another pumpkin bomb and in the confusion that followed, the three pranksters were gone.
Annoyed, Leixym shouted after them, "Oh, you want a war, brat? Well you got one! Halloween-style prank war it is!"
Axbrem and Axille groaned. When Leixym made a challenge like that, they both knew they were going to be roped into the madness as well.
Roxas gasped as another apple fell on his stomach.
"Ow! Hey, watch it, will you?" he said to Knexedy, standing above him. The Key of Destiny was currently hooking up a light rig under the table that Knexedy was working at and her constant deposits of apples on his stomach was not helping progress.
"Well sor-ry!" Knexedy exclaimed, dropping another apple but catching it before it fell. "These darned apples won't...stick...to...the sticks! Ew! Caramel got on me!"
She was trying to make caramel apples.
"Ow!" Roxas exclaimed as he shocked himself again, "Ugh, seriously? I usually get shocked by Larxene not electronics!"
Knexedy took a minute from trying to remove the caramel from her hands to look under and study the wiring.
"Ugh, well no wonder. Like, hello? Look at it. It's an exposed wire, genius." she scoffed.
"Alright well if you're so smart, you do it. I'll make the apples." Roxas said, getting up. He saw her work and smirked, "And no duh. You're supposed to put the apples on the sticks first, then put the caramel on them."
"Fine. Trade jobs." Knexedy said, getting down and putting on the gloves Roxas handed her.
"Fine." Roxas replied.
Anix passed the last of the candy bags to Xiyak, who was dumping the candy into a collection of orange, black, and red colored bowls.
"Okay, Anix, gimme a minute to...Anix, wake up! You're dropping candy into the punch bowl!" Xiyak exclaimed, moving the drooping bag of candy away from the punch bowl underneath it.
"Wha—? Oh, sorry, Xiyak." Anix said, putting the bag down.
"Dude, what's up with you? You've been like, out of it for hours." Xiyak said, picking up the bag again and filling up the last of the bowls.
"I have...? Sorry. I'm just worried, is all." Anix said, crossing his arms with a sigh.
"Worried? What, that Xisel'll get bored running around with Ly, Axbrem, and Seal and come back?" Xiyak grinned.
"No. I haven't seen Kyrox all day." Anix replied.
"Hey, come to think of it, I haven't either." Xiyak said, a thoughtful look crossing her face. "Wonder where he could be?"
"He went out." Luxord said as he approached them. "He went to some world called the World of Sand. I doubt he's going to be back soon."
"What?" Anix asked, "Why would he leave?"
"That is beyond me." Luxord sighed. "But he has his reasons, no doubt."
"I guess he can do what he likes." Xiyak said fairly.
"I guess." Anix agreed.
Luxord stayed to help them spread out the candy bowls through the Grey Area and bid them goodbye, leaving to another part of the castle to help.
"Now what?" Xiyak asked.
"I think we need to go help Larxene and Vexen set up lights." Anix said.
Xigbar and Xylle were working side-by-side on the dining room ceiling, putting up—or down—lights and decorations.
"Sheesh, thank Kingdom Hearts you joined. This woulda been a nightmare to do by myself." Xigbar said to his fellow gravity-defying Nobody.
Xylle just huffed and finished taping up some fake cobwebs.
"Well, I think that's it." Xigbar said after ten minutes of quiet work.
"Indeed." was the somewhat terse reply.
Xigbar snorted. "You're such a buzz kill sometimes."
Xylle just shrugged and walked off of the ceiling, into a dark corridor, and reappeared on the floor below.
"Hey, don't forget, you've gotta go help Xion and Axel next!" Xigbar called after her as she left the room.
Alone on the ceiling, Xigbar looked around, still upside down, admiring his and Xylle's work.
"Not bad. Not bad at—whoa...the room's spinning."
He was hit by a wave of vertigo, having had all the blood rush to his head, and fell off of the ceiling, landing headfirst onto the floor below with a loud THUNK!
Axel and Demyx, on the floor below the dining hall, looked up as a loud THUNK pounded right through the ceiling into the room.
"Xigbar fell off the ceiling again." Axel said matter-of-factly, returning to his decorating job.
Demyx looked up uncertainly.
"Should we...?"
"Help him? Nah, he does it all the time."
