Author's note: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, or any other properties mentioned within this story. Furthermore, this is my first story, so any constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated. Yada yada, review, follow, blah blah blah.
Chapter 3
Marluxia was waiting in the grey area. Saix had sent him to go and take care of the Emperor in the land of dragons, but he was waiting for one more person. Eventually, Dalynx came into the grey area and approached Marluxia.
"Well? Are we going to get going or do you just plan on standing here?" Dalynx asked as he approached. Marluxia smiled.
"You're enthusiastic about this aren't you? I like that." Marluxia opened a corridor, and they went through it.
The pair came out in one of the villages in the land of dragons.
"This world looks pleasant. It's not Earth, but it looks very much like Imperial China. Why are we here?" Dalynx asked. Marluxia looked down at him, and then spoke.
"Simple, we are here to assassinate the Emperor, the man ruling this world. Then Shan Yu, a man wishing to invade with an army of heartless, will have all of his army take over, and we can send in Roxas and Xion to fight the heartless and collect the hearts." Marluxia summoned his scythe and pointed it up at the palace. "So we go there, take out any guards, kill the Emperor, and get back to the castle before we start any real trouble." The moon shone down on them, and Dalynx grinned.
"Well, you might say that this sort of mission fits me. Unless you particularly want to take him out yourself, I have a way of dealing with this."
"Oh? Go ahead, use your method, I want to see how strong you are personally anyway." Marluxia stepped back, as Dalynx summoned his rapier and pointed it upwards. The shadows of night flocked to him, clinging around him, almost completely concealing him. "So that's how you got into the castle? You cloaked yourself. Interesting." Marluxia said.
"Now, I hope you can keep up." Dalynx said, as he dashed off towards the temple. Soon Marluxia had lost him, as the shadow he was using to conceal himself was blending in perfectly with the night. Marluxia ran through the bamboo forest, trying to find Dalynx.
"Oh forget it, he'll be at the palace, I'll just head there." Marluxia changed his direction and ran up to the palace.
As he entered, he saw all of the guards on the floor, various blade wounds in them. Marluxia walked into the throne room, and what he saw was quite spectacular. Li Shang was in front of the Emperor, all of the other guard dead, duelling with Dalynx. The Nobody was running rings around the general, trying to pierce him with his rapier. Li Shang held firm however, his sword knocking the rapier barely away from him with every block. Li Shang stepped forward, trying to push Dalynx away from the Emperor, but Dalynx merely leaped into the air, over Li Shang's head, and stuck his rapier into the general's back. Li Shang grunted in pain as he fell, Dalynx pulling his rapier out of the general and flicking the blood from it. With the general dead, Dalynx walked over to the Emperor. The Emperor stood up, and spoke.
"I know what you are here to do outsider. I do not fear my death." The elderly man spoke with a firmness that surprised even Marluxia.
"Good. You will be remembered for your leadership, I promise you that." Dalynx said as he slit the Emperor's throat with his rapier. The old man fell, and Dalynx turned, sheathing his rapier. "So? What did you think Marluxia?" The eleventh member of the Organization looked at Dalynx.
"They weren't exaggerating about you. You could be a great addition to our ranks. I had expected this mission to last a lot longer, we're running ahead of schedule now. Come on, we can head back to the castle. You'll still have a while before you have to be in Twilight town for Axel's little tea party."
"What? How do you know about that?" Dalynx looked shocked.
"He always does it with thirteen and fourteen. When you didn't come back until late yesterday, it was obvious you had been with them." Marluxia said, opening a corridor. He walked through and Dalynx followed.
They emerged back in the grey area. "Come this way, there's someone I would like to introduce you to Dalynx." Marluxia walked out and down the corridor with all of the sleeping quarters. The corridor had seven doors on each side, and then Dalynx's on the end. Marluxia led Dalynx to the second door from the end, on the right hand side. It had the Roman numeral XII on it.
Marluxia knocked on the door, and it was opened by Larxene.
"You're early." She said, "And you brought the kid huh? Oh, the name's Larxene by the way." Larxene ushered the two members in, and they all sat around a small table.
"You had the day off then, Larxene?" Marluxia asked.
"Yeah, or if I didn't, then Saix forgot to give me my mission." The blonde replied, laughing.
"Anyway, Dalynx here just single-handedly took out the Emperor in the Land of Dragons, along with just about every soldier in the palace."
"Even Li Shang? I hear Xigbar had trouble with him."
"Yes. He killed the general as well. Also, Fourteen was right, he is just as fast, if not faster than you. You've got competition." Marluxia smiled. Larxene looked at Dalynx, her expression somewhere between curiosity and rage.
"Damn kid, you must be really good if you can get Marly here saying good things about you. That's almost as hard as getting Saix to smile, and trust me, Saix is not the smiling sort." Larxene seemed to be genuine in her compliment. Dalynx shrugged.
"Oh, I wouldn't say I'm that good. I have one field in which I excel, that is all." Dalynx looked up at the clock on the wall. "Now I've got to be going, I bid you adieu." Dalynx opened a corridor and left.
"He uses shadows as his element, and he uses them well. I couldn't tell where he was after he started moving, when he had them concealing him. Roxas and the puppet both said that he can use them to attack as well, that worries me." Marluxia said to Larxene.
