~Day 2~

Twilight Town

The swarm of Soldier Heartless disappeared in clouds of darkness with a single swipe from Xarki's Keyblade. Larxene was behind her, taking on a pack of Shadows. The bell on Twilight Town's clock tower chimed the hour.

"Hey, how'd you get so good at fighting?" Larxene finished off her last Heartless for the day.

Xarki dismissed her Keyblade as she watched the little hearts from the Soldiers disappear.
"I had a good teacher," she smiled as she pushed her fringe back around her face.

"Oh yeah, you were training under that mouse king, weren't you?" Larxene shook the knives in between her fingers as she spoke.

The bittersweet memories of King Mickey Mouse flooded Xarki's mind all at once and brought tears to her eyes. She just nodded at Larxene because she felt that if she replied verbally, she might burst into tears.

"Well, we're all done here. Shall we RTC?" Larxene's knives disappeared in a white flash.

"RT...Oh, Return To the Castle? Sure," Xarki swallowed her sadness as she worked out what Larxene was talking about.

"Great. This Savage Nymph needs her beauty sleep!" Larxene referred to her title as the 11th member of Organization XIII.

Xarki took it upon herself to open a Corridor of Darkness to take both of them home and she departed with Larxene following close behind.

The World That Never Was

The two girls appeared in the Round Room and were coldly greeted with Saïx's citrine-coloured eyes. He glared at Xarki and Larxene for a second before turning his attention to something behind them.

"Ah. I've been expecting you," he said in his droning voice.

Larxene looked over her shoulder at whoever was approaching and froze suddenly. Her eyes were growing wider and she turned pale. Xarki followed her gaze and quickly gave the same reaction.

"Where's Xemnas," Ikari demanded, apparently not noticing Larxene and Xarki.

Saïx shook his head slowly, "I'm afraid the Superior is too busy to see you at this time."

Ikari pulled out a blade from behind her back and aimed it at the blue-haired Nobody. Xarki recognised Ikari's strange weapon immediately.
"Well you better tell him to get his sorry ass out here right now if he knows what's good for him!" Ikari threatened.

Xigbar's groaning was heard from one of the sofas. "No-no language, no-no language, how many times do I have to say about the no-no language! It makes my ears bleed, for crying out loud!" Xarki couldn't tell if he was joking or not. Either way, it didn't seem to faze Ikari in the slightest and she held her weapon firmly in front of her.

"Perhaps you would like to talk to me on the Superior's behalf?" Saïx suggested.

"Alright then. How about starting with this. I went back to Hollow Bastion and guess what I found?" Ikari's tone was getting really scary now.
"That's right, you guessed it! Tsuki is still there! I went through all that trouble to kill her for you and you leave her there like she's…like she's nothing! But that's not the real problem here. The real problem is that you tracked me down…hired me to help you…promised to pay me…and then you don't even acknowledge me for the job I did! What was the point of bringing me into all this is the first place?! What was the point of all this?!" Ikari had been swiping the air with her blade furiously.

Larxene and Xarki were both glaring at her, obviously trying to stop themselves from lashing out in anger. Saïx wouldn't like that.

"You fail to see the significance of the action you took regarding that girl's life. It was necessary for you to eliminate her and it did not matter whether or not she was needed in this Organization. Why, can't you just see it? Her best friend was taken by a group of strange and powerful Nobodies. What would stop her from storming the castle to save her? The answer to that is obvious. Her 've done us a great help. I thank you on behalf of the Organization." Saïx said calmly.

"But you have thirteen freakin' members in this Organization that could have easily done the job for you! Why'd you go through all the trouble to hire me?"

"It would have been too risky. I didn't want to expose any of our members to that kind of darkness. But you, also born into a world of darkness, stood a much better chance against her," Saïx explained it as if he hardly even needed to think about the words he was saying.

Ikari opened her mouth to say something, but stopped as Saïx's explanation sunk into her mind. It made some sense; she couldn't deny that. She sighed and slowly lowered her weapon putting it behind her back again. "So…what about my pay?"

Saïx pulled a small pouch from coat pocket. "Two-thousand munny as promised," he slowly held it out towards her.

Ikari seemed reluctant to take the pouch and she cautiously opened it as if to verify its contents. When she was happy with what she saw, she quickly shoved it into her own pocket.
"Thanks, I guess," she said quietly.

Saïx gave her a nod and disappeared into a Corridor of Darkness without much warning. Ikari turned and finally noticed Xarki and Larxene standing there. She choked on a gasp and tried to keep her cool.

"Good to see you, Arleen," she said formally.

Larxene clenched her fist and spoke through gritted teeth, "Thanks to you, my friend, that's not who I am anymore. I'm a Nobody, Ikari. Because of your stupidityI'm a Nobody!"

"Stop trying to push the blame on me! You and I both know that neither of us wouldn't be where we are now if you hadn't betrayed me the way you did!" Ikari was quick with a comeback, as if they'd had this argument a thousand times before.

"I did nothing wrong! Nothing! I didn't deserve what you did to me at all!"

"Look, I wasn't even going to kill you. I just wanted to hurt you a little. I was mad, okay, and I had every right to be. But if it wasn't for your stupidity, you wouldn't have tripped and fallen off that cliff!"

"You were sucking the life out of me! It wasn't exactly easy to keep my balance in a situation like that!"

