You've made your decision on who to approach, but first things first; your stomach is starting to rumble. Everyone else seems to have already gotten their food, so you're alone at the big table. Honestly, it's kind of weird to see the Organization doing something as mundane as having breakfast. Sure, everyone eats, but whenever you pictured the Organization members in the past, they were doing something menacing: plotting, having cryptic conversations with each other, that sort of thing. To see them like this, eating and chatting amongst themselves, is sort of…humanizing.
It's nice to see familiar food, even if it's being served for a bunch of Seekers, and your hunger is enough motivation to ignore your nervousness for just long enough to put a bit of everything on your plate.
This is the first time you've been left to your own devices, with no time limit and nobody monitoring your every move. It's not as reassuring as it should be, though — if anything, it makes you feel like you've become just another Organization member, another vessel, in their eyes.
Well, even if you know you're not just another member, you should still play along and act like you are. And if that means sitting with your enemies, then so be it.
(Still, you can't help but swallow nervously. What if you play along too well, to the point where you're no longer pretending?)
Shaking your head to clear it, you bring your plate over to your chosen group.
Sure, you still want to talk to Vanitas at some point, but he's over by all those Xehanorts, and even if he wasn't, this probably isn't the best time to approach him. Maybe there are cameras in this room, too.
It's probably a good idea to stick to people you already know, even if you weren't on the best terms with them the last time you met. This way, you at least have a tiny idea of what to expect. That rules out Vexen and Xion, as well as the blonde woman and pink-haired man, and whoever that hooded person sitting next to Ansem is — though in the latter's case, even if you knew him, you wouldn't approach him due to who he's sitting with.
You have no desire to sit by Saïx, of course, and so that leaves you with only one option: sitting with Xigbar, Luxord, and Demyx. As much of a dick as Xigbar is, he's never really acted outright hostile. You're sure he'll mock you, but chances are he won't mind you sitting nearby, and maybe he'll be more likely to actually say something useful (instead of the usual cryptic riddle) when he's among his fellow Organization members. Despite having encountered Luxord before, you don't really know much about him, other than that he likes games and doesn't seem all that cruel. This might be a good chance to learn more about him. You don't know too much about Demyx, either, but you doubt he'll be much of a problem. Even if he gave you some trouble with those annoying-as-hell water clones the last time you met, he was never the most intimidating member of the old Organization, to put it lightly.
Come to think of it, he claimed that Nobodies did, in fact, have hearts, and now that you know for sure that they always had the ability to grow them, you wonder just how much he knew.
Eh, you can think more about that later. You've almost reached the table the three Nobodies in question are sitting at.
When you're just a few feet away, Xigbar looks over his shoulder and spots you. "Hey, kiddo! Nice to see you up and at 'em."
You say nothing, your throat going dry. How do you even begin to have a conversation with someone like Xigbar?
Demyx looks up from his cards only long enough to say, "So, are you just going to stare at us, or…?"
You shake your head. "Sorry. I was just wondering what you guys were playing."
"Black Lady," Luxord replies. "It's a variation of Hearts. The goal is to avoid taking tricks containing hearts or the eponymous Black Lady — the queen of spades. You can join us for the next round, if you like."
You don't really know what Luxord means by "tricks", and you don't have much experience with card games. Back on the islands, the only card games you would play were simple ones, like War or Go Fish. Still, it can't hurt to learn, right? It's just a game.
"That'd be great," you say, trying to smile. You're not sure if you succeed. "But I don't really know how to play."
"It's fine. We can teach you. Black Lady is better with four players, anyway." Luxord motions to the one empty chair at the table, which is next to him. "Here, sit down."
You sit down next to Luxord, across from Xigbar, who sits next to Demyx. Unable to meet Xigbar's eye, or even look at his smugger-than-usual face, you stare down at your food and begin to eat.
