This chapter is short, but potentially very important. Now I can focus a little more on our villains. Especially one in particular…

Ruxik: "DarthKingdom does not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, or anything else. But he does own all OCs and locations in this chapter."

Chapter 72: Conspiracy

It was night at Pax Pacis. Though admittedly, it was difficult to tell when day ended and night began ever since the Brotherhood of the Dark had made it their headquarters. Dark storm clouds constantly rolled over the world. And occasionally, lightning forked across the sky. Thin sheets of rain were pouring down from them.

The beautiful capital city of Salusis that had stood bright and shining a mere three years previously was a shell of its former self. Many of the tall, elegant buildings were toppled, or destroyed completely. Debris from them littered the streets. This was the result of the Brotherhood's invasion of the world. A certain amount of terror and anguish was required to fuel the Darkness shielding the world.

Many, many lives had been destroyed to strengthen the defenses. And Heartless and Nobodies still patrolled the streets.

What was once the royal palace was the only building that was still mostly intact. Its towers still stretched high into the sky; its walls were still smooth, and fairly clean. Even the hole in the ceiling above the throne room had been repaired by magic, though it wasn't exactly the same place it had been before. The whole place was covered by black, and a guard of two giant Darkside Heartless stood sentry at either side of the front doors. Overwhelming Darkness seemed to ooze from it, spreading out across the landscape.

Currently, there were two people walking up the steps to the huge front doors, which now bore the Brotherhood's emblem of the three-pronged circle.

Xaynew and Saix were walking, bruised and beaten, up the steps, trying to prepare themselves mentally for what they knew would come.

The younger Nobody held up his hand as they neared the doors, and they opened slowly. The Darksides didn't react to them at all as the Nobodies walked inside, into the dark entrance hall. The doors shut behind them.

The long, tall entrance hall was completely dark, aside from greenish crystals glowing eerily all along the walls like lanterns; one row along the top of the walls, another in the middle, and a third practically touching the floor.

They walked down the hall in silence, seething. They had failed, yet again, to capture the Keybearers. What was worse was that they had also failed in their original objective to recruit Hamsterviel and the experiments.

They were in trouble. And that very thought was soon voiced by someone behind them.

"You guys are in so much trouble…"

They turned around and saw the smirking Larxene. She was leaning against one of the walls, and Ruxik was standing next to her.

Since she had been released from her form of captivity, Larxene had become an official member of the Brotherhood, and had abandoned her old Organization coat. Now she wore a tight black jacket over a yellow tank top. The top had sharp, jagged black lines going down it that looked slightly like lightning bolts. The same design was repeated on the back of her jacket in yellow. She wore long, black jeans with pouches for various pain-inflicting instruments of her own personal choice.

She smirked as she stood up straight and walked toward the two. "Saix! How's it going?"

Saix's response was a low growl. "What do you want, traitor?"

"Awww… Now that's not very nice. You didn't finish your anger management classes did you, Looney?"

"What do you want?" Xaynew asked again harshly.

"You could do with some too, junior." Larxene said, her eyes found the new scar going down his face. "You could also probably use a band-aid." By this time the both of them looked ready to kill her. "But believe it or not, we do have a reason for delaying your punishment."

"Then be out with it." Saix barked.

"Don't you think Serndask has too much power around here?" Ruxik asked.

"He leads us." Xaynew said. "Obviously he has more power than us."

"But don't you want a bit of that power?" Larxene asked quietly.

They were all totally silent for a moment, until Saix spoke. "I cannot believe that you are actually staging another coup, Larxene."

"Consider this, though..." She countered, not sounding at all worried that she'd be turned in, only conversational. "That guy Serndask doesn't give a Moogle's backside about any of us. One of the original members is dead and four old Organizers are gone and he just takes out his frustration on us. He doesn't even want to change his plan. 'Capture the Keybearers'. So... I think it's time for a change in command."

"And you support this?" Saix looked at Ruxik.

"I admit that there's a certain amount of risk to it." He shrugged. "But it'd be worth it if we succeeded."

"I always thought of you as Serndask's lap dog, 'Ruxy.'" Xaynew said with a smirk. Since it was revealed that Ruxik and Larxene were 'together', the other members of the Brotherhood had taken to mocking him this way. Xarcs had been the one to start it. "Why the sudden change of no heart?"

"Funny." Ruxik rolled his eyes in a credible imitation of Riku. "The guy sent me to the Underworld when I failed to bring back Axel. And Xarcs told me before he left that he was considering sending me on a six-month mission to Agrabah with the mark on my forehead."

"He's a harsh taskmaster." Saix said. "You should either finish your missions or learn to deal with it."