Leixym ducked behind a dark stone wall, a water balloon she had conveniently brought along clutched tightly in her hand. She had smeared dark mud on her cheeks army-style and had her glasses and white gloves in her pocket, preferring to not get either dirty.
Axbrem looked at her with a mixed look of disbelief and exasperation.
"Ly, you look like a nutcase." she said. As she spoke, Axille appeared behind her, dragging along a half-full bag of candy along with her.
"Got some more." she said, tying the bag closed and putting it next to the other ones.
"Look, Ly, in the time you've taken to wage war with those brats, Axille's been trick-or-treating through the entire town and has filled up both yours, mine, and half of her bags full of candy. Ready to go find Zexion yet?" Axbrem asked.
"No. Not until those—ARGH!"
Another pumpkin bomb had fallen out of nowhere, exploding barely an inch away from the top of Leixym's head.
"That's it! Show yourself you punks!" Leixym shouted and she sprang from her hiding place, water bomb at the ready.
"Fine!" they heard Shock's obnoxious voice shout. "Let it go!" there was the sound of a catapult creaking and then...
A colossal pumpkin bomb, about the size of a cow, was hurtling towards them at a very unsafe and dangerous speed. Leixym dropped her water bomb, staring at the projectile as it came closer and closer. The balloon collapsed into an innocent puddle of water at her feet and she turned to Axbrem and Axille, a blank look in her eye.
"Want to run now?" Axbrem hissed.
"Yes. Very much." Leixym replied.
Without further ado, the two girls grabbed their candy bags and ran for it, somehow managing to escape the radius of the exploding pumpkin just before it blinded them all.
BOOM!
The three girls (because Axille had been smart enough to push her candy bag into a portal to her room before the pumpkin exploded) fell over each other, panting, when the aftershock of the pumpkin exploding on the pavement was sent through the street.
"How...the heck...do they make...cow-sized pumpkin bombs...anyways?!" Leixym asked, clinging to her bag of candy for support.
"They have all year..." Axbrem said, "I bet they get really bored really fast when it isn't Halloween."
"You're nuts, Ly." Axille sighed, sitting up and crossing her legs once the ground stopped shaking.
"I'm not nuts. I'm determined." Leixym argued.
"Same difference." Axbrem said.
"Whatever."
"Well, it looks and sounds like you girls had fun." a voice behind them said. Looking up, the three girls saw Zexion standing over them with his arms crossed, tapping his foot.
"Hi, Zexy!" Leixym said brightly.
"Why did half of the town square just get blown to bits by a pumpkin the size of a horse?" Zexion asked. Axbrem snickered, then broke into raucous laughter.
Zexion looked at her sideways and added, "And yes. I know how insane that sounds."
"Ly was pranking." Axille said, standing up. "I went trick-or-treating while she did and got us all some candy."
"That still doesn't explain the huge pumpkin." Zexion argued.
"She got into a prank war with a bunch of kids who had a catapult and a huge bomb. She lost." Axbrem said, standing up and hefting her bag up. "Whoa, Seal, you got this thing full to—ack—bursting!"
"I had a lot of time." Axille replied.
Leixym stood up and dusted off her Ed Elric suit. She pulled her glasses and gloves out of her pockets and put them on before picking up her own bag.
"Leixym...wipe that mud off of your face before you go back to the castle. You look ridiculous." Zexion sighed. Xisel appeared then, a bag half-full of candy in her arms. Alice and Oz, still floating around her, were carrying ziplock-bag sized sacks, full of candy as well.
"We're here. Are we ready to leave?" Oz asked.
"Yes. Let's go, before Leixym causes something else to blow up." Zexion sighed. He opened a portal and they began to file through it.
Xemnas was doing a last-minute checklist of everything that had to get done.
"Decorations?"
"Check." Axel, Demyx, Xylle, Amenxtthe, Saix, Luxord, and Xigbar, now recovered, said.
"Food?"
"Check." Roxas, Xiyak, Lexaeus, Syaxsal, Anix, Cavex, and Xaldin all said.
"Electronic matters?"
"Check." Knexedy, Larxene, Xion, Darxet, Marluxia, Vexen and Xavier replied.
"Good. That's everything. Now, Zexion should be returning soon with Xisel and the others. Everyone, get ready." Xemnas sighed, rolling up his checklist.
