He's got more scars than you do!

Defeat [Ienzo/Zexion, PG-13]

2009-04-30T06:34:11Z

Title: Defeat
Pairing: Ienzo/Zexion
Written For: x_izone for her super fabulous 18th birthday! Happy birthday my dear!
Rating: PG-13

He found his Heartless, lurking in the shadows, of course. He'd only come here on a mission. It wasn't for any reason, or anything, he wasn't looking for him.

That didn't explain why he followed him, or rather, followed the shadow on the wall, dancing in the green torchlight.

The shadow moved faster, so did he. Finally, he rounded him into a corner, and saw the slightly-shorter figure start in panic, then look frantically around for an exit.

"No way to run," he whispered, and summoned his weapon out of the same nothingness in which his counterpart was hiding. "...So you might as well fight."

Ienzo the Heartless melted out of the shadows.

His shoes, black patent leather, with thick steel claws arching from the toes and digging even into the stone of the Underworld. Zippered pants, in dusky dark purple, with the silver zippers making zigzags up to a belt thick with spiky chains. His shirt, what you could call a shirt, was black - as it seemed to be made out of shadow itself, curling up across Ienzo's all-too-familiar skinny pale chest. He had a long cloak on on top of it all - gray, with purple lining, and the edges rippled and dissolved into stony camoflage. But his hands - his hands were what made Zexion's blood run cold (or was it hot?), for his hands had been replaced with long metallic torture devices. Slim steel needle fingers dragged across the stone, scraped up sparks, and Ienzo's beautiful, unchanged face curled into a sadistic smirk. "The question is, do you want to fight me?"

Zexion felt his mouth run dry, but it wasn't because he was scared. He tossed his head back, answered with a smirk of his own, and let the Lexicon fall open in his hands. "Want?" The book split and started hovering around him, and he folded his arms complacently. "I think I've want enough."

"Then..." Ienzo suddenly drew his cloak closed around him, and vanished entirely - Zexion's eyes widened, he tried to summon a shield of pages, but he couldn't tell where his heartless had gone. "...Perhaps we should skip the charade?"

He was right there, and Zexion's reactions were dulled by the pure physical reaction of their proximity. He gasped, and when steel stiletto fingers pierced his coat and threw him back against the wall, he knew he was powerless to resist. Ienzo was right. The charade was meaningless.

After all, everyone else had followed their orders with no problem. Go, Xemnas had said, go out into the worlds and find your Heartless. And when you find them, destroy them.

He was the only one who hadn't been able to accomplish his goal. It should have been easy. It should have been no problem.

Zexion left the Olympus Coliseum with the remains of his coat folded under one arm. It wasn't the only thing to leave this world in tatters; his pride had been broken long ago, and every time they met, another little piece was torn away.

Perhaps one day he'd have none left, and he wouldn't tell himself that he wasn't there for one reason and one reason only.

Perhaps, then, he would finally be able to defeat him.

Surprise [Leon/Sora, PG]

2009-04-30T06:04:01Z

Title: Surprise
Pairing: Leon/Sora (Yuffie POV)
Rating, Type: PG, lol
A/N: I wrote this for a request a billion years ago; I can't remember who it was and I'm sorry! Also, if the canon details on this are wrong, i'm sorry, it was late and i'm too lazy to be accurate.

They were kissing. Kissing.

Aerith put her hands over my eyes.

Three days before: there they were, Sora, Riku, Kairi. It had been a whole year since we'd seen them last, and even I noticed the way Leon's eyes lit up and a smile quirked at his mouth. Duh. Sora was Sora. It was impossible not to love him.

But that's the way he is around everyone, right?

Back up some more. The Hollow Bastion Restoration Commitee. Leon runs off when he hears about Sora battling the MPC; what a hero. He always does so much for us - for all of us, okay, but we all know Sora takes the brunt of the action. That's practically what he lives for. I've never seen Leon so upset, but then, there hasn't been danger like this.

What? I'm not making excuses, I'm telling it like it is. I still don't see your point.

All right, fine. A little more. We just got started, we're sure as hell happy to see the little pipsqueak after all that business with worlds and keys and Kingdom Hearts. Hey, he gets to see our home! And the town proper, not just the castle. Leon bustles off to the bailey to show him around, tells us to make him up a membership card, bitches to make sure the name's spelled right and everything. He didn't care about getting my name right, but Sora's a guest, and that'd be a little rude. Never mind that Leon's card says 'Squall', which isn't actually his name or anything.

Further? You've gotta be kidding me, Aerith. It's just not true. There were no hints for this. They just acted like normal people under normal circumstances! What more do you want?

Traverse Town. I'm watching when I'm not supposed to; but that's what ninjas do. I see a short kid with a stupid weapon and I think gee, is Leon really gonna fight him? This is going to end badly. I watch them fight. Kid puts up a good one; but any idiot can tell that Leon's holding back. You could see that he was following Sora's every move, just to make sure he was a little bit late, a little bit careless. He didn't want to hurt some poor kid, after all!

Stop laughing, Aerith! I'm being serious, here. You have no right to come here and say that I 'should have expected this', I've laid it all out for you, and clearly, this kissing thing is a big surprise.

...No, seriously! This isn't funny! Aerith! Aerith~! Come o- oh no, not you too, Cloud... I swear, this entire Garden went insane. Overnight. And there was definitely, definitely nothing to suggest that Leon and Sora kissing in the bailey is even remotely not a surprise.

Incruentatus [chapter four]

2008-09-17T09:12:52Z

. chapter four .

. xalxig . cleaned rp . NC-17 overall . AU . vampires .

Midnight. Xigbar had slept fitfully, and when he'd woken up with a start a few hours before the sun went down, he knew he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. He was lucky - it was a Thursday night, and Thursday nights meant the gathering of a certain occultist club that Xigbar was technically a part of, though he was hardly ever awake for the meetings. He contrasted quite sharply to everyone else there - they were refined scholars, words and theories flying around and around but never actually doing anything. Xigbar didn't grudge against them for that - they often did the thinking he had a tendency to forgo, and he did the doing. They all admired him and begged for stories, which he gave gladly, drinking watery tea from pretty cups and tracking dirt and blood all over their clean carpets. But they were more than just decorative - they were useful, and when Xigbar had nothing else to do he went to them and they told him all they knew.

And that was what led him to tonight's activities. He wasn't quite feeling up to taking on the little twin bitches again, not when his injuries still burned (and if Vexen knew where Xigbar was and what he was doing, he'd likely throw a fit). But he was restless, and he'd been told this was one of the lurkers, a vampire that didn't out himself and therefore was unlikely to make any of Xigbar's injuries worse - he'd made it sound like he wanted a quick kill, but as the cold and pain seeped into his bones and the spikes on top of the man's gate tore another gash in his leg, Xigbar was more and more discovering that he wanted to just.... talk. In light of recent events, he was suddenly... confused. And he wanted more opinions.

So... that's why he was breaking into a house at midnight. Nice place, he thought offhandedly, though he wouldn't've expected anything less. But modest. He's probably an older one, knows the value of quality. But he's not so old that his pride's taken over and he revels in opulence. Heh. Nice.

He made a quick work of the window lock, misjudged the styled of the windowsill under the curtains, and promptly tumbled into the room with a loud CRASH.

Xaldin had been grading the midterm papers for his current class of students. It was rather boring but he didn't particularly mind it; There were worse things afterall. He tensed up considerably when he thought he heard someone or something fiddling with the window but he didn't move; Not yet. Once whatever it was fell through into the room he was up in a flash, chair clattering to the floor. Growling he grabed it by the neck and pressed it (which at this point was obviously human) hard against the nearest wall.

Xigbar made a choked noise, but his hand flashed up almost as fast as Xaldin did and grabbed for the other's wrist, digging his nails into the tendons on the undersize of his wrist, snarling. And then... he realized who it was.

Aw, fuck.

Xaldin blinked in surprise and then narrowed his eyes, relaxing his hold on Xigbar's neck but still holding him against the wall. "Xigbar. What are you doing here?" His tone was low and dangerous. His mind was reeling with questions which quickly created doubts that Xaldin forced away as best he could.

Uhhhh not being turned on by this. Not. NOT. Xigbar vainly tried to lie to himself. "Uhhh. I didn't know you lived here..."

Xaldin stared at Xigbar a moment before realizing that that's exactly something Xigbar would do and he let go of the hunter, taking a few steps back to give him some room. And that's when he noticed it. The scent of blood hung heavy in the air, making his mouth water and it took nearly all his willpower to stay still, feet planted to the floor and hands clentched into fists. "Xigbar, you fucking idiot. You're bleeding."

"Oh..." Xigbar glanced down, moving his leg to get a better look. "...Yeah. Your fence didn't like me too much. Doesn't really hurt." It didn't quite click, the implication of that.

Xaldin held his breath when he caught a glimpse of blood and had to force himself to quickly look away. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. "Xigbar, you have to leave... or stop doing... that."

Xigbar looked up, puzzlement in his face - and theeeennn it dawned on him. "Ohhh." He tugged his pants back over the cut, but there'd be no helping the smell... Xigbar wasn't thinking about that, though, because he was too busy trying to get his thoughts under control. So maybe Xaldin was talking about an open wound, but it was all too easy for Xigbar's brain to make an innuendo out of it.

Xaldin didn't dare move, not trusting himself to keep from pouncing Xigbar. "I can still smell it. You. Have. To. Go." He frowned at himself, knowing full well that part of the desire, maybe even close to half of it, was because it was Xigbar.

"Maybe I don't want to," Xigbar said, his voice rough, before he stopped to think.

That sent a shiver down Xaldin's spine and he slowly turned his head to look at his friend. "Xigbar...," he spoke quietly, barely above a whisper and in a pleading tone, thought it was unsure if he was begging Xigbar to leave or stay.

He took a step towards the other, swallowing, ignoring his legs as they cried out in pain. Then, slowly, he held a hand out - very deliberately turned it palm-up, and slid his sleeve back. "...I don't care," he growled in that same rough voice. "I don't care. As long as I'm still alive."

Xaldin inhaled sharply, staring at Xigbar's wrist. "Xigbar..I...," he struggled to finish the sentence, finding it so hard to concentrate with the strong smell of blood and now Xigbar's offering. "I...I shouldn't..."

Suddenly Xigbar's hand flashed out and grabbed his collar, yanking them close - too close, he forced back a shiver brought on just from their proximity. "Fuck. Shouldn't." he growled, one flashing yellow eye meeting Xaldin's with a painful intensity.

The yank seemed to snap something back into place in Xaldin's brain and he regained some of his usual composure, frowning and glaring at Xigbar. He placed his hands on Xigbar's shoulders, but neither pushed nor pulled his friend closer. "I don't think you realize how dangerous of a situation you're putting yourself in, Xigbar...If I lose control . . ."

"You think I don't know danger?" Xigbar's grip tightened. "You won't lose control. If you lose control I'll beat the mother effing crap out of you, and don't even bother telling me I can't. I fucking want this, Xaldin."

"...Why?" It was the only thing he could even think of asking through the distraction of the smell of blood, the steady thumping of Xigbar's heart, the warmth he could feel coming through his clothes.

"Because," Xigbar snarled, fighting not to moan, not to let go and press close like he wanted so fucking badly to do. "Because maybe I want to give you what you want."

He paused, considering this. "I can't bite you. You know that. And first--" Xaldin grabbed Xigbar's wrist, dragging him out of the room and into a bedroom down the hall; One with covered windows. "If we're going to do this, then we're doing it somewhere comfortable." Tugging Xigbar into the room, he pushed him onto the bed and leaned over him, a hand pressed to his chest and pinning him there.

"Fine by me," Xigbar said, a hand curling around Xaldin's forearm and sliding up it. "...And..." Well, leg would be kind of awkward - for Xigbar's attitude about this, anyway. "...Hang on." He shifted his hips upward, braced with his back so he could fish something out from underneath him.

Xaldin leaned forward, running his tongue along Xigbar's neck, right above his pulse. "Hurry," he whispered against Xigbar's skin. He wanted a taste so bad now and not being able to just go ahead and take a bite was torture.

It dragged a low, rough breath of pleasure from Xigbar's throat, unwilling. His hand came back up with a knife - he curled a hand in Xaldin's dreads and tugged his face away, then pressed the knife into his hands. "...Don't chop up anything important," he muttered with a rakish, wild grin, breath coming heavy.

Having the knife in his hands startled Xaldin for a moment, as the darker side of him wanted so bad to just slit Xigbar's throat and drink every drop. He quickly pushed the disturbing thought away and half-ripped, half-cut away Xigbar's shirt. He paused a moment, briefly running a hand over Xigbar's chest and then cut an x right over where Xigbar's heart was, careful not to cut too deep. He waited only long enough for the blood to surface, running his tongue hard and slow over the cut. His eyes slipped closed as he savored the taste, letting out a shaky sigh when he reached the end of the cut.

And that caused an unexpected twinge - not from the knife, no, the pain seemed dull and far away - but the place of it, and it startled him sufficiently that he forgot he was resisting making noises, and moaned, his whole body arching toward the other. Christ. This shouldn't feel half as good as it did.

Xaldin's free hand dug into Xigbar's hip as he licked along the second cut and in one clean motion moved to kiss Xigbar deeply. "Delicious...," he murmured against the other's lips.

Xigbar surged up against the kiss, dragged his tongue over the other's lips until he could taste the coppery tang of his own blood, and grinned. Then he closed his teeth over the other's lower lip, teasing, as he shoved his hipbone back against the hand.

Xaldin shuddered, groaning quietly and pressing himself closer to Xigbar. "F-fuck...," he breathed, the word the only thing his overloaded brain could manage. All his senses were flooded that he felt like he was drowning in it all and all he could do was want more.

"Yeah," Xigbar growled, thoroughly agreeing. One of his legs worked between Xaldin's to press up against him, and his hands came up - fumbled at Xaldin's shirt and managed to unbutton as fast as he could, because in the back of his mind he knew Xaldinw ouldn't want his clothes ripped unnecessarily. Then rough hands were spreading over his chest, burning hot to the cool temperature of Xaldin's skin, and his mouth moved down to suck at Xaldin's throat, run a skillful tongue over the ridge of his collarbone.

When Xigbar had finished undoing the buttons on his shirt, Xaldin shifted, slipping his arms out and tossing the piece of clothing in a random direction. He closed his eyes in order to block one of his senses but it only ended up making the others that much more intense. The feeling of warm flesh against his skin was one he hadn't felt in a while and he had forgotten how good it felt. He clenched his teeth in order to stop a moan but it ended up being in vain once Xigbar started sucking at his neck; the area had become sensitive ever since he was turned. Rocking against Xigbar's leg and arching into his touches, he pulled the tie holding back the hunter's hair lose and grabbed a handful close to the roots, tugging firmly but not pulling him away.

"Fuck," Xigbar whispered, before dragging his teeth along where his tongue had been seconds before. His hands gripped tight at the other's hips - he shifted and groaned, arching his back and slowly rolling his body against the other. The lust and pain was brawling together in his head and it was achingly beautiful, hard and hot and cold and perfect.

Xaldin couldn't stand it anymore-- it was just too much-- and now he tugged Xigbar away by the hair, pushing him back flat against the matress with his other hand which was still holding the knife. He frowned when he saw that the cut x over Xigbar's heart had already started to scab. Holding Xigbar's shoulder down, he took the knife and cut vertically over his collar bone, deep enough that the white of the bone peeked through. He smirked and, placing the knife out of the way at the far side of the bed, leaned down and began exploring the wound with his tongue.

This time, Xigbar hissed in pain, but when Xaldin's tongue slid over it he gasped, bit his lip and tried to writhe against Xaldin's strong arm. There was a whining, pleading noise from the back of his throat, and his hands scrabbled at Xaldin's hips, tugged ineffectually at his waistband as Xigbar was near delirious with pain and desire.

Licking the blood from his lips, Xaldin whispered into Xigbar's ear, digging his thumb into the wound to keep it agitated and bleeding. "What do you want, Xigbar?" He ran his teeth over Xigbar's neck, ghosting, barely touching at all, teasing himself and resisting the urge to bite.

"You," he growled, his pride long gone by now. "Fuckin-" he cut himself off with a low groan, still trying to roll his body up.

Xaldin grinned against Xigbar's skin, jabbing the wound hard with his thumb. "You're going to have to be more specific than that..." And then his tongue was back at the wound, lapping at it a few times before starting to suck on it.

Xigbar snarled. "You fucking know what I mean."

"No. I don't. Now say it or I'll look into your mind and find out myself." It wasn't that Xaldin needed or even preferred to know exactly what Xigbar wanted, but more that it was an extremely easy way to tease him and the sadistic side of Xaldin enjoyed it immensely.

But that... made Xigbar pause a moment, his hands stilling quite suddenly. "...Don't," he said quietly, almost... afraid.

And that made Xaldin stop, too, knowing he had gone too far, but he couldn't help pushing further. Propping himself up, he looked down at Xigbar, eyes slightly narrowed. "What are you hiding?"

"Nothing," Xigbar snarled back, too quickly. "I'm not hiding anything. I just don't want you poking around in there, ok?"

Xaldin's face was carefully neutral, though his eyes gave him away and showing a mix of annoyance and a type of sadness, almost disappointment. "If you're not hiding something then what are you afraid of?"

Xigbar was a little - a mix of expressions passed over his face, and finally - he pushed himself up, put his hands against the skin of Xaldin's chest. He tilted his head and - just barely touched his lips to the other's neck. "...I'll tell you," he muttered, "when I'm ready. Okay? That's a promise."

Xaldin didn't say anything in response, instead just wrapping his arms around Xigbar and holding him close. "I'm sorry," he said quietly after a long while.

"What? What're you sorry for?" He pulled back just enough to blink up at him, one eyebrow lifted.

Xaldin just shook his head slightly and leaned in, kissing Xigbar softly, not bothering to explain.

Xigbar blinked, taken aback by the gentleness of it - but he responded in kind, his heart aching far more than it had a right to.

Breaking the kiss, Xaldin returned to just holding Xigbar. He frowned at himself for never knowing what to do in these types of situations, or how to shift gears.

A slow smirk curled on Xigbar's face. "...You still wanna know what I want?" As he spoke, he lifted a hand - dragged his thumb over the open wound at his collarbone, opening it up again, then pressed that thumb to Xaldin's lower lip.

Xaldin blinked, locking eyes with Xigbar for a moment before letting his own slip closed as he licked blood off Xigbar's thumb. Taking the thumb into his mouth he began to suck on it, despite having already cleaned the blood away.

Xigbar felt a shudder crawl down his body, and his other hand slid lazily down Xaldin's chest, and hooked in his belt - then tugged, sharply, pulling him foward.

Xaldin grunted as he was tugged forward. Releasing Xigbar's thumb, he firmly grabbed his forearm, running his mouth down to his wrist, alternating between scraping his teeth against skin and kissing gently. He pressed his tongue hard against the veins and tendons there. He bit the air above Xigbar's wrist sharply, making a small sound of annoyance and frustration at not being able to bite the hunter.

Xigbar pushed his hand forward out of Xaldin's grip - curled in his hair, and dragged them both back until he was against the pillows and kissing him harshly. "No way," he growled on Xaldin's lips.

Xaldin growled back but didn't protest much more than that, deciding instead to occupy himself with undoing Xigbar's pants.

Xigbar whined, soft and keening and tilted his head back as his hips lifted in an attempt to be some help. "Xal-" he started to say, but cut himself off and one hand grasped tight in the blankets under him.

Xaldin pulled Xigbar's pants off, underwear and all. "Yes, Xigbar?," he asked, his hand wrapping around Xigbar's now exposed cock, stroking it slowly.

He let out a shuddering moan, and melted back. "....Oh, fuck. Nothing." He bit his lip, head falling to one side as he tried not to move around too much, didn't want to discourage him.

Xaldin leaned forward, stealing a quick lick from the wound on Xigbar's clavicle before whispering into his ear. "Are you sure?" A smirk and a pause, "Sure you don't want to ask me to fuck you?"

"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you," Xigbar growled, a wide grin on his face. "You just want me to beg."

"Oh. Well if you don't want it...," Xaldin said in mock disappointment, letting go of Xigbar's cock and moving away a little.

"No!" Xigbar said quickly, grabbed for Xaldin's wrist and yanked him back... then groaned as he knew he'd just made an idiot of himself. "...Fuck... Xal, I can't even think straight anymore. Please."

Xaldin smirked, "Now, that wasn't so hard, was it?" He kissed Xigbar gently, a sharp contrast to his teasing. He took to stroking Xigbar's cock again as he worked on undoing his own pants with the other.

Xigbar made a snerk noise, nipping at Xaldin's lips. "Oh, it's hard all right."

Xaldin gave Xigbar a deadpan look, reminding himself he needed to choose his words carefully. He didn't comment though and instead just leaned over to fish something out of a drawer in one of the bedside tables.

Xigbar's hand shot out and grabbed Xaldin's hand, letting out a short, derisive laugh. "...I should think we've established that the pain isn't going to matter."

