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rp with relo
Well. It had been a few days since the encounter with Xemnas on the chatroom. Zexion sighed, and looked upwards at the ever changing sky. Currently, it was sunset. He was in a tree, just sitting and relaxing. He had been working the entire time on illusions to keep himself and the twins safe, but he didn't have much confidence if it was to be played against Xemnas. A slight frown tugged at the corners of his mouth, and he shook his head. Now really wasn't the time to worry. He shouldn't even be worrying. He was a nobody. He was supposed to be emotionless. Yet....
He glanced downwards, towards the gate where he knew Dum and Dee were lingering at the moment. He had told them he was going for a walk.
They... made him feel something. Dee said it was love. Dum seemed to spark a fire inside of him. He... Just wasn't quite sure how to classify it. Ienzo had never felt it. So how was he.. 'feeling' it?
Well. They had....taught him how to feel then. Even though it had been unwilling. Hn. He reached into a pocket, and pulled out the vial. It had been empty once. Now it had a fair amount of liquid in it.. And it's power seemed to have grown. What would happen once it was full once more? He Suddenly stiffened though, as his highly tuned senses caught scent of a portal bein opened somewhere closeby. And the scent of the one who stepped through.... Xemnas. He himself portaled out of the tree, and to where the twins were.
"Dum. Dee. I don't want you two interferring with anything that is going to happen. Remember when I said.. that the organization might not be too appreciative of the fact that I've been here for so long? Well. It seems like they have sent someone to clear things up." He said, not really letting them in on everything. Yes. He was planning on staying with them. But he wouldn't let them know. Nor anyone else. He was a master manipulator. If anyone knew his true motives.. then he would lose just a little bit of power.
Xemnas meanwhile, merely looked around at the scenery around himself with a slight hint of disdain. Such.. a useless world. Why was the schemer spending so much time here? It held nothing of interest, nor use to the organization.. What reseach was VI doing here that was so important?
Hn... He raised on eyebrow slightly at the feeling of power. Well. Zexion certainly had been busy. The very air seemed laden with the power of shadows and illusions. What was going on here? Xemnas did not like his pawns planning things by themselves...
Well this sure was boring, as was presented by the yawning Tweedle Dum off to the right of Tweedle Dee. Oh how these two hated that gate. They'd always hated the gate, nothing ever happened. The only one that had wandered in while they were absent was Alice and it wasn't like the Boss had actually hated the idea of her wandering inside.
Even Elliot had stopped complaining about her, though he still got on them about guarding the gate as was there duty as little mafia twins. Today was a day he was being particularly strict on it. Because Elliot wasn't a complete idiot, he just played the part well. He knew they were, or at least Dum would, chase after that 'toy' of theirs that had been hanging around lately. Well, as long as he stayed out of the way, no one really cared about his presence. But it didn't mean the two could slack off.
"Yaaaaaawn~" Dum yawned again, slightly leaning back against the gate with his eyes halfway closed. "I hate this stupid gate." His gaze shifted to Dee for a moment though Dee didn't return it. "We have to guard it." The other said simply. "Why'd Zexxxxxxy have to leave?" Was the next conversational topic by the maroon twin. Dee merely shrugged. He didn't have a direct answer to that one, but it probably had to do with avoiding Dum. That was usually the case. "He said something about a walk. . . " Dee had started to say when said Nobody appeared before them. Dum frowned a little, obviously about to pose a question when they were both silenced by a rather odd command.
Who was coming? At least that was Dum's question, though he literally ignored most of that phrasing. He wasn't the type to just sit back and watch a blood bath, this one had to be in the middle of it. He was slightly sadistic that way. And when he didn't like something, he didn't follow it. That was a simple matter in his book.
Dee was different. He took note of what was said, even though sometimes he chose not to follow it. Often because obeying would lead to the downfall of his twin, something he refused to let happen. And though Dee was the more intelligent of the two, he was a little confused himself, though he had more of an idea as to what was going on.
Dum merely snorted a little in reply, an obvious 'Like Hell am I going to do that' statement. Dee merely shrugged in his own reply. Like Dum, he wasn't going to sit by and watch. No matter who it was, because Dum was going to get in the middle of it after all.
Zexion narrowed his one visible eye at the twin's reaction to his statement. That wasn't exactly the best response he was looking for really. He stepped forward, straight up to the one who he knew would be the most problematic in his scheme. "Listen, Dum. If you do anything to screw up my plans I personally will put you through hell. again." He said, grabbing the younger by the shirt, and pulling him forward slightly. "I mean what I say, by Stay out of this." He frowned, and let him go then, his senses already directed elsewhere, tracking Xemnas's movements. He was walking through Zexion's first traps. Not that they would spring mind you, they were merely to let Zexion know where the superior was. And what he was doing. So far, he was just looking around. Nothing too big. Yet. Zexion did not doubt his own abilities, but he did not underestimate Xemnas's abilities either. That man had proven before that he was able to see through Zexion's schemes. And Zexion was not going to underestimate him and act cocky. He had backup plans. And backups for the backup plans. However. He needed to keep the twins out of it. He couldn't calculate for all of their reactions. Or what the superior would do to them.or even if he would involve them. Too many variables, but Zexion was going to do his best. It was the beginning of a new game. A very very hard game though. A game of strategy.
Quickly. his mind ran through several possibilities, and debated on several places to hold the encounter. Inside the forest would be good. Enough places to cast and hide. Enough distractions and diversions...
Turning his back on the twins with a glare at them to stay put, he walked off in that direction, not daring to use a portal less he attract Xemnas's attention too soon. Everything hung on a very VERY delicate balance. He was walking on eggshells at the moment. And he felt...nervous. he shouldn't even feel......
Xemnas smirked to himself the moment Zexion entered the forest. He himself paused, feeling the weight of the fluttering shadows and powers that he had been walking through like intricate cobwebs, and lightly brushed them off with his own powers. He never showed Zexion his full powers. He needed to hold some knowledge from the schemer. He never trusted the boy. And never would. He played his own mind game against the illusionist. And in order to keep his own advantage, he had to keep VI guessing. With guesses, calculations were not completley accurate.
His golden-orange eyes observed the smaller nobody as he approached, and he smirked.
"VI. So nice of you to actually come out and greet me. Saves me the trouble of going out to look for you..." He stated.
Zexion merely nodded, crossing his arms over his chest, his expression looking a little indignant.
"You really did not need to come all the way out here, Superior... My research is important, but not that important..." He started, but was stopped with a slight wave of Xemnas's gloved hand.
"I don't want to hear any of your excuses, Zexion. Why have you not yet returned to the base? Your work is being left undone. Vexen needs help in the labs. There are still missions I need your specific talents for." Xemnas said. Zexion merely frowned at that.
"My work? I do it on the computer, and send it there. Vexen can always ask another member to help him in the labs, but he is too stubborn to do so. And missions.. well... I apologize then. I have been absorbed in my work here." He said, his own voice still calm and cool. Collected. This was not so hard..
Xemnas smirked. Opening. He moved, fast, and was suddenly in front of Zexion, and picked him up by the front of his jacket.
"All I'm hearing are excuses VI... Nothing of real consequence. You've sent your report about what you're researching here to Vexen. I've spoken with him actually. He expresses... 'concern' with what you're doing. Dabbling too deeply into matters of the heart are not adviseable. In fact, Vexen wished to give you another examination if you were to return." He paused, watching Zexion struggle a little bit to get down for a moment, and frowned. "... ...Hn.I see. Is what you're studying here really that important?" He stated, summoning one of his red energy blades to his freee hand, and then calmly stabbing Zexion through the chest with it, and wathcing with narrowed eyes as that copy turned back into a page of paper, and fluttered to the ground.
Zexion Sighed, and stepped out from behind a tree. "Yes, in fact. It is very important. Perhaps even vital to regaining our hearts. Or memories." He answered, not seeming perturbed at all about what Xemnas had just done.
Xemnas frowned, and stares at ZExion for a moment.