In about two minutes, the "Away" team from Halloween Town walked out of the dark portal, Xisel first, and there was a sudden outcry of "Happy Birthday, Xisel!" mainly from the neophytes.
"What—?" the startled puppeteer exclaimed, dropping her bag and consequently causing her puppets to drop their sacks too.
"Happy b-day, Xisel!" Axille said brightly, pushing her out towards their neophyte friends.
"But I don't understand," Alice said, about ten minutes later, "how did you know?"
"Superiors one and seven told us to read our files and yours was the first we looked through so...ha ha, stroke of luck, huh?" Anix answered as they watched Leixym and Demyx plunging their heads into a cauldron of water with their hands tied behind their backs, bobbing for apples.
"I still don't get humans." Xiyak said, walking over, "Why do they have a game where people almost drown trying to grab apples?"
"Mnf...mnff!" Leixym said from behind a red gala. She had come up first with an apple and Demyx was still floundering around in the cauldron, trying to grab one. The ocean-wielding teen spat her apple out at the back of Demyx's neck and she repeated herself in a clearer voice.
"Dunno! But it's fun!"
At that moment, Demyx came back up. He was gasping for air behind the huge Rome apple he had grabbed and put it on the table before straightening up, glaring at his protege.
"Ow! That hurt!" he pouted as Xigbar cut his ropes loose.
"Oh just eat your apple, sitar-man." Leixym teased.
Huffing, Demyx picked up his apple and drifted away to another corner of the room where Axel, Roxas, and Axille were busy talking.
Darxet staggered over, an empty bottle of something in his hand. But from the smell of it and the look on his face, it wasn't the punch.
"Heeeeey, lookit here!" he gurgled. Yes, he gurgled. "Wha's happenin' wiff you two...?"
"There's four of us..." Xiyak said, looking at him.
"Dude...are you drunk?" Leixym asked, staring.
"Who, me?"
"Oh god!"
"Xigbar! Darxet got himself drunk!" Anix shouted across the room.
"Oh shi—what?!"
"Heeeey! Heeeey ocean-man!" Darxet exclaimed as Xigbar came over.
"Ocean man?" Xigbar asked, stopping.
"Wanna swig a bit, Xiggy?" Darxet asked, handing the empty bottle to Xigbar. "'s not bad when ya get used to it..."
"Yep. You're drunk."
"C'mon, mate...two old sea-dogs like us can has a few drinks, right..?"
"Sea-whats? Wait..." Xigbar smacked Darxet upside the head, "Why in the name of Kingdom Hearts are you dressed like a pirate?!"
"Wanted ta mess with youse..." Darxet groaned, falling to the floor.
"Let's...leave them to it." Xiyak whispered to Leixym, who nodded. The two girls left the scene and Anix behind him. The blacksmith had stayed back to watch the fascinating show of a drunk Darxet arguing with a very sober and very annoyed Xigbar.
Cavex was sitting at one of the couches with Amenxtthe, Syaxsal, Xylle, and Knexedy, all talking amiably. The two arrivals sat down either on the floor or one of the couches and joined in on the conversation, pointing out Darxet's current "condition" with huge smiles.
"I knew it." Knexedy said.
"Xigbar's going to murder him when he's sober again." Xiyak snickered.
"Xylle," Leixym said suddenly, "what are you wearing?"
Xylle looked down at her costume and shrugged.
"Black Rock Shooter." she said.
"Oh, I was wondering why you were dressed like that." Cavex said. She readjusted the purple sleeveless jacket she was wearing and looked up.
"By the way, have you visited the scare zones?" she asked.
"Scare zones?" Leixym asked.
"Yes. A bunch of different rooms in the castle were decorated to be 'scare zones.' Like several mini-haunted houses." Cavex explained.
"Oh yeah, forgot about those!" Knexedy said.
"Hm..." Amenxtthe murmured, "I heard one of them is full of snakes and another is full of ghosts and dead body parts."
"Really? Sounds creepy...let's go do one!" Leixym exclaimed, leaping up. "Hey Cavex, show us where they are?"
"I was on cooking duty. So I don't know." Cavex sighed.
"Oh, I know where they are." Xylle said. "I was on décor, so I can show you where."
"Sweet!"
"Hey, count me in too." Xiyak said.
"Yeah, me too." Axbrem said, standing up.