The first spoonful of miso soup plunges you straight into a memory of home, of wolfing down breakfast before going out to the little island to play. Usually, you just had a simple breakfast — cereal and cut fruit — but sometimes, on her days off from work, your mom would make a traditional breakfast like this one, and it always tasted so good. Of course, nothing could ever beat pancakes for breakfast, but still…
There's a lump in your throat as you swallow the soup down, suddenly feeling very homesick. What are your parents doing right now? Do they know what happened with the exam? How would they react to seeing you like this?
It's no good thinking about any of that right now, not if it'll just make you sad. Better to just eat your food and watch the game, which Demyx appears to be losing.
"...And that would make one hundred and three points for you, Demyx," Luxord says, ignoring Demyx's frustrated groan. Looking at you, he goes on to explain, "The game is over once a player's point score reaches at least a hundred. Then the player with the lowest score is the winner. In this case, the winner is, surprisingly, Xigbar."
Xigbar finally looks away from you and over at Luxord. "What do you mean, surprisingly?"
Luxord shrugs. "The cards didn't seem to be in your favor until the last few tricks."
"They're never in my favor," Demyx complains, slamming his hand onto the table. "I must have bad luck."
"And no strategy," Luxord mutters, audible only to you. You can't help but chuckle a bit.
Demyx leans forward. "Hey, what'd he say?"
You smile a bit, less forced this time, and put your hands behind your head. "I'm not telling."
It's at that point that you notice something weird: Luxord and Demyx won't look at your face. They look in your general direction, sure, but their eyes keep flitting away. Do they find your new golden eyes as uncanny as you do? No, that can't be right. They all have golden eyes now, and that doesn't seem to bother them. What's the real problem?
You lift a hand to your face, and then it hits you. The bruises. You've got several along your jaw where Young Xehanort squeezed it way too hard, and another on your right cheek from when the older Xehanort slapped you. If Donald and Goofy saw your face all bruised up like this, they'd immediately ask what was wrong, who did it to you, but your current crowd? Demyx and Luxord are just pretending that nothing's wrong, while Xigbar doesn't seem to care.
Actually, you doubt that anyone in this room gives a crap. It hurts more than you'd like to admit, knowing that there's no one who even wants to look out for you.
"What's with that look?" Xigbar asks, though you can tell he knows exactly why your smile is gone. "I've seen you angry before, but right now, you just look like your goldfish drowned in its bowl."
You tilt your head, confused. "Goldfish can't drown. They're fish."
"I'm joking, kiddo. You gotta stop taking everything so seriously."
"Either way," Luxord interrupts, "it's good to see you feeling better this morning. Last night, you looked…out of it."
You recall those weird feelings of drowsiness and detachment during yesterday's induction. You're still not sure why all that happened, but it's probably a side effect of the intrusive heart inside your chest. Ugh, you can still feel it. It doesn't hurt, but it feels so weird…
"Was it really that noticeable?" you ask.
Luxord nods. "Definitely."
"Yeah, you looked like you were completely zoned out," Demyx adds. "And then you started staring at everyone with this blank expression, like…"
"Like a zombie, basically," Xigbar finishes. "You know, Roxas was the same way at first, but with him, it lasted more than a week. Must've been because he was brand new. And little Poppet, she had it even worse. Couldn't even talk for more than two weeks."
You give Xigbar a quizzical glance. "Poppet?"
"He means Xion," Demyx explains, sounding a bit exasperated. "I swear, sometimes it seems like he's got a nickname or something like that for everyone, and I don't just mean the Organization."
Xion. Just like you suspected, it's pronounced like Shion.
"Xion…" you say to yourself, quickly trailing off. The name just sounds so familiar. You feel like there's something you've forgotten. Shrugging it off for now, you point to the hooded figure you think is Xion. "That's her, right?"
Demyx nods. "Yep. Looks like she's staring right at you."
Looking back at Xion, you can see that her head is indeed pointed in your direction, though you can't really make out her face, what with the hood and all. The next moment, she's looking down at her food again. She doesn't seem to be making very fast progress with it, probably because her movements are still so jerky. The man next to her, the one who's probably Vexen, gives her a curious look before staring at you with furrowed brows.
