Chapter 37

Calixa walked into the kitchen for breakfast. Neox looked up at her, surprised. She was here rather early, comparing to how late she usually was. "Hey Neox what's up?" she asked him.

"Hey… Any reason you're here early?" he asked eating some bacon.

"I woke up at four for some reason and just decided to get ready early and make it to breakfast on time for once."

"Wow, change of a heart?" the boy said, smirking and sitting back. He frowned after a moment though, looking at two empty seats at the table. Those seats were usually occupied by there foreign members. It was obvious why Xero wasn't there, he was still on his month long mission, but Bàli usual came to meals. Or at least she had…

Neox knew that something was amiss with Bàli, he had tired to give her some soup. She insisted that she would eat it, but as soon as Neox left the room, he could the toilet flush. That could only mean that she never ate it, and flushed it down the toilet. Ever since then, he had been watching Bàli closely, and the Scottish girl had stopped showing up for meals, and he never saw her eat in-between meals. This gave the boy a nasty feeling that Calixa wasn't the only one on a diet, and he was pretty sure Bàli's wasn't as healthy as Calixa's.

Neox shook his head, to clear his thoughts. This was weird, it almost seemed like he was worried about Bàli. That was impossible of course, he hated every fiber of hat girl just like everyone else in the organization. But why was he so focused on watch Bàli's actions when it came to eating? He evenally came to the conclusion that it was a natural instint that if one of there number snuffed it then that would mean more missions. Plus Xero being a basket case. Yes that was why he was worried. Right?

The boys thoughts were broken by Calixa, "Why are you sitting like that?" she asked.

Indeed he was sitting quite unnaturally, his legs were curled up to his chest. "Oh, I ate a lot of candy," Neox answered. "I read that sitting like this helps you burn off the sugar from the candy since it takes more energy to crouch than to sit normally. If that's true, then I can eat all I want and not get fat!" the boy finished happily, ending with his normal teasing toward Calixa.

The carrot head growled at him and sat down. Vexen handed her a plate she scowled at the food she was given, fat free yogert, a mini bagal, and an apple. She then looked back at what Neox was eating. He was eating scrambled eggs with bacon and French toast sticks, covered in piping hot maple syrup. Also, an omelet was on a separate plate cut open to reveal fried rice, vegetables, cheese and some sort of sauce in it. Just looking at it was enough to make her mouth water.

She suddenly smashed the spoon she had picked up to eat her yogurt, onto the table, "That's it, I cant take it anymore!"

Neox giggled while people looked at her, "You okay, Calixa?" Roxas asked.

"No I am not! I I'm tired of this disgusting diet, I'm forced to eat. I'm going on strike!"

"And just how long can you keep that up?" Larxene asked, snickering. Several people, like Luxord, Xigbar and Xaldin, started putting in bets.

"I'll do it somehow!" Calixa replied stubbornly, and pushed her plate of breakfast away.

Vexen looked at her, "Now, now number sixteen, don't be rash. Jut eat it."

"No!" the orange haired girl was starting to sound very childish, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting.

"I said to just-" the yogurt was promptly thrown in Vexen's face, making him stop talking.

Neox burst out laughing, falling out of his chair. Larxene did the same, while most of the Organization laughed. Even Zexion and Lexaeus were chuckling softly at him. Vexen glared ice at Calixa. The red headed girl remained sitting there like a pouting child.

"That's enough at breakfast!" Xemnas boomed.

Everyone fell silent. "Now, stop all this noise. I have a headache already. I had planned to give you all the day off today-" Xemnas began. This only resulted in many cheers, and whoops. Xigbar actually jumped on the table hooting. "HOWEVER!"

They all stopped and looked at him. "With this new turn of events, I feel that is no longer a need!"

This was followed by a grown all around. "We almost had it!" Axel said angrily. "Its all your guy's fault, you were too excited!" he accused everyone but himself, though he had run around the table yelling with joy.