"So he's really that good? Then surely once we get him on our side, the Organization is as good as ours." Larxene said
"Yes, that would be the case, but getting him over to our side is the problem. He's building a friendship with Axel, Roxas and the puppet, so we may not be able to get him to side with us."
"So what if he's got some friends? We just have you keep on pulling him along for your missions until Saix gives him his own. Let you and me build a better bond with him than Axel and the babies, simple!" Larxene sounded proud of her plan.
"Not going to happen. The others have been speaking with Saix. He's almost completely booked up until Saix starts giving him his missions. We're just going to have to wait, and hope that he falls out with Axel, and comes to us." Marluxia sighed, then got up and left.
Dalynx's corridor opened up atop the clock tower. He closed it, then sat down, waiting for the others. "Friends huh. Not something I'm used to, but...yesterday was fun, so, I'll stick with it." Dalynx sat, and waited. An hour passed. Just as he was about to leave, he heard footsteps coming up the clock tower stairs. Xion came up, alone.
"Oh, hey Dalynx, when did you get here?" She said, as she sat down beside him.
"About an hour ago I'd say. I finished early today, Marluxia had me come to assassinate some Emperor from the land of dragons with him. I breezed through it, so we got to head back early. So I came here." Dalynx said, and shrugged.
"Didn't you have anything else to do?" Xion asked, looking at him.
"Not really. My work was done, so I just came here, you guys are literally the first real friends I've ever had, so I don't have anyone else to talk to." Xion smiled, then started to laugh.
"You're just like Roxas aren't you? I guess the others were wrong."
"What do you mean?" Dalynx asked.
"Oh, nothing, Larxene was telling everyone about how you were untrustworthy, and how you'd betray us all given half the chance."
"Seriously? Well someone isn't getting a Christmas card from me this year." Dalynx jokingly pouted, and Xion laughed. Axel and Roxas came up onto the roof, already talking.
"Hey pipsqueaks, break it up, ice cream's here!" Axel shouted as he threw two sea salt ice creams towards the two Nobodies. Dalynx caught one, and Xion caught the other.
"So, I hear our pink headed friend took you out on mission with him today, how was that? Marluxia doesn't normally get the...cleanest of assignments." Axel asked, sitting down with Roxas beside him.
"I outdid him. We had to go take care of the Emperor in the land of dragons, I beat him to the palace, and had already killed all of the guards by the time he got there. I had a quick fight with some general...Li Shang I think his name was, and then I killed the Emperor. Marluxia barely did anything."
"Wow, that can't have pleased him too much." Axel's eyes widened as he said that.
"He seemed happy enough, after that we ended up talking with Larxene in her room. All they were talking about was how good they thought I was though, it was unsettling." Axel looked curiously at Dalynx.
"Did he now? Well, I'll have to check in on him sometime….Anyway, let's leave out talk of work, dig in!" Axel took a bite out of his ice cream, and everyone else followed suit, eating and chatting about pointless things.
Xemnas opened a corridor into the round room and sat upon his throne. Vexen entered soon after.
"Why do you wish to examine number fifteen, Vexen?" Xemnas asked.
"Have you not heard? From what everyone is saying, he is exceptional. He took on Roxas and won, and Marluxia has said that he basically incapacitated the land of dragons, even defeating Li Shang. This child is amazing, I must see what makes him so. We may be able to use some of what I find to improve our other members, and if not, then it means little, as he is not yet receiving missions, and I have a day off tomorrow." Vexen sounded excited about this.
"Hm. So you believe that the boy may have some form of additional power?"
"Yes, and if we can tap into that power, the Organization's power would grow immensely."
"Well then. You are dismissed. Feel free to examine number fifteen tomorrow, but that may be your only attempt before his missions start. The rest of the Organization have taken quite an interest in the boy."
"Alright, Xemnas." Vexen said, opening a corridor and leaving.
He returned to his lab, vials of various liquids lining the walls, and large racks of equipment scattered around.
"Soon, soon I'll find out your secrets Dalynx." Vexen pinned up a note saying '#15 tomorrow!' onto the wall, and he walked out, heading to his bedroom.
Axel, Xion, Roxas and Dalynx returned to the castle, and all headed their separate ways again. Dalynx, Roxas and Xion headed to bed to fill out their diaries before sleeping, but Axel instead found himself at a door with the numeral 'XI' upon it. He knocked, and Marluxia opened the door to him.
"Hello Marluxia. I'd like to ask you a few questions about our good friend Dalynx." Axel's voice carried threatening tones with it as he spoke.
"What do you want to know, Axel?" Marluxia stood firm, glaring at the flurry of dancing flames.
"Why you and Larxene invited him back to talk about his power after your mission, to me that all sounds a little suspicious."
"I do not know what you're talking about. Once our mission was completed, I did speak with him and Larxene, but is that not normal?" Marluxia asked, his voice sharp.
"It isn't when it's you and Larxene talking about it. This all smells of treachery to me."
"If that's all this is, please come back when you have some proof." Marluxia slammed the door, leaving Axel in the corridor.
"Damn him…" Axel said, walking back to his room.