"Are you trying to go against the organization, VI?"
Zexion scoffed, and shook his head. "You think I would be that foolish? I am loyal to the organization..." He said, looking for all the world uninterested in the entire conversation. He was however, tuning his senses to the world around him, and more specifically, to the two who he knew had followed him into the forest. Such fools! They could throw this whole thing off. Well... hopefully, they would hide, and stay hidden or something. Otherwise.. Well. He would have to put on quite a show.
Xemnas's eye narrowed once more, and he grabbed Zexion by the throat, freezing him so he couldn't suddenly create an illusionary copy of himself instead. He picked him up, and Zexion choked for a moment.
"I'm not asking about loyalty." He stated, in his low voice. "I'm asking the question you avoided before. Can you Feel, Zexion?" He said, his voice deadly calm.
Zexion's hands pulled uselessly at the hand and arm holding him up, more in a habitual effort to get free, but held an emotionless, expressionless mask on, as he struggled for breath. He shook his head slightly, the best he could in the position he was in.
"And what reason do I have to believe you?" Xemnas mused, as he continued to hold the schemer up.
Dum frowned though didn't exactly do much squirming, obviously not pleased by the answer or the result. Though it was Dee that spoke. "Maybe if you let us in on your plans, we wouldn't be so inclined to mess them up." He forgot to add the 'perhaps' into the equation there, as Dum was likely just to ******** with things because he liked the word 'monkey wrench'. But his statement was left unanswered to his slight disappointment as Zexion turned on his heels and stalked off. Probably to meet whomever it was that had been invading the chatroom lately. He frowned, a bad feeling settling in on him like a fog.
One, two, three.
One, two, three.
One, two, three.
He'd counted to nine evenly before Tweedle Dum, the sadistic twin pushed himself lightly off the gate that he had settled upon after Zexion's departure a slight grin towards his brother, whom only sighed and gave a nod. He wanted to know as well. Even if it was foolish, doing nothing was even more so. And so the twins deliberatly disobeyed orders of guarding the gate to find out what the deuce was going on with Zexion and the man from the chatroom.
He'd gone into the forest as both Tweedles were doing now. But they knew the forest better than anyone, they often came inside to play with Boris after all, so locating the two was unlikely to be hard. And it really wasn't though they hadn't caught the first part of the conversation when they did arrive on the scene, several feet away.
And of course, Dum the ever impulsive twin, formed a gun of his pole-ax and fired off two shots. Warning of course, as he didn't intend to hit anyone with it. Dee didn't even bother to shake his head, merely following the other as he moved forward. He'd known that Dum was going to fire, it'd kill him to stay still when someone was trying to hurt someone he actually cared about. Which was at this moment only Dee and Zexion. "Put'em down." That was Dum speaking yet again, his mouth set in a hard line, he wasn't playing around.
Dee was set a few paces behind his twin. No weapon on his part. "I thought you all couldn't feel. At all." He remarked on his own though he had only caught some of the conversation, with a slightly raised brow as though nothing had changed about Zexion as he emphasized the final two words of his sentence.
The sound of a gun discharging into the air was enough of a distraction for Zexion. He Worked quickly, creating an escape to fast for the eye to see as he stood his ground a few feet away once more, leaving a copy in xemnas's hands. The sound of the gun and Dum's words, made Xemnas look away for a moment, and he could tell when his attention was back that it was not the same. With an annoyed look, he let go of the copy, and glared at Zexion. A warning. Don't do it again the look said. Xemnas did not appreciate dealing with the copies. ZExion merely gave a slight twitch of the lips at the look though, as both nobodies then turned their attentions to the twins who had interupted their conflict.
"We Can't. We shouldn't. Yet I have my suspicions..." Was Xemnas's response to Dee's comment. He knew better than to trust the twins if they were merely Zexion's pawns. He would have trained and prepared them with what he wanted them to say before hand if he really was up to something big there.
Zexion merely shrugged, keeping his eyes on Xemnas, keeping up his non-caring act completely, even though he was mentally scolding the twins for getting involved. " I told you before. Nothign has changed, Superior. I merely found something interesting, like I showed to Vexen, and I am working on finishing the research. There is nothing more going on here." He said, his attention on the man who was observign everyone now with those peircing goldenorange eyes.
Xemnas shook his head slowly. " Want to know something interesting I found out, Zexion? From Vexen?" He said, taking a step towards the younger nobody. " He said the most interesting thing. You see... From whatever is in your system.. It appears to alter judgement, and actions and reactions and thoughts. Just like a heart does. Or emotions. And all those who have emotions or hearts... act strangely. And not always for the best. As Superior... I must deal with obstacles and slight... problems as these as I see fit." He said, still advancing, and seeming to ignore the twins.
Zexion's eyes narrowed, as he stood his ground but had th shadows and illusions flickering around him, as a warning of defense to Xemnas, who merely smirked slightly.
"REally now, VI... I always expected better of you." He said, and summoned both his blades.
Zexion merely frowned, but kept his arms crossed over his chest, unmoving. Xemnas would not strike him. He could handle this just fine.. The only worry he had was Dum and dee's reaction to being ignored like that... He knew dee was sensible. To a point. But both of them were still unreasonable and brash. And did not like not getting their own way.
At least something good had come from Dum's brash shooting action. Because often it was merely calamity. Good thing Dee was an expert with calamity and Dum loved it so there was no relative downside to it. But now the air was merely charged with pre-meditative sparks, things Dum didn't like but Dee had little problem with.
Twitch, twitch. This conversation was rather boring. Also confusing but many a conversations were confusing and dull to Tweedle Dum. But one thing that hardly ever happened was that Dum was ignored. Or Dee but if one was to notice Dum they would notice Dee as well so it did not bother the cyan twin nearly as much. "If it obviously can't happen, then it's not something one should be worrying about, hm?" Dee frowned slightly at the end of the conversation as it turned to things someone had figured out. Probably the one Dum had called an ugly monkey or something along those lines. The one that had done this to them, though they'd have to thank him for that one.
"Isn't that what you want? A heart or whatever you lack? So you're going to be contradictory and destroy something that has a 'shadow' of a heart at best. If that's even what the potion does." The potion was not something Dee was really familiar with, it had no effect on either him or his brother it was merely a device to keep foreigners within Wonderland. And now it sounded slightly like Dee was merely musing to himself as the conversations were not centered around him nor his opinion.
Xemnas merely smirked at Dee's comments, his eyes not leaving Zexions. "Well... They seem to be better trained than the last reports.. I suppose you've done well." He remarked.
Zexion stood his ground, not budging. Not like it mattered. He would let Xemnas deal with the clones anyways.. But a sudden change in the superior's stance was all it took for Zexion to suddenly realize the plan.
His eyes widened, and he moved, but just a little too slow.
Xemnas was already in front of Dee, the one who had been speaking.
He raised the blades and slashed with both, striking a wound on Dee's chest along with blasting him backwards into a tree.
Zexion's eyes widened at the sight of the blood that came from that, and the sound of him hitting the tree. It wasn't a mortal wound, but it was enough to really hurt the twin. Xemnas moved again, this time striking at dum, but was stopped as he found himself hitting a tree instead of the remaining tweedle. The Superior frowned, and turned his attention to Zexion, who appeared to be near Dee now.
{color=orange]"Hn... See? Already it's affecting you, and making you not think in the best interests of the organization." He remarked, and sent red bullets of light at Zexion, which all hit, but then the copy returned to paper once the attack was finished. Xemnas narrowed his eyes. "This is becoming annoying, VI." He said, and sent the red bullets at Dum instead, and a little off to the Side.
Zexion Staggered, letting go of Dum's arm. He had portaled over to the other twin when Dee had been hit, and kept him from running to his fallen brother. And he had cast an illusion right away so that Xemnas would miss when aiming for Dum. But he hadn't expected the Superior to predict where exactly he would be now.. Everything also happened fast. He let go of Dum's arm, and instead held his side where one of the red-light bullets had gone past. Agh. Being hit, or even grazed by the superior's attack hurt.