"I'll do it, too!" Knexedy said.
Leixym gave her a sideways glance and laughed.
"If one's full of spiders, promise me you won't blow us up?" she asked.
"You have my word."
The girls left to go seek out the haunted rooms and as they left, Axel gave Demyx and Roxas a nudge and gestured at the departing neophytes.
"What say you two we go pull a few tricks of our own?" the pyro asked.
"I'm in!" Demyx exclaimed.
"Me too." Roxas grinned.
"What about you, Seal?" Axel asked, turning to the girl.
"Hm...not thanks. I'll hang out here." Axille said.
"Suit yourself. Men, to the haunted rooms!"
Xigbar watched them leave and sighed. He was sitting on the passed-out form of Darxet and couldn't help but smirk at the empty bottle in his hand. He still remembered his first bash. It hadn't been as tame, but hey, this worked fine, too.
"This is Halloween, everybody make a scene..." Leixym sang as she crept through a creepy post-apocalyptic-themed, warehouse-based room that was formerly one of the Organization's training rooms.
"Pumpkins scream in the dead of night..."
Axbrem and the others had long ago dispersed to different rooms, some electing to stay in groups, and some preferring to go in alone. They had made a bet: the last team to run out of their room screaming in horror wins half of everyone's candy at the end of the day.
The warehouse room had beckoned to Leixym especially, despite all of the false warning signs outside. When she had walked in, she had felt like those little girls in the movies. The ones who went into the creepy old houses with all the warning signs sticking up from stakes in the ground leading up the path to the house.
Unconsciously, she reached into her costume pocket and touched the photo hidden in there. A sad smile crossed her face as she thought of who the photo was of.
"She would have loved this..." she murmured, "I—wait...what was that...?"
There it was again. The weird sensation of something or several somethings skittering across her foot.
"The hell...?"
She took a step backwards and heard something crunch. Her eyes widened in horror as she realized what was moving all around her.
Cockroaches. She was standing in a room full of cockroaches.
"Tch, this place isn't so scary." Axbrem sighed as she and Xavier traveled through their chosen room together. It was a dark forest setting and there was even a fake moon hanging over the trees. Ironically enough, the setting was in Marluxia's greenhouse.
"Yeah. It's just quiet." Xavier said, looking around. "And dark."
Axbrem laughed.
"We live next to the Dark City and on the edge of the Darkness. What did you expect?"
"It to be less dark!" Xavier replied.
"Whatever. C'mon, I see the exit over there." Axbrem said, pointing.
They had barely taken two steps when suddenly, there was a horrible rumbling noise sounding all around them. Out of nowhere, ten-foot-tall hedges shot up throughout the entire greenhouse and right between Xavier and Axbrem, cutting the two girls off from each other.
"Aaah! Axbrem, where are you?!" Xavier shouted.
"Hey, calm down. I'm on the other side of the hedge. Are you okay?" Axbrem asked through the bush.
"Yeah. Just startled, is all." Xavier sighed.
"M'kay, well. I think this is a maze." Axbrem said, walking forward.
"What makes you say that?"
"Oof!"
"You okay?"
"Yeah. Just proved my theory though; I walked into a hedge."
"Oh...well, what now?"
Axbrem took a step back and lit her finger on fire. She was, of course, unharmed.
"Hold on, I'm going to burn the bush." she said.
"Good idea!" Xavier exclaimed.
Taking her finger, Axbrem reached towards the bush and set a leaf on fire. She smirked in victory, until the small hole that was starting to burn was magically filled up again.
"What the?!" she tried again.
"What?" Xavier asked.
"Darned cursed hedges!" Axbrem exclaimed. "Some sort of spell is on them. The holes I'm burning keep growing back and won't stay holes!"
"Oh..."
Axbrem sighed.
"Looks like we're going to have to get out the old fashioned way."
"Screaming until someone gets us?"
"No. We have to get through the maze."
"Fine...see you at the exit." Xavier sighed.
"See you at the exit."
Xiyak, Cavex, and Amenxtthe walked through their own room uneasily, jumping at every little sound that echoed in the confines of the library. It had been dressed up to be some kind of cursed library, and there was supposedly an undead librarian prowling the aisles, ready to hurt anyone who got too close with either/or a huge book or a stabbing knife.
"I don't like this..." Xiyak said warily.