Xaldin paused, looking at Xigbar, one eyebrow raised slightly. "Hn. Don't complain about it later then." Suddenly, in one quick motion, he turned Xigbar over so his stomach was pressed against the mattress. Leaning over, he purred in his ear, "Ready?"

Xigbar groaned, and pressed his forehead against the pillow, before shoving it out of the way so as not to suffocate. "As ever," he growled in a husky voice, arms shaking. He realized he was getting blood on Xaldin's blanket; but that wasn't his problem.

Without any more warning he slammed into Xigbar and, while he was waiting for Xigbar's muscles to get used to the intrusion, he grabbed the knife again, creating a cut on Xigbar's neck, overly careful not to cut too deep or hit any major arteries. He then tossed the knife aside-- it clattering to the floor-- as he wouldn't be needing it anymore tonight.

"Fuck!" Xigbar snarled, hands clenching tight in the blankets; but his back curved and his legs spread, and even as he shuddered he was rocking back against him. He reached back and moved his hair all to one side, getting it out of the way of the cut.

Xaldin started a slow and steady but firm rhythm, one hand holding himself up and the other with a tight grip on Xigbar's hip. "So perfect...." he murmured before starting to suck hard on the cut he just created.

Xigbar agreed, with a low, throaty moan that seemed to just go on. He shuddered hard again; he was getting lightheaded from bloodloss but couldn't bring himself to care, not when hard spikes of heat were shooting through him - the pain as intense as the pleasure, so firmly knitted together there wasn't one without the other.

Gradually Xaldin's thrusts got quicker and rougher to the point where he had to stop leeching blood from Xigbar's neck. He leaned back, both hands now on Xigbar's hips, pulling them hard against his own hips.

"Fuck..." There was a long stream of expletives falling from Xigbar's lips - he'd totally lost control of himself, arching and meeting the thrusts and hissing out low curses, and sometimes Xaldin's name. It took a few tries to steady himself on one hand - first he tried the injured one and, okay, that was a bit more pain than was strictly necessary - but he got it and moved a hand down to stroke himself, with a skilled ease of long practice on lonely nights.

In comparison to Xigbar, Xaldin was relatively quiet; his breathing and the occasional grunt the only noises he made. He closed his eyes again, this time with the intention of heightening his other senses. He could still taste traces of Xigbar's blood on his tongue and the heat his hands were pressed into and that surrounded him was nearly unbearable. He was already so close to climax, though the long build-up was probably partially to blame.

Xigbar whimpered and suddenly a hand reached back - grabbed for one of Xaldin's, yanked it down so he wasn't twisted backwards, and twined their fingers together harshly. He pressed his forehead down again - squeezed his eye shut, and he was unsurprisingly loud as he came, crying out and then choking off in something dangerously close to a sob.

Xaldin's rhythm faltered when Xigbar grabbed his hand, the vampire not having expected anything like it. It didn't matter too much though since when Xigbar came, Xaldin wasn't far after, only a few more thrusts into the now-tense hole and he was releasing inside the hunter. He let out a long moan, whispering Xigbar's name at the end.

Xigbar's arm gave out way too soon, and he corpsed to the bed with a badly-muffled whimper. Everything. Hurt. But, he wasn't letting go of Xaldin's hand any time soon.

Xaldin carefully pulled out and managed to lie down next to Xigbar without having to pull his hand away. He pulled one of the blankets around them and held Xigbar close. "I love you, too," he said quietly.

Xigbar went very still. "....What?" he whispered. It wasn't that he denied the implication - no, no, that was true enough and they both knew it. He just... couldn't quite believe what he was hearing.

"I said I love you. Or are you getting hard of hearing in your old age?," Xaldin teased, squeezing Xigbar's hand gently. The feelings worried Xaldin slightly, since one day Xigbar would die and then where would that leave him? But he couldn't deny the feeling either, especially not since the other day when he had found out Xigbar had gotten hurt, the news scaring him shitless.

"You're stupid," Xigbar said shakily, turning around so he could bury his face in Xaldin's chest and trying to disguise what a herculean effort that took. "And I heard you just fine. Just... didn't believe you."

He ran his fingers through Xigbar's hair, "You better not be dead by morning. And I don't want you going on any more hunts until you're fully healed. You've been over excerting yourself, Xigbar. You're human, you have limits."

Xigbar's eye slid closed, and smiled softly, chuckling. "Yeah, yeah. I've been through worse." Well, maybe not, but that was beside the point. "Hell, I feel fantastic." Fantastic; but also like he was about to pass out.

"Go to sleep, Xigbar." Xaldin, however, fought sleep, choosing instead to continue petting Xigbar and sort out his thoughts.

Now that he'd been told to go to bed, Xigbar of course wanted to stay awake - but his body wouldn't let him and simply gave out, plunging him into a dark, blissful oblivion.

. previous chapter . next chapter .

. credits .
xigbar: x_igrab
xaldin: clemmontine

Incruentatus [chapter three]

2008-09-17T08:55:15Z

. chapter three .

. xalxig . cleaned rp . NC-17 overall . AU . vampires .

Xaldin couldn't believe it, and while he never paid much attention to rumors, it was Xigbar. So in all likelihood they were all true. And now he had to go yell at him for being careless. The hunter had mentioned something last time about immortality not being worth it, but being mortal was of no good if the idiot went and got himself killed so quickly. "Xigbar! You better damn well be in there and in one piece!" he shouted as he pounded on the door.

The window in the story above the first floor shot open. "Oyyyy. I'm alive, y'great doof. One piece, that's debatable."

Xaldin growled, "Open the door, Xigbar. Because you'll definately be in pieces if I have to get up there myself."

"Oh sure, I'll just roll out of bed and crash down the stairs to open the door for you, pull out all my stitches, just for your piece of mind." He rolled his eyes. "...Actually, I would, but the good doctor Frost has threatened to slip a sleeping draft into my tea if I get out of bed, since I won't take any painkillers."

Xaldin was not pleased. And of course when after trying the door and finding it unlocked, he was even less pleased. Entering and slamming the door hard behind him, he stomped up the stairs and flew open Xigbar's bedroom door. "What the hell do you think you're doing being so goddamn careless?! You would think you're an amateur! And why did you not inform me that the door was unlocked?"

Oh, Christ. Was it wrong to think Xaldin was attractive now? Probably. "...Jesus Christ, sit down. You're gonna shatter the windows if you're not careful; this whole place is falling apart." Xigbar was leaning back against his pillows - he had a bandage over the side of his face, on the opposite side from his eyepatch, though the worst of his injuries were under the blanket, where crisscrossing lines of stitches made a mess of his left side and thigh. "...We match," he added, with a smirk, in reference to the house.

Once Xaldin's brain actually took in Xigbar's injuries, his features softened a bit, though the anger and frustration never left his eyes. He did as instructed and took a seat on the couch near Xigbar's bed and closed his eyes a moment, taking a deep breath before looking over at Xigbar. "What the hell happened?"

Xigbar lifted his right shoulder in a shrug - the other wasn't outwardly injured, but it was badly bruised and still hurt a fuckton. "...Dunno." He somehow knew Xaldin didn't care about the specifics, that Roxas had baited him way too easily, crashed a nail-sharp plank into Xigbar's side, and Xigbar had seen it coming and hadn't jumped away in time. He knew what Xaldin was asking - why, why did it happen, when he was better than that. "Couldn't think fast enough."

Xaldin refrained from yelling, but his voice still held all the power and harshness as if he did. "Couldn't think fast enough? Fucking shit, Xigbar. Either you're getting too goddamn old for this or there's something else going on. I mean, fucking christ! You could have died."

"And what do you care?" Xigbar spit back. "..." But he sighed immediately. "That was a dumb question. Don't answer that," he said shortly. The pain was making him even looser with his sharp tongue than normal. "...I don't know, okay? I've been kind of distracted lately."

Xaldin blinked, somewhat shocked at the intial question and even though Xigbar apologized for it somewhat, it still stung. He frowned, watching Xigbar carefully. "Distracted? By what?"

"Dunno. Everything. Life. You." Fuck, he should stop talking.

Xaldin raised an eyebrow at that. "By...me." It was said as a statement, though Xaldin really meant it to be a question.

"Well, yeah." Xigbar backpedaled. "S'not every day y'find out one of your best friends is an undead."

Xaldin considered this a moment. "Yet... Demyx is your friend too and you failed to mention him."

"Yeah, well." Xigbar clamped down on what his pain-laced brain had been about to dive in and say, and quickly fished for something to ameliorate it. "That too."

Xaldin narrowed his eyes; something was off. "It really bothers you that much?"

"...It doesn't really..." Xigbar sighed, and tried to find the words to explain. "...bother. It's like... well... I guess a lot of the stuff you said made me rethink a lot of the things I took for granted. Y'know?"

"I suppose..." Xaldin paused, thinking it all over. "Perhaps you should refrain from hunting until you have come to terms with everything."

"Gonna have to, for a bit." He sighed heavily. "This is gonna slow me up somethin' good. Now I'm just... worried about what I'm gonna live on, for a while."

Xaldin sighed. "Why do I get the feeling I'm going to have to take care of you because you don't have any other friends?," he mumbled, mostly to himself.

"Hey, I've got a doc on my case already. Don't need you fussing neither." But the very tips of his ears went a little bit red.

Xaldin shrugged and stood up, "Fine. I won't come to bother you. But," He poked Xigbar gently in the forehead, "Don't you dare do anything so reckless again."

"Well hey...." Xigbar didn't know that the look in his eyes turned suddenly - lonely. Yearning. If he knew, he'd've been royally pissed off at himself for seeming so weak. "I mean. I don't want'cha fussin', but that doesn't mean. I mean." He fidgeted. "...You can still come by, y'know."

Xaldin caught the look in Xigbar's eyes but said nothing about it. He itched to poke around in his friend's brain, see what was really going on, since he knew Xigbar wasn't telling him the whole story, whatever it was. He didn't though and he walked to the foot of the bed, back facing Xigbar and his arms folded behind him in his usual stance. "Don't worry. I'll be back to make sure you're behaving yourself. But right now I have things...to take care of."

Xigbar choked on the words 'don't go', and nodded, finally swallowing so he could speak again. "Yeah. Yeah, go ahead."

Xaldin nodded. "Goodnight Xigbar. Make sure to get some rest." And with that, he was gone.

. . .
Vexen Frost often found himself to be in a bad mood. Perhaps he was just a naturally irritable person, but he'd be hard-pressed to admit it - he blamed almost anything and everything other than himself for his dismal outlook on life and horrendously short temper. Currently, he was railing on his favorite scapegoat - a chronic patient of his by the name of Xigbar Neilson, vampire hunter and widely-acclaimed idiotic dumbass. This time was certainly the worst yet - he'd managed to rip up his entire left side, keeping Vexen up all night stitching him back together, and then refused anything to dull the pain. The doctor felt bad leaving him there - worried, at any rate - worried that Xigbar would get out of bed and do something else stupid - but alas, Xigbar was not his only patient, and despite his utter lack of sleep, he had a business to run.

Saix never liked doctors - in fact, he detested them. It was below his physical being to get sick. So when he was sick, he was sick, he wasn't in a good mood. Not to mention it went against his oddly natural nocturnal pattern to go out in the day to visit one, so he was sleepy as well.

Saix knocked on the door to the doctor's office and waited.

"Come in," Vexen said, trying to keep the irritation he felt out of his voice. It wasn't this whoever it was's fault, it was Xigbar's, of course, godsbedamned Xigbar.

Saix opened the door and lingered in the entrance, surveying who his doctor was. "I'm Saix. I have an appointment." This guy didn't look so great himself, maybe he wasn't the right person to see.

He raised an eyebrow, but sure enough, his sometimes-secretary sometimes-maid sometimes-cook had certainly scrawled a note - Saix, 10am. "Er... yes. Come in, come in." He beckoned the other in and then shut the door against the blustery draft - it would rain soon.

Saix walked into the room and slumped down in the chair in front of the doctor's desk. "You look terrible." He noted out loud.

"Thanks," Vexen said dryly. "Duly noted."

Saix coughed into his fist. "Anyway. I need some medicine or something."

"Well, you've come to the right place; I'm a doctor." Obviously. He held himself back from a rather impressive eyeroll. "Now; what kind of medicine are we talking about?"

"I'm not sure. I can never sleep at night, and I'm always tired during the day. I also have these...what are they called? Memory lapses?" Saix explained blankly.

Vexen raised an eyebrow. "...Memory lapses? Tell me more."

"I wake up some days and the next thing I know I'll be somewhere else in my home or in the forest by my house or something. I frankly don't remember when I purchased my house." He said, picking a piece of dirt out of his fingernails. It kind of looked more like dried blood than dirt.

Vexen's eyes caught on that and he frowned; but did not comment on it. "...And you say you're having sleeping difficulties?"

"Yeah. I would usually be sleeping right around now." He paused. "So what do you think?"

"..." Vexen considered this. "Well, there's certainly a possibility that your memory lapses are being caused by erratic sleep - I can give you a sleeping draft, to take each evening, so you can start sleeping through the night and staying up through the day. If that doesn't help, then we'll think of something else." He scurried behind his desk and wrote a note in his leaned, spiky writing - practically unintelligible, but the apothecary knew his handwriting well enough. "Go here - give this to the apothecary around the corner, and he'll be able to mix something for you."

Saix cleared his throat. "I've been to the apothecary and he's given my a sleep aid. If that had worked I wouldn't be coming to you."

Vexen's eyebrows went up. "...This one could pass out an elephant. And what do you mean, it didn't work? ...You could have mentioned this, you know."

"I guess." He muttered with a bored expression. 'And when I say it didn't work, I mean I still was awake as ever and as tired as ever the next morning. It was like that for a month before I gave up."

"Well..." Vexen was quite perplexed. "...Well, try this, it's sure to be more potent. If it doesn’t work, come back. I have a question," he said, abruptly.

"Yes?" Saix raised his thin eyebrow carefully.

"....Why is your hair blue?"

He ran his hand through his hair. "I don't know. It's just like that."

Vexen frowned very deeply. There was something amiss here, something greater than what was on the surface. And it was tickling at his consciousness, as if he knew what it was, but couldn't bring it to mind at the moment... frustrated, he sighed, and crossed his arms. "Well. You'll just have to try this and come back."

Saix smiled slightly, his eyes flickered gold fo a split second and he tood up. "Thank you doctor."

Vexen blinked - though to be honest, he couldn't say whether it was the smile or the eyes that caught his attention. "Er - yes. Well. You're welcome."

Saix took the perscription with practised care not to touch the other's hand. "I'll make another appointment soon when this doesn’t work. Good day Vexen." He left.

Vexen frowned, feeling more irritable than ever. There was something he was missing; he just had no idea what. That nagging feeling was going to drive him crazy... and on top of his sleep deprivation and worry over Xigbar's latest bout of utter foolishness, it was no wonder that he didn't just keel over where he stood. But, he at least had the presence of mind to bang around up the stairs and into his bedroom, pull shut his curtains, and fall onto the bed - it was time for a much-needed nap.

. previous chapter . next chapter .

. credits .
xigbar, vexen: x_igrab
xaldin: clemmontine
saix: frecklez13

Incruentatus [chapter two]

2008-09-17T04:02:15Z

. chapter two .

. xalxig . cleaned rp . NC-17 overall . AU . vampires .

Xigbar beckoned Xaldin upstairs, to the bedroom - the only room besides the kitchen in his tiny place, but it was a lot cleaner and certainly more comfortable. There was a couch and a squashy armchair as well as the bed, and besides Xigbar's three giant dogs (who seemed to be nowhere to be found) there was a cat, a sleek siamese princess who immediately leapt into Xigbar's lap and kneaded at his legs. Xigbar took a seat on the bed, ignoring his cat as he bent to unlace his boots. "Have a seat," he said belatedly, gesturing.

Xaldin took a seat on the couch, getting comfortable before waving a hand in Xigbars direction. "So. You had questions?"

"Yeah." One boot down. Xigbar let it thump unceremoniously to the floor. "How often. How many. Who." Many times, Xigbar hunted for money - others would hire him to take out a vampire that had killed a loved one, something like that.

Xaldin frowned and looked off to the side, avoiding eye contact. "Not as often as you'd think but not as seldom as you would like. As for how many, just one per feed and the who is usually random." He hated questions like these and knew that no matter what he answered Xigbar would not be pleased so he was purposely vague.

Xigbar kicked off his other boot and wiggled his toes. Damn. So there was no way of knowing if Xaldin was someone he was supposed to be hunting. "...Men or women?"

"As I said, they're random, for gender, race and the most part age." He wasn't sure if the answers were ones Xigbar wanted but he had learned a long time ago that it was a waste of time and near impossible to be accurate in determining who 'deserved' or didn't deserve to die.

Xigbar nodded; fair enough. "Have you ever given me a false lead to throw me off track?" He stood now, his cat dumping to the floor, to take his coat off. She padded over and sniffed delicately at Xaldin's ankles.

Xaldin gave the cat a glance but otherwise paid it no mind. "Perhaps once or twice but only to keep you off my ass, no one else's."

"...That's fair enough too. Shit." Xigbar's finger's paused on the brim of his hat, and a rakish grin spread over his face. "You make it damn hard to hate you."

"Perhaps I should try harder to give you a reason to." A pause. "I wouldn't normally ask since it's not my business but due to the circumstances... Why did you become a hunter?"

The grin faltered, for a second, but then it was back, if... a little forced. "Easy money? Nah, can't lie to you, can I? Wouldn't want to anyway." He took the hat off then, and reached back to slide his hairtie out. "You ready for a long story? It's a long story."

Xaldin nodded, "I've already resigned myself to staying through the day. Though, you only have to tell me if you want to, Xigbar." Xaldin knew the story likely brought up bad memories for the hunter, and didn't want to sound like he was forcing Xigbar to tell his story, especially if he didn't care to.

"I want to. At least, I think I do.

"...I was on my way back from Ireland, studying, drinking, some mess of both of those. Still hadn't a clue what I'd accomplish in life." He was turned so his eyepatched side was the only side visible, the rest of his face in shadow. "...Ran outta money halfway home. I was workin' for some coin down in... well, down the road a ways, tiny little lumber town. Needed an extra hand, I pitched in, in exchange for a ride on the transport. Got to know everyone there pretty well.

"There was a vampire lurking in those woods. Everyone knew it - I didn't get the whole story for a while, but soon I heard, about how he was particular, always struck at the same time of day, same days of the week - he had a modus operandi, made a drama out of it. Villagers were all scared shitless, thought there was nothing they could do." Xigbar folded his arms and tipped his head to the side, cracking his neck joints. "...There was a girl he was after in the village. Kid. Tiny little thing. I got in a fight with him, protecting her. Got my ass kicked, but it was enough time for her to get away. I thought I was dead for sure, but he didn't kill me - took my eye out, and told me he didn't feed on willing victims. That 'our kind' were only worth the chase, and the thrill, and he could see the resignation in my eye - it bored him. Told me the next time we met, I'd better put up a decent fight or run with a decent fear." At this, Xigbar spat on the ground, and his lip curled. "I've been back there - got to be at least a hundred times, but he's gone. The only thing I can do is hone my skills, watch, wait. Keep my ears to the ground. Keep on fighting."

Xaldin didn't hide his disgust as he listened to Xigbar's story and when he had stopped, Xaldin spoke up. "Vampires are just like people, Xigbar, in that they are all individuals. We were all human once and so we all act and react differently. For some, the turning drives them somewhat mad with power, others it has little effect on their character. Of course, if they have a foul disposition in the first place, it's unlikely to change," Xaldin spoke in the tone he usually used while teaching, firm yet somehow gentle and never scolding or condescending. "But Xigbar..." he continued softer now, his voice carrying more emotion than he usually expressed, "Revenge is nothing to live for."

"It's not revenge. It's... well, maybe it is. Maybe I just want to save my own ass. Maybe I want to stop people like that. Like him. It. Fuck." He sad down on his bed, face in his hands and hair everywhere. "...Damnit, Xaldin, it was so much easier when I could just... hate all of you."

Xaldin stood, abadoning his seat on the couch to sit on the bed next to Xigbar. He rested a hand on Xigbar's back and spoke quietly, "Life is rarely easy. You should know that by now, Xigbar. And I'm sorry. It's my fault you had to find all of this out."

Xigbar felt himself still at that cold touch on his back. "....Nah. Not you. I'd'a had to figure it out eventually." He didn't move - didn't want to shrug Xaldin's hand away by accident.

Xaldin sensed Xigbar's uncomfortableness and removed his hand, placing it on the bed. He always had a bad habit of prodding people's minds for general feelings, as it made dealing with people a little easier and predictable, but he usually didn't go deep enough to sense thoughts unless he really needed to. For Xigbar, he took the effort to stop completely, reminding himself that the hunter would likely not appreciate the slightest intrusion and that he had already gone too far as it is. "Really now? We've known each other how long and you still didn't know? I'm nearly certain you could've gone your life without knowing."

"...What if I was hired by a relative of someone you'd killed, set on your tail, and I didn't realize it until your head was already rolling in the streets? I don't think when I hunt, Xal. I just act. That's the only reason I've been so successful." Dipshit, Xigbar thought. You're not allowed to miss the touch of his hand on your back. Stupid idiot.