"If I get some peace and quiet, I will allow this. It must be completely quiet wherever I am for the next hour!" Xemnas announced.

"Does that include a day off from play rehearsal?" Neox asked eagerly.

"Yes, but only if it's quiet for the next hour," there leader replied, and then teleported away to get some aspirin.

Everyone remained silent. Some were afraid to say anything for fear that the superior would say that it was too loud. Neox stood up, picking up his plate slowly and walking through a portal, going to eat in his room. Calixa grabbed Xion's plate and went through with him.

Bàli was lying on her bed, waiting for breakfast to be over before going to see if she had a mission. Lately she hadn't been given any mission, though this might have been because she was the main character of the play, which wasn't going very well. They had been rehearsing for almost three weeks, and no one really seemed to care all that much. All in all she spent much of her time memorizing her lines, more for keeping her mind off of her constantly growling stomach.

She had managed to get to 110, and then decided to go five more pounds. But she promised herself that she'd stop after that. She had managed to get to 110 about a week ago, but unfortunately had a set back when she went on a two day binge. After that she gained back seven pounds, and practically had to start all over. She was at a 111 right now, which was pleasing.

A loud growl from her stomach, brought her back to wondering if breakfast was over yet. She had heard a bunch of shouting and cheering a few moments ago, but now all was dead silent. Could she have perhaps missed mission assignment handouts? With that thought in mind she stood up and teleported out of the room.

Neox and Calixa reappeared in Neox's room. Calixa was already in the process of eating Xion's sausage. "Should you be doing that" Neox asked, closing the portal.

"I don't give a damn anymore. I've been on this diet for two weeks and I've almost forgotten how real food tasted."

"How's that sausage taste? I saw Xion sneeze on that food earlier," Neox lied, waiting to see her reaction.

Calixa froze, and spit the piece of food she was eating out, coughing vigorously. Neox laughed, letting her know it was a lie. She growled and scarffed down the food quickly before he could trick her again. She sighed with satisfaction once she was finished, "That tasted good."

Neox blinked, "You just ate 3 pancakes, two spatulas of scrambled eggs, 4 pieces of sausage and half an omelet in thirty second..."

"I've been deprived of real food, I needed it."

"I guess diets have the word die in them for a reason." Neox commented, and then resumed eating his own food.

"I'm not going back on that diet," Calixa announced with stubbornness. "I'll stop eating meals in the kitchen and eat in the middle of the night if I have to."

"But what if you get caught?" Neox questioned finishing up his meal

"What are they going to do? Spank me? It'll be worth it."

"Never thought I'd hear that from you." he said, then opened a portal and tossed his plate through to the sink. "But ok; so what now?"

"Since we have to be quiet in order to get a day off, I say we spend the day on some other world."

"Sure. I actually... I actually found a new place. A new world I think" he said, smiling broadly though whispering.

"Really? What's the world called?"

"Traverse Town."

"Cool what's it like?" Calixa asked sounding interested.

"Sorta like Twilight Town. It's more or less a town, but its nighttime instead of twilight all the time."

"Cool! Let's go," the carrot head said a little bit too loudly in her excitement.

"SSSH!" Neox shushed her.

Calixa slapped a hand over her mouth. "Sorry," she whispered somewhat muffled from her hand.

The two stood silent, for a moment to see if Xemnas had heard her shout. As all remained quiet, they sighed with relief. Neox opened a portal and ran though followed closely behind by Calixa. They reappeared in a courtyard area filled with people. It was in the dead of night, but there was enough light around so it wasn't too dark. They could see that something was going on. "Huh? It looks like some sort of festival," Neox commented, taking his jacket off and tying it around his waist, because it was very hot there.

Calixa unzipped hers but didn't take it off. "Wonder what's going on?" she asked to no one in particular.

"This?" a tall man behind them asked. He was chewing on a toothpick, and had sandy blond hair, kept short, and stubble.

"Huh?" both kids turned to look at him.

"This is the Traverse Town Festival. We use it to celebrate the finalization of the bell tower, there," he said, pointing.