Xemnas smirked, seeing Zexion's illusions fade now, and being able to see the schemer. He advanced towards the younger, the light swords becoming almost like whips now as he considered what else to do. Zexion was not one to think of others. In fact, as long as he had known the schemer, the boy had only ever thought of himself. The twins were of no consequence anymore. The red one would obviously go to the injured blue one. And by doing so, the remaining energy would fire off on both.
Zexion Suddenly sensed the energy build up as Dum did approach his twin, and reached out his hand, portalling both the twins suddenly outside the forest and back near the gate, just as red light seemed to flare.
Xemnas turned to zexion, observing him with what looked akin to annoyance. "No heart, VI? You don't feel? Then why protect them?" He said, and walked slowly towards the other. "I think I've proven my point.." He said, voice deadly, as the weapons he held began to glow, and pulse dangerously.
Zexion closed his eyes, feeling the painful light/darkness lightly graze his cheek as Xemnas touched him with the whip.
"Insubordination is worthy of punishment." He said, and struck the schemer soundly with both weapons.
Dum hissed a little. He didn't like being called or refered to as a 'dog' because he sure as Hell was nothing like one. "We're not dogs!" He growled in retortion with a slight frown on his face as was habitual of this twin, his brother a mere few feet from him when the onslaught began. And when it was over with, it was certain that Xemnas would regret hitting the more docile of the twins.
It should have been Dum seeing red, though he did, not in a literal sense that Dee saw it. Because the more cautious of the twins almost saw it coming and managed to step back but definitely not as fast or as far as he should have to be safe. Because one second he was fine, the next there was an open gash across his chest, crimson liquid splashed everywhere, staining the forest red. It was a rather lovely site, if it had not been his twin that stained it so. Because that was not tolerable. And Dum wanted that b*****d, son-of-a-b***h dead. Actually, more than dead. He wanted to play freakin' football with his head.
And here was where Zexion was wrong. Dum didn't even look back to see if his brother was all right, he went straight for Xemnas, ditching the maroon glock for the poleax, keeping the dark cyan gun the same however. He wanted this blood for this one. "No one touches Dee you stupid ********] He hissed rather sluring the curses into one single word as he crossed the gap, intending to bring the poleax down and OFF! with his head. Too bad Zexion had to get in the damn way and blast the other into a freakin' tree as well. Damn him.
Bullets aside, it wasn't wise to ignore the sadistic twin. Because he was getting closer to taking off heads. Really now, why wasn't he the queen of hearts? Either way, Dum literally ignored the red bullets. He didn't give a damn if he was struck or not. He was stubborn enough to ignore bullet wounds. But they missed as Zexion did somethingorother that Dum was unconcerned with. Unlike poor Dee whom was still somewhat concious and drowning slight in his own blood. Coughin up bits and pieces everywhere. The blow had been to his chest after all.
And again to be completely unstereotypical. Dum did not move towards Dee, rather he put more distance between the two. Because going towards him would do nothing. He didn't know how to bandage up a wound, take care of blood, heal. That was for Dee to figure. Dum knew how to fight, he knew how to spill blood, and that was exactly what he was going to do. And when the other did not return to his brother, which Dee knew would happen, the energy went off anyway, without the other there, but Zexion just had to mess with them again and the two were outside the Gate, which just ticked Dum off even freakin' more, if that were possible too. He was going to b***h-slap Zexy for that one. Never mess with his revenge. Ever.
But he wasn't heartless and the returning them caused him to shoot off a few rounds into one of the Mansion's windows to alert someone so they could find Dee, of whom, he propped up against the Gate before returning back to the forest. Heads were going to roll now.
As soon as the twins had been portaled out, Xemnas had struck Zexion with both of his blades as well, and turned them into whips so they wrapped around once. Zexion only staggered, before regaining his footing to stand and look the superior in the face once more.
I don't see how I am being insubordinate." Zexion said, keeping his voice calm. " I keep them alive for my own purposes.." He added. Xemnas just shook his head.
" You speak nothing but lies, VI. I know better than to trust you now. A punishment is in order. And no... copies..." The other stated, and was suddenly in front of Zexion once more, And the schemer coughed, feeling an immense pain through his middle. He glanced down, already knowing what he would see. Indeed, the two blades of red were embeded in his abdomen, and he was sure he would see them coming out the otehr side. Strange... it hurt more than Zexion believed it should. The superior smirked slightly.
"Good. Not a copy." He stated, and pulled them out, before suddenly making a rain of the red energy bullets come down upon the schemer, forcing him to his knees once more. "If you fade, I can always find a replacement." He stated coldly, before kicking the other from behind, making him fall completely on the ground. Zexion struggled once more, trying to get to his feet, but Xemnas put a foot on his back, pinning him to the ground. "Whippings are usually used for disobedient animals." He stated, and began to just lash at the other's back, just a few times before deeming it enough. Zexion winced, not moving now, just hoping that the superior would find this enough. He was also worried for Dee.
Xemnas tilted his head, observing the prone form. "If you were any other member, you would be fighting me feircefully. Yet You are the 'schemer'.. No one knows what you are thinking. Or, at least you don't think they do." He suddenly kicked him, so that Zexion was now laying on his back, staring up at him. Xemnas raised an eyebrow at the other's appearance. "If you survive... I think Vexen would love to get his hands on you. Just look, you actually bleed again."
Zexion blinked. His vision was a little off, but he had been aware of the strange stickiness for a little bit. But.. blood? He raised one of his hands that had been holding the wound on his abdomen, and observed it. The red liquid almost didn't show up on his black gloves.. but it was still there. Blood..huh... His thoughts were cut short as Xemnas suddenly moved forward once more with just one of the blades, skewering him through the chest and pinning him to the gound. That... Hurt. He gasped slightly at the sudden pain that shot through him, but didn't show any other sign besides that.
"I don't trust you. Never have. And now, you are up to something else. I don't believe you are following my plan anymore, Zexion." He stated. He moved the blade ever so slightly, and zexion coughed. Hn.. more red liquid. How annoying. His expression changed slightly thought at something, and he smirked. "Well now.. look at your hands. I think they want to tell you something.." He said, with what could be classified as amusement.
Zexion didn't need to look at his hands to know what Xemnas was saying. He could feel it. It was the tingling feeling of numbness that was trying to overtake his body. A feeling that signaled oblivion begiining to try and drag one back into it. He knew without looking what he would see if he glanced down. Flickers of what would look like black flames. He closed his eyes, and began to fight against the pain and numbness. He was not willing to fade just yet!
Xemnas suddenly stood up, a hand going to his cheek which a bullet had just grazed. THat wretched twin had returned? He turned, his attention now taken from his victim to the more unfortunate newer one.
"YOu should have stayed away, boy.. You are of no use to me at all. In fact, I would prefer you dead, and out of the way." He stated.
Zexion opened his eyes and mentally sighed. Dum came back? Wat an idiot! He didn't stand a chance against Xemnas!! If xemnas truly fought him, the boy was dead. Zexion didn't want that! He had only gone up against the superior to protect them! What a little fool! He bit back another cough, tasting the interesting taste of blood in his mouth, and struggled to sit up in order to get to his feet once more.
It had only taken a matter of minutes to return to the spot he'd been at before, even without Dee's help. And the sadistic twin had no doubt that Dee was being tended too. Because his clock was still ticking, so Dee was still alive. After all, they were twins, the same. If one died the other would know it. And Dee was not the type to give in easily. They both had the stubborn quality that everyone just loved.
And this little twin was stubborn, arrogant, impulsive and extremely pissed off. So he didn't even think to analyze the situation before he shot at the 'Superior' or ******** [To Dum he was absolutely nothing.] It was probably better that Dum hadn't bothered to look around a little to see what was going on. Because the sight of such things would have just pissed him off even more. It was one thing to hurt his twin, that was unforgivable, and the next step down was to hurt something they'd claimed as theirs, which in this case would be Zexion. And there was blood everywhere. It had to be his, because it wasn't Dum's and it wasn't Dee's. And nor had Dum seen the onslaught that had occured but he had a good enough imagination.