You turn away, back to Demyx. "So, is Xion a Nobody, or…?"
Demyx looks like he's about to speak, but then he glances at Xigbar and closes his mouth. Luxord gathers the cards from the table and shuffles them back into a deck, saying nothing.
"She's a Replica, actually," Xigbar finally says after an awkward silence, "but not of anyone in particular. More like she's whatever you want her to be, given time." He takes a quick look over at Xion, then shrugs. "We're kinda in the 'giving her time' phase right now."
None of that makes any sense to you. Replica? Giving her time? Xigbar must be speaking in riddles again. Typical.
Still, it never hurts to ask, right? "What do you mean?"
Xigbar reaches over and pats you on the shoulder. "You'll learn soon enough."
You fight the urge to glare at him, and instead glare at your almost-empty bowl of soup.
And, of course, he catches on quickly. "What, is the soup not good enough?"
Wanting to change the subject, you ask, "Who made all this stuff anyway?"
"Oh, the lesser Nobodies, mostly Dusks," Demyx replies. "It was the same way back in the old Organization. They're surprisingly good at domestic stuff. Besides, they're the only creatures suited for the job."
Upon seeing your confused look, Luxord adds, "Heartless are too volatile, and they don't really do well around fragile or easily-torn objects. It's not too hard to control them, but they're still better used as guards. Unversed listen to orders, but they're just extensions of Vanitas's will. Like him, I doubt they know much more than how to destroy everything in sight."
You were curious before, but when you hear Vanitas's name, the curiosity triples. "Unversed? I've never heard of them."
"You wouldn't have," Xigbar chimes in. "There haven't been any in about twelve years — until now, that is. I haven't had many chances to see lil' Vani make them, but apparently, they're made from his negative emotions. You'll see some soon enough. Sometimes we use them as targets when we're training."
Xigbar's whole spiel brings up more questions than answers. Monsters made from negative emotions? Monsters coming from one singular person? You've never heard of anything like that before.
Frankly, you want to ask more questions about Vanitas, but given the rules, you don't want to look too suspicious, and plus, Xigbar doesn't seem willing to tell you everything you want to know anyway. Instead, you decide to ask a question that definitely won't get you in trouble. "Anyway, I know who most of the Organization members are, but —"
"Your comrades," Xigbar reminds you, a shit-eating grin on his face.
"Okay, I know who most of my comrades are," you begin, trying to keep your voice from lowering to a growl, "but there are still a few people here who I don't recognize. Xehanort…"
You trail off as Xigbar raises an eyebrow at you, grin bigger than ever.
"Master Xehanort told me about Vanitas," you correct yourself, reminding yourself that really, you're just referring to Xehanort as a Keyblade Master — something he really is — and not your Master. "And then you guys told me about Xion. But who are they?"
Seeing you point to the pink-haired man and the blonde woman, Demyx snorts and replies, "Marluxia and Larxene. You killed them both."
You what?
Okay, sure, you have a gap in your memory, and you still don't know how you ended up in that pod with Thank Naminé written in Jiminy's Journal. Riku was never exactly forthcoming with the details, though you've learned a few things, like who Naminé is (Kairi's Nobody), or how Roxas was captured and made to join with you. Riku did say that five members of the old Organization were killed during that time, but somehow, you never put the pieces together. You always sorta assumed that Riku was the one who killed them, but according to Demyx, you killed at least two, and you don't even remember doing that. It's pretty disturbing when you think about it.
Perhaps Demyx and the others can fill in some of what you missed — provided that they're actually telling the truth.
After recovering from your initial shock, you say, "I don't remember any of that."
Luxord looks like he's in deep thought. "Right, that's what we were told: you don't remember anything you did in Castle Oblivion."
"Castle Oblivion?"
"Yep, Castle Oblivion. That's where you wound up a day or two after closing the Door to Darkness. We were using it as a research facility at the time, and six members were stationed there when you showed up: Marluxia, Larxene, Axel, Vexen, Lexaeus, and Zexion," Xigbar explains in that cocky manner of his. "Riku came to the castle too, brought there from the Realm of Darkness, but the two of you didn't actually get to meet. Anyway, suffice to say that there were some, uh, confrontations, and Axel was the only survivor."