Xaldin chuckled, "Cocky bastard. But 'what if's are neither here nor there. Now, did The Great Hunter Xigbar have any more questions?"

"Yeah. Jus one more." His face was still in his hands. "...Are you my friend because you want to be, or because it's convenient to keep yourself safe?"

"If you don't know the answer to that, then you're a bigger idiot than I thought." He paused, nearly not answering Xigbar's question directly, but he changed his mind. "Because I want to be, of course."

"I just wanted to make sure." Xigbar swallowed. He didn't... actually have many friends at all. The hours he kept limited his workable friendships to a very narrow spectrum, and... well, now both of his closest friends were strictly nocturnal. Then, out of the blue... "...Why?"

Xaldin just gave Xigbar a look, "What kind of question is that? That's like asking why the sun rises or the sky is blue; There's an explanation but it's long and boring and you'll forget it before long. I'm your friend because I am. I thought you wanted to keep things simple."

"I dunno. I just wanted to know. You don't have to answer." Xigbar shook his head, then flopped down sideways on his bed, and heaved a sigh. "So...." He didn't want Xaldin to go. "....How old are you, really?"

Xaldin looked at Xigbar in amusement, "How old do you think I am?"

"Older than me." He grinned. "Give or take a few hundred years. No clue!"

Xaldin laughed. "Let me think..." he paused, doing the math in his head. "313."

Xigbar whistled, and poked Xaldin in the side with his foot. "Old man."

Xaldin rolled his eyes. "Least I don't look as old as you."

"Hey, I got a dangerous job. You should see some o' the scars I got, not to mention the eye. I'm just a human. Cut a guy some slack." He was still grinning.

"Perhaps it's not so much the danger of the job, but your own carelessness and lack of caution that got you so banged up. And humans are capable of extraordinary things, so don't use that as an excuse."

"Hey, you've never even seen me work. Or maybe you have." Xigbar raised an eyebrow. "...And what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you're obviously not living up to your potential. Maybe you should stop putting your race to shame and get on that." Xaldin smirked, the tone of his voice walking a fine line between being teasing and insulting.

Xigbar sat up suddenly, his legs sprawled open and leaning over them to get all up in Xaldin's face. "Oh, you got any suggestions?"

"Stop being so unobservant for one. You'd think you were blind in both eyes."

"Well... okay. I'll give y'that one. But I can be, when I put my mind to it. I just kinda have a blind spot for the people closest to me, or something."

Xaldin shook his head, "Even friends can become enemies, Xigbar. While I have no intention of fighting with you, others may not have qualms about it."

"Yeah, well." Xigbar ducked his head down. "...There's not a lot of people I have that kind of faith in. And I gotta say, I still kind of doubt I can trust you. I don't want to, and I know why you did what you did. But it still kinda... I dunno. Stings."

Xaldin just nodded. "It's only understandable but I don't believe I have ever wronged you in the past and have no plans to begin now. And while trust is not something gained through words alone, I hope they at least do a little to ease your mind."

He nodded. "They do. I just..." He trailed off, and suddenly - reached up, and tugged his fingers around one of Xaldin's dreads. "Hey, Xaldin... what makes you happy?"

Xaldin just stared at Xigbar, giving him a strange look. "Staying focused is apparently another quality you should work on to raise your potential."

Xigbar snorted. "Come on, answer the question." Tug tug.

Xaldin swatted Xigbar's hand away, "Well it certainly isn't you tugging on my hair." Another avoidance of the question simply because Xaldin wasn't even sure how to answer it. He had tried to think of what did make him happy, or even the last time he was happy but nothing in particular came to mind. It wasn't that he was constantly unhappy just that in general everything was just neutral.

Xigbar chuckled, a low, rough sound. "Should I keep trying things until you figure it out?"

"No. You should not." Xaldin doubted the response would actually stop Xigbar from persuing the question however, and kept sorting through his thoughts and memories to find a reasonable answer to the initial question. He supposed he had been happy at one point but the last time might have been when he was still human as he couldn't remember any other more recent instances.

Xigbar let his hands fall into his lap and curl into fists. "...Come on. I'm sure you can think of just one thing."

"I hate to disappoint you Xigbar, but no, I cannot." Part of him internally winced at actually admitting it, since it made it that much more real, but he had no other answer for the question.

"...Heh. So for all your three hundred years, none of it does any good." Xigbar tilted his head down again and grinned, though it was a grin without mirth. "...I was right."

Xaldin was unamused, and while he usually would, now he didn't bother to hide it. "Right about what, exactly?"

Xigbar stood and shook out his hair, before tying it back again. "...Immortality isn't worth it."

"I wasn't graced with the opportunity to choose if I wanted it or not," Xaldin shrugged. While he wasn't pleased with how things had panned out, he had learned a long time ago to cope with the circumstances he was dealt.

Xigbar's hands stilled. "...I'm sorry," he said, though he didn't turn around. Finally though, he sighed. "Look... I'm done asking questions, so... do whatever you want." He shrugged a bit.

"Don't be sorry. It happened long ago." He watched Xigbar carefully, so tempted to probe his mind and see what he was feeling, but out of respect for the other's privacy, he restrained himself. "And what are you going to do?"

"Dunno. Bum around. Read. I'd get some work done, but I'm lazy, and my heart's just not in it tonight. Y'know? One of those nights."

Xaldin nodded. "Do you mind if I sleep here?"

"Nope; not at all. Take the bed; I'm wide awake."

And with that, Xaldin stretched out on the bed and fell asleep.

. previous chapter . next chapter .

. credits .
xigbar: x_igrab
xaldin: clemmontine

Incruentatus [chapter one]

2008-09-17T03:16:34Z

. chapter one .

. xalxig . cleaned rp . NC-17 overall . AU . vampires .

Most of Xigbar Neilson's work took place after the sun went down, for he hunted a creature that only came out at night - and as a result, he'd turned pretty much nocturnal himself. Thus, it was after the last rays of the sun were fading that he finally dragged himself out of bed, yawned, ducked his head in a bucket of water and counted it as a wash, and tripped his way down the stairs to his small, untidy kitchen. He pulled a comb through his hair was he rooted around for clean teacups, yawning, finally set the teakettle to boil and took the paper from the mouth of one of the three enormous boarhounds that he'd fed enough to call his. He wiped the slobber off the front page, fell into a chair, and began reading, eyes pricked for the slightest mention of anything relating to the undead.

Xaldin sighed, setting down his reading glasses and rubbing his temples. He wondered what his students actually paid attention to while in class because it certainly wasn't him. Glancing at the clock on his desk he figured it was dark enough to be able to leave, and he abandoned the red ink covered papers and gathered his things.

Deciding visiting Xigbar would be... well he didn't want to use the word fun, as Xigbar himself was often aggravating, but it would be different from the past few days at least, even if the last few days were far from routine. He briefly thought of Demyx but any concern was quickly dismissed as he knew the blond was more than capable of taking care of himself.

A while later and Xaldin was knocking at Xigbar's door, hoping his friend had already woken up and gotten out of bed.

BARK BARK BARK BARK lots of barking. Loud barking. Xigbar lurched to his feet and answered the door, a huge grin splitting his face when he saw who it was. "Hey! C'mon in! Shut up, Dog, it's just Xaldin." The loudest of the dogs only quieted when he'd sufficiently slobbered up half of Xaldin's face with his tongue.

Xaldin wiped the slobber off his face and pet each of the dogs in turn. He wasn't usually fond of animals, but it was hard to dislike any of Xigbar's dogs, who were just as dense and unobservant as their owner. "Evening Xigbar. How are you faring tonight?"

"Good, good." He went over to the cupboard and brought out another mug for Xaldin, and finished up the tea. "Here, you want some?" He waved the mug in his friend's direction, questioningly.

Xaldin just nodded in response to Xigbar's question. He sat himself in one of the chairs, "How goes the hunting?"

He handed it over and sat back down, pulling the paper towards him. "Oh, y'know. Goes and goes. I'm runnin' into cold trails everywhere, gettin' frustrated. Fuckers are gettin' better at hidin' or someth-" Xigbar stopped, his mug halfway to his lips. ".....Cor. Nine?" He peered closer, brows knitting together. "...Aw, fuck, there's gotta be a new one. They wouldn't be that dumb. Heh." He got his hunter's face on, a rather scary ear-to-ear grin. "...This one’s gotta have a price on ‘is head already."

Xaldin brought the mug to his lips, blowing the steam away to cool down his tea a little. He raised an eyebrow at Xigbar, "Hn. Have fun with that."

"Sure will. You wanna come along?" Xal always had other stuff to do, so the question was mostly a joke. But he always asked.

Xaldin paused, he usually avoided hanging out with Xigbar on his little hunting trips but his mind went back to Demyx. If the kid was out tonight and ran into Xigbar... He frowned at how protective he was being but reminded himself that he hadn't turned anyone in a while and the attachment was only natural. "Sure, I'll come with."

"What... really?" Xigbar blinked at him.

Xaldin nodded, "Yes, really. It might be interesting."

"...Great! Hangon... should probably change and stuff." He was a little nervous - he usually worked alone, but hey, the guy'd practically told him everything he knew about vampires, he was one of the leading scholars on the subject. It wasn't like he was dragging some liability along with him, though if they got into a situation... well he just hoped Xaldin could hold his own in a fight, I mean with those muscles of... mm... muscles... right anyway the point was, he probably had nothing to worry about.

Xaldin sat there sipping his tea with all the semblance of calm as he waited for Xigbar to get ready. Part of him knew this was a bad idea, but he didn't see much other choice in the matter. He could go out and find Demyx by himself before Xigbar could get to him, but if they ended up running into Xigbar before getting somewhere, things would be difficult to explain. Xaldin hoped that going along with Xigbar would go more smoothly than any of the other scenarios he played out in his mind.

Xigbar finally clambered back down, dressed all in black but with a dark gray overcoat and fedora. "Right, let's go." He reread the newspaper article - by the docks. He'd start there. So they were off.

The streets were dark and the wind crisp as they wandered - Xigbar had a few instruments he used (and sometimes the dogs, when the hunt got tough), but more than anything he relied on his instincts, which were admittedly very good.

Xaldin followed Xigbar in silence, arms tucked behind his back as he watched the hunter carefully. He had to force himself to not over think the situation, as his friend often had bouts of unpredictability, and instead he focused on the wind that blew around them.

There was something wrong. The wind, maybe, or maybe Xaldin's silent presence was messing him up - he couldn't think straight tonight. It smelled funny. It felt funny. There was something wrong, and he couldn't put his finger on it.

But then he passed by a familiar cluster of crates and blankets, dock houses for the bilge rats, and it was here he ducked into, hunting for a pretty face, and praying she wasn't one of the girls they'd mentioned in the news article. But most of them had been whores, and he knew for a fact that Aerith never messed with that crowd. She was much too good for them.

"...Aerith? I'm sorry, I woke you up..."

"No, no..." The tired-looking girl smiled at him, and at Xaldin. "You didn't wake me." And, at second glance, he had not. Her blue dress was rumpled, from a day or more of wear, and the pink ribbon in her hair was untied and rather draggly. The worry was plain in her eyes, as well as the bags under them. She hadn't slept in a while, it seemed. "Actually... I'm glad you're here."

Xigbar stopped, blinking. "Something wrong?"

"...Yes," she said quietly, folding her hands in her lap. "I'm worried about the rumors flying left and right... and I suppose that's why you're here, too."

Xigbar nodded; she had to be talking about the new vampire.

"Well you see...."

He waited.

"It's Demyx."

"..."

"...He hasn't come home in days."

Xaldin had to force himself not to react to that name, though his eyes did narrow slightly. Guilt and another half dozen emotions that he had so carefully walled off in his mind managed to sneak through the cracks. This is what he got for getting too attached to things even though he knew damn well that people, places, nearly everything went away with time. Briefly, he considered coming clean about everything but not knowing what Xigbar would do in such a situation kept him quiet.

Xigbar didn't bother hiding his utter shock. "No.... no. You don't think...?"

Aerith, by contrast, was calm. "All the people who've been killed are people who've wronged him in the past. I know that no one else would've known, and he didn't know what I knew. I wish it wasn't so, but... I just have such a bad feeling about this."

Talk about bad feeling. Xigbar felt like the bottom of his stomach was dropping out.

"You both know him then, I take it?," Xaldin asked, looking carefully between the two and making no mention of his own connection to the ordeal. "So, what will you do Xigbar?" The hunter's answer would be an important one. Would his friends be excluded from his hunts or not? If not, Xaldin would have to remain cautious around Xigbar, even though the hunter had shown no suspicion of him in the past.

Xigbar sat down on an upturned crate, heavily. Then he let his head fall in his hands, shit SHIT shit SHIT what WAS he going to do? "...Aw, fuck," he said, sighing. "Shit, I don't - well, you haven't seen him, have you? So there's still hope."

Aerith shook her head, slowly.

Xaldin remained standing and calm, "And if he has turned? What then? Don't be foolish and rely on hope alone." He knew he might be acting a little cold and harsh but Xaldin wasn't a very warm individual, even when he was still human.

Xigbar let out a ragged sigh. "...I don't know! He's my friend... I can't just run in guns ablazing, not without... I dunno. Talking to him." He felt bile rise in the back of his throat; he was still having trouble equating 'vampire' with 'friend'... he couldn't, wouldn't - didn't want to stop thinking of them as rabid animals who needed to be destroyed.

If Demyx was a vampire... then he wasn't his friend anymore. It was just that simple.

"And talking to him will accomplish what, exactly? Will it change your mind?" He was pushing too hard and had a feeling Xigbar was close to snapping. "Don’t think of everything in such simple ways, Xigbar. Things are much more complex. But if you need to talk with him then come, we need to go find him first." Xaldin didn't like where this was going but he had already made up his mind that he would defend Demyx if it came down to that.

"What do you know?" Xigbar snapped back, though he suddenly pushed up to his feet and out the door. Aerith didn't need to hear this. "Of course it's complicated, but goddamnit I don't have the luxury of seeing it like that! I've got a job to do, the only question is, what's more important, my job or my friend? And the only way I'm gonna know that is if I talk to him."

Xaldin shook his head slowly, "If it’s that difficult of a decision to choose between your job and your friends, then perhaps I've put too much faith in you." To Xaldin it seemed like a no-brainer; what good was a job if you had no friends? Though he also knew the equation simplified to being about looking out for oneself or someone else, and he supposed it was fairly natural for people to be selfish.

Xigbar stopped his frantic dash down the wharf, and stared at him, one eyebrow raised. "...What the hell are you talking about?" His tone was flippant but his lone eye was not, piercing and eerily yellow in the moonlight.

Xaldin hesitated for a brief moment. "I'm talking about how it should be obvious you should choose friends over your job and that you would be an idiot to do otherwise." He considered trying to plant suggestions in Xigbar’s mind but was slightly worried the hunter might notice so he refrained from doing so.

Xigbar blinked at him, gaze steady. "And what kind of friendship would I have if someone I knew became... someone I didn't know? And every time I'd see them, I wouldn't be able to stop thinking, thinking about what they could do and what they've done when I'm not there. You know the stories as well as I do, Xaldin, and there's no way I'm ever letting anyone in my head. No one messes with my thoughts. I'm not gonna let doubt into my friendships. It's cost me too much already, and I'm not throwing my life away for the sake of a connection."

Xaldin didn't have anything to say to that, or at least nothing that wouldn't give him away, which, considering Xigbar’s viewpoints would be an unwise decision. "You seem like you've made up your mind, so why bother talking to the boy at all?"

"Because maybe he's not a monster. Maybe he's the same guy, maybe there's... good vampires and bad vampires or something, maybe there's some secret I'm missing, maybe he's still my friend. Maybe I'm just hoping. Y'know? Hope's what keeps a guy alive, sometimes." Xigbar pulled his hat a little lower on his face and turned away, following the line of the uneven boards.

That caught Xaldin's attention and he wondered if he should just tell Xigbar now. "Xigbar...," he paused, not knowing exactly how to phrase it and waited for the hunters attention.

And Xigbar stopped and turned, irritation in every line of his body. "What NOW?"

Xaldin blinked, not having expected the outburst and thrown off guard by it. "There’s a lot of things you don't know..." he paused not sure if he should go on or not.

"Either start making sense or stop wasting my time," Xigbar replied gruffly, feeling kind of bad in the back of his mind but his thoughts were too jumbled to be any kind of nice.

"I'm one too." Xigbar's irritation brought out a burst of boldness in Xaldin, though he was much more hesitant a moment later when he said, "And Demyx... he was my fault."

Xigbar froze. He just... froze. ".................You're lying," he finally said shortly, turning and walking away, moving as fast as he could without breaking into a run.

Xaldin followed calmly after Xigbar. "Denial isn't healthy, Xigbar." At least he didn't get attacked, he thought.

"Shut up," Xigbar snarled. "Lying doesn't become you." Lies, lies, lies.

Xaldin growled, grabbing Xigbar's shoulder and turning him around to face him. "Have I ever lied to you before? And even if I started now, why would I lie about this?"

"Because I don't want to have to stop trusting you," Xigbar whispered, the soft roughness of his voice a sudden contrast to his yelling.

"You're an idiot." Xaldin turned and began walking away, "Come on, let's go find Demyx." It wasn’t that Xaldin didn’t care about what Xigbar had just said, but more that he didn't know how else to react to the words.

Xigbar didn't move though, except to tip his head down, and pull the brim of his hat lower, obscuring his face. "...You know where he is though, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Xaldin stopped when he realized Xigbar wasn't following. "This shouldn't change anything Xigbar. It only changes things if you want it to."

"....So tell me where he is. Otherwise it's just a waste of time, right?" He was still hidden in his hat and his coat and his eyepatch, his one good eye fixed firmly on the ground.

Xaldin's eyebrow rose, "I'll take you to him. Though I warn you, I will defend him if you try anything. He's nearby." Xaldin told himself he should be more on his guard, but somehow he trusted Xigbar enough to be relaxed.

Xigbar moved then, moved to walk in step with him as he always did. "I'd be a dead man if I got on your wrong side, and I've always known that. Jesus Christ Xaldin!!" Xigbar stopped dead again. "Why didn't you tell me?" D

"You never asked. And I don't make a habit of telling everyone I know, especially hunters." Xaldin made his way towards the bridge Demyx was at, this time not bothering to wait for Xigbar.

Xigbar scrambled off after him. "Wait... wait." He grabbed his arm. "...You turned Demyx? Why?"

Xaldin stopped then. He knew he didn't have an excuse or at least not one that would satisfy Xigbar. "...It was merely an issue of him being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was not, however, completely against his will."

Xigbar let him go. Chilled... the other radiated cold, and he couldn't fathom how he hadn't seen it before. Late classes... indoors... never objecting to the hours Xigbar kept, only seeing him after dark, the paleness, the cold. But it had never occurred to him before. He took a step back and swallowed a bit, shaken. "...I believe you. I mean, you could've killed him, and..." He shook his head, then brushed past Xaldin, before remembering that the other was the one leading the way.

"Had I known you knew him I would have reacted differently," he said quietly and walked the rest of the way to the bridge.

"Differently how?" Xigbar questioned, tipping his head up to look at him.

"Perhaps I would have just let him go." Xaldin paused when he got to the bridge before walking down to the underside. "Demyx. I-- ...What are you doing?"

Demyx was under one of the stone bridges into the city. He was... god knows what he was trying to do, but apparently it involved a lot of attempting to crawl up the underside of the bridge, falling off and into the water, and walking back to dry land. “I can breathe. Underwater."

Xigbar, too, stopped to stare - but he just plain didn't have the words.

"Hn," Xaldin thought this over briefly before disregarding it. "Well, I brought Xigbar here to see you. He wants to talk."

"...Xigbar?" Demyx stood up, and hooked his thumbs in his belt. "What..."

But he was cut off, as Xigbar strode up to him. "Jesus Christ Demyx! Nine? NINE? You made the paper already and you've only been turned for - what, a day? Two days? You haven't been home, Aerith knows so don't even bother thinking you can hide it from her, I don't care if they were all swindlers and zealous watchmen but if you don't start being careful, I will personally remove your head. Got that?"

And then Xigbar noogied him.

Xaldin chuckled quietly, standing a bit off to the side. "So, besides being careless, how have you been Demyx?"

"Good." He straightened up, flicking his head to one side and running a hand through his strangely-cut hair, making it stand on end from the wet. Xigbar couldn't help a snort of laughter; he looked ridiculous. "And sure thing, old man, wouldn't want you soiling your pretty hands." He smirked at Xigbar, who shoved him in the shoulder.

Xaldin shook his head; where did he find ones like this? He was glad though, that Xigbar wasn't doing anything drastic and was taking everything relatively well.

"Get home. Talk to Aerith. And I was serious about that threat, okay? Besides..." His eyes flickered up to Xaldin for a moment. "Your buddy and I've got some talking to do."

Demyx raised an eyebrow, looked from one to the other... then smirked, shrugged, and took off - too fast, disappearing too quick into the shadows.

Only then did Xigbar heave a huuuuge sigh, and hunch inside his coat.