He pretty much ignored everything that Xemnas said as he did glance around this time. His blood was already boiling as it was, anymore and he was going to get heatstroke. But he didn't show anymore of his anger, no, this was worse, this was revenge. And that was something he was going to get no matter what. He finally returned his gaze on Xemnas with a snort and a grin. "You, kill me? As if, b***h." Was the cocky reply as the maroon gun was replaced with the pole-ax, he kept Dee's gun on him though. Never knew what surprises one was in store for this time and Dum could dish out twice as much with both weapons.
It was now that he noticed Zexy trying to resurrect himself. His former anger at him was still smoldering for getting in the way. Obviously acts of heroics didn't really register with the one who found himself to be seme no matter what. "Stay down or I'll kick you." He snorted with a slight side glance before returning his focus to the 'Superior' one. With the cyan gun at his side, he clicked the trigger back, and fired off another set of rounds before he actually moved towards the other. Zexion was not to get in his way this time.
Game on.
Stay down or I'll kick you.' Zexion only snorted at Dum's words, and managed to get into a sitting position, an leaned against one of the trees for support. The foolish boy.. He was going to get himself killed. He should have stayed where Zexion put him. He mentally checked his energylevel, and was quite alarmed when he realized that literally, if he did anything, he would fade. He frowned, and looked up then, ignoring the blurring in his vision to watch what was going on. The most he could do, was small illusions. Inaccuracies, so that whenever Xemnas would do a critical hit, it would miss, and not be vital. Or fatal. That was the most he could do. He raised his hand slightly, and let the energy surround Dum. Just a tiny bit. His arm fell uselessly to his side as he bit his lip, fighting against the swirling dizzyness and batting away the black flames that seemed quite intent on his hands and feet at the moment. And actually, some were gathering around his torso.. near the wounds. Hm. He would have to deal with that once this was over. It would be.. rather irritating to fade again. Oblivion, as nice as it sounded, was not high on Zexion's option list at the moment.
Xemnas however, only tilted his head at Dum's words. He frowned slightly, as it became obvious that this boy wished to fight him.
"You are an annoying little fool." He commented while holding up one of his swords to deflect the bullets. He did not notice the small energy transfer of Zexion's when it surrounded the boy.
He began walking towards Dum, no hurry at all. "If you're really in that much of a hurry to die, I shall oblige you then. But if you even entertain the thought of being able to defeat me, then you are a fool, and not even worthy of life." He said, and summoned up the red bullets of light all around him, sending them at Dum, in high speeds. If they hit, he did not care. He moved forwards, going in to slash him with the blades he had.
For once, Zexy was not the focus of Dum's attention. A real tell tale that the devil twin was pretty far pissed off. And in that semi-calm-pissed-offness, he didn't notice the power that was swirling around him like a whirlpool. If he had, he would have complained about it, no doubt about that, so it was probably better than he hadn't noticed.
"Heh. Who said I'm the one dying." He remarked arrogantly, practically ignoring all other factors, odds, percentages, all of that good stuff to duck underneath the flash of red bullets that were launched back at him. He didn't even register that his own hadn't hit, that didn't really matter. Pole axe in the other hand, he jumped back a foot or so to avoid the slashing downwards movements of the Superior, and he used that word mockingly of course and ignored the gun in his hand and brought the axe down. Intending to go down on his head, since one has to know that an axe can't possibly cleanly take off the head, so it hurts worse.
Zexion almost chuckled to himself when both parties seemed unphased by his little illusionary sheild around Dum. Unnoticed, perfect. He checked his energy levels once more, and frowned slightly. Much too low for his liking. And those flames.. were getting rather obnoxious. He didn't have much more time to think as Xemnas suddenly moved forward in an attack towards Dum. Which the maroon twin avoided and then countered with a swing of his axe. A slight smirk twitched at the corners of Zexions' mouth as he watched the attack hit. Another part of the illusion. Everything dealing with The superior's perception of dum was off. Zexion had made sure of that. It would even the playing feild just that much more. Dum didn't have a keyblade, or immense strength that could harm the superior. But Zexion didn't want Xemnas to be killing Dum right off either.
As the poleaxe made contact with Xemnas's head, he blinked, and seemed to teleport away in a flurry of blacke and silver flames for a moment, and he stood, a fair distance away, just staring at Dum. How the hell had he managed to hit him on the head with that weapon? There was no true damage, it was merely an annoyance!
He wasn't given much time to ponder as the boy suddenly fired that obnoxious gun at him again, and the Superior merely sighed, deflecting the bullets once more. "Nothing you can do, will hurt me." He stated. "However, everything I can o, will hurt you.." He said, and begain hsi assualt. A whirling dance of red blaes and lights, combined wit hthe black of his cloak. He was like a storm of death.
As the fight progressed, Xemnas began to get more and more annoyed. He was only able to inflict minor wounds on the boy. Nothing fatal, yet he was constantly aiming for that. And not to mention the times that he would pause, or get close, and get smacked with that axe was rather annoying. He was tiring of the game. Ten minutes of nonstop offense was enough.
He finally stopped, obseving the wounds he did manage to inflict upon Dum. Well, he had crippled the arm that kept firing the gun, it was injured, he had managed to slash one of the boy's legs, and make it bleed, but not too profusely, one of his full bullet attacks had hit, and there was only bruising from that! Almost like the boy had the devil's own luck.
He himself had no wounds. He was not some ordinary villian afterall.
With a shake of his head, he turned his attention elsewhere around the place. His gaze landed on Zexion for a moment, and his lips twitched upwards, and he turned his attention back to Dum.
"This is just a waste of my time. I accomplished what I came here to do. Continuing this fight would prove to be completely pointless. Consider yourself beyond lucky that you're still standing, boy." He said, before opening a portal, and stepping through. Nothing else was worht his time, and he was tired of getting smacked.
Zexion had been observing the entire fight, and during that time, ccasting illusions on himself to make up for the lack of medical supplies. He had managed to make it look like there were no flames. He could still feel them though, but he was ignoring them greatly. And he had managed to make most of the wounds look not as serious. Illusions were the first step to reality. If he could make his body believe that it was healing, it would heal. The flames of death would fade. Or so he hoped. He still couldn't find the strength to get up though. So he stayed, sitting, leaning up against a tree. His eyes went over Dum's appearance. Well. THe illusion had worked very, VERY well. Much better than Zexion had hoped. At least, the superior's attention was off of them now. With a slight exhalation of breath, the schemer shifted, debating on the best way to get up without aggravating anything.
And so the battle went on. Unfortunatly, because it was obvious that Dum was not winning it, and that was something he really couldn't tolerate. It was a pride thing. Dee was the intelligent one and Dum the fighter. He could kill anything. Except perhaps the Boss. But he'd never fight the Boss anyway. So that didn't matter.
It didn't matter that he wasn't doing any damage. He was stupid enough to continue with the trying. It didn't matter that his arm was twisted in a bad contortion, he was stubborn enough to use it anyway. It didn't matter than his leg was bleeding, there was blood on the ground anyway. Dum wasn't the type to give up. What did matter however, was the fact that his damn enemy ran the ******** away. That pissed Dum off to no end. "You ********' coward!" He snapped in retortion as the Superior ran back to his hellhole. And now the injured puppy was growling as the weapons disappeared.
And now his attention returned to Zexy. Vaguely. Because at this point, he was too pissed off to really care about the other. His mind would perhaps be changed if he knew how close to dying the other was, because though he'd never admit it. If he loved someone, it would be Zexy and Dee of course. And that would require him to lose some of the sharp edge and help. But at the moment, he wasn't concerned with much of anything, seeing red now. So he said not a word to him as he stalked off, literally. He has an injured leg remember?
Zexion's eyes only locked with Dum's for a split second, but long enough to register the glazed, infuriated look in them. The boy was in a state similar to saix's... Berserker at the moment. He was impulsive and self-centered at the moment..