The two nobodies looked up at the tower. Neox stared in wonder, "Cool...Wait, so what's at a festival anyway?" he asked, having never been to any type of public celebration before.

"It's a big party, with lots of food, and social gathering," Calixa replied.

"Cool! Food?" he asked, mouth watering.

Calixa was excited as well. Breakfast sausages and eggs weren't enough, it had been too long since she had eaten tasty food.

"Yeah, food of all types. Some are a bit weird, but all of them taste good," the man told them.

The two started sampling all the food they could get there hands on. Neox looked at a stand that sold an unusual food, "Mister, what is that?"

"Oh that's spiced crickets," the man replied.

Neox nearly recoiled in disgust, but he knew that would be rude to do. Calixa, who didn't care about being rude or polite, clearly looked disgusted. "Crickets! You guys eat bugs! That's so gross!"

To their surprise, the man chuckled. "Yes, a lot of people think that at first. But when they try them, they think otherwise fast."

"I'm so not trying them," Calixa said stubbornly.

Neox held his hand out, shocking Calixa as the man gave him on of the crickets. "Here try the sour cream and onion," the man said.

Neox nodded and looked at it, then braced himself, eating it. His face went from a grimace to a look of surprise. It really didn't taste that bad, it actually tasted kinda good. "M-may I have another please?" he asked politely.

The man smiled and ruffled his hair, handing him three different flavors. Calixa was staring at Neox with disgust. "The day I go so low as to eat bugs will be a sad day indeed."

Neox took the chance and just shoved one in her mouth. She nearly swore at him, and spat it out. Neox sighed, hoping that he'd get her to eat one. He settled for just eating the ones he had left. "C'mon then, let's go see what other stuff they have."

Calixa nodded and they continued on. They stopped after another few moments, looking at a food she had never seen before. "Excuse me, what's that?"

The man looked at her, then down at the food she was pointing at. Neox stopped and looked as well. "Oh that? That's Nikuman," the clerk told her, smiling.

"What is it?" Calixa asked not recognizing the name.

"Try one," a lady that seemed to be in charge of the stand suggested, handing her one of them. It looked like a rather large boiled dumpling more or less, but was puffed up and slightly heavy. Calixa wasn't an adventurous eater, so she denied it, "No thank you."

Neox glared at her. "I think you need that diet if you're going to turn everything down," he scolded, taking the Nikuman from her and biting into it.

Calixa stuck her tongue out, and grabbed a piece of steak. Neox was munching on he food happily, "Hey Cali, there's beef in this! Just like the one from the ramen we eat sometimes!"

Calixa sighed and finally gave in trying the Nikuman. She took one bite and then her eyes lit up and she quickly ate the rest. "Wow it is good," she said grabbing another one.

The lady smiled at her, and the two kids then went to check out other stands. They spent the next hour eating all the food that was available. Calixa being a bit more picky then Neox, and by the time they were finished both were very full there bellies bulging slightly. They were currently sitting on a bench, resting a bit. Neox was sitting in that unusual way again. "Man, so good!" he sighed happily

"You're telling me," Calixa agreed. She hadn't felt so satisfied since before she went on the diet.

"What did you like most?"

"I don't know, they were all great," Calixa replied.

"I liked the Nikuman and the Taiyaki best."

"Yeah... Well should we go back to the castle?" Calixa asked.

"Why bother?" a voice joined them. They looked up in surprise at Xion Roxas and Bàli.

"What are you guys doing here?" Neox asked in surprise.

"Xion found this world a few days ago and we thought we'd come check it out. It's pretty fun here." Roxas told them, shoving a candy into his mouth, which that had tried earlier. It was called Kompeito, which basically melted into a delicious mix of flavors and sugar in your mouth upon eating it.

Neox's eyes narrowed as he looked at Bàli. She looked just as pale as when he last saw her, and now looked even frailer. "So how do you like the food here Bàli?" he asked, "Its pretty good isn't it."