"Why couldn't we choose the disturbingly cute room full of pink bunnies and white puppies?" Xiyak asked aloud. "I don't want to be stabbed and/or beaten by a crazed librarian..."
"Because it was disturbingly cute." Amenxtthe replied.
"Couldn't have been that bad..."
At that moment, Knexedy and Xylle ran screaming out of the pink bunny room, mentally scarred.
"THEY'RE EVIL!" they shrieked.
"Anyways," Cavex said, looking around, "we must find the exit."
"I think it's down this way..." Xiyak said, turning a corner. Almost immediately, she turned back around and ran screaming clear in the other direction.
Watching her go, Amenxtthe shook her head and sighed.
"I thought she would have been able to handle this better."
"Hello little children..." a creepy voice behind them said. Amenxtthe and Cavex froze and turned around.
It was the librarian! Its face was a grotesque mask on which the blood-red eyes were set staring in different directions and the brow was furrowed down and stuck in that position. The mouth twisted upwards on one side into a cruel, sadistic smile, showing off pointed, yellowing teeth framed by rotting black gums. In one scarred, greenish hand, it carried a large book and in the other, a knife.
"Welcome to the library..." the apparition hissed gleefully.
Amenxtthe and Cavex both screamed as it raised its knife and walked towards them. They turned tail and ran for it, back the way they had come.
"Forget the candy! Let's get out of here!" Amenxtthe shouted.
Back at the library, the librarian was staring after the fleeing girls, chuckling. It put down the knife and the book and and put its now freed hands to its head. It lifted off, revealing a laughing sitarist underneath.
"Ba ha ha! Got 'em!" Demyx chortled. He doubled over laughing, tears streaming from his eyes, when he heard a small "ahem" from behind.
He turned around and froze in place, staring at the shadowed figure at the end of the aisle. It was holding a large book and was walking towards him slowly.
"It's real?! Holy Kingdom Hearts, it's real!" he screamed in terror as he ran out of the library.
Zexion, who had been wearing his hood, pulled it down and replaced the Lexicon he had been carrying back on its shelf, staring after Demyx with a look of confusion on his face.
"Now I wonder what that was all about...?"
Leixym screamed as she ran through the room. The horrible crunch, crunch, crunch! of stepped-on cockroaches followed her everywhere she went and she just wanted out of this nuthouse!
"Why did it have to be cockroaches?!" she shouted as she ran into yet another wall. The room was very poorly-lit, and vision was difficult.
She jumped when something skittered across her shoulder and she screamed, whipping her sword out from the darkness and turning on whatever was behind her. She started to randomly slap the flat of her blade down on it and she was screaming threats at it.
"Get off me! Whatever you are, get off!" she screamed.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! I give, I give! I'm not a cockroach, got it memorized?!" a familiar voice shouted above her screaming.
"What the—?" for the moment, Leixym stopped hitting the dark figure below her. It got up and she recognized it to be wearing the Organization's cloak.
A spark of fire illuminated in front of her and as her eyes adjusted to the sudden light, Leixym realized she was staring into the mischievous green eyes of none other than Axel.
"Axel? What! The! Hell!" she screamed, starting to beat him with her sword again.
"Ow! OW! It was just a prank, Ly!" Axel shouted, backing away from her.
"I'm surrounded by cockroaches you idiot! You snuck up on me! That is not a prank! That is a full-on nervous breakdown!"
"These things aren't cockroaches." Axel snickered. He bent down and let one crawl onto his hand. He brought his little fire over to rest above it and it was proven to be a very small robot, designed to look, act, and sound exactly like a cockroach.
"What the...?"
"Vexen made them. Well, he mass-produced them. I don't know how, but somehow he did it. Have to give him props for it. These things are pretty cool." Axel said, smiling.
Without warning, he grabbed the girl's hand deposited the robotic bug on it, causing her to recoil in fear and disgust.
"Ew! Get it off!" she exclaimed.
"Hey, relax, it won't hurt you. It's not even a bug." Axel said.
"But—"
"Look, I think it likes you." Axel snickered. And indeed, the robot had shuffled up her arm until it was resting on her shoulder, looking for all the world like a little bump in her cloak.
"It's...actually...kind of cute." Leixym said, relaxing.
"That's better. Now c'mon, let's get out of here." Axel said, pointing to where the door was.