His mouth set in a tight line as Dum turned his head and began to limp off. That leg would heal, given a few days. The arm, maybe a couple weeks. The schemer shook his head slightly as teh twin dissapeared from view. Wonderful. Pretty much just left there. Well, It wasn't dum to blame.Zexion's outfit made it rather hard to see his injuries, not to mention the illusions he had woven to try and heal.
His energy was still very low. But Staying here would mean death. He moved his hand to grab onto the tree, managing to pull himself up to a standing position. He staggered for a moment, before steadying himself. Well. This wasn't so bad. The injuries weren't fatal after all. The flames were only there because of his doubts. He began to takea few steps forward, away from the tree, his steps becoming more confident as he went along.
One.
Two...
Three.
Four..
Five... Six...
A strange dizzynesss suddenly came over the slate-haired nobody, and he pause, raising one blood-stained gloved hand to his face to hold his head for a moment. Or at least.. He thoguht he did. The world tilted, and there wasa sudden sharp pain in his chest and front, and he opened his eyes blearily, realizing he was on his face and stomahc on the ground. He fell? He didn't even feel..Falling.
He blinked, feeling his legs and arms and some of his torso tingling. Unable to really move, he glanced down at he hand that was visible to his line of sight from the way he had fallen. Black flames of olivion.. trademarked darkness swirling around the limb.
......Well...Hm.. That was... A little disturbing. The black seemed to be creeping up on his vision as well.
He refused though, and moved his arms to try adn push himself up once more. It seemed to take forever to him to manage to get to hsi hands and knees.. and even then, they gave out, and he found himself staring at the bloodstained grass once more. Uggh.. Blood. Sticky, horrible stuff. His outfit already felt gross with the stuff making it stick to him all over...
He was pulled out of his thoughts by the lighting suddenly changing. Pitchblack now...
Nighttime? Midnight? The illusionist had no clue. In fact, he felt as if his senses were dulling. Inevitable.
His hold on conciousness began to slip more, as his eyelids became heavy. But if he slept...
He might not wake up. Those flames, that darkness, licking eagerly at his battered body, were proof of that.
Did he expect a rescue? No.
VI had never been shown kindness. Nor had he shown it to others. He had lost a battle, and overestimated his abilities. Looks like.. He lost again.
Hm... what a ripoff.. TO be trapped here.. played with... and then punished for falling into another game.. Was it just his luck to keep being pulled into these games?
His eyes snapping open with one last determination, He managed to force his body into working, and he staggered to hsi feet once more. Teh time around was different again. Had he pased out? No.. He most likely was slipping in and out of conciousness. He Staggered forward more, pushing himself to actually get somewhere.
1...2...3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10..11..12..13.. His feet slipped, and he fell once more. His eyes closed as the darkness rushed up to greet him this time, losing hold on concious thought. The flames seemed happy, and eagerly continued licking around his body, now that his mind was no longer awake to fight them off with the strength of sheer will.
Somewhere in a half-concious state, Zexion chuckled. Well...Oblivion would be a nice repreive.
It had gone from day to night in almost an instant as the injured one stalked back to the mansion like a wounded animal. He didn't look back, didn't think on it, didn't care, like normal. Like this it was hard to think of other things. He couldn't even fully registered how injured he was, other than how disturbing it was to be thrown off like that. It was aggrivating, much more so than any of the wounds layering his body. He'd be fine, he was always fine.
He could see the drying blood on the gate. It looked so omnious lying there, as though a battle had graced its presence. But Dum knew better, anyone else should have, no one dared to go near the mansion since Alice. Because it was literal suicide. At least there was no sign of his twin, someone had taken him inside like he'd predicted. And the window was blocked off as well, he could tell when he inclined his head slightly in that direction as he pushed the iron open with his good arm, the other being slightly bruised and bloody in contortion. But he ignored any pain from it, he was actually only limping because he didn't have a choice.
He frowned a little as he opened the wooden door beyone the gate they used to guard or pretend to guard and shoved it open as well. He wanted to see Dee now that there was little else he could do. Perhaps, fix himself up a little, take a shower? Nah, the blood wasn't that bad.
He ignored the faceless throng of maids and butlers of the household as he took his bloody corpse upstairs. Dee was in their room. He had to be. Dum couldn't think of anywhere else that they would have taken him. Though he slightly realized that Newbie Hare was definitely going to yell at him for all the commotion. Better stay out of the stupid rabbit's way because he was in no mood to take stupid things like that right now.
Dee was sitting on the bed, the suit jacket removed and bandages covered his torso. He'd probably done them himself. He was a little paler than normal of which blood loss could be accounted for from the slightly stained sheets of the bed but otherwise he seemed to be fine. He tilted his head a little when Dum returned, alone.
"What happened?" He took Dum's state of affairs in a calm manner. He hadn't expected any less of his twin than to come back in bloody. He hadn't expected him to return with such a wounded aura however and that made him frown as well. Very few things irked Dum when he was fighting, he loved it. Unless he . . . lost. That was a shock to Dee, Dum lost? Dum hardly ever lost. Neither of them really ever lost. He furrowed his brows at the lack of an answer his twin was giving him. Dum merely snorted and sat next to him on the bed. He pulled one foot in a half Indian style sitting position and Dee shook his head a little. They were twins so he didn't need to say it and he moved, with a slight wince at his own pain, to get the bandages from the pillow on the opposite end of the bed to bandage Dum with.
"Where'd Zexy go?" Dee continued, he was determined to make Dum talk. It was better for him. If he couldn't lash out somehow, it would just be worse for someone later in the long run. Most likely the staff of the household, of which, Dee couldn't really say that he cared much about them anyway. Again, Dum didn't answer, and that concerned him. Zexy was as much his toy as anything else, and he'd expected him to run away or something like that but Dum wouldn't have cared at this moment. His pride was the most important at the moment, not his clock-heart. He should have answered. Unless. . . "You left him there." It wasn't a question and now Dee had his mouth set in a straight line. Dum tilted his head a little to glance back at his twin. Obviously, the other was right and upon knowing it, he smacked Dum upside the head iwth the roll of tape. "Ouch! What was that for?!" Dum snapped, glaring daggers. "You went and left him there. What the Hell were you thinking." "So what? He's always leaving us." Dee could only imagine that Zexion was in some way injured as well, otherwise, he'd likely have returned with Dum himself. "Go back." "Tch. Why?" "I said so." That was Dee's way of saying figure it out for yourself. and Dum didn't bother to ask for an explanation. "I don't want to go back there." He said in a flatline tone, only to have Dee smack him upside the head again. "Go. Back. Now." The cyan twin said sharply. This was not how you treated someone that tried to save you, but he knew Dum hadn't thought anything of that. He wouldn't have thought it as saving as he would have thought it to be getting in the way.
"Go. Get out of here." Dee continued with the intention of kicking his brother off the bed. Failure on his part as there was enough chest pain to stop him though Dum got the message. "No." He was still pissed off at Zexion, he didn't want to go back for him now. "Go back there and get him Dum. Now." And Dee wasn't taking no for an answer, even if it was going to send Dum over the edge. Dee had a conscience that Dum did not have and it was winning him over today. But then again the maroon twin was not in the mood for this as well and the two fought for another good while before finally Dum caved in enough to go and get him as Dee wasn't able to move properly. Though it took a lot of yelling and beating upside the head with medical tape on Dee's part and pistol whip on Dum's part, though he did feel bad for hitting Dee when he'd stormed out.
So back the way he had come from, and growling every damn second of the way he did. He didn't want to do this and he had no intention of actually being nice about it. So when he did find Zexion half alive on the ground, he poked him with his toe first. And for a fraction of a second he didn't care if he was alive or dead, though that passed quickly enough. There was fire around him, what did that mean? He hadn't paid enough attention to know but the black flames were irking him as well. Though to be fair, everything was going to get on his nerves at the moment. So his impulsive self wanted to just grab him and throw him over his shoulder but he wasn't sure if he could that. Oh well. He did it anyway since Dee wouldn't shut the ******** up until he brought him home.