You have about a thousand more questions, but Xigbar's tone implies finality — for now, at least.
Instead, you point at the man sitting next to Xion. "That's Vexen, right?"
"Yeah."
You take an awkward bite of a rolled omelet. "Did I…um, did I kill him too?"
"Nah, that was Axel," Xigbar says, not sounding too concerned. "That pyromaniac immolated him so badly that he took forever to fully recomplete."
Axel? Really? Sure, he kidnapped Kairi, but when he sacrificed himself to save you from all those lesser Nobodies, when he talked about how much Roxas meant to him, it gave you the impression that he wasn't that bad, at least not as bad as the other Organization members. But you might have judged him wrong, because apparently, he killed one of his own comrades. Okay, you killed some of them as well, but weren't Axel and Vexen on the same side?
Then again, maybe Vexen did something to deserve it.
"Look, all you really need to know about the people you forgot is that Vexen's a creepy scientist, Marluxia's a Keyblade-obsessed weirdo with a scythe, and Larxene —"
Demyx cuts Xigbar off. "Larxene's a bitch."
Luxord sighs, rubbing his temples. "Demyx."
"What? You know I'm right. She's such a bitch that if you looked up the word bitch in a dictionary, there would be a picture of Larxene and nothing else."
You can't help but laugh a little at that.
"Anyway," Luxord says firmly, "shall we begin our next round?"
Black Lady, as it turns out, is actually a pretty cool game, and you'd be having a lot of fun if the other players weren't three Organization members (and you weren't surrounded by the rest of them). Even so, it's kinda nice to focus on something other than escaping for a while. You're confused by the rules at first, but as the game goes on, you start to understand what to do, and before long, you're actually doing pretty well.
You still have the feeling that everyone is watching you. Sure, they don't seem to actually be looking your way, but they're definitely keeping track of everything you do. As you play, you think about this, and you come to a conclusion: most Organization members think you're stupid, so maybe you should let them think that. It'll let you get away with more.
As such, you bet Demyx that if you do better than him, you get to play his sitar. Demyx protests at first, saying he's always unlucky and that you're probably tone-deaf, but then Xigbar says it'd be hilarious, especially if you turn out to be tone-deaf, and Demyx gives in.
A few minutes later, you're holding the sitar, trying to remember those ukulele lessons you took as a seven-year-old. Not much comes to mind, and with each out-of-tune note you play, Demyx visibly cringes. After a failed attempt at playing a sea shanty you heard in Jack Sparrow's world, Demyx groans and snatches his sitar back.
"Congratulations! You managed to make Demyx look like a good musician," a voice calls out from another table. When you turn and look, you see that the voice belongs to Larxene.
Hey, at least you didn't accidentally summon those water clones.
Not long after, you ask a question that doesn't seem too risky. "Hey, Demyx, how come you and Vexen and Xion don't have numbers on your doors?"
Demyx smiles, leaning back in his chair. "Oh, that? The three of us got lucky enough to be made reserves."
Xigbar snorts. "Lucky? You got demoted!"
"Yeah, lucky. We're just understudies, so we don't have to do anything hard. All I've had to do is a little recon, plus helping Vexen in the labs — which is gross, but still better than fighting."
Labs… They must be doing experiments down there. It's probably not a good idea to ask exactly what they're doing, so instead, you point at the hooded figure sitting next to Ansem. "One last question: who's that guy?"
The table goes quiet, Xigbar grins, and you know you've made a mistake.
"What, you couldn't recognize your best friend from his silhouette? No wonder he's keeping his hood up. He probably doesn't want you around," Xigbar says, and the blood rushes out of your face.
No way. Xigbar can't possibly mean that Riku is here, is one of them. Weren't you the one they were after? Didn't Riku always say he walked the road to dawn? There's no way he could've succumbed, not after everything he went through.