Xaldin watched Demyx leave before looking at Xigbar. "Talk?" Xaldin frowned slightly, he didn't like the sound of that.

"Yah. C'mon. Let's go back to my place. I've got a few questions for you; and you're not leaving til you answer 'em."

Xaldin sighed, "If the sun comes up, I'm staying at your place."

"Fine by me. You know that means I sleep, and I'm gettin' to hate the sun as much as one of you. Jesus." He rubbed at his good eye, wincing. "...It's gonna take some gettin' used to. Okay." And he set off back to his place, knowing Xaldin would follow.

And Xaldin did follow in his usual quiet manner. While he wasn't looking forward to a game of twenty questions, he supposed there could be worse experiences considering the night’s events.

. prologue . next chapter .

. credits .
xigbar, aerith, demyx: x_igrab
xaldin: clemmontine

Incruentatus [prologue]

2008-09-17T02:25:33Z

. prologue .

. xalxig . cleaned rp . NC-17 overall . AU . vampires .

There's a hole in the world like a great black pit
And the vermin of the world inhabit it
And its morals aren't worth what a pig could spit
And it goes by the name of London.

To say that Demyx Gainsborough was a thief wouldn't be entirely accurate. He didn't always steal - he delivered papers in the morning, took messages for any man with coin to spare, and if he was really down on his luck, he helped his sister with her flower selling. But... well, the best pickpockets were the ones that were never caught, and not even Aerith knew that he had a secret cache of stolen coin.

He often targeted the sorts of people who looked like they had money to spare - so a little skimming off the top wouldn't go noticed, the kind of people who flaunted what they had out of stupidity or overconfidence. And here was a perfect shot - a man in black velvet, who looked completely unconcerned for the fact that he was walking around at night, unguarded. Heh. Nouveau riche, Demyx thought with a bit of a smirk. Think they're invincible, do they? He sidled beside the unsuspecting man, nimble fingers working their magic.

Xaldin smirked when he sensed and heard someone coming up to him; Someone who seemed confident and determined, with a hint of nervousness. It didn't take a genius to figure out what they were up to. He had to give credit to the boy, if he wasn't what he was and hadn't known he was coming, he wouldn't have felt or suspected a thing. "I don't believe any of that belongs to you," he said, as Demyx pulled things out of his pocket. He had considered being generous and letting the kid go, but it wasn't often prey came to him and he was pretty thirsty.

Demyx froze. "Well sir, they say finder's keepers, an' if it wasn't mine b'fore, it sure is now!" And with that, his zoomed away, took off down a side street and into a throng of people, looking to hide himself in the crowd.

Of course. Things were never that easy. He took off after Demyx, following easily. He was going to take back what was his...and maybe take a little extra, too.

Demyx knew the city like the back of his hand - better than, since he'd never had the time to study useless bits of him. But the city, yes, the city was where he would lose him, and after a convoluted series of turns that would make even the most hardened watchman dizzy, he scrambled up to a rooftop and ducked behind a chimney, congratulating himself. But... that stranger in black... how had he known? Demyx knew had hadn't made a sound, he knew he could slip past even the most alert of watchdogs without any trouble. So how had he known?

Anyway, that didn't matter anymore. He was long gone and Demyx was safe here.

Xaldin stared up at the rooftop, tempted to call out to avoid the trouble of having to climb up there himself, but he knew it might attract unwanted attention. He climbed up after Demyx, standing in front of the chimney. "Are you done running?," he asked, calm as ever.

WHATWHOHOLYSHIT- Demyx fell over, his brain spazzing right out. "Oy!! How th'hell did y-" bracing to run again, he moved backwards, only to lose his footing and slip on the precarious roof tiles. Bump bump bum- he fell right at the man's feet, and the stranger was the only thing keeping him from falling right off. The very... cold.... stranger.

Xaldin hoisted Demyx up by his collar, "Careful. Wouldn't want you to get hurt. Not yet at least." He walked back towards the chimney, pressing Demyx's back against it. "You're going to give back what you stole and don't you think I should get something in return for the trouble of chasing after you?," he asked, nudging at the boy's mind and testing his willpower.

There was a hard shell of fighter's strength in there, but for one crack - his competency had never been brought into question, and though he appeared overconfident - he was shaken, now, when a doubly sure thing is doubly undermined.

"...'m just a street boy, I've nothing to give to a man like you," he babbled.

"Oh, I'm sure you have what I need," he stroked along Demyx's neck, hearing his heart beating fast, feeling his pulse under his fingers. "And don't feel bad; You're incredibly good at what you do and it's no fault of your own that I was able to follow you." He leaned in, but then hesitated. The kid was young, younger than his usual prey and trickles of guilt were flooding into the back of his mind. No doubt a result of hanging around Xigbar too much. He pulled back, looking the kid in the eyes, "What's your name?"

Demyx had gone all still now; he wasn't dumb, and he'd suddenly got the sense that he'd walked right into something far beyond his scope of mind. And since he was treading in new waters.... he was quiet, and still - waiting to see what would happen, so he could react. "Demyx."

"Demyx...," he whispered, as if savoring the sound of it. "Do you want to die, Demyx?" he asked, in all his usual seriousness. He kept a firm grip on the boy, knowing that the question would likely alarm him and he might try to flee again.

:But he was still motionless, save for a slow tipping up of his chin. "No sir. Not for a long time."

Xaldin watched Demyx carefully, both his face and his mind, trying to gauge his reactions. He could...-- "How about forever?"

Demyx raised an eyebrow. "That's impossible."

Xaldin chuckled quietly, "No. It's not. Have you heard of vampires, Demyx?"

The boy's eyes widened. "Only in stories. Cor... d'you mean to say they're real?"

"All stories start somewhere. But now that you know...," Xaldin paused. "You're young so I'll let you choose. Eternal life or eternal sleep? There is no third option."

"Eternal life o'course," Demyx answered quickly, before thinking about it.

"Don't be so hasty. Are you sure? Forever is a long time." He doubted that anything he said would change the boy's mind.

"T'chyeah, forever alive or forever dead, who wouldn't choose t'live?"

"Don't ever say I never warned you." He leaned in, tilting Demyx's head up to better expose his neck and biting, he drank.

"I w- AAAHhhnn..." Demyx's initial yelp of surprise faded into a long, pained breath.

...It was a little bit like dying.

. next chapter .

. credits .
demyx: x_igrab
xaldin: clemmontine

x_igrab @ 2008-06-05T18:50:00

2008-06-05T22:52:14Z

I haven't written in ages ~~too busy rping cough cough~~ soooo... well, here.

stolen from iwantasoda

I will write a drabble for the first ten commenters to request one (100 words exactly.) In return, they have to post this in their journal (Only if you want-- Lurkers are welcome!) You may request the character and/or the pair for the following fandoms: There's always a chance I'll know it, but KH, Zelda, Phoenix Wright, and Final Fantasy are always good choices.

x_igrab @ 2008-03-31T18:18:00

2008-03-31T22:21:51Z

Acen is in less than two months. Which means I suddenly realize that I desperately, desperately need money. I'm I'm doing something I have never, ever done before.

COMMISIONS!

Art
up to two figures
clean pencil sketch - $5
inked - $7
shaded pencil - $8
colored - $10
additional figures, add $3 per figure.
if you want to see some sample work, check out my devart for finished stuff, and my bucket for incompleted sketches and stuff.

Writing
please let it be known, i DON'T charge for drabbles (but those are only done when I feel like it), this is only because I'm mildly desperate.
completed, developed, thought out one-shot fanfic/original - $10
poetry - by discussion
anything longer - by discussion.
for examples, check the compendium for fanfic and my eliteskills for poetry.

Graphics
Icons
a batch of twenty, character/pairing/group/fandom - $4
examples check out another_icon_
Layouts
between $5 and $10 by discussion depending on what you want
examples here, here, and have a few screen shots
Other Graphics
feel free to ask :3

SO. Either message or email me at raduysia[a]gmail.com and we shall work something out.

x_igrab @ 2008-03-28T09:00:00

2008-03-28T15:15:07Z

orz, have a music video.

yummmm =w=

100variations - ORGYXIII!

2008-03-28T12:52:20Z

Fandom/Character/General: Kingdom Hearts - Organization XIII
# of icons in post: 20
# of icons completed total: 20/100

First Ten: color

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Second Ten: text

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Third Ten: stock

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An Intense Situation - [Chapter One: PG-13]

2008-03-25T12:53:05Z

Once upon a time, a ship crashed. Only eleven survived. And when they awoke, they realized two very important things. They were not alone... and the island they fortuitously landed upon was much more than it appeared.

Notes: This is an RP done between sakura443 and myself. It's rated anywhere from PG-13 to NC-17, and be warned - this rp contains plot, humor, and ridiculous amounts of fluff. If you can't handle it, then. Well. You shouldn't be reading it.

- CHAPTER ONE -

Xemnas was the first to awaken. His head felt kind of hazy, and his whole body felt as though it was... floating? That would be perfectly reasonable, of course, considering that he was. He tried to turn over in the shallow water, coughing quietly. "That's right..." He murmured, climbing to his knees and crawling up the beach of the island that he had apparently landed on. "A storm threw us upon the rocks.... our ship..." Xemnas looked around... there had been other people on the ship. Had they made it out alive, too?

Vexen felt groggy... and in pain. Lots of pain. Oh yeah... so good. Soooo good. He groaned and pushed himself up, feeling shooting pains all up and down his body. Mother of fuck. What happened?

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Fag." Larxene drawled from where she was splayed out on the sand near Vexen. "I was afraid I'd have to dispose of another dead body." She, too, was in large amounts of pain. But she expressed it by being a bitch. .... then again, she expressed herself by being a bitch all the time.

Vexen glared at her. He didn't know what part of that insult to respond to, so he settled for saying, "Too bad you didn't stay dead, I was looking forward to some peace and quiet... for once."

"Auughhhh..." Axel groaned and blinked. Then he realized he was currently lying on top of something squishy... he tried to roll off, and shouted out in pain. Okay, that was a bad idea.

Roxas groaned in pain, something jabbing into his chest. "Whaddafuck, Sora..." He tried to push the lump off, but there was no strength in his arms. Cracking his eyes open he focused on whatever was on top of him, all he saw was red. "Uhhn? You're... not Sora..."

"Damn straight I'm not," Axel muttered back, wincing. That hurt.

And then he snapped into wakefulness, squirming out from underneath Axel. "Sora! Cloud! Namine!" He called, trying to fight his way to his feet. "Where... are they..." the sand slipped about underneath him and he fell back to the ground, coughing loudly. "Don't leave me alone..."

Axel groaned loudly. "AUGH. Kid! That fuckin' hurt!"

Larxene snorted. "Oh, Fuck you, Fairy princess. I'm glad to see you're alive, too." She rolled her eyes, sitting up and leaning back on her hands. "So, you think we'll find any interesting corpses?"

Vexen shrugged. "Possibly. This is a shipwreck, in case you hadn't noticed."

"I was being sarcastic, you crazy dipstick." She said, massaging her temples. "Hhnn.... My brain feels like my uterus on the wrong day of the month."

Vexen winced. "I really didn't need to know that, thank you."

Roxas curled up on the beach, mostly ignoring the pained cries of the redhead who had formerly been on top of him. He began to cry quietly, though not loud enough for Axel to hear. "What if... they're gone...."

Xaldin was not happy. Mainly because it was a Thursday. Secondly, the ship he was on crashed into a reef and sank. This was not going to be a good week, he knew it.

Behind the next rock, there was... something. It was quite unclear as to what that something was... it might possibly be a person. A very bloody person, who was barely breathing, with black and gray hair strewn everywhere in scraggly waves.

Figuring that the day couldn't be any worse, Xaldin stood up and took a stroll. It was a very short stroll, however, considering that he ran into someone who was probably bleeding out and missing an eye. "Jesus fucking cock on a rock!" He said, kneeling down and checking to see if whomever it was was still alive.

"Nnngh..." The man hissed out in pain. ".....do not want..."

Namine was in massive amounts of pain. The last thing she remembered was Sora shoving her in the life jacket, and then Cloud put her into the lifeboat.... She must of hit her head, because she passed out shortly after that and she just woke up... "Sora? Roxas!!!" She called, looking around. "Cloud!! Where are you?"

Zexion stood up, feeling slightly battered but none the worse for wear... and gulped as he realized he was totally alone. He started to panic, looking left and right and trying to choose a direction to walk in, because maybe if he walked he'd find something other than sand and water and rocks.... he chose the slightly less-hazardous-looking direction and took off, huddling in on himself and attempting to calm down.

Xaldin carefully picked up the man, carrying him out of the sand and setting him on a flat rock. "You're... wow, what the fuck happened to you?" The man was a mess, and... his first aid skills were pretty limited. "Goddamnit..."

"Oh fuck..." Xigbar finally opened his one good eye, which was a startling bright yellow. ".....shit," he breathed, a grin curling over his face. "Heaven really does exist."

"...." Xaldin was silent for a moment, staring at the smaller man. "You know, if you weren't already injured, I'd hit you."

"And here I thought you couldn't get any sexier."

"Oh, fuck you with a cheese grater."

"Yes please."

"God, you're retarded. That would hurt a fuckton." Xaldin facepalmed before... *SIGH* taking off his shirt to use it to stem the flow of blood from some of the wounds. "I'm Xaldin, by the way."

"Maybe so, but then I can hurt as much inside as I do out... oooh..." he winced when Xaldin touched him.

Namine was alone... she was alone... peeling off the life jacket, she rolled onto her side. And that's when she saw someone else. A boy? Yes. It was a boy. But it wasn't Sora, or Riku, or Roxas... "Hey!" She called quietly, sitting up and brushing some sand off her dress. "Who.... Who're you?"

Zexion, surprised at the voice, instantly fell face-forward - luckily into a patch of sand. "Zexion," he grumbled under his breath, just plain relieved to meet someone alive. "Um... you?"

"My name is Namine." She said, slowly crawling closer. "Do you know a boy named Roxas? Or... Sora? Maybe Cloud, too..."

"Uhhh... No. Should I?" He quickly pushed himself up and shook off the sand, glaring at her from behind his hair and daring her to comment on his clumsiness.

Namine's face fell, and she tugged at the hem of her skirt. "I- no, no... I just... I'm looking for them..." She sniffled, hugging her shoulders. "Are you alone, too?"

Zexion's face took on the exact qualities of the word 'Erk'. "I... um... I'm looking for someone too......" he refused to admit that he was alone.

"You'll be fine in a few weeks." Xaldin said dismissively, brushing some hair away from the eyesocket. "Hn..."

Xigbar twitched - bad idea, because it sent massive amounts of PAIN through his body. "Actually, I'm probably going to die of internal bleeding. And external. Is there a name for that? And why can't I open my right eye?"

"Because it's not there." He said simply, lifting Xigbar off the rock carefully. "You're not going to die. I promise that you won't."

"SHIT!!" he cried out, then reached up to gently cling at Xaldin. "....what d'you mean it's not there?" He gritted his teeth, this was absolutely excruciating. "...Man, you better keep your word on that. Angels in heaven are an eyesore compared to you."

"I mean that it's not there. Don't try to open it, all right?" He held Xigbar protectively against his chest, looking around for someone, anyone who could help. Xaldin sighed, walking down the beach. "What's your name?"

"Xigbar," he said. "With an X. God, are we the only ones on this island? I think I'm bleeding on you..."

"Oh, what the fuck ever. I don't care if you bleed on me, I just don't want you to die." Xaldin spoke quietly and kept on walking. "I wonder how big this place is."

Xigbar chuckled... he started feeling a little dizzy. "Big like your muscles..." he leaned more on Xaldin unconsciously, feeling the world start to tilt.

"... Oh... Well... I hope you find them." Namine kicked off her one shoe, looking around the beach. "Will you stay with me? That way, we won't be alone." She smiled.

"Er..." Zexion frowned, then sighed. "Sure." He held out his hand. "Let's go search. There's got to be more than just this area, I haven't seen any metal from the shipwreck."

Namine took the offered hand, moving closer to Zexion and hugging his arm. "Who are you looking for, Zexion?"

Zexion flushed a little. "His name is Lexaeus," he muttered with a frown. He pulled her along in the direction he'd been going.

Namine followed willingly, all the time staying close to Zexion. She didn't want to be alone again.

Larxene finally got the strength to stand up, prodding Vexen in the forehead. "Hey. You're supposed to be a doctor, right? Why don't you go find people to heal?"

Vexen snapped a glare at her. "Why don't you go find a dick to fuck?" But, despite that, he stood up and dusted himself off. He was rather bruised and achey but other than that he seemed to be mostly okay.

Roxas finally pulled himself together, turning and looking at Axel. "Are you ok?" He grumbled quietly, still in a rather terrible mood.

"I think my balls got ripped off," Axel said in a totally serious tone of voice.

"If that was an invitation to get me to check, then don't count on it." Roxas sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Who the hell are you, anyways?"

"Nnnfh..." Axel once again tried to move, and suddenly realized that his right leg? Was not going anywhere anytime soon. "AGH. Fuck." He fell back against the sand. "Axel. A-X-E-L. Got it....... fuck," he moaned, as the leg began to throb.

"Xigbar, can you do something for me?" Xaldin said, still keeping a wary eye out for people.

"Eh? Sure, dude... anything for you, man...." he was starting to slide off, his grip loosening.

"Do not fall asleep. I swear to god, if you stay awake, I will fuck you five ways to sunday when you get better."

That woke Xigbar up. "Oh hells yes."

Xaldin laughed loudly, a wide grin on his face. "I figured that'd get you up, in more ways than one."

Xigbar grinned widely. "If I wasn't in ten thousand kinds of pain, I'd show you juuuust how much."

"Riiiight." Xaldin blinked, looking up and spotting a tall figure on the beach. "Hey! He called to Vexen, speeding up a little bit. "You. First aid. do you know it?"

Vexen looked up - then almost fell over. "Oh Jesus. Larxene! Help me! I need..." What he really needed, though, he didn't have - all of his equipment was lost in the wreck. "...Damnit!!"

"... Axel, huh? I'm Roxas. What's broken?" He was shaken, but the blond didn't think that anything was majorly damaged (Except perhaps his once overly-spiky hair).

"My dignity." Axel winced. "...My leg, actually, I think."

"Dignity? Hn. With that hair color, I wouldn't think that you had much in the first place." He walked over, helping Axel to his feet. "I think I might be able to splint it."

"Hey!! Shut up about my hair!" Axel growled. "...Um..." he didn't exactly trust some kid with his broken leg, but he didn't really want to SAY that.

"Fine, fine.... Sorry. Didn't mean to poke a nerve." Roxas grinned internally, leading Axel to a rock outcropping and sitting him down. "I need... to find some branches...."

"Yeah, you poked something else... god I feel shitty." He leaned heavily on Roxas while he was moved, then sort of collapsed. Well, the rest of him was starting to feel better - but his leg was feeling even worse.

Saix had been watching him for a long time... he just lay there, and for a while he was certain the man was dead, but every now and then he saw the slightest bit of movement. He crept closer, from tree to tree, until finally he was perched on the rocks directly above the dark-skinned man. And he watched.

Xemnas was far too much out of it to notice the man on the rocks above him. It took a few minutes for him to open his eyes and recognize the silhouette. "Who are you...? You weren't on the ship..." He murmured.

Saix leapt off the rocks and landed neatly next to him, the beads in his hair clinking softly. "...Ship?" he murmured, and his voice was like midnight, velvety and soft.

"The ship... You're..." Xemnas cringed, his head throbbing. "Who are you?"

"...Huh?" Xigbar's vision was going out of focus again.

Larxene blinked and pointed at Xigbar, jaw dropping. "Holy motherfuck, He's only got one eye!"

Vexen swore fluently. "Lay him down in the shade, make sure he doesn't start running a temperature and for god's sake, don't let him pass out!" He grabbed Larxene. "Come on. We need to find more people... fresh water..." he was desperately trying to remember what plants and herbs would help stop the bleeding. And how the fuck was he going to sew up his eye without a needle, or thread?!

Xaldin frowned, setting Xigbar down and brushing his fingers against his cheek. "Hey, remember what you promised me. No falling asleep."

Xigbar smiled up at him, but it was clear he was having trouble focusing on Xaldin's face. "Gotta admit... if I die, I'll be the happiest dead man on the fucking planet."

"You're not going to die," Vexen muttered irritably. "Not if I can help it."

"Hush," Saix whispered. He leaned down and scooped Xemnas into his arms as easily as if he were a kitten, or a particularly light bundle of seaweed. Which was no mean feat. "I am Saix," he added, as he began to walk towards the woods.

"Saix...." He smiled, hardly noticing when the man picked him up. "I don't know where I am... Where am I, Saix? I must be dreaming, for this is... a paradise..."

"Haha, shut it, Xigbar. I promised you that you weren't gonna die." Xaldin was worried. He wouldn't break his promise, he wouldn't...

"Heh..." Xigbar reached around for Xaldin's hand and twined their fingers together. "Hey, if I die, you better find me in the afterlife, okay?"

"Don't be stupid. You're not going to die." Xaldin muttered, squeezing Xigbar's hand. "You hear me?"