Something brought him slightly out of the darkness to a semi-concious state once more, and it was the feel of something nudging him. With some worry, the schemer realized he couldn't move. Suddenly an arm grabbed him, lifting him up and throwing him over a shoulder, like a sack of grain, or a child. The sudden movement jarred his body, and he coughed, tasting the blood in his mouth once more. Come to think of it, breathing wasn't the most fun thing in the world right now either. He shifted slightly, the jarring of the person's walk was really painful to some of his other injuries. Opening his eyes, it took several minutes to be able to focus. Even then, he really couldnt' see much. Darkness seemed to be swarming around everything, consuming, reaching...
He closed his eyes again, and instead reached out with his senses. Dum. Dum had come back? How interesting. His body shuddered, and since he was more awake now, he began to try and fight off more of the darkness that seemed to be eating away at his very being. If it claimed him, while Dum was this close... it might try and consume him as well. THere was still and aggressiveness with his actions though..
The constant movement lulled him back into the darkness again..
He was suddenly jarred back into reality again as he was ungracefully thrown down unto something. A room? He could sense Dee close by too. Dum had brought him back to their room or something... Zexion found that his energy was so low, he could't even bring himself to open his eyes again. He was too busy working on the flames again that he could feel around his arms and legs, and his chest.
Finally, he opened his eyes to glance dully around the room. He saw the bandage job on Dee, and the corners of his mouth twitched upwards in a slight smirk.
Talking wasn't an option either right now. Too much energy. His gaze went to dum then, looking him over. Good. Both the twins were fine. Give them a week, and they would be almost fully mended. Why did that thought seem to please him? It was confusing.
But he shoved it away to think of some other time. His current thoughts were on the rift of darkness only he could see at the edges of his feild of vision. He didn't like the way it seemed to be creeping up. It reminded him of the way teh End of the World looked.. Someplace he never really wished to go again. The place held.. a somber tone to it.
Dum had literally just dropped Zexion on the bed next to Dee, much to Dee's disatisfaction but at least he'd brought him back like he had promised. He shook his head a little but tossed the other the roll of bandages. Dum raised a brow as he caught them and Dee gave him a half-glare in return. Apparently, the twin was to bandage his own wounds for now while Dee looked over Zexion.
From a first analysis, he was pretty badly hurt. Much worse than either twin had taken and it concerned him. But he didn't know how to help him. Wonderland's rules didn't include Nobodies and it wasn't likely that bandages were going to fix him...even though there was a lot of blood. He slightly glanced to Dum, whom was bandaging up his leg on the head of the bed. Dum wasn't going to like moving again but Dee was in condition to move himself, so his only option was to ask his brother. ". . . will you go get a glass of water?" He finally said. Dum raised a brow and snorted obviously still annoyed but after a few moments of silence, he disappeared out into the hall. Of which, Dee, not knowing of anything else to do, he decided to attempt to bandage up poor Zexion until his twin returned with the water.
He set the glass on the windowsill behind him as he leaned in a little to see if Zexion was even concious. "Zexy?"
Just the sound of Dee's voice almost made Zexion smile. It hada tint of worry and insecurity in it. Was he asking if he was alive? Barely.
He opened his eyes and moved his head slightly, so that he was looking into Dee's more blue tinted eyes. Hn.. Dum's were red tinted, Dee's were almost cerulean. Crimson and Cerulean.. A slight chuckle escaped, and he closed his eyes again for a moment. Well.. THat was strange. He felt.. more than just a little detached from reality.
"DO you... have any type of potions here?" He managed to get out. Talking seemed to take so much effort. And he still couldn't move. No, scratch that. He was able to move his arms slightly now. Which he used in an attempt to sit up slightly, so that he wasn't completely lying helpless. Attitude. It was all about attitude..
His attempts proved futile however and his arms gave out, small flares of darkness flickering from them and lighting up the sheets with an eerie black glow as they danced along his arms and chest.
Blankly, Zexion stared up at the ceiling. What... a major pain. He couldn't even.. manage to care for himself. He frowned slightly, his attention once more on the twins who were now both watching the flames almost fascinated.
"...You want to know what those are?" He said, raising his arm, to touch his chest, feeling the lick of darkness there.
"When Nobodies die, our bodies return to the essence that made us. Darkness. Bits and peices become absorbed by it, and give off the appearance of us burning in a pillar of black flames. In reality, it's literally all the molecules making up our bodies returning to a previous state, and returning to Oblivion." He said, just holding out his arm and watching the flickers. "......" His arm fell back to the bed once more, as his energy gave out again. Just wonderful.
Dee sighed a little. At least he was concious, that was always a good sign. But those flames...he really didn't like them. He glanced up to Dum one more time and found the other idly watching them like a wary cat. He sighed yet again. But Dum would calm down...eventually, he always did so his attention turned back to the injured Nobody on the bed.
"Just the potion that kept you here...and I don't think we have another one just lying around. Peter White keeps the potions. The one from the kitchen was one that Boss stole. I'm not sure I was supposed to use it." He explained lightly, tilting his head a little with a frown. He could ask Dum to...no, he wasn't going to ask Dum to do anymore. "Don't move anymore. Neither of us is going to be very happy if you return to the Darkness." Dee said with a frown, though Dum didn't comment on the matter, he knew that it was true enough.
He heard a slightly aggrivated sigh to his left and Dee glanced up to see Dum moving about again. Where was he going this time? He figured the injured puppy would stay around and mope a little like he usually did. "Where are you going?" He asked. Dum snorted a little. "Where do you think? Gotta find the damn rabbit and get a potion." Was all the other twin said as he skulked out the door. He had to admit, he was slightly surprised. But then again...they'd never really cared about anyone else before, it had always been just the two of them and though he knew Dum well, he couldn't know how he'd react in something like this. It seemed like he'd finally given in a little.
ZExion almost managed to sit up on the bed completely as the conversation suddenly turned to that one potion that had caused all of this. "WHat? No, wait! I meant healing potions!!! THat thing almost killed me the first time!!" He manages to exclaim, before his body convulsed, and he fell victim to a bout of coughing, as his lungs tried to expell the excess blood that had gotten in one of them. Red. REd red red red red He was tired of seeing red. And blood. It was so sticky.. Weakly, he tried to peel off his gloves, or tug at his jacket. Everything was too confining. He needed to breathe. His eyes glazed slightly, as he could see the darkness more clearly now at the edges of his vision. That was never a good sign. The darkness licking at his body was getting to be more than a nuisance now though, as he could feel the familiar numbness taking over. He did not want to fade!!
He closed his eyes though. He was stuck there. Too weak to portal somewhere, unable to get the right items needed to be able to recover more.
He almost didn't notice when Dee finished the job Zexion had been attempting to do, which was get free of the jacket. No shirt as underneath, so the wounds were quite visible, now that the illusions around them were fading. They looked almost black though, by the flames of darkness that were clustered and festering on them, feeding on the fatality of the injuries.
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He continued to peel the jacket off of Zexion, concerned for all the blood he was losing. As he did so, he was reminded absently of his own pain, which was uncomfortable. But he ignored it like a true Tweedle and continued on.
The wounds were black and festering, honestly, Dee wasn't sure bandaging them was going to help but hey, he had to try. So he leaned back to grab the discarded tape from the pillow where Dum had left it and started to bandage, batting away black flames with a frown. They weren't going to let the Darkness have him. Nope, they weren't. But if Dum didn't hurry up, they might not have a choice.
Good thing the other Tweedle was better at ignoring pain because soon enough he was back. At least when Dee was done trying to patch up Zexion he was. Which with the flames, had taken some nice time.
Dum didn't say anything as he returned. His pride probably getting in the way of course but he tossed a small bottle to Dee whom caught it. He tilted his head, not wanting to force Zexy but had a feeling he was going to have to do it anyway. And so he did, trying to take the other's jaw gently and wrench it open so he could shove the potion down his throat.