"I'm right behind you."
Axbrem was lost.
She had been wandering around this godforsaken maze for about fifteen minutes, and she was no closer to the exit than if she had been in the Wonderland maze.
"Curse that Marluxia." she hissed as she walked into yet another hedge. The walls were so high that they cut off the fake light of the fake moon that hung over the fake forest and the maze.
"When I get out of here, I'm killing him." she vowed as she turned towards another dead end.
"Wonder how Xavier's doing..."
"Hey, Axbrem, what's up?"
Axbrem looked up, startled. On top of the hedge maze, framed by the fake moon, sat Xavier, who was smiling brightly and watching her with some amusement.
"What the—how the—what are you doing up there?" Axbrem asked her.
"I climbed up the hedge. It's really rough and I found a lot of purchase. Yeah, you can't burn it down, but you're apparently allowed to climb. They aren't roses or anything, just a bunch of leaves and twigs and stuff." Xavier said.
"You just...climbed?" Axbrem asked, dumbstruck. It was so obvious! So simple! But so...unorthodox. It certainly wasn't normal to get out of a hedge maze by climbing out!
"Yep. Here, come over here and I'll help." Xavier said, shifting herself so she was laying over the edge with her arms outstretched. With some hesitation, Axbrem approached and took her friend's hand. Xavier pulled while Axbrem slowly but steadily climbed up the surprisingly durable vegetation. There were a lot of branches in the bushes that Axbrem could hold on to until she was crouching on the top with Xavier.
"The trick here is, you have to either keep your weight even, or move really really fast. These things cave if you don't keep moving or at least keep your weight even." Xavier exclaimed as she took a deep breath.
"We going to just jump our way across this maze?" Axbrem asked disbelievingly.
"Well, I don't know about jumping, but running works fine. You ready?" Xavier asked.
Axbrem took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah."
"On the count of three."
"One..."
"Two..."
"Three!"
They got up and started running across the hedges together, moving positions on the heavy-duty plant life just fast enough to avoid being sucked inside of the bushes. The exit was seen about thirty yards away, and the way there, traveling by the wall, was apparent. They ran towards it, clearing the distance in about a minute until they were right on top of the exit of the maze.
"'Kay wait, stop." Xiyak said, dropping into a laying position. She spread out her arms and legs, evening out her weight, and Axbrem did likewise, until they were lying right next to each other on the top of the wall.
"What?" Axbrem asked.
"I thought I heard someone...no wait, look! It's...Roxas?"
Roxas appeared from the greenhouse exit and looked around with a sigh. He walked in, muttering something under his breath, and Axbrem leaned in to hear it.
"Shouldn't have listened to Axel...now I have to go in and find them..."
Axbrem edged forward until she was right over the edge. She took a breath and turned around so she would land feet first. She jumped off of the wall, hitting the soft grass and rolling with the momentum until she hit the other side of the path with a rattling of leaves.
"Yo' Roxas!" she exclaimed. Roxas turned around, saw her, and his eyes went wide. He ran over to her and helped her up off of the ground, a look of confusion on his face.
"Where did you come from?" he asked.
He fell forward with a loud "Oompf!" as Xavier jumped off of wall after Axbrem and slammed the Key of Destiny in the back with her feet, sending him into the wall. He fell over with the bush's recoil and landed on top of Xavier, winded.
"What the heck? Xavier, you almost killed me!" he exclaimed, getting up off of her.
"Sor-ry." Xavier said, getting up.
"What were you doing?" Roxas asked as he grimaced and rubbed his back where the teen had kicked him.
"We were running on top of the wall to get out of the maze." Axbrem explained.
"The top of the wall..? That's a new one! Clever!" Roxas said, looking at her.
"Yeah but...why was there this maze here in the first place? I don't remember Marluxia putting it up!" Xavier exclaimed.
"Oh that." Roxas blushed, "Axel asked Marluxia to rig his greenhouse to do it. To mess with whoever decided to go into this scare zone."
"What? Oh that miserable little—!" Axbrem seethed.
"Heh...anyways, let's get back up to the castle. Xisel's getting ready to open her birthday presents, cut the cake, etc. etc." Roxas said, ushering them out.
"Really? Yay!" Xavier said happily.
"Oh wait, hold on. Just remembered something." Roxas said, stopping. The girls turned to look at him.