Xigbar grinned wolfishly. "Man... where did you come from? I fucking love you."

"Probably the same place you did, we just didn't know it." Xaldin pressed a small kiss, just a very small one, against Xigbar's forehead. "I'll tell you all about where I was when you're better."

Xigbar's eyes fluttered closed and he sighed happily.

Larxene had darted off into the forest, looking for herbs... fresh water... anything that would help Vexen out. That dude looked pretty beat up, and she might even feel bad if he died.

".......Why hello." The voice seemed to be coming from a violent burst of flowers along the side of one tree, or was that...? "You look lost."

And then she SCREAMED. BLOODY. MURDER. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING??" Larxene yelled, clutching her chest. "You nearly gave me a fuckin- Wait, where are you, anyways?" She looked about, moving some of the flowers away, searching for the owner of the voice.

Marluxia stepped from the flowers, chuckling. "I most certainly did not nearly give you a fucking," he informed her.

"... You didn't let me finish my sentence." She scowled at him, crossing her arms, heart still pounding. "You nearly gave me a fucking heart attack, and why is your hair pink?"

"Why shouldn't it be?" Marluxia asked, frowning. "You're obviously new here."

"Gee, no shit, retard." Stomping her foot, she resumed her search for plants that could stem the flow of blood from the wounds. "And I take it you're not?"

"No. Are you searching for something?" he asked, looking highly interested in what she was doing.

Larxene shot him a glare, his behavior aggravating her completely. "You know, you must be captain fucking obvious." She said. "I'm looking for an herb that can stop bleeding."

"...Oh." WELL then. "Is someone hurt?" He reached out a hand and touched the nearest tree, smirking softly to himself.

"No, I'm just looking for an herb with those properties for shits and giggles." She threw up her hands in aggravation.

Suddenly, there was a rustling through the bushes... Marluxia merely smirked. "These herbs?" he asked mildly.... as the plants she needed, as well as others she would never have even seen before, grew up between the flora with a speed that should have been impossible.

".... Smart ass." She snarled, pouting slightly. "You know, you could have just told me in the first place and wasted all your asshattery."

Reaching out, she grabbed for some of the plants and started to dash back towards the beach.

Roxas sighed, quickly finding some straight sticks to splint Axel's leg with. "So. Axel, huh? Interesting name."

"They wanted to name me Supercalifragilisticexpialidoscious, but it wouldn't fit on the birth certificate." Axel shrugged. "So, I got stuck with Axel."

"... You know what, you're kind of a freak." He laughed, tearing his vest up and using it to tie the sticks in place. "I'm Roxas."

"Not as freaky as you, shrimp." Axel smirked. "Woah!" he twitched as Roxas's hands strayed closer to his precious privates. "Watch it!"

"Oh, shut up." Roxas scowled, making sure to avoid Axel's crotch. "Don't think that I'd want to touch you, you skinny freak of nature."

"What?" Axel said, affronted. "I thought we established this, I'm not a freak." He wasn't contesting the skinny part, no way. "...Well, maybe a little."

Lexaeus loomed over Axel and Roxas, blinking and coughing quietly. "I apologize, but I think that I have been eavesdropping on your conversation."

Axel turned around and his eyes snapped wide open. "WOAH!"

Roxas looked up and nearly had a heart attack, falling back on his ass. "... A-- w- y-you're...."
"... hi."

Xaldin nearly flipped a shit when Xigbar's eye shut. "Hey. You. Wake up, or no fucking. Got it?"

Xigbar cracked the eye open and grinned evilly. "I'm gonna hold you to that," he muttered.

Larxene returned to the beach, applying the herbs to more of the extra-bleedy wounds. "VEXEN." She hollered. "GET THE FUCK OVER HERE AND MAKE HIM STOP BLEEDING."

Vexen snapped out of it and ran back. "Oh, you got herbs??? Good, good..." He frowned. With the eye, that wouldn't be enough.

Marluxia took a detour back to the village. "Aerith?" he ducked into her tent.

Aerith looked up at Marluxia, smiling kindly. "Yes, Marluxia? Is there something I can help you with?" She rested the large stone pestle on the floor, standing up and brushing herself off.

"There's a bit of a Situation down by the beach," he murmured. "Would you please come down with me? I'm afraid there will be a serious need of healing."

"Of course..." She smiled, gathering up several supplies in a rucksack and pulling on a robe. "May I ask what happened, exactly?"

"Oh! That's what I forgot to ask." Marluxia tapped his chin thoughtfully. "...Oh well. We'll find out when we get there!"

Aerith giggled, clasping her hands together. "Well, I suppose we should be off, then."

Marluxia led the way, the foliage bending out of his way. "I believe it might have been a shipwreck... the lovely young lady I ran into was very new."

"Oh, Well, I look forward to meeting them, then." She smiled, following right behind Marluxia, fireflies gathering around her and dispersing periodically.

Larxene had retreated to the forest again, looking for more of those flowers. What had they looked like again....? "Shit. Where's that pink-headed wierdo when I need him?"

Marluxia poofed out of nowhere, as if summoned. "You want the white flowers," he informed her with a cheerfully helpful grin.

She screamed again, faceplanting into a bed of flowers. "GODDAMNIT, STOP DOING THAT!" Larxene's face was red, and now covered with dirt. Picking some more of the plants, she stomped back to the beach.

"...... Oh, Fuck you, Xigbar." Xaldin chuckled quietly.

"That's the general intention, yes," Xigbar said with a rather evil cackle.

Lexaeus blinked, rubbing the back of his neck. "I appologize for startling you. Have either of you seen a small-somewhat-clumsy person with blueish hair? His name is Zexion."

Roxas shook his head, blue eyes still wide. ".... You're very big." He said quietly.

Off in the distance, Namine squinted. ".... What is that big thing over there? Is it a rock, or a person?"

Zexion's eyes flew open. "LEXAEUS!" he shouted, then shook Namine off and ran down the rocks and across the beach... then tripped and firmly faceplanted in the sand.

Namine yelped quietly, running after Zexion and tripping, falling right on top of him. "... Ow...."

Roxas glee'd and grabbed Namine, pulling her into a tight hug. "Namine! I'm so glad you're ok!" He almost cried, rocking her back and forth. "I don't know where they are... I don't know where Sora and Riku and Leon and Cloud are."

Lexaeus, too, was overjoyed to see Zexion. He picked him up out of the sand, hugging him tight. "Zexion... I'm glad you're all right."

Zexion squeaked and hugged Lexaeus as tight as he possibly could, which, fortunately for Lexaeus, was not terribly tight at all. He couldn't even speak, just sort of desperately clinging.

Aerith tapped Vexen on the shoulder, leaning over Xigbar. "Goodness... what happened to him...? He looks kind of dreadful..."

Vexen jumped at the touch - but something in him recognized that this person was the same as he was. "...There was a shipwreck. Multiple lacerations on his arms, legs, chest..." he frowned. He was pretty cut up everywhere, actually. "Oh, and the eye." His fingers were itching to stitch it up.

"Very well." Aerith smiled, kneeling next to Xigbar and producing a large bottle of clear fluid, uncapping it. "I'm sorry, sir, this might hurt a little... but it only will for a short while." She smiled brightly, pouring a small amount of the liquid into the eye socket.

Xigbar shouted out and dug his nails into Xaldin's arm. "SHIT!!!"

Xaldin winced, resting one hand against Xigbar's cheek. "Shhh... Calm down. It'll stop hurting soon."

Aerith worked quickly, humming a little tune as she did. "You're doing very well, you know. I've seen people with injuries half as bad as yours react a lot worse." She cleaned out all the wounds, applying a ground herbal root that would help keep infections away. Turning to Vexen, she held out a needle and thread. "Would you like to sew, or shall I?"

Vexen reached out a hand, fighting to keep all the questions he wanted to ask inside and focus on the task at hand. He waved Aerith away, narrowing his eyes and focusing tightly on the task at hand.

Axel hobbled to the opening of the cave. "I'M KIND OF IN PAIN, HERE!"

"Oh, yeah, you. Sorry, I was kind of having a reunion with my twin SISTER. who I thought was DEAD." He spat, Still clinging to Namine.

"Well that's just lovely," Axel drawled. "I suppose my sister doesn't matter at all then, huh."

"Your sister?" Namine asked, clinging to Roxas. "Who's your sister?"

"Her name's Kairi..." he winced as he tried to hobble forward again. "...She's probably around here somewhere."

Well, Damn. that was a foot-in-mouth moment if Roxas ever heard one. "...Sorry." He muttered, looking at the sand.

Lexaeus laughed, picking up Axel and Zexion. "Then Let's go find some more people. Maybe someone can help you, and find your sister."

Xigbar gritted his teeth and clung to Xaldin. Fuck, he'd better get sex after all this was over...

"Don't grit your teeth. You'll dammage them." Xaldin said, pushing his fingers between Xigbar's teeth. "If you need to bite, chew on those."

Xigbar glared at him, but he didn't bite down... he took the oppotunity to lick the finger instead.

An eyebrow arched slightly, and Xaldin chuckled. "Bloody opportunist."

"Literally," Xigbar said with a grin - then shut up at the mighty glare Vexen gave him.

Aerith looked around, humming quietly. "Is there anyone else around who is injured?" she asked, tapping a finger against her lower lip.

Lexaeus walked up behind Aerith, tapping her on the shoulder gently. "Pardon me, Miss, but perhaps you can help my redheaded friend... I believe that his leg is broken."

Saix grinned up from the ground, where he was sitting crosslegged, having placed Xemnas down a little ways into the jungle beside Xigbar. "Aerie, I found something on the beach."

"Ah, you did find something, Saix... Thank you." She smiled, beckoning Lexaeus to set Axel down. "Well, I suppose we had better get to work, shouldn't we, sir doctor?"

Vexen nodded, tying off the end of the thread and snapping it. He sighed. "He'll be fine, as long as he takes it easy for a while." Then he turned to Xemnas and frowned deeply.

Axel winced. "Uh, Roxas splinted it but it still hurts like hell..."

Aerith nodded, smiling over at Roxas, who was still clinging to Namine behind Lexaeus. "He did a good job... we... may be able to put some kind of cast on it back at the village."

"Whatever you need to do! I just want to be able to walk." He winced again.

Vexen looked up at Saix. "What did you DO to him?"

Xemnas grinned at Vexen, tilting his head and trying to sit up. "Ah... You were on the boat, yes? An unexpected stop, I assure you...." His arms moved about in sweeping gestures, and there was a large lump on his head.

Vexen made a strange gurgly sound and gently pushed him back down. "Stop moving!" he snapped. "...Is there ice anywhere?"

Larxene sneered, whapping Vexen upside the head. "You know, you shouldn't assume things about people."

Vexen idly kicked her in reply.

Marluxia smiled prettily. "I believe there is." He moved over to a nearby tree and ran a hand down its bark, gazing at it almost lovingly. "Someone will bring it soon."

She hissed, rubbing where he kicked her. "You little cockface. You had better not sleep tonight."

" 'Ello luvs, what's going on here, then?" Luxord grinned, strolling over from nowhere in particular. "Am I missing a party?"

"I'm not afraid of you." Vexen was no longer concentrating on her, fidgeting as he waited for - oh, there was... dear lord.

Zexion hadn't let go of Lexaeus the entire time, but now he finally did, looking a little sheepish. "Uhhh........."

Lexaeus hugged Zexion close; he wouldn't let him leave again. He had felt kind of... alone without him.

Zexion meeped softly - then tentatively put his arms around his waist again. He didn't know why Lexaeus was being so... cuddly, but he wasn't complaining.

Luxord grinned, handing a fairly large container of ice to Aerith. "There you are, m'dear." He grinned, eyeing the newcomers. "Blimey, what happened to 'im?"

Aerith smiled and took the ice happily, kneeling once more next to Vexen. "Here you are." She smiled.

Xigbar gave him a thumbs up. "I got fuckin' harpooned," he said with a huge grin.

Luxord's eyes widened and he looked amazed. "Cor Blimey, You're luckier'n me, mate."

Xaldin blinked and nearly fell over, feeling slightly queasy. ".... Wow. Uh. Ok, that sucks!"

Larxene frowned and stood up, stalking into the forest. "I am going exploring. Have fun being a creepy doctor, brother dear."

"Actually, I'm just kidding. I'm don't actually know what got my eye."

This time, Xaldin did cuff Xigbar upside the head, frowning. "You're a dick."

Vexen nearly had a heart attack. "DON'T DO THAT!!!"

".... I didn't hit an injured spot..." Xaldin said sheepishly.

"And I have one, too!" Xigbar said cheerfully.

Luxord arched an eyebrow slightly at Xigbar, a quiet chuckle falling from his lips. "Ooh, you gave 'im the good sedative, didn't you, miss Aerith?"

Aerith laughed and shook her head. "No, I didn't give him anything."

Larxene rolled her eyes and continued deeper into the forest, finally coming upon a small spring. "Ooh..." She grinned, dipping her head in the water to rinse some of the salt out. "Blech, saltwater."

"There are hot springs further inland," a voice behind her said.

She yelped, flailing and falling into the spring. ".... You asshat! Are you just going to like... follow me around ALL THE TIME?" Wonderful. And now, she was soaked.

"..." Marluxia considered this. "Perhaps not all the time."

Larxene just glared at him from where she was sitting in the spring. "You. Are SUCH. A Dick." She stood up, smacking him upside the head and walking off with a huff.

Marluxia's hand reached up to caress the place where she hit him. "....I think I'm in love..."

Suddenly, from out over the water, there was a strain of ridiculously cheerful song.... and a loud splash. Clearly, there was someone - or something - out there.

Xaldin blinked and turned, looking out at the ocean. "....Oh, Look. there's someone out on the water."

"Huh. Fancy that..." Xigbar smirked.

"Tell me about it."

"My~ my~ you're just like pie~" Demyx sailed in on the next wave, bodysurfing into the sand. "When I call you on the phone~~."

"....." Xaldin didn't say anything, he just arched an eyebrow.

"What a silly song." Aerith giggled, clapping her hands and waving at Demyx.

"You say hello, and that's the crust..." He waved and pushed himself to his feet, still singing. "...the filling is yet to come~."

Xigbar laughed. "Demyx, man! You made it!"

"You know him?" Xaldin arched an eyebrow, looking over at Demyx. He did seem the type who would know him, but... Jailbait, much.....

"My, my, you're just like eggs..." Demyx plopped down next to where Xigbar was lying. "...You're all slimy on the outside and yolky in the middle..."

Snicker. "Not at the moment, dude."

"Waitasecond..." He frowned, looking to one side... then continued. "...That's not right, what I really meant is that I lo~ve you in the morning~..."

That pretty much caused everyone to burst into laughter. Roxas grinned widely, Xaldin just lol'd loudly, and Xemnas continued to... pontificate. At great length. Aerith Giggled.

Xigbar, too, cracked up. "Whatever, dude, whatever. I'm glad you're okay, shrimp."

Demyx laughed. "Of course I'm okay! Uh... you don't look so good..."

"And thank you, Captain of all understatements." Xaldin grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Thank you!" Demyx said brightly.

Xaldin eyed Xigbar, an exasperated look on his face. "He's not the brightest one, is he?"

Xigbar cracked up, despite the massive pain in his nonexistent eye when he did so. "Yeah, Demyx is my lil' bro. We go way back." He reached out and ruffled his funny-looking hair. "Dem, this is Xaldin."

Saix was extremely interested in Xemnas's hair. He was totally ignoring everything that just happened, and instead chose to sit there and sift his hands through the hair, much to Vexen's consternation.

"Oh, hello." Xemnas grinned lopsidedly, reaching up and playing with some of Saix's hair. It was clear that he was suffering from the effects of a severe blow to the head. "Your hair is blue..... Blue hair."

Xaldin nodded in greeting up at Demyx. Something about that kid made him want to either hug puppies or slam his head against the wall. He didn't know which.

Probably both. Xigbar grinned. "Man... I hate laying down..."

"Oh, shut it, Xigbar. You won't mind it after you feel better."

Roxas and Namine blinked confusedly at Xaldin, tilting their heads. It was clear that the innuendo had gone right the hell over their heads.

Axel cackled.

Xigbar raised an eyebrow and shifted slightly. "Oh really..."

The diminutive blond (Roxas) looked over at Axel, arching an eyebrow slightly. "Wait, what was he talking about?"

"I'll tell you when you're older."

"...you're an asshat."

"Now, I've always wondered this - is that a hat for your ass, or an ass being used as a hat...?"

Roxas puffed out his cheeks angrily, his ears turning red. "You know what, now you're just being facetious."

Namine giggled at Roxas, a little shy smile on her face. She knew that look; it had been the same one that Sora had given Riku, and that Cloud had given Leon....

"What? I'm not being sarcastic, I'm asking an honest question!"

"You know what, you can shut up." Roxas stalked to a rock outcropping, sitting atop it and sulking.

"But what if I don't want to?"

"Well too bad! You can shut up anyways!" Roxas yelled, wanging a lump of kelp at Axel.

Namine just started to laugh.

"Your face can shut up!"

"WELL YOUR MOM CAN SHUT UP!" Roxas replied. "YOU'RE.... STUPID. SHUT UP." He stood up, stomping off into the forest.

Demyx watched the whole scene with wide blue eyes. "Woah," he said.

"YOU SHUT UP!!!"

Namine just stood there, giggling quite loudly. "Wow. Just... wow."

Xigbar started wiggling around again. "MAN. I wanna get up!"

"All in good time, Xigbar."

"That's not what I meant..." Xigbar chuckled. "Here, help me stand up."

Xaldin nodded, helping Xigbar to his feet. "You probably shouldn't be standing up, Xigbar."

Xigbar leaned heavily against him, and the world was swimming a little - but as long as he could hang onto something (or someone), he was okay. "Nah man, I'm fine. Let's go exploring. Wanna come, Dem?"

"Nah, I'm ok. I wanna watch this!" he pointed to where Vexen and Aerith were working, earning him a beady-eyed Vexen glare.

Larxene was angry. And she was soaking wet. And she was in a jungle. "This sucks." She grumbled, peeling off her clothes and squeezing the extra water out of them. So, now she was naked, soaking wet, and sitting in a jungle. God, she hated her life.

There was a rustle in the foliage, and then - "Oh. I'm sorry. I don't mean to intrude." The speaker was keeping politely back, out of vision.

". . . .Ok, if you're that pink-haired wierdo, then I might have to sodomize you with the next jagged object that I find." She growled, not even bothering to attempt to cover herself.

"I assure you, I do not have pink hair. However, you may think me weird." He moved out from the plants surrounding the area. "It's all a matter of taste." He was tall, with silver hair that brushed the back of his knees and sharp green eyes. His body was decorated very simply - but elegantly, with perfect swoops of black ink accentuating his lean muscles. The only two places that had actual symbolism was on one side of his face and his back - and they both had the same design, a lone black wing.

"Ah, fine, then." She waved a hand dismissively, indicating that Sephiroth could join her, if he so wished. "So, what exactly is this place? And who was that weird pink-haired guy?"

Sephiroth's hair fanned out behind him as he slid down beside her with a timeless grace. "His name is Marluxia, and he is our king."

".... He's your King? Well... Fancy that." She sighed heavily, rubbing her forehead. "He's weird. I hope you know that."

"Oh, we do. However, you'll find out soon enough that most people in this world are 'weird' in one way or another." He smiled. "It's generally called being unique."

"Oh really? And how, pray tell, are you 'unique'?" An eyebrow arched slightly, and she tilted her head in mock interest.

He smiled. "You'll have to know me longer to find out, won't you?"

"Indeed." She sighed, giving her clothes one final squeeze before throwing them back on. "That will have to do." Larxene returned to lounging, running her fingers through her hair. "So tell me about this place. I mean... It's a beach. and a jungle. and... What else is here?"

"It's an island... but you have yet to see the island's true beauty." He leaned back on his hands. "Unfortunately, I cannot be the one to show it to you."

"Oh? And why, pray tell, would that be?" she arched an eyebrow, her hair falling about her face as she ran her fingers through it.

"Only our king can invite an outsider into our village."

"... Well, shit." Larxene pouted slightly, looking around at the foliage. "Where's a pink-haired wierdo when you need'im? What's your name, anyways? I just realized that I forgot to ask..."

"Sephiroth. And yours?"

"Larxene."

Xigbar somehow led the expedition, despite the fact that he couldn't really keep himself standing. "Dude, what's with all the flowers?"

Xaldin shrugged and continued to support him, looking around at the indigenous foliage. "...I dunno. I guess it's just the season for them?"

"What the hell is this one? It's like... purple. Bright purple. I like it."

"I believe that's a purple people eater." Marluxia had appeared out of nowhere as he had a tendency to do. "...but I'm not sure." Smile~

".... Oh, you would like the one called a people eater." Xaldin snorted, looking at some of the other flowers. "That one's a... Hibiscus, right?" he said, pointing at a red flower on a tree.

"Correct!" Marluxia clapped his hands together and grinned cheerfully. "My, you're good at this."

Xigbar rolled his eyes, scowling.

"I should be. It's kind of the part of my job that I don't pay attention to." Xaldin said, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand, the other about Xigbar's waist.