Xarki felt like screaming at Ikari too, but she couldn't find any words to throw at her. After all, what are you supposed to say to someone who, just a couple of days ago, was trying to kill you?

Ikari gave a shallow sigh as she pushed her thick black hair over her shoulder, "I don't even have time for this, Arleen."

"That's Larxene to you!" Larxene summoned her throwing knives with a quick swipe of each hand.

Zexion had been sitting on another couch and had most likely been listening in on everything that had just happened. He spoke up without turning his head to look at them, "No sparring in the Round Room. Take it outside."

"I'd be more than happy to," Larxene summoned a Dark Corridor.

Grabbing the front of Ikari's shirt, she jumped into it and pulled her along with her. Without thinking too much about it, Xarki sprinted into the darkness as well.

By the time the portal had cleared on top of Memory Skyscraper, Xarki could already see Larxene full-on attacking Ikari with her knives. Ikari stumbled backwards a few times before she saw an opening to take out her own weapon and perform a powerful attack of her own. Xarki held out a hand and summoned her Keyblade, rushing to stand at Larxene's side. Before Ikari could bring her blade down upon the blonde Nobody, Xarki threw her Keyblade up to block the attack. She countered it with a well-timed Blizzard spell, making Ikari cough as she was struck. Larxene took the opportunity that Xarki had given her to send a flurry of Lightning attacks towards her one-time friend, making her jolt and fall to the ground, shaking a little. As Larxene was charging towards her, Ikari was already summoning a Corridor of Darkness.

"I hope I see you in Hell," she breathed the dismal words as she disappeared.

Larxene still attempted to attack her, but her knives only stabbed the top of the skyscraper and were now firmly stuck in it.
"Damn it! Damn her!" Larxene started screaming. She covered her mouth with her gloved hands and her high-pitched, frustrated growls were muffled by doing so.

Xarki ran to her side and put a hand on the Nobody's shoulder. Almost as if the weight of Xarki's touch was too heavy for her, Larxene dropped to her knees. She lowered her head in defeat, hands still covering her mouth.

Xarki crouched down beside her. "It's…it's okay, Larxene," was all she could think of to say.

"Ikari makes me so…confused. I don't understand how I can be genuinely angry and upset like this. It shouldn't be possible," Larxene's voice was croaky and sad, like she was crying. But no tears fell from her turquoise eyes.

...

Xarki didn't have to say much; she was able to calm Larxene down just by being there with her. The two of them eventually went back to The Castle That Never Was and retired to their rooms for the night.

Xarki had actually forgotten all about Zexion and so it surprised her to see him sitting on her bed as he had done the day before. But she reacted out of annoyance this time, rather than fear.

"I'm going to bed now, so unless you want to be all creepy and watch me sleep, you'd better leave," she put as much bite into her words as she could.

Zexion smirked and closed the book he had rested on his lap. "How about a bedtime story, first? I'm sure you'll find I'm an excellent reader." He got up and took a couple of steps from the bed, allowing Xarki to sit on it once she had taken her boots off.

"How about you go and harass one of the other members. I'm sure Demyx would love a bedtime story," she couldn't help but smile mid-sentence. The thought of Demyx all snuggled up in bed, falling asleep as Zexion read to him was surprisingly amusing.

"Oh, but I'm sure you'll like this story. It's one where you get to decide what happens," Zexion pulled out the chair from under Xarki's desk and sat down.

Xarki sighed, "Well, if it will make you leave faster, then I suppose I'll listen."

"Wonderful. Now let's see, where shall we start?" Zexion cleared his throat.
"Once upon a time, there was a Nobody called Zexion and a little girl called Xarki. The most important difference between them was that Xarki had a heart and poor Zexion was merely an empty shell who was never meant to exist."

Xarki already didn't like where this story was going.

"One day, Zexion decided to ask Xarki a question. 'Xarki,' he said, 'how did you ever come to get your heart back after losing it?" And so Xarki decided to be nice and tell Zexion all about it.
"Now, this is where you come in. Would you like to help me finish the story?" Zexion smiled innocently.

Xarki put on the same cute smile. "'Well,' said Xarki, 'the only way to get your heart back is through hard work and perseverance.' And having learned that good moral, Zexion finally left Xarki alone. The end."

Zexion breathed a small laugh and clapped softly. "Bravo, you are quite the story-teller. But I'm sure you have figured out, that was not quite the ending I was hoping for."

"Well, sorry, but it's the best one I've got."

"And that's not your fault, of course. We can't all be great authors, after all. But I do hope there's a way to change that ending so that our story's protagonist finally gets what he wants," Zexion stood up, holding his book to his chest.

"And who made you the hero? You're acting more like the villain, if you ask me," Xarki pushed back the sheets and slid down the bed. She pulled the covers back up to her shoulders as she lay her head down on the pillow.

"Oh, but there doesn't have to be an antagonist at all. Don't you see? We could both be on the same side if you were to help me out with this one little favour I'm asking," Zexion turned and headed for the door.

"All this is pointless, you know. I'm not going to change my mind," Xarki assured him firmly.

Zexion opened the door slowly, "And that is precisely why I'm going to change it for you. Goodnight, Xarki. Sleep well," he sang softly. As he left, he turned the light off and closed the door behind him.

Xarki turned in her bed and pulled the covers over her head, burying herself in them.

"Creep."