Roxas awoke suddenly. His throat felt thick, which was weird. He stood and walked to the first floor, toward the kitchen to get a cup of water. On the way there, he noticed something was different about the Grey Area. Water forgotten, Roxas narrowed his eyes and peered into the moonlit room before jolting.

Someone was on the couch! Was that red hair? Roxas ran to the couch. Could it be Axel?

It was Axel! Roxas grinned so hard he thought his smile might fall off (like Xigbar had said about Demyx's smile the time Roxas had asked him about how music worked—Roxas still didn't understand how a smile could do that…) and knelt in front of the couch. "Axel?"

Oh. Axel was sleeping… deeply, judging by his snoring. Would it be better just to leave him there and let him get rest? Roxas stared at his friend again. He was really pale and looked like he needed the sleep.

Roxas had really missed his friend, though. Would he be okay on the couch all night? Roxas knew from personal experience that it was meant for sitting and not sleeping. But if Axel needed to sleep so badly, maybe it wouldn't hurt to stay here until Axel woke up. Then they could both go wake up Xion and share the good news!

And so he sat down on the floor, resting his head against the couch. Although he could go back to his room to wait, he couldn't dismiss the weird idea that if he left Axel, he might wake up and find out that it was all a dream, and that Axel was still missing. But it couldn't be a dream if Roxas just waited, right?

He sniffed and furrowed his brows at the slight smell of smoke. Weird.

~ \*/~

Demyx woke from a dead sleep to a shrill beep piercing through his subconscious. He jerked into a sitting position, bleary eyes whipping around the room. What in the worlds was screaming at him? His brain still half-asleep, he sat up, covering his ears, and stumbled around the room, bumping into his dresser and the doorjamb before finally running out the door. As he staggered into the hallway, his eyes flew to the ceiling, the source of the beeping noise.

He stopped suddenly and squinted his eyes, staring at the flashing red light. What red light would be on the ceiling? Oh. It's only the fire alarm… "Wait! The fire alarm?!" Demyx looked down to ensure that he was still wearing his black coat and then ran into a Corridor of Darkness.

Because of accidents concerning both fire and Axel (shortly after the redhead had become a Nobody), Saïx had gotten permission from the Superior to have the fire alarms not connected to the whole building, only to pairs of floors. The first and second floors shared fire alarms, as did the third and fourth floors, and so on. So Demyx knew this fire had to be on either his floor or Larxene's. And since Larxene was scary enough to frighten the living (or non-living? semi-living?) daylights out of him, he decided to look for the fire on his floor first.

Besides, if there's a fire, he thought, I need to make sure I can get to the Grey Area safely. His heart panged with what might have been guilt. He would have to return to make sure his co-workers got out safely too, probably even the ones who terrified him. But that was a problem for future-Demyx, and present-Demyx just needed to get into a safe room.

Thankfully, Demyx had been relocated to the first floor within a month of being a Nobody (with the hope that being closer to the Grey Area would help the blond show up on time for missions and with the idea that such a short distance would allow for no excuse for tardiness). This meant that he didn't have too far to run before he made it to safety.

When he arrived in the Grey Area, the beeping was even louder. Demyx groaned and looked around for a source of the heat. He gasped, "The kitchen!" He ran into the room and paled at the sight of the table on fire. Great, man. That's just great. With a sigh, the blond realized that, since his specialty was water magic, he could just put out the fire, which would be more work. But maybe the other members will be all, "Wow! Demyx saved us! He's so cool!" and then they'd like me. That would be cool.

It was for this reason that he summoned Sasha and sent waves of water at the flaming table. Seconds after the fire was neutralized, the sprinklers started to spray water all over the room.

Demyx stood there, getting more wet by the moment. He rubbed his sore throat, the last vestige of his sickness clinging to him. "Well, I guess my work here is done." Ugh. Work, even during my off-hours. Sleep beckoned to him. He began to walk back to his room with a yawn.

He paused as he walked past the Grey Area. Who's that sacked out on the couch? Curiosity had always been a powerful motivator for him, driving away even the strongest bouts of laziness. He wandered into the room.

~\*/~

Roxas stopped tugging on Axel's arm, tears running down his face. At least the fire alarms had stopped blaring. He sat down once more, this time in exhaustion.

Axel hadn't woken up, despite all of Roxas's attempts to help. What if the fire alarms had kept going off? I thought we were going to die, and he was too heavy for me to move! Roxas hugged himself, trying to assuage the non-feelings of panic. His chest was heavy, like breathing would take tremendous effort.

"Hey, little dude. You okay?"

Roxas turned to see Demyx behind him, holding out a hand. The musician's brows were borrowed, his eyes kind.