"Easy for you to say. Xemnas gave you special treatment, Looney." Larxene said, smirking. "You were so far up his butt that the rest of us couldn't see your face anymore. Serndask, on the other hand doesn't like special treatment…"

She held up her right arm, and rolled up the sleeve of her jacket. There was a long scar there, running down the entire length of her forearm. It was pure black, and made for an unsettling sight. "This happened the day after Olympus. It's in near constant pain, and I can't cover it up. Prepare yourself for something just as bad."

"One scar?"

"Only Ruxik is allowed to see where the others are." She said with something of a smirk.

"So, we want to make sure this doesn't happen again." Ruxik said, pointing to Larxene's arm. "Are you in or out?"

"Just what's stopping us from telling Serndask about your little scheme here?" Xaynew asked, arms crossed.

"The fact that you're genuinly interested." Ruxik replied, smirking.

"And the fact that I'm always ready to nab a bit more power." Xaynew returned the smirk. "We're in."

"We?" Saix asked.

In response, Xaynew reached into his pocket and held out the blank Absent Silhouette card. There was a swirling pattern on it, indicating the Darkness that Saix had come from.

"You're in."

Saix looked furious, but said nothing.

"Awww… Cheer up, Looney!" Larxene said, rolling her sleeve back down. "This'll be good for all of us! And I'm sure in that time we're planning we're all going to become the best of friends."

"Your sarcasm is appalling." He said.

"Bite me."

"So who else is in on this thing?" Xaynew asked Ruxik, ignoring the two Silhouettes.

"At the moment, it's just us. I don't believe that the other members of the Brotherhood are quite as flexible as we are."

"But maybe good ol' Marly could give us a hand…" Larxene said. "Has he been released from the convenient-to-carry card form yet?"

"No." Xaynew said simply. "That overconfident swordsman owner of his card doesn't think he needs his help… maybe if we convince him to use the card, though."

"I'm not so sure that the 'One-Winged Angel' is open to persuasion." Ruxik said. "He'll probably change his mind when he fights the Keybearers again, though."

"At the rate those punks are progressing," Larxene added, "It won't be much longer before they take out Serndask himself before we do. This Brotherhood is running out of assets faster than we can find them. We've lost Xayn-Shu and plenty of Organizers. Not to mention Hades, Oogie-Something, and Hamster-Wheel."

"And that little wretch who defected to their side." Xaynew added. "Now she's probably told us where we are."

"Then they also know that they can't get back to this world without a dark matter warp engine attachment." Ruxik said, waving it off. "We'll be just fine here."

"True enough, provided that we're the only traitors around here." Larxene said.

The four of them walked off down the hallway, speaking in low voices of what they'd have to do to overthrow Serndask and take the Brotherhood for their own.

They were arrogant and careless, not to expect anyone to be listening.

Fools.

He thought.

Do they honestly believe that I wouldn't know? I AM Darkness itself. I can be anywhere in this castle, fully engulfed in the Darkness. No secret can be hidden from me here, in these hallways.

Ruxik. I am disappointed. You were so promising… With you it would have been that much easier to take Kingdom Hearts. But now look. My simple disciplinary actions have driven you to treason.

And Xaynew. Have you not enough power already? I've strengthened you in return for this castle. Now it seems that I'll have to make you leave this place permanently. If you really want to see power… Oh, you have no idea what true power is.

Larxene. I suspect that this was originally your idea wasn't it? You are no stranger to treachery, you've suffered through it, and you've dealt it out. It is now such a great part of who you are that I suspect that you will always betray those above you until there is no one left.

Though, Saix… I understand that you have no choice. You feel no fear, but the black abyss where you came from is probably as close to fear as you will ever know. You do not want to return there. And so you must betray me.

Do any of them honestly believe that they can defeat me? Once upon a time, perhaps. But now, it is impossible. There are only two possible threats to my power in all of existence, and neither of them can be four Nobody traitors.

The first is the Keyblade. Not the one that you use, Ruxik, but that one held by the infuriating boy Sora. As long as that boy draws breath I will never be completely safe.

And the second is, of course, Kingdom Hearts. The heart of all worlds, of all that lives… Many have tried to aquire its unspeakable powers. All have failed. Maleficent, so clever, and yet so foolish. She was arrogant enough to believe she could never be consumed by the Darkness. And now look what has happened to her. She paid the price for her arrogance.

Had she even gotten to Kingdom Hearts, how could she have ever hoped to harness that level of power? She would be destroyed, surely. Power of that magnitude could never be controlled fully by a mere mortal.

That is why I must have it.

But one step at a time. I must deal with these insurgents, first. But not now, not while they can still serve a purpose to me. Ruxik is too valuable to destroy outright. But perhaps I can send a message.

Marluxia.

Yes… Yes. That could work.

Serndask smiled to himself.

Ah, those Nobodies can never just seem to agree on who the boss is can they? Well at least it gives us a new plot twist to watch.

Hope you liked it. Next chapter starts off a brand new world!

Please review!