"The party pooper hasn't even tried anything yet," Roxas laughed, shoving Bàli playfully and only Neox noticed her vague wince.

The blonde forced a laugh. "Aam jist nae 'ungry," she replied smiling.

Neox couldn't help but stare at Roxas, as he laughed with Bàli. Wasn't he supposed to be friends with her, how could he not notice how bad she looks. But wait! Why did he care? "You should try some of the Nikuman, its really good," he suggested.

"Oh, nae 'at's ok, I'll eat later," the older girl declined.

"You promise?"

Bàli almost looked taken aback, "Y-Yea, I promise."

Calixa stared at Neox with raised eyebrows, and he couldn't blame her. What was wrong with him, this was Bàli. After an awkward silence Xion spoke, "Ok um… we should stay here until tomorrow. Yow know, tell Axel and then check out a hotel or something," she said nervously. "Vexen will blow up at you and blow our chances at a day off if we go back."

"Why? What did you do?" Neox asked.

"We didn't do anything, it was Calixa, remember her eating spree?" Roxas reminded.
"The yogurt to Vexen's face?" Xion added

"Oh yeah," Neox said smiling at the memory.

"I told him I was going on strike," Calixa defended herself.

"I doubt he likes that," Xion shrugged. "Can we rent out a hotel room here or something?"

"If you have money," Calixa said. "I'm broke."

"I got 30,000 munny," Neox shrugged.

"How do you have so much munny?"

"I saved up. I wanted to buy a motor scooter."

"Well if you willing to spend on it on a hotel room then we can do it," Roxas said.

Bàli who was starting to feel very strange spoke up, "Um… I think aam goin to go bak instead."

"How come?" Roxas asked her.

"Cause Vexen's nae mad at I, an I don feel like stayin in a hotel," Bàli replied.

Neox had a strong feeling that that wasn't the reason, but he held his tongue for once. "Sure whatever. Tell Axel and Zexion where we are. But don't tell Zexion what world we're in." Calixa told her.

"How come?"

"Because he might tell Vexen."

"Aye, ok," Bàli agreed and opened a portal.

Neox noted how she swayed slightly while walking though, but he swatted this worry away, firmly reminding himself that he didn't care about Bàli. They all headed toward the hotel and stopped at the check in building, and once they checked in they went inside the main building. "Whoa! This hotel is long!" Neox said in awe.

"Yeah," Xion agreed. "Which room is ours?"

Neox looked at the paper he had gotten from the bellhop and looked at Xion, "Room 210."

The group headed toward the room and walked in. It was a small room, with two beds. "Only two beds... How will that work?" Roxas asked. But no one heard him, or noticed the beds. The room's features were alluring. In the wall was a large TV. Between the beds was a phone, used to call room service. And there was a minifridge in the room too.

"I got the remote!" Xion Neox and Calixa said at the same time.

Roxas stared. "Um, guys?"

The three didn't hear him. They were currently in a tumble battle over the remote for the TV Calixa was currently winning, since she had the remote in her hand. But she was also on the bottom on the dog pile. Neox and Xion didn't seem to know this since they were fighting on top of Calixa over nothing. Neox suddenly noticing how had the remote then gave Calixa a wet willie, making her lose her grip on it. With the remote now in hand he clicked the TV on using Calixa and Xion as a cushion. "Guys!" Roxas called again louder this time.

The three still didn't hear him, Xion and Calixa tackling Neox for the remote. Getting fed up, Roxas promptly walked over and took the remote out of Neox's hand. "Guys!" this finally got there attention.

"What Roxas?" they yelled, glaring at him.

"Have any of you guys noticed something?"

"Yes. Neox is sitting on me with his nasty butt and Xion's armpit is on my head. And to make it worse, you have the remote that I want so bad!" Calixa growled out.

"I mean how are we going to all sleep on two beds?"

They looked at the beds, then at Roxas. "I am not sharing a bed with anyone." Calixa said, who was a major bed hog.