Roxas blinked back his tears. "I was just…" What should he say? Worried? But he'd been told Nobodies don't have hearts. They couldn't get worried. Then what was this feeling of heaviness, or everything spiraling out of control, or Axel needing him but him not being about to help? Suddenly, he felt arms around him.

Demyx was warm… and wet. Roxas didn't mind. He allowed the hug, perhaps making Demyx wetter than he had been originally. When at last he seemed to have run out of tears, Roxas sighed and released his grip.

"You want to tell me about it?" Demyx asked.

Roxas contemplated before giving a nod.

~\*/~

Larxene fumed. Who was the moron idiotic enough to set off a fire alarm while she weas trying to sleep?! She stood, wrapped herself in five blankets, and shuffled down the hall. Someone's going to die tonight…

Energy crackled around her. Her face felt too hot, and yet her body was too cold. She rolled her eyes.

When she reached the Grey Area, she summoned a ball of lightning and shot it at the ceiling. It… kind of missed its mark, zipping right by Demyx's ear and taking out a ceiling light. She could work with that.

Demyx yelped and covered his head. "Dude! What was that for?"

"For everything you did!" Her voice held no emotion.

His aquamarine eyes widened. "But what did I do?" he squeaked.

Larxene laughed, "What didn't you do?"

Something shifted behind him, but that was unimportant at the moment. Larxene turned her gaze back on him… and his double. When had he gotten a twin? Ugh, they would be so much more annoying now that there were two of them!

But she could handle it. She glared at Demy and used all the energy she had left to throw one more bolt of lightning at his feet. His screech as he hopped to the side to avoid being struck amused her. But I shouldn't be spending my time dealing with this loser. He's not worth it. She'd already taught him a lesson.

Perhaps if her body had been cooperating, she would've continued to take out her ire upon the weakling, but for now, it screamed at her to rest. She took a step forward and felt her eyes begin to close. Everything faded to black.

~\*/~

Demyx's eyes were wide. "Man, what do I do? If I touch her, she's going to kill me. If I leave her on the ground, she's going to kill me… Well, I guess I had a good life." He turned to look at Roxas and said, "I'll help her back to her room. Uh, if I don't come back, I want a nice funeral. Y'know, with some pretty music and some nice words. Maybe we could even get Xigbar to play one of his trumpets, and—Yeah, I know I'm rambling. Well, here's to the life I had."

He bent down and nudged Larxene with his foot. She didn't respond, which was either really good or really bad. Either way, it did mean that Demyx had a few more minutes to live. He summoned a Corridor of Darkness to her room, picked Larxene up—Oh, drat! She's heavy!—and dropped her on her bed. He bolted back into the Grey Area, closed the Corridor, and plopped onto an empty couch, sighing in relief.

What a night! A fire, a panic attack, and Larxene. Demyx turned to a much-more composed, calm Roxas and said, "So, how would you feel about a snack?"

~\*/~

Marluxia rolled over and groaned. Why did the day have to start so early? The moon was still high in the sky, as always at the Castle that Never Was. The lightening of the sky ever so slightly was the only indication that daytime had begun. He usually didn't dislike mornings, but there was something about this one that felt off to him.

Well, if he finished his mission early, he would have more time to continue planning. He began to get ready for the day. A sudden gurgling in his stomach stopped him in his tracks. The gurgling turned into nausea. He ran to the bathroom.

~\*/~

Bright and early the next morning, Xion exited her room, yawning. She had stayed up writing and thinking for about an hour before she had finally calmed her brain down enough to let her sleep. I wonder if Axel's back now! Her eyes widened at the thought. She ran to Axel's room and knocked. She waited a minute, then two, then five.

Maybe he just didn't hear me. She knocked again and then waited. Maybe he's in the Grey Area, getting a mission from Saïx? Xion stared to walk down the stairs but paused when rose petals started to rain from the sky.

~\*/~

Saïx felt wretched. He had awoken to a stuffy nose, tightness in his throat, and a general feeling of malaise. He stood and tried to swallow, then slowly changed into his black coat. He straightened his posture. For a moment, he stood there, stiff and imposing. This might work. He could last the whole day, handing out missions and checking up on slackers. A definite benefit to being Lord Xemnas's right hand man was that he was given a job that was less physically challenging than the others, if he so chose.

He had never been one to act on these benefits. Rather, he preferred to work even harder, taking on missions in addition to his administration duties, in an effort to ensure the Superior knew just how much he could be trusted. Perhaps today would be a day for a slightly lighter workload.

Here's another chapter! :D I won't be able to promise any updates until after Thursday because of my research paper. However, I'll try for sometime after that.

Soli Deo gloria!

~LHDD