"Oh? And what is your job, pray do tell?"

"I'm a biologist. Animal biology mostly, I don't know as much about plants as I should."

"How terribly interesting. ...You'll find, however, that there are quite a few species - both plants and animals - that don't exist anywhere else in the world." He smiled mysteriously.

".... Neat."

Xigbar raised his eyebrow. "Neat????"

"Yes. Neat. Meaning great. or wonderful. I believe that you should be familiar with the word." Xaldin chuckled, picking up Xigbar and casually GRABBING HIS ASS.

Xigbar snickered, grinning widely.

Marluxia smiled generously. "Well, I shall leave you to your explorations. However, keep in mind that the wild beasts do not like stationary prey." He then slipped off into the trees, humming a pleasant little tune.

Xaldin arched an eyebrow as Marluxia left, his comment not really doing much to make him feel comfortable. "... Well then. That was informative."

"Informative my ass." Xigbar frowned in the direction he'd left. "What a fruitcake."

Xaldin lol'd.

Back on the beach, Xemnas was just really starting to come around from his delirium. Instead of being left with a happy, floaty feeling, he kind of felt like his head was going to implode. This was not a good feeling, and caused him to curl up in a near-fetal position.

Saix leaned forward, looking suddenly concerned. "......Doctor, will he be all right?"

Vexen rolled his eyes. "Of course he will. He's just being a big baby." Glaaare. "Stop dramatizing, captain."

"I daresay that you're not the one in intense amounts of pain, doctor. I believe that it feels like my head is cracked open." He gritted his teeth and cracked one eye open, looking up at Saix.

Aerith giggled quietly and smiled at Xemnas, pushing what looked like a chocolate-coated capsule into his mouth. "If you're going to be pontificating, then you might as well eat this. It'll help with your head."

Vexen scowled up at her. He just hoped it would actually help.

Saix actually looked alarmed, and leaned closer. "Aerie, he'll be all right, won't he? He's beautiful."

Vexen snorted under his breath.

Xemnas blinked and was about to retort, when Aerith pressed two fingers against his lips. "Dilly-dally, shilly shally. Just swallow it, you'll feel better." She then tugged on one of Saix's braids in a comforting manner, tilting her head. "Of course he'll be fine. He's just got a bad little bump on the head."

Saix reached out and cuddled against Aerith's arm.

Aerith smiled, curling her arms about Saix for a moment. "You're a silly little worrywart, Saix." Releasing him, she scooted over to where Axel was sitting. "I need to see where your leg is broken. It might hurt a little bit, but I'll be very careful."

Axel nodded. Damnit, now that Roxas had mentioned sisters, he was thinking about Kairi... the last time he'd seen her was during the storm, and they'd gotten into another argument. He really hoped she was around here somewhere, he'd said some pretty asstarded things and wanted to apologize.

Namine knelt behind Axel, tentatively putting a hand on his. "Are you going to be all right?" She asked quietly as Aerith worked on locating the break.

"Yeah... I'll live." He smiled charmingly at her. "I can take a little pain..." he winced, though, as Aerith poked something a little too hard.

"I'm sorry about Roxas. He can be pretty cold to people he's not familiar with." She paused for a moment, moving more into his line of vision. "I'm sorry about your sister, as well."

"Huh? Oh, she'll turn up. She always does." He waved a hand vaguely. "She's aggravatingly persistent like that."

She smiled a little bit, curling her knees into her chest. "I'm glad for that."

Axel nodded. "Kid - what's your name? I forgot it if you told me."

"My name is Namine." She said, tracing her fingers absently through the sand in a swirling pattern. "Namine Hikari."

"Damn, that's a pretty name. Pretty name for a pretty girl," he added, smiling rather deviously.

Namine giggled and blushed a little bit, curling her toes into the sand. "Thank you."

Zexion sighed and slid away from Lexaeus - but then reached over and grabbed his hand. "...We're going to need shelter. And food." He shaded his eyes with the other hand and looked down along the beach. "...Maybe we could use pieces of ship? I know there are some pretty big sheets of metal down that way."

Lexaeus nodded, reluctantly letting his arm drop from about Zexion's waist, but was quite pleased when the smaller man took his hand. "Very well. We should go and try to set something up."

"Hey, can I come?" Demyx bounced to his feet - watching Vexen had gotten boring.

Zexion winced. ".....Fine." He pulled Lexaeus along, set to ignore the little singsongy freak.

The large man chuckled, squeezing Lexaeus's hand gently. Zexion had always been the slightly jealous type.

"Cool!" Demyx followed them, hands hooked in the belt loops of his pants, which though frayed and patched to begin with, were somehow still intact after the wreck. "Sooo... did you guys lose anyone in the storm?"

Zexion gritted his teeth. He wasn't fond of being reminded just how panicked he'd been to think that Lexaeus might have died. "....No."

He blinked at Demyx, tilting his head. "Thankfully, I didn't. Although I don't know what I would have done if I had."

"Oh..." Demyx frowned. "...My little brother drowned."

Zexion stopped dead, his jaw almost dropping in shock. "!!!!" He felt horrible, but - "..how can you just... SAY that?!"

Lexaeus faltered in his steps, looking over at Demyx. He was silent for a long while, just sort of blinking at the younger man. "...."

"Well it happened, didn't it?" Demyx kicked up some sand. "And he always loved the sea."

Zexion turned away, feeling sick to his stomach. He tugged on Lexaeus's hand, just... suddenly, deeply grateful for the man's presence. "I-I.. uh, what's your name?"

A pang of grief shot through Lexaeus's chest and he stared down at the sand. He didn't have anything to say (all in all, this was a common occurrence, but never really for this reason). His hand remained clasped about Zexion's, but his other arm wrapped about Demyx in a one-armed hug.

Demyx squeaked, then grinned and hugged Lexaeus. "Oh I uh I'm Demyx!"

SCOWWWWWL. Zexion's glare could have killed small children.

Pulling away, Lexaeus looked around the beach and spotted some debris from the ship. "It would probably be a good plan to build a shelter before nightfall..."

"Hey, yeah!!" Demyx pulled away and ran for the ship debris. "Wow! This is gonna be fun!"

"... What a strange boy."

Zexion folded his arms across his chest, still scowling massively, not to mention his ears being red. "Freak."

Lexaeus arched an eyebrow, pinching Zexion's ears gently and moving his thumbs against them in small circles. "Your ears are all red, Zexion."

Eep! Zexion jumped at the touch, blushing even more. Akjsdfasd!

He grinned. Lexaeus would eat his hat if Zexion wasn't the most adorable person EVER.

"A-a-anyway..." Zexion cringed and looked over at where Demyx was playing with the torn sheets of metal. "Hey you! Demyx! Do something useful and fish out the big pieces!"

"Don't be like that, Zexion..." Lexaeus chided, resting his hands on his friend's shoulders. "Be nice."

"Kaaaay!" Demyx got to work. "Hm hm hm~ you're an artichoke~" He began piling up big sheets of metal and other useful-looking things.

He grinned a little bit, taking Zexion's hand and completing the song that Demyx had begun to sing. "I have to peel away the outside which is still good but the inside's better~"

Zexion blushed massively again. "Stop being cute," he growled.

"Hey, you know that song!" Demyx grinned. "I love to savor~ your juicy heart~" CLANG! "And dip you in~ the butter~"

Lexaeus chuckled quietly and ruffled Zexion's hair. "I won't stop until you do."

ASJKALSDJSA. Zexion made a very interesting noise of complaint as his hair was ruffled, then turned away and stomped down to the water's edge, presumably to help Demyx. He was still bright red.

He grinned triumphantly, setting about to help build a shelter. Good lord, but Zexion was adorable.

Luxord returned to the beach and handed Aerith the gourd full of water, and she began to wrap Axel's leg carefully in gauze.

She emptied a jar of dirt into the water and mixed them together, using the dirt as a kind of plaster to hold it still.

"I'll try my best," he said with a charming wink.

Saix flopped over, looking up at the sky. ".....Sunset soon." If by soon you meant two hours or so, then yes.

Xigbar wiggled. He was feeling a little lightheaded, but not enough to call out on it. "......Shit, look over there." Not everyone was as lucky as they were.

Xaldin blinked, looking over in the direction that Xigbar had indicated. "What d'you mean?"

Xigbar pulled him over, ignoring the swimmy feeling in his head. ".....Man." He poked at the mess with his foot. "We're gonna be seeing a lot of these, aren't we?" Bodies... the unlucky ones, mangled from the rocks and the coral reef. Xigbar made a face.

"...Those kids... The three of them shouldn't see this..." Xaldin muttered, shutting his eyes and pushing some of his dreads out of his face.

Xigbar nodded. "...It's gonna take a lot of effort to keep this shit hidden, though. And Myde..." He frowned, then sighed. "Man."

"... Myde?" Xaldin asked quizzically, setting Xigbar down before beginning to dig a very deep hole right above where the beach ended, in an area of ground that was practically completely clay.

Xigbar slid to a more-lying-down position, and felt better now that he was still. "...Dem's brother. He fell overboard during the storm, and Dem jumped in after him..." He winced. "God, I thought I wasn't gonna see either of them ever again."

"..." Xaldin paused in his hole-digging, wrapping his arms around Xigbar. "I'm sorry." He muttered quietly, eyes shut. This whole situation was... extremely fucked up.

Xigbar shook his head, then unexpectedly nuzzled into Xaldin's neck. "....Maybe all this shit happened for a reason..."

"Well, I'd sure have a fucking bone to pick with whatever higher power if they did this to us for shits and giggles." Xaldin was shaking a little bit as he spoke; the adrenaline, apparently, was beginning to wear off, and his energy was fading. "I need to finish this." He muttered, pulling away and continuing to dig the hole.

Xigbar remained right where he was, staring at the sky. Myde... wherever you are, kid, I hope you're happy.

Vexen sighed depply, his work done for the moment. "...We need shelter and food and fresh water..." Then he blinked, as Saix got to his feet.

"It's almost sunset," he said, as if it was the most important statement in the world. "Aerie. Lux. Let's go." He turned and headed for the jungle.

Xemnas blinked unhappilly at Saix's movement, attempting to sit up. "Wait... Where are you going?"

Saix gave him a mysterious grin over one shoulder. "Home."

Luxord nodded, grinning widely. "You'd all do well to stay together. Night time 'round 'ereabouts can be right spooky."

Aerith frowned and tweaked Luxord's ear, smiling kindly at the newcomers. "Pay him no mind... you'll be fine." With that, she pulled Luxord into the forest by his ear, the blond complaining all the way.

Sephiroth melted out of the shadows and joined them, slipping an arm around Aerith's waist. "So. What do you think of these newcomers?"

Saix tugged on Luxord's OTHER ear. "I like them. The tan one has pretty hair."

Aerith jumped, frowning and batting Sephiroth in the arm. "You know you're not allowed to sneak up on me like that, Sephiroth."

Sephiroth chuckled. "Too late."

She tapped her lower lip, looking back over her shoulder. "They seem peaceful enough... More shaken than anything."

"Mmm... Only two of them are female."

Luxord arched an eyebrow, piping up though both his ears were being twisted. "I say, Seph... that's rather sketchy of you to point out."

Aerith twisted his ear harder.

So did Saix - just so he didn't feel unbalanced.

Sephiorth grinned. "I like the blond one." Then he realized they were both blond. "The blond woman, that is."

Aerith arched an eyebrow, then laughed quietly. "I should hope that it's the woman that you find attractive... the little girl looks far too young for you... you may get someone angry with you."

"Oh my. That would be unfortunate." Sephiroth smiled brightly.

Luxord yelped quietly, frowning at Saix. "Steady on there... there was no call for that."

Aerith sighed quietly, tapping her toe on the floor. "Don't be like that, Sephiroth."

Saix smiled cheeeeerfully.

Sephiroth chuckled and pressed a kiss to her temple. "All right. Anything for you."

She smiled sweetly, tugging his hair and releasing Luxord's ear. "Thank you. Now let's go home."

{ + }

A/N: *WHEW*. This rp is HUUUUGE. I haven't even started the tip of the iceberg, ohoho. Now, in case you were wondering...
x_igrab: Xigbar, Vexen, Zexion, Saix, Axel, Demyx, Marluxia, and Sephiroth
sakura443: Xemnas, Xaldin, Lexaeus, Luxord, Larxene, Roxas, Namine, and Aerith
...with more characters to come! Orz. XD.

I hope you enjoy reading this as much as we do creating it. Ta ta!

Sea Salt [Xaldin/Roxas, PG]

2008-03-13T22:50:33Z

Title: Sea Salt
Pairing: Xaldin/Roxas
Written For: sakura443 - because I promised! and inspired by this picture, and the subsequent commentage X3 [ ALSO, HAPPY XALROX DAY! ]
Rating/Type: PG and humor

"They're building a sandcastle."

"No."

"It's got TURRETS."

"I said no."

Roxas frowned, trying to wiggle his way free. "...But what if there's heartless inside?"

Xaldin looked down, giving Roxas an extremely dry glare. "Sure."

Number thirteen blinked up at him. "Hey, there could be! You never know!"

Xaldin rolled his eyes. "Come on, it's just a sand castle, spud. It's nothing exciting."

Roxas wiggled again, and Xaldin's arms tightened threateningly around him - sure, they were at the beach, and sure, they had no objective other than to wait for Xigbar and Demyx to be done playing in the ocean... but Xaldin felt responsible for the little blond, and if he let him go, well... he was tiny. He'd probably lose him in seconds.

WIGGLEWIGGLE. "Damnit, Xaldin! Let me the fuck go!"

...Of course, tiny as Roxas was, one must take care to remember that tiny things often packed the biggest punches. I mean, just look at Zexion. "I will not let you the fuck go. If I let you go, I'm not going to be able to find you, because you're tiny. And then the Superior will be all up my ass for losing track of you." Again.

"I'm not tiny where it counts," Roxas grumbled.

>_>. Xaldin thought dirty things.

And Roxas took this oppotunity to bite his arm.

"OW hey what the - "

But Roxas had taken the moment of distration to break free of Xaldin's arms, and took off down the beach. With a loud growl, Xaldin surged to his feet and ran after him... finally, after a long chase, Xaldin pounced him into the sand.

WRIIIIGGGGGGLLLLEEE "Xaldin! Ow, damnit! Get the fuck off me!"

"Well, stop running away!" But Xaldin did pulled back a little, enough so that he wasn't crushing him.

Roxas smirked. And then he tickled him.

When Xigbar and Demyx came back from their swim, they found Xaldin and Roxas right where they'd left them, Roxas in Xaldin's lap, Xaldin's arms around him - but they were both rather unecessarily sandy, and Xaldin was more than a little red.

Demyx frowned. "...Xally, did you forget your suntan lotion again?"

But behind him, Xigbar met Xaldin's eyes, and smirked. He knew Xaldin didn't burn.

Xaldin glared at him.

"...Heyyy, Dem... wanna get some sea-salt ice cream?"

"Whut? Sure." Demyx shrugged, grabbing a towel and rubbing off his hair, which now stuck out at all angles like some multi-length'd porcupine.

"What about you, Xal?"

"I'm fine."

"Ocean's plenty salty for ya, huh?"

"I said I'm fine."

"Or maybe Roxas is the one who wants something salty~"

And then Roxas kicked him in the shins. And he fell over, howling with laughter.

Demyx rolled his eyes. "Come on, Xiggy, Roxas always wants sea-salt ice cream, it's like, his favorite thing ever."

And for the life of him, he couldn't understand why Xigbar started laughing harder - or why the other two suddenly turned even more crimson.

"What? WHAT?"

Xigbar pushed himself up. "Oh jeez... never mind, Dem. Let's go get ice cream. We can leave Mr. Pedo and Roxy to their cuddle time."

"Dude, cuddle time? Second best thing ever!"

And Xigabr and Demyx trotted off to the boardwalk, leaving Xaldin and Roxas...

...yes. To their cuddle time.

Trinity Limit [a fanmix]

2008-03-11T23:05:17Z

Trinity Limit - A 3-CD Fanmix.

CD ONE: Rock
1. Xemnas - Nature Boy [David Bowie]
2. Xigbar - Hit the Floor [Linkin Park]
3. Xaldin - Elevation [U2]
4. Vexen - Frozen [Madonna]
5. Lexaeus - Tank! [Seatbelts]
6. Zexion - I Disappear [The Faint]
7. Saix - Kryptonite [3 Doors Down]
8. Axel - Light Up the Sky [Yellowcard]
9. Demyx - Private Radio [Vanessa Carlton]
10. Luxord - Time Flies [Cirque du Soleil]
11. Marluxia - Poison [Groove Coverage]
12. Larxene - Destroy She Said [Circ]
13. Roxas - Fighting [Yellowcard]
14. Namine - Unsung [Vanessa Carlton]
15. Ansem's Apprentices - Mistakes We Knew We Were Making [Mae]
16. Riku - Crawling in the Dark [Hoobastank]
17. Kairi - Overflow [Gabriel Mann]
18. Sora - Anything [Mae]

CD TWO: Soft
1. Xemnas - The Man With Too Many Ideas [Gabriel Mann]
2. Xigbar - Dear Bobbie [Yellowcard]
3. Xaldin - Trying to Find Purpose [Vertical Horizon]
4. Vexen - Lost in the Snow [Dana Mase]
5. Lexaeus - After the Fire [Amy Grant]
6. Zexion - You Raise Me Up [Josh Groban]
7. Saix - The Sun and the Moon [Mae]
8. Axel - Casey [Darren Hayes]
9. Demyx - We Belong to the Sea [Aqua]
10. Luxord - On the Sea [Vertical Horizon]
11. Marluxia - Dangerous Game [Jekyll & Hyde]
12. Larxene - Sassy [Manhattan Transfer]
13. Roxas - Speaking With the Angel [Mary Black]
14. Namine - Life is Like a Boat [Rie Fu]
15. Ansem's Apprentices - Footprints in the Snow [Vertical Horizon]
16. Riku - Lost in the Darkness [Jekyll & Hyde]
17. Kairi - Unnamed Song [Yoshiki]
18. Sora - The Hero [Ministry of Magic]

CD THREE: Pop
1. Xemnas - Number One [Hazel Fernandes]
2. Xigbar - Hit Me With Your Best Shot [Pat Benetar]
3. Xaldin - The Best Thing [Savage Garden]
4. Vexen - Code Monkey [Jonathon Coulton]
5. Lexaeus - The Mountain Song [Vertical Horizon]
6. Zexion - Out Tonight [RENT]
7. Saix - Mandolin Moon [Sister Hazel]
8. Axel - Perfect Tragedy [Don Kenneth Ramage]
9. Demyx - The Animal Song [Savage Garden]
10. Luxord - Strange Cup of Tea [Sister Hazel]
11. Marluxia - Suddenly I See [KT Turnstall]
12. Larxene - She's a Rebel [Green Day]
13. Roxas - Breathe [Michelle Branch]
14. Namine - True Colors [Anna Tsuchiya]
15. Ansem's Apprentices - Because We Can [Fatboy Slim]
16. Riku - Snape vs. Snape [Ministry of Magic]
17. Kairi - Fascination [Alphabeat]
18. Sora - Around the World [ATC]

Some of these songs are based on pairings or certain characterizations, so if you don't understand some of the choices... well... :x it makes sense to me, damnit.

MOAR ON THIS LATER (once I download all the songs that I don't have X3)

EDIT: album art by the wodnerful amazing t3hc411! *LOVE*! ...I should probably write more of her story! D:!

Duke Bartholomew Warren Bigglesworth the Fourth [PG-13, lol]

2008-03-06T05:26:08Z

Title: Duke Bartholomew Warren Bigglesworth the Fourth
Pairing: Luxord/Xigbar - ~~happy 10/2, everyone!!~~ LOLLERY I only just finished it.
Type: ~~:O SMUT?!~~ Nope. Sorry! humor, mostly.
Rating: PG-13

They'd always been drinking buddies. They were the sort of people who automatically drew close to each other, the recognition of one who essentially wants the same things out of life.

So they drank and gamed together often, far apart from the bleak seriousness of the rest of the day. Sometimes Axel or Demyx joined them, but Xigbar had to admit that he liked it best when it was just him and the Gambler of Fate.

Xigbar spread his cards face-down on the table. "What, you've never danced before?? Come on, Luxy, pull the other one."

Luxord shrugged. "It's never come up, I was always the one playing the music." He extended a hand over the table, and the cards flipped over. "And you lose."

Xigbar winced and took a sip of his rum. "Wul then yeah, a dance contest would be about as fair as playing cards with you." He shook his head; he'd never won against Luxord, not even once, and yet here he was, still playing.

"And it would be for a similar reason - lack of experience." He twirled a finger and the cards zoomed in a small whirlwind, shuffling.

"Hey, I've played enough games in my life to - "

AAAARGH GODDAMNIT!! There he goes again. A dice-shaped Xigbar bounced around the floor, onto Luxord's foot, then up in his lap, while Luxord himself sat back and chuckled.

POOF. Xigbar could manipulate space, so the dice trick didn't work for very long on him, but it was still enough to -

He slammed his hands down on the armrests; somehow he was now straddling Luxord. And somehow, this was definitely not a problem with him. Probably all that rum. "Damnit, Luxord! What'd you do that for?!"