The four of them started arguing over who was going to go on each bed, the remote being compactly forgotten. Then Neox walked away from the argument, picking the remote up and watching TV once he realize that he was being most ignored. He started flipping through channels, and eventually came across an interesting show. The other three noticed what was on and upon realizing they liked the show also they abandoned the argument as well and went to watch.

Neox then looked at them and got up while they were distracted, getting up and walking to the other bed, laying down and falling asleep. He awoke some time later from a loud siren sound, plus water hitting his face. He sat up fast, summoning his keyblade. "Okay, who's the smartass?" he growled, and then he realized that the water felt like rain. "The hell?" he looked up.

"Neox come on we need to get out of here!" Xion voice rang though the air panicky. "The hotels on fire!"

"Fire?" the kid jumped up, and jumped out the window.

He landed safely on the ground. No one else did this, and no one saw him do it, so the other three ran out of the room and though the burning hotel. Neox looked at the window he just came out of and realized none of them were following him. He cast blizzard on the building, not being able to manage anything stronger, still sleepy

The fire was so large the spell barely helped, "Idiots! Why didn't they follow me, they could get hurt in there," he growled.

The fire was so large the spell barely helped. "Idiots! Why didnt they follow me, they could get hurt in there," he growled.

He looked around, and ran to a group of people who were standing by at a safe distance, staring at the huge flames. Neox noticed a lighter in one of their hands, and it was only then he noticed the knowing smirk on his face. The boy was about 99% sure that this was the guy that started the fire.

Meanwhile inside the building, Roxas Xion and Calixa were all trapped in the hallway surrounded by fire. "Dammit all! I can see a damn thing!" Calixa growled.

Xion coughed violently from all the smoke, "We're going to die!" she wailed.

"Stop that!" Calixa growled, then cast another water spell. It dowsed the fire enough, for them to run though the wall of fire that trapped them. The three of them went running down the hallway avoiding patches of fire, toward the exit. The group ran through it and went straight out the door... just as the building collapsed

They looked back at the remains of the hotel, all frozen with shock. "HEY! GET HIM OFF!" someone was screaming.

The three looked in the direction of the guy that yelled, and saw that Neox was pummeling the guy. Punches were flying towards the guy's face, and the group around him was unconscious. "Neox what are you doing!" Xion shrieked running over to him.

She gave him a quick spank on his butt, startling him while she held him. But it wasn't long before Neox started to struggle again. "Let me at im, let me at im!"

"Why? What'd he do?" Roxas asked.

"He started the fire!" Neox growled.

"What!" Calixa asked, cracking her knuckles and glaring at te guy

"What?" the guy looked shocked. "The kids crazy I don't know what he's talking about!"

"I heard you, assmunch!" Neox barked.

"You must have misunderstood-"

"Bull (beep)!"

"C'mon man lets get outta here!" one of the guys that had been passed out, woke up and was urging his friend to run with him.

Neox looked at him with hate in his eyes and then looked at Xion. "If you let me go, I'll hug you."

This ended up backfireing on Neox. Xion squealed with delight and pulled the boy into a bone breaking hug. "OWIE!" he yelped, being suffocated.

While this was happening, the two men were able to run away. Neox lost his chance to beat the pulp out of them. "Dammit." he swore. "Xion, I'll tell you one of Roxas's secrets if you put me down!"

She gasped, "Really!" she asked not putting him down yet.

Roxas looked alarmed though, "Xion I'll let you have the mission I have with Neox Friday if you don't take that offer."

Xion decided to make them both happy by setting Neox down and not asking for anything else. Neox then opened a portal, "We only have 5 hours until midnight, which is when we officially have a day off." he said. "Might as well go to bed now."

They all went through the portal, appearing in Roxas's room. "Okay, now lets calmly go to our rooms." Neox said in a whisper to Xion and Calixa. The others nodded and each quietly created a portal to there room's.

Here's Chapter 37 hope you enjoyed.