You can barely get any words out, and the ones that do come out are barely a whisper. "You…you mean…?"
"Yes, that's Riku over there."
You're about to stand up and run to Riku — playing along be damned, he's your friend, and you can't stand not knowing what's really going on with him — but then Luxord puts a hand on your shoulder, gently keeping you in place.
"That's not your friend," Luxord explains quietly, almost kindly. "The Riku we're talking about is a Replica made by Vexen, though he doesn't exactly take kindly to being called one. He looks exactly like a younger version of your Riku, but he has no history with you. Isn't that right, Xigbar?" On the last word, he shoots Xigbar a glare.
Xigbar rolls his eye. "I was just messing with him. It's not my fault if he's too sensitive and takes everything I say at face value."
Under the table, you curl your hands into fists. Xigbar's face looks very punchable right now.
Before you can say anything, a ring sounds throughout the room, not unlike the bell at school, and everyone starts putting their dishes away and leaving.
"I swear, they're messing with the clock to make breakfast shorter and shorter," Demyx whines. "Young Xehanort could probably manage that with his weird time powers."
"Hey, you said it earlier: they don't give you anything important to do anyway. So who cares?" Xigbar teases, patting Demyx on the back as he stands up. "Some of us actually have to do missions!"
The Organization members are quick to leave the room. Ansem is the first to head out, with the Riku Replica — you will not call him Riku — following right behind. You notice that the other people your age, Xion and Vanitas, also seem to be under supervision: Terra-Xehanort says something to Vanitas before walking away with him, and Saïx guides Xion up the stairs after Vexen leaves.
Before long, it's just you and Xigbar, and then even he leaves, saying, "See you around, kiddo," and giving you a wave. With that, you're alone. It's not like Young Xehanort told you to go anywhere after breakfast.
Several minutes pass, and you use this time to let everything you learned sink in. A boy who can make monsters? A Replica of Riku? Just what is this Organization?
Young Xehanort arrives after around fifteen minutes have passed — you know because you were watching the clock. He comes down the stairs with an unreadable expression, then nods to you. "I apologize for being late. The meeting went on longer than I expected, but I don't think it'll take too long to show you around. How was breakfast?"
"It was good. Thank you."
"Good." Xehanort, still standing at the bottom of the stairs, beckons to you with one hand. "Follow me. We'll start from the uppermost floor."
You stand to follow him. This could be a good chance to learn the weaknesses of the Organization's base.
Young Xehanort takes you all over the base that morning. As the sun climbs in the sky, you're walked through a ton of white-walled hallways and rooms, enough to make you feel thoroughly lost. You keep yourself focused, though. You can't afford to be disoriented; if you're going to escape, you'll need to memorize the base's layout.
You're shown the offices (the three you saw yesterday are the only ones, and they belong to Xehanort, Ansem, and Xemnas), the two other sets of bedrooms (one contains rooms for both Xehanorts, Terra-Xehanort, Xemnas, Ansem, and Vanitas, while the other is for Xigbar, Luxord, Larxene, Marluxia, and Saïx), the indoor training facilities, and what feels like a hundred other places, working through each floor until you reach the basement.
"There are two basement floors," Young Xehanort explains as you walk down yet another set of stairs. "The upper one has the labs, while the lower one is a place I don't think you ever want to see. Really, you won't be down here much — only members who have been given access, such as myself, can enter, so you'll only go here when someone with permission brings you down."
There's a short hallway, and at the end of that hallway is a single door. The door is unmarked and has no handle, but Young Xehanort walks up to it anyway and puts his hand right on the center of the door. He holds it there for a moment, and then there's an audible click as the door swings open on its own.
You're walked through another hallway after that — everything in these basement floors is white too, unfortunately — and then Young Xehanort opens a door on the left, and the two of you walk through it.
The room beyond the door is rather small, and it's a bit reminiscent of the doctor's office back home. There's one of those padded tables to lie on, a sink, a few of those medical devices you've seen before but have yet to learn much about, a few devices that you've never seen before…
Vexen is sitting at a small desk, typing away at what looks like a smaller version of the computer you saw in Radiant Garden, but foldable. He doesn't look at you. "Sora, yes?"