Luxord laughed again, and to Xigbar's surprise (well, somewhere in the back of his mind he was surprised) he made no move to get Xigbar off of him. "You lost, I turned you into a dice." He smirked. "Seems fair."

"Nuh-uh." Xigbar waved a hand vaguely, trying to emphasize his point. "All that did... was get me from over there - " he pointed across the table. " - to here."

"And whatever makes you think that wasn't my goal in the first place?"

Xigbar considered this, his single yellow eye narrowed in a glare. "That sounds suspiciously like a... thing." What was it? "You comin' on to me or something?"

Luxord suppressed a laugh, lightly intoxicated Xigbar was hilarious. "Possibly." He grinned.

Xigbar didn't waste time. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to Luxord's, sliding against each other, rough.

After a long minute, Xigbar pulled back, panting a little - Luxord had VERY talented lips. The blond smirked. "And what if I wasn't coming on to you, luv?"

Xigbar grinned, a note of mischief in his eyes. "Then you just made out with me for a minute and a half for no reason."

"It was a minute and ten seconds."

"I bet I could make it an hour and ten seconds."

And... he'd said the magic words. "A bet, you say?"

His hands crept up Xigbar's sides, and toyed with his zipper.

"...I never could resist a good bet."

x_igrab @ 2008-03-02T21:59:00

2008-03-03T02:59:23Z

This DAY is dedicated to two very important Xaldins in my life.

x_iland - Oh, Elise. What would I do without you? You're my best friend in the entire world and I never go a day without thinking about you in some way....... especially when I'm eating something delicious.

sakura443 - And Giffy. You made me remember what it was like to fall in love, and resurrected a belief in forever. You're everything I always compensated for... and you never fail to keep on surprising me. I love you.

Xaldin/Xigbar day, guys! *portals off*

Topping Games [2/3 - Xigbar/Xaldin]

2008-02-22T00:04:05Z

Title: Topping Games
Pairing: 2/3 - Xigbar/Xaldin
Written For: the month of February! It's a little late, but I'm catching up.
Type: humor, erk
Rating: R

"Xal - XAL!"

Xaldin smirked. "Whatever it is, the answer's no."

"You're gonna crush me!"

"You like it."

With a small 'shoop' noise, Xigbar teleported away from his position of being pinned to the bed and sat on the small of Xaldin's back, so he could lean up and bite at his ear.

Xaldin growled. "Get OFF me."

"You like it."

Another growl, then a sudden fierce whirlwind swept them both up and slammed them against the wall, Xaldin pinning Xigbar roughly, face to face. Their lips clashed, tongues warring and hands clenching tightly in each other's hair.

"Aw, you're such a bitch," Xigbar drawled, barely able to finish the phrase before Xaldin's lips attacked his again.

"You li-"

But Xaldin couldn't even complete that thought before Xigbar teleported again - upside down this time, and he grabbed for Xaldin's dreadlocked ponytail and yanked down, controlling the kiss.

Fuck. No. Xaldin shoved up from the ground on a column of air, bringing him level with Xigbar's crotch. He yanked the coat open, then grabbed for the freeshooter's pants fastenings.

SLAM. Xigbar wasn't having any of that. In a clever bit of spatial manipulation, Xigbar pinned Xaldin down - up - on the ceiling.

Xaldin groaned. "Xigbar... No. Just no. You are not topping."

"Why not?"

SLAM. A gust of wind, and Xaldin shoved them straight down, slamming Xigbar into the floor. "Just. No."

"Ow, fuck, man..." He squirmed up against him, then grinned maliciously. "Betcha five hunderd munny I could fuck you and you'd like it."

Xaldin ground their hips together, a low growl in his throat. "I'd like to see you try."

Half an hour later, Xaldin was beginning to doubt that blind confidence in his dominance. He was currently tacked to the wall with an assortment of gun arrows, one of Xigbar's knees shoved between his thighs, coat open, pants undone... and Xigbar's teeth on his neck, swiftly eroding his willpower.

"Nnnggh... Xigbar..."

The freeshooter grinned ferally, and pressed his hands against Xaldin's crotch. "Give in yet?" he purred, sounding far sexier than he legally had a right to.

"Fuck no," Xaldin growled, moaning in frustration.

"Good." Xigbar slid a hand up Xaldin's chest, trailing his fingers through his chest hair. "I'm not nearly done playing with you yet."

He teleported again, and Xaldin groaned. He'd appeared facing down, his knees spread on either side of Xaldin's neck - presently him with an utterly attractive leather-clad ass view. To make matters worse, Xigbar was pushing down - up - the waistband of his pants, and kissing and biting at his hips.

Xaldin let out another rather animalistic growl and struggled his arms ineffectually against his bonds. Jesus, what the hell were these warp snipe bullets made of? "Xigbar..."

Xigbar licked at his lips, cheerfully ignoring his almost painfully hard cock. "Ye~ah?"

"Nnggnlslh..!" Whatever Xaldin had meant to say, it was drowned out in a loud moan as Xigbar suddenly swallowed him deep, sucking hard. "Bastard..!"

Xigbar of course had to respond to that, and he let up to grin wickedly over his shoulder. "You like it."

"Your ass in my face does little to prove your point," he growled huskily, shoving his hips forward as best he could.

Xigbar laughed and spread his legs a little. "All part of the grand plan, Dilly boy."

"That's what I'm worried about," he grumbled, but that name - that stupid nickname - a fierce blush spread over his cheeks, and when he pulled one arm free of the gun arrows, ripping up the sleeve of his coat - he slid a hand between Xigbar's legs, and grabbed a firm hold of his crotch.

Xigbar moaned appreciatively, and shifted backwards - then slid his hands over Xaldin's inner thighs, and the lancer couldn't help but spread them.

{ + }

Braig's arm brushed against his neck and he shifted in his seat, unconsciously trying to bring them closer together. Braig chuckled and scooted closer, then pressed their chests together and kissed up the line of his neck. "Dilly boy~ ready for the big league?" he teased, and Dilan groaned, how could he be making jokes at a time like this? He was already so turned on he might possibly explode, but he wanted more - he wanted to go all the way.

"...Dil?" Braig paused, noticing the sudden shyness in his usually-aggressive partner. "What's wrong?"

He blushed, his hands coming to rest on Braig's hips. "I'm nervous, dipshit. I told you, I've never done this before."

"B'aw, Dilan. Don't be shy. You're in good hands," he added with a roguish wink.

Dilan blushed harder, but somehow that made him even more nervous. "Braig..." he pulled his lover against him, lips touching his ear.

"Y-yeah?" Braig was always a little breathless when Dilan touched his ears - well, any part of him, really.

"...Will you take me?"

Blink. "What, like... me on top?"

Dilan's blush intensified. "...Yeah. Just... I'd feel... more comfortable. For now."

Then Braig smiled, and Dilan felt his heart melt even more than it already had. "Sure thing, sexy. Anything for you."

{ + }

Afterwards, they lay in bed and Xaldin ran his hands idly over Xigbar's scars. The freeshooter shuddered heavily, still super-sensitive and totally exhausted. "...Man... you owe me five hundred munny now, loser."

Xaldin smirked. "No I don't."

"What?" Xigbar tried to sit up, but his muscles gave out on him and he collapsed against Xaldin's chest. "Why?? I won, didn't I?"

"You fucked me... but I didn't like it." Grin.

Xigbar propped up on his elbows and stared disbelievingly at his lover. "Are you batshit insane? You were screaming my name into the stratosphere!"

"Yeah, that's true..." Xaldin made to look like his was considering things. "But... I didn't like it."

"But.. why???"

Xaldin laughed, then leaned in and kissed the tip of Xigbar's nose. "Well, sorry about that, but you know..." a devious smirk crawled onto his features. "I suppose... that means... you'll just have to try again."

Oh. OHHHH. Xigbar caught on, and the glint of mischief lit up his one yellow eye. "Guess so, huh? Well, if you hated it all that much..."

"Never said I hated it..."

"...Nu uh. You had your chance. I get fucked next time."

"Oh really?" Xaldin chuckled. "...I bet I could make you top again."

Smirk. "...You're on."

Mirror, Mirror [2/2 - Xigbar and Braig, PG]

2008-02-21T23:58:09Z

Title: Mirror, Mirror
Pairing: 2/2 - Xigbar and Braig
Written For: the month of February! It's a little late, but I'm catching up.
Type: food for thought
Rating: PG

It took a long time for Braig to fall asleep. He felt unbalanced, disoriented - and even Ansem's medicines couldn't dull the throbbing pain on the right side of his face.

He woke up several times - his eye flew open and he'd sit up in bed, only to feel sick again as his utterly familiar room was perceived by only one eye instead of two.

He flew up again, sweating, from an ambiguously horrifying dream. The breaking glass was exploding again, only his parents were there, and he had to watch them get cut to pieces, knowing it was his fault...

Braig groaned and slid out of bed. No more, he thought. No more dreams.

He shuffled over to the dresser, dragging a hand through his hair, and looked up at the mirror -

Pause.

What?

Braig whipped around, then turned back. What?!

He looked closer. His 'reflection' - for lack of a better word - looked back at him, cocking an eyebrow. He looked different. Not too different - mostly changes in clothing, and the streaks in his hair were gray and not blond, but the eyes - well, their lone matching eye was the same.

Braig wasn't stupid. He didn't flip out, nor did he ignore it and go back to sleep. "Hey... uh..." he tugged on his ever-present ring necklace. "Who are you?"

"Smart kid." The reflection grinned. "Always knew you were."

Braig blinked. Was that... But, they both only had one eye, and he was pretty sure exploding experiments were hereditary. But still...

"Rough night, huh? Don't worry, the pain goes away." He tapped a black-gloved finger on the glass, smirking. "There's benefits to having only one eye, kid."

"S-sure," Braig muttered, bewildered.

"Aw man, don't disappoint me now. Use your brain, Braig."

Think. What was better with one eye? "Um..."

"What do you love to do most?"

"Dilan?" Braig clapped a hand over his mouth and blushed furiously.

The reflection cackled approvingly. "Yeah, yeah. Besides that."

"Uh... hm..."

An epic smirk, the kind Braig had always tried and failed to accomplish. "...Kiss kiss bang bang."

Then it dawned on him. "OH! You can aim better if you're used to seeing with only one eye!"

"Score one for the shorty! Though..." And suddenly, that gloved hand reached through the glass, somehow, and took a hold of his chin, tilting it to the right so he could rub a thumb over his unblemished left cheek. "...There's downsides to it, too."

Braig realized, with a widening of his eye, that his 'reflection' had a scar there - right where his thumb was - a nasty one, too, stretching up from his jaw almost to his nose. He gulped a little, feeling a strange sense of... deja vu.

"Yup, life won't get any easier for ya. Live while you can." The figure in the mirror was blurring slightly. "And your dreams won't make any more sense, either."

"Is this a..."

But the world around him swirled, and faded to black.

{ + }

Braig pushed himself out of bed, feeling groggy. "Hnngh..." There was a knock on his door, and he went to answer it, stumbling over his feet and feeling disoriented - oh yeah, no right eye. Heh. He pulled open the door.

Dilan was standing there, books tucked under one arm. "Were you still asleep? You're going to be late!"

Braig looked up at him... then smiled broadly. "Dilan, I love you."

Blink. Blink. "Uh... love you too... but if you don't get a move on..."

He laughed and turned away, heading for his dresser to change clothes. "I'm gettin', I'm gettin'! Hold your horses."

As he grabbed his book bag and shoved his feet into a pair of beat up sneakers, he snuck a glance over his shoulder, back at the mirror... but there was nothing strange there, simply his own reflection, and Dilan making impatient faces. Nothing... out of the ordinary.

...Weird.

Even If It Kills Me [2/1 - Xigbar/Xemnas]

2008-02-21T23:53:10Z

Title: Even If It Kills Me
Pairing: 2/1 - Xigbar/Xemnas
Written For: the month of February! It's a little late, but I'm catching up.
Type: food for thought
Rating: PG

"So, your grand organization XIII is down to a grand four." The sarcastic voice cut through the thick silence blanketing the World that Never Was.

Xemnas paused, hands poised above the keyboard, but he didn't look up. "Your point is, Number Two?"

Xigbar strode forward, grabbing Xemnas's shoulder and yanking him around. "You knew, didn't you? You knew it was going to end up like this."

"I did not." He met the Freeshooter's eye easily.

"You're so full of shit, Xemnas. We always knew it, we just didn't know how pigheaded and stubborn you were. Five Nobodies slaughtered in Castle Oblivion? OKAY. Let's send Demyx on a mission to his death! Let's sic so many Dusks on Axel that he has to blow himself up to get rid of them!" He threw up his hands, then shook his head. "Xaldin had the right of it. Get out while you can and go with a bang."

"I still fail to see your point, Xigbar," the Superior said quietly.

"My point? The point is, I'm done, Xem. I don't give a shit about Kingdom Hearts and to be honest, I never did. So I'm outta here - find someone else to be your little manslave." He pushed away from the bigger Nobody, making a show of heading for the door... then slowed as he got there, a hand coming up to rest on the doorframe. "You're... not gonna stop me?"

Xemnas's fingers trailed over the keys. "In case you hadn't noticed, I'm really not in any position to tell you what to do."

Xigbar's face snapped up. "Holy shit, dude." He frowned at his one and only superior. "You're scared, aren't you?"

"Fear is an emotion."

"Bullshit." Number Two moved closer, arms folded over his chest. "You can't possibly still think we don't have emotions."

"Anger, fear, hatred........ all is lost to us."

Suddenly, without warning, Xigbar grabbed hold of Xemnas's face, pulling him closer, forcing their eyes to meet. "Xehanort..." He swallowed heavily. "It's you. Don't you get it? God, you're so full of shit and you never even knew it. You're different from us, dude... you always have been. Maybe you never had a heart..." The hands dropped and Xigbar turned away, unable to look at him any more. "...But I did."

There was a long silence, Xemnas staring at the back of Xigbar's head, his face still an emotionless mask. Then the freeshooter moved again, his body moving with a grace that had only been improved since becoming a Nobody.

"Where are you going?" Xemnas whispered.

"I'm following your orders..."

There was a slight crack in Xigbar's voice, and his hand shook as he summoned a portal.

"...Even if it kills me."

Wish This Love Away [the apprentices, PG]

2008-01-25T21:51:55Z

Title: Wish This Love Away
Written For: kingdom100, prompt- 033. Cold
Claim: Ansem's Apprentices
Rating/Type: PG and flangst

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!!!

It was times like this that Even remembered why he hated Braig so much. It had to be before noon - on a Saturday!! What was his problem?!

He rolled over and grabbed for the bedside clock as the knocks came again, more urgent this time. "Even, get up!"

Holy SHIT. Was he seeing things?? It could not be 6:00am. That was ridiculous. Even turned over and let his eyes snap shut.

"E.VEN." Braig tried the door, and - amazingly - it opened. He dashed into the room, grabbed Even's dark blue comforter, and yanked it off.

Even shot up. "BRAIG-" but he stopped, noticing the finger that Braig held to his lips. Shhh.

Even frowned, then reached out and fumbled on the nightstand for his glasses. "Braig," he whispered. "What are you - "

"Put on your coat," Braig murmured, his yellow eyes gleaming in the moonlight.

Even sighed - but he was up already, he might as well. "Fine..." he realized he was only wearing a t-shirt and flannel sleep pants, and flushed. "Gah! Turn around... let me change."

"Just put on some jeans and a coat," Braig hissed, though he did turn around. "And gloves. Definitely gloves."

"Are you taking me outside?" Even asked suspciously. The temperature had dropped sharply in the past few days, and it was COLD. He pulled on a long-sleeved shirt and a turtleneck sweater before Braig even replied.

"Yeah - bundle up!" Braig shifted from foot to foot, impatient. He had on his own clunky combat boots, jeans, and a worn old leather jacket.

"Bleh," was Even's response to this. Why did it have to be so cold? He hated cold, especially cold winds with no snow. He pulled on his gray parka-styled jacket, a fuzzy blue scarf, and white mittens. Finally, he shoved his feet into ugly blue snow boots. "Fine... let's go."

Suddenly, Braig grabbed his hand - dragged him quickly out of his room and down the hall.

"ACK! Braig..."

But the older apprentice held up that finger again. Shhh.

Down the spiral staircase, through the lower kitchen, across the great hall... as they burst into the foyer, Braig spun around and clamped his hands over Even's eyes, provoking another squeak. "What are you - " But he got his answer soon enough, as Braig guided him forward, towards the castle doors.

Even was quiet, suddenly realizing what he might... possibly... be doing.

Braig kicked the door open, pushed Even forward, and lifted away his hands.

Even as he suspected it, he still managed to to be caught by surprise - the deep violet sky, absent of stars... the deathly quiet settled over the Radiant Garden...

And the snow, falling from the sky to blanket the earth with perfect white.

~

Braig was wrapped up in Dilan's scarf, curled in his arms, the bigger man's body acting as a buffer form the fierce winds. They murmured in an undertone, chees rosy from the cold, smiling like the world didn't even exist.

And five steps behind them, as usual, Even stewed in his own private puddle of jealousy. It was cold, windy, and Dilan and Braig were being cute. Simply put, Even was miserable.

Braig peered over his shoulder and caught sight of the chilly apprentice. "Don't you just loooove winter?" he teased, mistaking the look on Even's face for simple aggravation at the weather.

But Even surprised him by giving a serious answer. "Winter is my favorite season," he replied, his eyes two frozen chips of jade.

Braig blinked. "But don't you hate the cold?"

"I hate the cold," Even muttered. "But I love snow."

~

How could he have remembered? It was so long ago - did he understand, did he know how much of an understatement that little phrase was?

His heart lodged in his throat and he couldn't speak, his eyes doing all the talking as they drank in the beauty.

"I just thought you might want to get up a little early today," Braig murmured, smiling softly at the look of enchantment on Even's face.

"It's... I..." Even swallowed hard. He did know. "T-thank you."

"You're welcome," Braig replied easily, trotting out into the snow. There was a good eight inches already. "See, I'm not always a coldhearted bitch," he tossed back over his shoulder with a grin.

Even shook his head, following with graceful steps. "I never said you were coldhearted," he muttered, turning his face up to the snowflakes... sighed deeply in the bottom of his soul. For the thousandth time, he wished the cold didn't affect him so badly, so he could enjoy the best parts of his favorite season without feeling his very bones ache. As it was, he was already beginning to shiver.

"No..." Why did Braig's voice sound so close? "...you're the cold one," he whispered, and suddenly Even felt arms around him, pulling him close.

His heart raced wildly, his breath caught, but more than that... he stopped shivering, drinking in the warmth of Braig's arms. "You..."

But Braig held up a finger to his lips. Shhh.

They stood there in the virginal silence of the predawn, holding each other as the snow fell in blankets around them.

A memory, tucked away in the corner of his mind. That's all this would become.

A memory of warmth in the cold, of love in the silence, of hearts in the snow.

And Even's heart of ice, silently breaking.

you know that
you are more than i can handle.
i tremble
as i watch you from afar.
i make up
stupid songs about your beauty
and i sing them to myself
by myself
all night long.

and i wish this love away
although it kills to say
i wish this love away
from me.

you told me
i was everything you wanted
controlled me
every second of every day
you reached into my heart
and pulled out something i had never seen, before
now...

now i wish this love away
although it kills to say
i wish this love away
from me.

am i showing
how weak i am without
is it the knowing
that you'll be fine...

you know that
you are more than i can handle.

i wish this love away
i wish this love away
i wish this love away
i wish this love away

Lonely No More [Aeleus/Ienzo, PG]

2008-01-24T22:22:08Z

Title: Lonely No More
Written For: x_izone and 7rainbowprompts, prompt set Blue, 1. Whispers in the Night
Type: fluff
Rating: PG

"Ienzo?"

"I can't sleep."

"You're welcome here."

"I tried counting sheep..."

"There's only one bed, but I'll sleep on the floor..."

"No, stay - I don't want to be lonely anymore."

'Til The End of Time [the Apprentices]

2008-01-05T19:59:59Z

Title: 'Til the End of Time
Claim: Ansem's Apprentices
Written For: kingdom100, prompt- 006. Water
Type/Rating: fluff/lol and PG

Ienzo called it the seashore, Braig called it the beach, and Dilan called it the ocean - but they were all going to the same place on this baking June morning. Having spent the past three days drowning in a pool of sweat and brainlessness, Ansem finally declared an impromptu holiday, and the whole gang packed up and headed for the sea.

Braig was the first one out of the car - he'd been hanging out the window almost the whole time. "OH YEAH!" he shouted, pumping his fist into the air. "Beach time!" In two seconds flat, he had grabbed his bag and took off for the sparkling line of water.

The others followed at a much saner pace, Dilan and Aeleus carrying two umbrellas and a cooler as well as their own bags. All five pitched in to make their little camp - the umbrellas placed perfectly to create maxium shade, an overlapping network of towels to lay on, and the cooler wedged in the sand within easy reach.