"What?" Axbrem asked.
"One sec...oh, here they are." Roxas said. From his pocket he pulled out two black roses and handed them out to the girls. "It's the prize for clearing the maze. Good job."
"Sweet!" Xavier said.
Xisel looked up as Xavier, Roxas, and Axbrem walked in from the greenhouses.
"Hey!" Leixym called, waving them over, "Over here!"
The room had been darkened and sitting in front of the girl of the hour was a large, black and orange-decorated cake. On it were eighteen candles, all lit. Xisel was technically between the ages of 16 and 18, so they had decided to light eighteen candles, in honor of her possible age and her rank within the Organization.
"Go on, Xisel!" Axille exclaimed, dropping her skater-boy accent in her excitement, "Blow them out!"
Xisel took a breath and so did Oz and Alice. Together, the three blew, and each of the eighteen candles puttered out. There was a cheer as the lights were turned back on and everyone crowded around Xisel, congratulating her.
"Yay! Happy birthday, Xisel!" Xiyak exclaimed.
"Yes, happy birthday, Xisel." Zexion smiled. Yes, he actually smiled.
"Thank you." Xisel said, "Thank you everyone. This has been the best birthday I can remember."
"Aw shucks, no problem!" Leixym exclaimed. "Now c'mon, let's cut that cake and open up some presents!"
The next forty-five minutes was spent with cheerful conversation and much controversy through the younger members on who had survived their haunted room the best. In the end, it was decided that everyone had survived well enough, and so decided to split their candy evenly between everyone.
Darxet, who had calmed down with the aid of some ginger ale and a bit of rest, was chatting with Xisel and Anix, who noticed Darxet was playfully flirting with Xisel. Xisel didn't mind, but Alice the doll was sending him some pretty weird glances.
Those things have minds of their own, Anix thought, shaking his head with a small smile.
He looked around when he heard the oh-so-quiet sounds of a dark portal opening and closing behind him. He turned around and saw, to his great surprise, Kyrox standing there.
"Kyrox? Man,where have you been? You missed an awesome party!" Anix exclaimed.
"Sorry. I had ah...other, business to attend to." Kyrox said, somewhat distantly.
"You okay?"
"Hm? Oh, yes. I'm fine."
"Ky-ky, you're back!" Axille exclaimed. Out of nowhere the kid appeared and handed him a slice of the cake, smiling broadly. "Glad you got back, Ky-ky! Xisel's about to open her presents!"
"Really? Then I guess I came back at just the right moment." Kyrox said.
Everyone started drifting towards Xisel again, who by now was sitting next to a large stack of presents from the neophytes and a few of the Organization. Leixym was bouncing on the armrest of her couch in a hyper way, impatient for the presents to be unwrapped.
"Open it! Open it!" she said.
"Alright, alright, calm down." Oz said pacifically. Xisel took the top box and unwrapped it, revealing a new porcelain doll from Xavier.
"I know you collect them, so there you go! I saw it in Traverse Town and thought, why not?" Xavier grinned.
"Thank you, it's very lovely." Alice said as Xisel put the doll down on the table.
She started to open up the rest of the presents. They included, but were not limited to, snake-skin boots from Leixym (I found them in Twilight Town! I thought they would look so cute on you!), a set of books and journals from Zexion (In case you wish to record something.), a black-haired puppet/doll from Axille, Axel, and Roxas (We got it in Hollow Bastion. Hope you like it!), a black and white watch from Luxord (A watch is always useful.), and a variety of other gifts and trinkets.
"Thank you, everyone, these are wonderful gifts." Xisel said, smiling a little, "Thank you for such a wonderful birthday."
"Hey, no problem." Axel spoke up on behalf of everyone present.
"And still!" Demyx exclaimed, "The night's still young! Let's go scare ourselves some more!"
"I'm with you there, Dem!" Darxet exclaimed as he followed Demyx out the door towards one of the scare zones.
Axel turned to Roxas and grinned. "What about you? Still in the mood to get scared?"
Roxas smiled. "Sure. Why not?"
When they had gone, Xisel sat down with the neophytes to discuss the night's events, and the rest of the twenty-eight strong Organization's first Halloween bash passed in happy chatter and trading candy.
Right now, for a bunch of Nobodies, life was pretty darn sweet.