"Yeah."
Vexen gestures to the table. "Sit over there. I'll be finished in a minute."
Just like he said, Vexen is quick to finish typing, and he snaps the top of his computer down, presumably to turn it off. He takes off his black gloves and washes his hands in the sink, then puts on a pair of clear latex gloves. "Although I'm a scientist most of the time, I've been trained as a doctor as well. It certainly helps when working with Replicas. Now, if you could just tell me how you've been adjusting to the new heart…"
The visit goes on like a normal check-up, with Vexen taking your temperature, listening to your heartbeat, checking your reflexes and blood pressure, even measuring and weighing you. Normally, this wouldn't bother you at all, but Young Xehanort is watching you and reacting to the results like you're a pet dog at the vet. At one point, Vexen draws a bit of blood, and though you've done blood tests a few times before at home, you can't help but yelp a bit when the needle slides into your vein.
When the check-up is over, Vexen types at his computer for another few minutes — damn, he can type fast — and talks to Young Xehanort about your results. You don't understand the medical jargon, but you think your health is just fine.
After that, Vexen has you stand in the middle of the room with your arms at your sides. He tells you not to move an inch, so you don't budge, even as a glowing circle appears right under you. You keep standing still for maybe two or three minutes, and then the circle fades.
"What was that?" you ask.
"I was taking your data," Vexen says, and doesn't elaborate further.
He and Young Xehanort then escort you to another room down the hall. This one is much bigger, and the medical equipment looks…a bit more menacing, to say the least. Seriously, some of those devices look like they could be used to cut you up! You can't help but gulp a bit.
There's a screen attached to the far wall, and Vexen points you to two machines that seem to be hooked up to it. "Put your Keyblade in there," he says, gesturing to the slot in one machine that looks a bit like a case, "and then lay on that bed next to it. We're going to have a look at the hearts inside you."
The hearts inside you? They must mean your heart and Xehanort's…oh, and Roxas's.
You do as you're told, summoning your Keyblade and putting it where Vexen instructed you to, then gingerly lie down on what Vexen called a bed. Really, it's more of another padded table, and it's not the most comfortable thing in the worlds, but you lie still until something occurs to you.
"Wait, when you said you're going to look inside me…"
"We're going to scan you," Vexen says shortly. You sigh in relief.
Young Xehanort chuckles. "What, did you think we were going to cut you open?"
"Of course not!" you lie.
Vexen taps a button on the side of the "bed", and something rises from the side — the bed's cover. In a matter of seconds, it settles over you, and you feel like you're in a goddamn coffin. At least the darkness around you is a refreshing change from the whiteness you were just in.
You're about to say something when there's an abrupt jerk at your heart. No, not your heart (and not Xehanort's heart, either) — someone else's heart is pulling you down. Before you can even take it in, you find yourself falling into even blacker darkness.
Still, you're not worried. Somehow, unlike everything Xehanort has done to you these past few days, this feels right.
"Sora!"
As you fall, you can hear them again — the three people who called out to you when you were in that terrible sleep.
Roxas, Ventus, and the girl.
You can feel it — three hearts, all trying to pull you closer. But even though this is the strongest pull you've felt since Xehanort made you his vessel, it's still not strong enough. Something is dampening them, and you have a good idea of what — or, rather, who — is doing it.
There are three lights, three hearts, three people begging for you to respond, but you know you can only reach out to one.
Who do you reach out to?
[] Roxas
[] Ventus
[] The black-haired girl
QM Note: Sorry for the wait! I had a bit of writer's block, but I got over it yesterday, so here we are. Now, this choice is a normal one, not a write-in, but if you'd like to suggest things for Sora to talk about with the chosen person, I'm all ears. Also, I'm still open for title suggestions (for the Org members without titles), if you have any.
. My explanation is that since Xehanort's influence is kinda dampening the effects the other hearts have on Sora, it's screwing with the memories a bit