As Dee began to bandage him, zexion found himself blacking out once more, so that by the time Dum had returned once more, and thrown the potion to the cerulean twin, Zexion was only just regaining conciousness again. He glanced up wearily at Dee as the Tweedle stared at him for a moment, before grabbing ahold of his jaw.
The Schemer struggled weakly, not wanting to test the results of that damn potion. What had happened to the otehr bottle? the one that zexion had held on to? It seemed to have been the hourglass of sorts to keep track of how long he had to stay. That one had been broken in the punishment... At least Zexion thought it had. If this one was forced... what would happen?
"No!" He exclaimed, and tried to get free of Dee's grasp, but ended up failing when Dum joined his twin by just grabing Zexion's arms. Not much force was needed to completely subdue the injured Nobody. And The potion was forced down his throat. The pain...Was indescribable. The last time he had taken the potion, it had been diluted, and he had only consumed a little bit. Now, the full thing was being forced upon him, in it's purest form. And it hurt beyond all else. The wounds from Xemnas seemed to only be mere scratches compared to what it felt like the potion was doing to his insides. A small noise escaped his throat as his vision went white, he thought it sounded something like a whimper. His body arched, almost as if it was repelling some sort of force, and the black flames surged fora moment, dancing along his body completely before vanishing themselves, and leaving only the injuries behind. But those were still rather serious. However, a low glowing light seemed to center around his chest, and lessen the bleeding and heal the injuries just the smallest amount to give the male a better chance at fighting. Along with a faint..faint noise..
White.
Why was there white? Zexion was used to black.
Darkness.. It had ruled his entire life, but now he seemed to be somewhere that was surrounded in white.this was not oblivion, so he was not dead.
A blonde man approached him, the red cloak seeming to almost cover the dignified clothes that adorned him.
Ienzo... The man said. Zexion narrowed his eyes.
"Ansem the wise... Last I heard, you died. Literally. Your machine blew up when you were taking on Xemnas's kingdom hearts." the nobody stated coldly. Ansem merely chuckled.
'Ah, Ienzo. the Youngest and most ambitious, always the most cruel of my old assistants. YEt..I find you here? The man said.
Zexion just shook his head. "Hallucenations. That potion did something." He stated simply, trying to observe his surroundings. Nothing.. but.. white..
Ienzo.. You were lost for so long. I am.. Sorry, dear boy. For starting the whole descent itno darkness. But most of all, I regret allowing you to spend so much time with Xehanort. ansem said with a shake of his head. Zexion started, and stared at him.
"...."
However... at least you have a chance now, Ienzo. Or ,as you prefer to be called, Zexion. Whatever happened.. has connected you once more. You're no longer in the darkness, Zexion. Listen for your heart. No more imitations. No more echoes. Ienzo... You're not lost anymore.
"W-wait, What?! I don't want a heart!!!" Zexion said, reaching out towards his ex-mentor, but Ansem just smiled, and faded, and then everything began to fall. Or at least he felt as if he was falling.
Hours. To the twins, Zexion had been unconcious for hours. The only thing that assured them that he wasn't dead was that the flames had left, but he still had been lying very still for a long time.
He finally opened his eyes though, and blinked up at the ceiling. What..Had that been about? Something felt different though, there was this constant noise that seemed to almost pound in his ears. Again. Again. Again. What was is? It was similar to, but not the same as-
...Oh..His hand reached up to touch his chest, feeling for, and listening for that sound that a heart would make while working. Ienzo...
What had ansem said? He wasn't lost anymore?
Darkness.. He couldn't feel it anymore.
Hesistantly, he tried to summon a portal, just to somewhere random, and nothing happened. He.. had lost access to the halls of darkness.
In a way, he was no longer a nobody. His lexicon? Could he still use that? He felt it respond to his call, and kept it where it was, not wanting to summon it at the moment.
His gaze went to the twins, and curiously, felt a strong twinge in hsi chest. It was much stronger than the echoes he had felt before. He frowned though. In a way, that potion had killed him. He was dead to the organization now. And stuck here, in their world. Completely. With them.
He looked away slightly though, realizing that he didn't feel as angry as he thought he would. "...."
Now Dum was the on incapable of feeling most things and as this was Dee we were talking about here, he did actually slightly feel bad about forcing Zexion to do something he didn't want to do. But it was the only thing he could think of doing. Wonderland didn't have anything else but that potion and bandages. One of which did virtually nothing and the other had interesting affects. Dee wasn't sure what it would do to him this time but they'd had no choice but to do it as Dum held him down. Literally sitting on him as it amused him by the gleam in his eye. He was enjoying that.
And then there was chaos. It apparently hurt a lot by the writhing and the screaming, of which, Dee felt guilt about now, though the whimper seemed to...please Dum. Because afterwards he grew quite complacent. The flames darted back and forth after their prey until they vanished completely. That relieved Dee though Dum seemed confused by it. He was going to have to explain it to him later. And later did come as there was little moment from Zexion after his outburst from the potion. If not for the fact that he was still breathing, though faintly, he would have been worried. Dum seemed to care little, if not for the fact that every few minutes he would glance over at the 'patient', though Dee never took his eyes of him for fear of something drastically changing and it being his fault.
He stayed like that for hours. The twins never left though interestingly enough the Heartless returned and tried to jump Zexion only to be captured again by Dum for its torture of leaving him. And that caused Dee to be rather suspicious. Had the potion returned Zexion's heart? Did it have that sort of power? It had done something powerful as the Heartless often tried to squirm out of Dum's grasp and when it did free itself, it was only smacked by the barrel of a maroon gun until it was captured again by eager hands. Dum resolved to get a shock collar for it later but not until Zexion was awake.
Then finally, he did so. He finally woke up and though Dee sighed rather loudly, Dum seemed to do nothing though he could tell by the look on his face that he was relieved as well. The action made Dee smile for a second before it returned to a straight line. Zexion seemed confused. The wounds on his body were healing, though differently than Dee had hoped, they were not completely healed and his gaze was shifting from them to other things. It seemed like he was testing his powess. Did they not work? Zexion showed no emotion still so it was hard to tell but Dee was almost certain that the potion had given him a heart in order to be bound with it. It almost made him feel guilty, until he reminded himself that he hadn't really had a choice and would adamantly argue for it if he needed too.
Dum kept a slight distance leaving the silent air with a tinge of awkward, though the Heartless continued to squirm. Dee wanted to say something, but couldn't find the right words. That was frustrating in its own way but finally Dum was the one that broke the silence. "...are you okay now?" was all he said but it sounded like an iceberg had just struck their Titanic.
Zexion was silent for a moment, still mulling over facts in his head. His gaze returned once more to the twins though at Dum's statement. His glance went to the squirming heartless in the Tweedle's hands, and he frowned. If anything, that was proof right there that he was no longer a nobody. The heartless was not afraid of him. It looked at him hungrily. The darkness wanted to reclaim the heart that had once soley belonged to it. His frowned stayed in place as he returned his gaze to Dum now, only flicking slightly to Dee as he lightly touched the wounds that he still had. His back also hurt like hell from the 'whipping' that Xemnas had see fit to give him.
"Am I okay...?" He started, a little incredulous. "Does it look like I'm ok? I'm still hurt. Sure, I will heal, but that's besides to point of the major issue at hand here." He paused for a moment, the frown becoming more prominent. "Do you have any idea what that thing did to me?! It destroyed me. Everything I was, It took away. I am completely stuck here, unable to even teleport to a different location inside the world even! I can definately tell that I will most likely only be able to summon my lexicon to myself once, and then it will never be able to return to where it came from. I'll have to drag the blasted thing around. It's heavy. My illusions most likely lost quite a bit of power... I can't use darkness..." His eyes narrowed as he looked at the heartless. "And now I have to worry about that thing!! I've lost my ability to defend myself!" He finished with a slight hand wave. That sound.. It seemed to speed up as he got more frustrated, and he paused, seeming to listen to something.