Xehanort, having done his duty, slid out of his white t-shirt and wandered down towards the edge of the shore... his skin tanned, it didn't burn, so he wasn't worried about the sun. Off in the distance, he could see a familiar figure bobbing in the waves.... Braig looked back and waved, grinning madly. Xehanort returned the grin and waded out to join him.

Dilan gave his shoulders and nose a cursory swipe with the sunscreen, then headed for the waves... halfway there, he saw a little pile of Braig's backpack, shirt, and sandals. With a sigh, he grabbed his friend's things and lugged them back to the umbrellas, and then headed out to join him.

Ienzo flipped on a pair of sunglasses, plopped down on his belly, and flipped open his book. He'd been reading all during the car ride, the book not even leaving his hands as they set up the umbrellas. Now he jumped right back into the story, ignoring the rest of the world.

Aeleus sat next to him and frowned. "You need to put sunscreen on."

"No I don't." It was an automatic reply; Ienzo didn't even look up.

"Yes, you do. Your skin is whiter than mine, and if I can burn, you can, too."

Ienzo ignored him.

Aeleus sighed, then poured some suntan lotion on his palms and rubbed his hands together. Then he placed his hands on Ienzo's back.

"Aaah! That's cold!" Ienzo jumped at the touch on his back, almost losing his page in the book. He glared at Aeleus over his shoulder. "Get off!" he snarled.

"I'm putting sunscreen on you. Go back to reading, you don't have to do anything." He began rubbing it in, subtly massaging at the same time.

Ienzo scowled. "Fine." He flopped back over and found his place again, ignoring everything except the story in front of him... but those hands on his back quickly became a comforting distraction.

Xehanort paused. The water was now up to his chest... and most of the people around him were elegantly (or, in some cases, quite INelegantly) drifting around, floating on the surface. He bit his lip. Braig was still farther in... He heard a splash next to him and looked over to see Dilan, bobbing up and down with the waves.

He frowned slightly, then turned back to looking for Braig - and spotted him, just in time to see a giant wave ground him into mincemeat.

Dilan chuckled. It was more from the alarmed look on Xehanort's face than anything... he took things way too seriously. "He'll be fine. It's just water."

Xehanort glared at him. "It looks dangerous," he muttered under his breath.

Dilan shrugged, swimming a little further out to sea. "Here he comes..."

Braig exploded from underwater, jumping up into the air, then splashed back down, making sure to get Xehanort as wet as humanly possible.

Glare. Of. DOOM.

Braig laughed at him. "C'mon, Snorty, it was funny and you know it."

Xehanort sighed. Braig was impossible, of course. "Whatever you say."

That was a dangerous thing to say to Braig, even in jest. "Then I say... we head further out!"

"Not too much further," Dilan cautioned. "Riptides are bad."

Xehanort was back to his scowling. "...I don't want to."

"What? Why?" Braig looked up at him, gold eyes wide.

Xehanort cringed under that honest gaze. "I... don't know how to swim."

"YOU WHAT?" Braig shot up from the water again. "Well, it's about damn time to learn!"

Xehanort's eyes widened. "What?"

"We're gonna teach you how to swim! Right, Dilan?"

Dilan smiled. "Sure."

"Well, it's a lot easier to swim in the ocean, because you can float. All you gotta do is jump right in, and keep moving..."

Back on the shore, Even finally plopped down next to Ienzo and Aeleus. "Where have you been?" the older apprentice said, one big hand still resting on Ienzo's back.

Even flapped his hands vaguely in the direction of the boardwalk. "I was playing Pac-man." Out of all six, he was the only one still mostly clothed... he had on a white t-shirt and a green flannel shirt over it, with the sleeves rolled up. He curled up in the shade, tucking his knees under his chin... then leaned over and rummaged through the cooler.

Aeleus watched him, interested. "Are you actually going to eat something? On your own volition?"

Even snorted at him. "I do eat sometimes, you know." He pulled out a sandwich and delicately opened it, eating each part separately.

Aeleus waited for the snide commentary from Ienzo... but it didn't come. He peered down at his friend, then smiled. He'd fallen asleep, his cheek pillowed on top of his crossed wrists.

Even frowned. He disliked the heat, but he also disliked uncovering himself any more than was strictly necessary... but the temperature was winning out. Ugh. It was just so hot. He finished off his sandwich, then stood up and stripped off his shirts. "Aeleus, where'd that sunscreen go?"

Aeleus lifted his hand from Ienzo's back to grab the bottle - then stopped as he heard a strange 'mmrrr' noise from the young man. He grinned and passed Even the sunscreen... then returned his hand to its original position. Ienzo smiled, in his sleep.

Even began sunscreening himself - he was horribly pale, and any inch of skin left uncovered was sure to be lobster-colored by the evening.

That is, until he felt the bottle yanked from his hands.

He whipped around, knowing exactly who he'd find there. "Braig!!"

Braig was... wet. And tan, and his hair was down, and he was holding the sunscreen and grinning like a doofus. An evil doofus. "Whaaat?" he drawled.

"Give that back!"

"Come and get it!"

And with that, they took off running, winding around blankets and umbrellas, tripping over sandcastles, and scaring seagulls into flight. They ran down to the other end of the beach - where the rocks got bigger, until there was more rock than sand.

Braig leapt over the craggy ledges gracefully, perfectly balanced. Even, on the other hand, stumbled and cursed his way up the rocks, finally collapsing next to Braig in a heap, completely out of breath.

However, the next words out of his mouth were, "Why did you stop?"

Braig grinned. He pointed down - and Even gasped, all thought of the climb evaporating. "Tide pool," Braig said, a superior smirk on his face.

Even's eyes shone. "Wow," he breathed. "Look! Is that a sea urchin?"

"Sure is." Braig leaned down for a closer look; he was just as fascinated as the young scientist. "Don't grab it by the spikes; they'll just come off."

"I know that," Even muttered crossly. "I'm not going to touch it. Starfish!"

"And mussels... mm, damn, that makes me hungry."

Even laughed. "Doesn't everything make you hungry?"

"Ha!" Braig snorted. "You're right! But mussels are taaasty." He pried a few from the rocks. "Hey, if we could find a bucket, there's probably enough out here to make dinner or something."

Even was examining a delicate conch shell. "Hmmm?"

"I'm serious. Have you ever tried them? Cooked with butter... oh man, now I'm really hungry."

"I don't like seafood," Even muttered.

"Have you ever tried it?" Braig pressed the question again, tossing his hair over his shoulder.

"...No."

"Then you should at least give it a go. Not all seafood tastes the same." Braig bounced around the rocks for a bit, hopping here and there. "Man! I wish I had a bucket."

Even frowned, poking his fingers into another shell. "Your hair looks funny."

"What, the highlights?" Braig shook his head; his hair was starting to dry out. It was an inch past his shoulder blades now. "Yeah, they only come out in the sun. I wish they were there all the time... I could dye them cool colors and stuff."

"Why don't you just bleach it?" Even was having trouble suppressing the urge to touch the sea urchin.

Braig was crouched over another pool a little lower down. "Huh? Oh. That'd be too much work... besides, I like the way they look in the sunlight. I just need to live somewhere that's sunny all the time." He popped off a few more mussels.

"Hm, good luck with that," Even replied with a sarcastic eyeroll. "Hey... where did you put that sunscreen??"

Braig grinned over his shoulder. "Wouldn't you like to know."

"Aargh!" Even jumped up, the sea urchin forgotten. "Give it back already! I'm going to have weird sunburn patches!"

Braig stuck out his tongue. "Sucks to be you!" And he took off, hopping over the rocks back in the direction of their camp.

"YOU SUCK!"

Ienzo groggily lifted his head from his book. "....buh?"

There was a soft chuckle to his right. He looked over and blinked - shit, his hair was in the way again. "Muh?" He really wasn't doing too well on the talking thing, was he.

Xehanort reached over and patted him on the head. "You were asleep."

"...Oh." Ienzo pushed himself up to a sitting position, his sleepy muscles protesting the motion. "Where's Aeleus?" he mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

"I believe Aeleus and Dilan headed for the arcade... something about an air hockey tournament?" Xehanort pushed a strand of white hair behind his ear; the wind was fussing with it.

"Oh." He pouted and stared out at sea for a bit... then scooted over and poked sand through his toes. He wished Aeleus would come back... he was bored and he didn't like air hockey.

The sudden liftoff of a group of nearby seagulls was the only warning they got. Braig crashed into the blankets, sending up sand in clouds - and Even was right behind him, tripped over Braig's feet, and fell on top of him.

Chaos ensued.

Ienzo and Even were still screaming at the top of their lungs by the time Dilan and Aeleus got back, out of breath from an intense match, but very happy. Braig was simply laughing - curled up on his side, holding his stomach, and laughing. Xehanort simply watched.

Aeleus frowned down at Ienzo. "What's wrong?"

"He... They... got sand... up my nose!!!"

"It's HIS FAULT!" Even snarled, pointing an accusing finger at Braig.

Braig snorted. "You didn't have to fall on top of me!"

Dilan rolled his eyes and sighed. "Come on, Even. Everything is Braig's fault. Isn't that the first rule of Radiant Garden?"

"No!" Braig sat up on his elbows. There was sand everywhere. "Rule Number One of Radiant Garden - Xehanort is a girly man!"

"I'm what?!"

"Rule Number TWO - Everything is Braig's fault."

Ienzo was finally calming down a little, mostly beacuse Aeleus was there. "Then what's Rule Number Three?"

Braig rolled his eyes. "Easy - Dilan sleeps with stuf-" But he never finished, because Dilan kicked sand into his face. "HEY!" He jumped up to a standing position in record time, then ran for Dilan, who had already turned and made for the ocean. "GET BACK HERE!"

The remaining four watched them go with a small amount of relief... it was quieter when Braig and Even weren't so close to each other.

Even was trying to shake the sand out of his hair, when he remembered. "Oh! Guys! Come this way - Braig showed me something awesome!"

They all got up, even Xehanort, though the comment hadn't specifically been directed at him. Aeleus grinned. "You and Braig actually had a conversation?"

Even stuck out his tongue. "Me and Braig get along fine, when he's not actively trying to piss me off."

"...Which is all the time," Ienzo pointed out.

"Almost all the time. Almost. There's a difference." He pointed at the rocky outcroppings - jeez, they'd run a long way. No wonder he was out of breath. "It's over there - you're going to love it, I promise."

"Is it a poisonous sea viper?" Ienzo asked casually.

"What? No!"

"Is it a rock lobster?"

"N- well, actually there could be rock lobsters. I didn't see one."

"What about jellyfish? Are you going to get us stung by jellyfish?"

"No! Just shut up and see for yourself!"

"Is it - "

"Ienzo." Aeleus's voice cut through their bantering. "Shut up."

Ienzo frowned, disgruntled, but shoved his hands in his pockets and obediently shut his mouth.

They crested the same ledge that Even had fallen on, and Even smiled as he saw Ienzo's eyes light up... for all that he was eighteen, he was still in many ways a little kid.

"Wow!" Ienzo clambered down the rocks, getting right up close to the pool. "Sea urchins! And mussels! And..." he named a bunch of other things that Even had never heard of. "...And no rock lobsters." He glared up at Even. "Why did you bring me here if there are no rock lobsters?!"

Even raised an eyebrow. "...Just enjoy the damn pool, Ienzo."

As it turned out, that was biggest one in the small cluster of tide pools. Ienzo and Aeleus talked about exoskeletons in low undertones, poring over the multitude of life forms in the pool. Even was busy trying to figure out how he could grab one of the sea urchins without breaking the spines off... or hurting his hand. It was a very intense train of thought.

Xehanort lay back against the warm stone and sighed, his thoughts filled with that fuzzy warmth that comes of being out in the sun all day doing nothing in good company. His eyes slid closed... the sun would be setting soon, and that would mean this day was over. It was a perfect day, and he never wanted it to end.

They walked along the beach as the sun dipped low in the sky, casting an orange glow over everything and everyone. They held hands, for once not caring who saw them or what they might say. They walked in perfect tandem, the taller one shortening his steps just enough, the smaller one picking up his pace.

They walked along the beach as the sun set, perfectly content to be together. "I love you," one said to the other, as one would say, 'The sky is blue today.'

He smiled back at him. "I love you too."

x_igrab @ 2007-12-08T09:13:00

2007-12-08T14:21:10Z

Okay okay, so, some news.

I haz a new personal journal, because I didn't want to spend too much time babbling here >_>; it's nabirabi. Go friend meeee.

Second order of business - I have lots of Christmas cards to send out ^.^ if you care to know, I'm sending cards to THEEESE PEOPLE: Kibby, Myde, Koko, Ada, Lufi, Celi, Giffy, RS, Bouncy, Ria, Jezzi, Marlu, Cali... am I forgetting anyone? Probably.

:3 I was going to write everyone Christmas fic, but uh... that idea died D: instead, I'm writing a fantastically long and hilarious all-org Christmas fic. ENJOI IT WHEN IT COMES.

...I'm starting to get sick of Christmas. Comes of working in a Christmas store, ne?

HAPPY LARXEL DAY, FOO'S!

Handful of Drabblage

2007-12-08T13:51:47Z

a series of drabbles from the anonymous whateverquest :3

Title: Extra Energy
Pairing: Axel/Demyx, Luxord/Xigbar
Prompt: Mountain Dew

"Danger zone."

Luxord raised an eyebrow. They're having sex again?? Geez, don't they ever -

Xigbar knew what he was thinking, and shook his head. "No, dude - it's worse. Someone gave Demyx Mountain Dew."

Luxord just stared for a long moment, then shook his head sadly. "I feel sorry for Axel..."

Xigbar cackled loudly. "Are you kidding?? He signed up for this the second he started sleeping with him!! And besides... it's probably beneficial... all the extra energy..."

Luxord narrowed his eyes. "I suppose you're right..."

Snort. "Of course I'm right."

"You don't happen to know who gave Demyx said beverage, do you now?"

A wicked sparkle had come over Xigbar's eyes. "Of course not."

"And this person wouldn't happen to be hoping for a sugar-induced threesome, now would he?"

The smile remained firmly fixed in place. "Of couuuurse not."

"Because if so, this person isn't getting any from his primary tonight."

The grin fell right off his face. "LUXORD!!!"

"...Unless I can join in, of course," the blond continued smoothly, a smile of his own gracing his features.

"Deal!"

Title: Demeaning
Pairing: Marluxia/Larxene
Prompt: Karaoke

"This is dumb!"

"Please?"

"So freaking DUMB!"

"Please??"

"And demeaning, did I mention demeaning?"

"Please???"

"This is totally below me. And if you dare even THINK about giving me puppy eyes I will slaughter you."

So he didn't. In fact, he completely schooled his face clear of emotion... except for one tiny glimmer at the corner of his eyes.

That. THAT. That... never failed to catch at a heart that shouldn't be there, and she sighed. "You fight dirty, darling."

"And you fall for it... every time."

"You're a charming, charming man." A slow smirk crawled on her face. "With many a cunning wile, and boatloads of sexual appeal, and I should just be falling all over my feet to fulfill your every desire..."

Marluxia scowled. Now she was just playing with him, and that was cruel.

"...but the answer is still no." She shook her head slowly, eyebrows raised, so the point would sink in. "I will not - I repeat, will not - sing 'My Heart Will Go On', karaoke or not!"

Title: Normal Human Functions
Pairing: Axel/Zexion
Prompt: Pudding

"What... is that."

"Pudding, dumbshit."

"..." Zexion kept silent, he didn't want the stupid redhead to know that he didn't know what it was. Correction. He'd never HAD it. He knew what pudding was, obviously... he'd heard of it, at least... well, he'd heard Dilan and Braig... aaand that was another train of thought altogether.

Blushing? The iceman blushing? Axel leaned forward, his mouth gaping open, trying to see if it was true.

"...What. Are. You. Doing."

Uh... what? Axel realized he was almost dribbling over the table and shut his mouth, then licked his lips. Ooh. Mm. Pudding.

Zexion b-blushed.

DUDE. He did it again! Axel's eyes widened. "Dude, you really do blush!"

"It's a normal human function!" Zexion snarled back automatically. That pudding looked yummy. So did Axel's tongue. BAD THOUGHT.

Axel licked his lips again, then grinned rather predatorily. "So... wanna kiss?"

"WHAT?!"

Title: Balls
Pairing: Axel/Roxas/Demyx
Prompt: disco balls

"Dude... balls."

"What?" Roxas looked up; it was friggin cold and he didn't like taking his face out of the warm scarf. "...Yes, Demyx. Balls. Congratulations. Do you want a - " medal, he was about to say, with as much sarcasm and snipe as he possibly could, when something - or, rather, someone - crashed into his back with a little more force than necessary. "WATCH IT!" he snarled.

Axel leaned over and kissed Roxas on the cheek. "Don't be mad..."

"Axel, look! Giant sparkly BALLS!"

Axel looked up at Demyx, then pulled him close and slung an arm around his shoulders. "Well, well; they certainly ARE. Giant. Sparkly... balls..." he was trying desperately not to crack up.

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Come on, Dem, let's go. We can leave this idiot with his damn balls," he muttered, shrugged Axel off of him and taking Demyx's hand.

Demyx was happy enough to move on, having pointed out the amusingly obvious, but Axel grabbed both of them.

"Oh no you don't. My 'damn balls', as you say, aren't going anywhere." He made it quite clear exactly what he was talking about.

Roxas blushed crimson. "A-Axel!"

Demyx just grinned; the edge of a smirk on his face. "Hey Axel, let's get a disco ball."

"W-why?!" Roxas was still quite flustered from the gratuitous gropage.

Axel shrugged. "Sure, why not... we can hang it in our room and have a party."

"I'm not letting you hang that thing in our room," Roxas butted in quickly, before they could think of any more stupid ideas.

Demyx gasped. "I know! Let's get one for the Superior! Like a birthday present or something!"

Axel and Roxas eyed each other - maybe not as a birthday present, but... well, it would be an interesting experiment to see how long it distracted Xemnas from, yano, taking over Kingdom Hearts.

"Sure Demyx. Happy birthday, Mansex!"

Title: Precious Memories
Pairing: Zexion/Roxas
Prompt: memories

"You don't remember... anything?"

Roxas shook his head. He could barely remember the raw basics - speaking, reading, walking. He couldn't remember his name.

Zexion clenched his jaw and glared off into the distance. His memories... they were precious to him now, precious because of what he'd lost and what he'd given up. "Come here," he finally said, his voice sharp and gruff, cutting through the thick library dust.

Roxas obeyed - he didn't know what else to do, what else was possible.

"I'm going to tell you a story about love..."

Title: To The Future
Pairing: Demyx/Roxas/Sora
Prompt: flowers

They lay in a field of flowers, daisies in fact, though how Roxas knew that was beyond Sora. Demyx wasn't surprised by it; and Sora just wasn't smart enough to put two and two together.

They were real again, they were whole again, they were together again.

Roxas picked a daisy and twirled it quietly in his fingers, then tentatively - shyly, he had the face for it if not the personality - held it out in Sora's direction.

Sora took it, looking puzzled, but Demyx smiled. He, too, held a daisy from Roxas. "To the future," he murmured, and they raised their flowers in some sort of stupid toast.

To the future.

Title: Overpowering
Pairing: Marluxia/Zexion
Prompt: scents

The door flew open and banged against the wall.

"That was uncalled for!" Marluxia's voice sailed from a nether region of his... oh god, Zexion thought, disgusted. It wasn't even a room anymore. A more accurate term would be 'greenhouse'... or just plain 'garden'.

His nose crinkled and he swallowed, hard. The scent was overpowering. He tried to take another step, into the garden, but he just knew that if he did, the grass would be crushed under his feet and knowing Number Twelve, that probably gave off a strong scent as well... Zexion sagged against the doorframe, breathing shallowly. He'd completely forgotten what he'd come to complain to the Assassin about, or maybe it had been orders from the Superior? Never mind, Zexion thought, shaking his head and trying to clamp his nose and ignore the scent. I'm going to kill him for this anyway, so the point is moot.

{ + }

And that's it!

x_igrab @ 2007-11-01T13:16:00

2007-11-01T17:14:52Z

OKAY GUYZ. Nanowrimo is HERE... and of course, this is exactly right when I get internet back. Ugh.

....if you haven't already and you want to, friend my NaNo journal, canicallyouhaku. I won't be checking this one much over the course of November.

HOWEVER.

If you haven't already, PLEASE add me on AIM and Skype and YIM - and if you don't have either of those, either GET ONE, or tell me what kind of messaging thing you use so I can talk. I love babbling and writing at the same time, but I just plain won't have the time to check boatloads of KH livejournal stuff.

SO HERE -

AIM: WakingYourWinds
Skype: x-igrab
YIM: liacoraginger

so thar. Also, TEXT ME!! Or call me. Gimme your cell number so I can call/text youuuu! Especially if you have Verizon, because then it's FREE! my number is 9087838726. Yes, I know I'm putting my number on the netz, but it's already all over deviantart anyway.

*sigh* now I has to go make a post in iship_ot13 and see if I can get someone to run the challenges while I'm gone... I already suck as a mod... XD but I knew that already.

SO YEAH. THAT'S THE NEWS.