He sighed, and shook his head.
"... ...It destroyed my old life and gave me a new one." He said, his gaze turning now towards the sheets rather than looking at either of the twins.
Ienzo, you're not lost anymore... Those words of his mentor just echoed in his head, and his fist tightened, crumpling up the sheets within it.
"... .... ....thank you." He added, a bit more quietly. He was still mad, yes. But he was also grateful for not being ..left for oblivion. Someone came this time. And even though it wasn't the ones he had wished, it was still someone who cared.
The others couldn't care. He had given up on them. But these two.. cared. In a very roundabout way, it was the thought, the heart that was put into it that mattered. Even if they operated on clocks. His head still tilted downwards, he was thankful for the hair that was in his face to hide his smile.
Was this happy? He felt strange. It was... warm.
Dum frowned for a moment, he wasn't one for the silence but he was momentarily distracted by the Heartless that escaped for a fraction of a second before he pistol-whipped the poor thing back into the cage of his arms. Then he decided to use it as a pure Darkness pillow against the wall as Zexion went on what sounded like a mini-rant. Okay so he knew better than believe he was actually fine but still. He didn't need to rant did he? Dum didn't see the problem. What was wrong with having a heart? Sure it was different but it wasn't like he couldn't get used to it. So what if he couldn't use the Darkness? It wasn't like they were going to let him leave them anyway. None of those excuses seemed greater than the fact that he almost physically died and Dum was about to express that sentiment in his own fashion of course. "So what? You almost died, you wouldn't have been able to summon things things anyway. If you're so worried about losing that stupid book, then just leave it with the rest of the weapons." He remarked with a slight shrug of the shoulders. Dee frowned a little himself but didn't say anything. Obviously, he agreed with his twin on some points of the matter, but the fact that his 'old life' was over did trouble the more intelligent one quite a bit, even though he didn't regret his actions in the least.
And if one was thinking that Dum was done talking, one was wrong. "This thing?" He remarked slightly about the Heartless he was using as a pillow. "It's cute. I'll get a shock collar for it, it's not going to touch you." Like the idea of defense was anything to him as well, he pretty much had decided to protect Zexion anyway. Not that anyone else had seemed to be in on the matter.
Dee had been silent for pretty much all of the conversation that he was sure was not going to make Zexion happy in the slightest but it didn't matter. Because even if Dum sounded heartless, it wasn't that, it was he had his priorities in a different place than most people. As long as you were alive that was all that seemed to matter because nothing happened when you were dead. That was the single phrase in between the lines of Dum's words and Dee had to agree with them. "...I'm not going to apologize for the potion. Because we would have lost you without it." He said slowly, simply. "...but I guess I can apologize for your loss of powers."
Zexion's slight smile faded as Dum spoke, and he shook his head. "...My powers were what made me... Me." He stated. Almost died? There was... a hint of something else in his voice. He looked up, and met Dum's gaze, holding it for a moment or two as he continued on about the heartless.
A shock collar? That thought almost amused him to the point of laughter, and his mouth twitched in a slight smile. Hn. He actually.. truly.. cared... Once again that feeling seemed to send a shiver through him, a tug, a sharp ..pain? of sorts from his chest, a feeling of..
He didn't know what it was. BUt ...he liked it.
His attention was brought back to Dee as the more quiet twin finally spoke, an apology for.. Well. Zexion was sure he didn't know the extent to what he was apologizing for, but.. That was the one thing that made the smile that had been threatening actually break the surface, with just a small twitch of his lips upwards, as he looked again at the stained covers.
"THe loss of my powers..Is going to come back and cuase problems later. Because I'm not originally from this world. I don't truly belong anywhere really. It was the rule of Nobodies. A reason we could travel. But like this.." He paused, and placed a hand to his chest, feeling the strange feeling of a heartbeat once more.
"This shows I also still don't quite belong here as well, because it didn't take a form of a clock. I wonder if.. Radiant Gardens would be my home once more? " He mused, with a slight shrug.
He shook his head, and looked at both twins again then. Hn.. The potion had worn off, either that or it was doing somethign else now, sinc ethey had returned to the form he had met them both in. Looking young.. The slight smile changed into a smirk, and he tilted his head slightly. Well. Looked like the potion had taken a different effect, and was trying to heal them now. Like the thing they had forced him to take was slowly healing him inside. They wouldn't know, but Zexion, who was always very concious of himself, could feel the wounds slowly knitting together, on the insides first before showing on the outside.
Carefully, he got up, ignoring Dee's protest at his movement, and walked over to Dum, at a careful pace. He didn't want to re-open anything.
Knocking the heartless away so that Dum's head hit the wall a little he grinned. He didn't feel like dealing with the heartless. He knew that Dee would capture it then if Dum was distracted.
He Captured the other's lips in a kiss though, cutting off any complaints the boy was about to voice. When he felt that Dum was sufficiently quiet, he leaned his head close to Dum's ear then.
"You'll probably only hear this from me once. ...Thank you, for coming." He said very softly.
He backed away from the more aggressive twin then, and made his way to Dee. He gave the heartless a glare though,and decided to ignore it. He... would have to trust the twins. He really had no defense against such a small thing? That hurt his pride, but he still went over to the quieter twin, before wrapping his arms around that one, and burying his nose in his hair. He felt the heartless squirm at the close proximity, and Dee's grip on it tighten. There was no need to speak to Dee, He was sure that the other would realize how much this in itself said.
Trust. He was showing he was letting go of his pride long enough to say..'Fine. I will put my trust in you two then.'
It was...a way of submission. Acceptance.
Was it a step in love? Or something similar? It was..human.
He finally let go though, feeling his heart beating fast. How strange. Adrenaline? Fear? Nervousness? He hated to admit it, but .. he was scared of that little heartless. Why did he fear it now? With a slight wince at the revelation, he made his way back to the bed and just sat down. He felt tired again...
Dee tilted his head a little. "Made you you? If it did, then why would we have saved you?" He remarked blinking slightly. Dum just frowned a little as though the matter wasn't even a real matter. But Dee had a feeling his question was going to go unanswered, but that was okay, it was a perfect rhetorical question anyway.
Hm? He smiled? Yes, yes, he did smile! That was...was it the first time they had seen him actually smile? Perhaps, but it was obviously rare for him to smile and that made Dee rather happy, though it was unsure if Dum felt the same way as he didn't seem to react at all, at least until Zexion spoke again for he frowned. "So? Alice has a heart too...and she belongs here. So do you then." He replied with a continuing frown. Normally, something like that wouldn't have really mattered to him, but Zexion saying that meant that he was probably going to try and leave and that was something that Dum didn't like. "And we can protect you, you know, we're not useless." He continued on, not commenting on the mention of another name. That wasn't important.
Though it was important that Zexion was moving and Dee did not like that. "Hey! I didn't make you take that potion for you to ignore it and reopen wounds!" He protested though Zexion obviously ignored him and made his way toward his twin, whom was still using the Heartless as a pillow on the other side of the bed. But only for another moment as Zexion freed the little creature from its place and it fell to the floor where Dee had to snatch it up before it went after the former Nobody. "HEY!" But it was too late now, Dum was getting riled up again even though he shouldn't have with the wounds he had on him as well. But Dum didn't get anything else out of his mouth for Zexion had captured it in a chaste kiss. Which, if Dum hadn't of been younger, wouldn't have been chaste for long, damn that ridiculous potion! Why had it made them younger again?! Especially when the former Nobody turned away and whispered into his ear about a thank you. Dum just frowned in reply as he watched him amble back to Dee. At least he was being attentive to the both of them, because even though Dee did not have the jealous streak that Dum did, he could still make others feel bad for leaving him out.
And he returned the hug with a slight smile. He knew Zexion was happy, actually happy with them now, even if he didn't know, he loved them, Dee could tell. Dum probably couldn't, but Dum couldn't tell that he himself was practically in love with Zexion as well. "You should probably go back to sleep." The younger said when he sat back down.