Chapter: 000 - Prologue

Chapter: 000 - Prologue

Location: Castle Oblivion.

Characters: Vexen, Lexaeus, Zexion, Axel, Marluxia, Larxene

Rating/warnings: PG-13. Some swearing, issues of character death.

Summary: The Keybearers and their allies have emerged victorious and Oblivion has fallen. An era has come to an end, and a new tale is just beginning.

Chapter 000 : Castle Oblivion - Prologue.

Marluxia slowly surfaced.

There was darkness and voices; angry voices raised in heated debate, but slurred and muffled, as though coming from a far distance.

Everything seemed heavy and slow, and he focused on the sound, tried to make out the words. He knew these voices, he was sure of that, but couldn't quite place them. Couldn't quite place anything, truthfully.

" Sure is taking his time to wake up. Why did you have to bring him back for, anyway?" a sulky voice muttered, and somehow he knew it belonged to a fox-like man with red hair and false tears on his cheeks.

" Because, you traitorous little piece of filth, we need to bring him before the Superior for judgement like the rest of you," another voice, high-pitched with rage, snarled in response.

The traitorous piece of filth in question merely snorted.

" To be your scapegoat, you mean?"

" To pay for his crimes! You three will be brought back before the Organization to…"

A sharp voice cut in, shrill with anger and resentment.

" You just try that, Vexen, and I'll have three knives in your guts before you even start to move. I'd aim for your balls, but it's not as though you have any."

" How dare you!"

Larxene, his sluggish mind supplied. Larxene in an unusually foul mood at that.

" Besides, old man, your own hands aren't exactly clean."

A very foul mood indeed.

" Just what are you implying?" Vexen hissed, still furious, but a wary note had crept into his voice. Larxene scoffed.

" You throw us to the wolves, we drag you down with us. You made a replica of a keybearer and then lost all control of it; you created another powerful enemy of the Organization! Your science really is a laugh."

" Shut up! Just shut up, you little, you little…"

" Bitch," Axel helpfully supplied.

Yes. Axel. The fox-faced one.

" And don't forget Twilight Town," he added.

" Oh, that's right! That one is precious; leading Sora to that oh-so-secret place to tell him little dirty secrets about his other half; very clever move, Vexen! Xemnas will just love that!"

The silence that followed was tense to the breaking point; if he strained his ears he could almost hear molars grinding.

" You know, they are right, Vexen. That was an incredibly stupid thing to do."

Impassionate yet slightly condescending.

Zexion.

" Well, if the two of you could have backed me up just for once, just for once doing something instead of just sitting around waiting for things to sort themselves out, it wouldn't have come to that, now would it?"

The elder Nobody's voice was near breaking, he was screaming at the top of his lungs again in profound self-righteous outrage.

" Calm down, Vexen."

Zexion sounded quite annoyed with his colleague, but once the man had exploded into a tantrum there was no stopping him.

" Don't you dare tell me to calm down! This is your fault, every bit as much as theirs! You two knew of their plans of treason, yet chose to do nothing! Don't think Xemnas won't judge you as well, if it comes to that!"

A low chuckle cut through the screaming; Axel again.

" What a mess. Everyone's hand in the cookie-jar, huh? This will turn out interesting. Who betrayed whom the most?"

There was a hiss, the sharp intakes of breaths as several people prepared to respond, and he winced faintly and braced himself for the outburst.

" Enough," a low voice rumbled, calm but firm. Lex..aeus?

" He is awake."

All the voices feel silent and with a conscious effort he pried his eyes open to blearily meet the collective glares from five pairs of eyes various shades of blue and green.

" What", he eloquently croaked, still too drained to think of a suitable response.

***

Even in the gloom of the basement room it was quite apparent that at least half of the figures staring at him looked ready to strangle him on the spot, and it was with perhaps a little less grace than he would have liked that he managed to haul himself to his feet, straighten, slide a gloved hand through his hair.

Control was important. Weakness never allowed.

" What happened here?"

Step in, take charge.

He was pleased that his voice was steady, no signs of his vulnerability showing.

" Everything went to hell," Axel sneered. The man really wasn't very helpful at all.

" Sora wiped the floor with you," Larxene chimed in. She could be dreadfully aggravating when she put her mind to it.

" You were dead," Vexen hissed, green eyes cold; cold and unforgiving. " I'm in half a mind to revert you to that state. It quite suited you."

He straightened and frowned irritably.

" How very helpful. If you are all quite done amusing yourselves with vague hints, can someone please tell me what actually happened?"

" Sora came, as planned," Larxene shrugged. " Only he wasn't alone. While we had our hands full with everything above the rats down here were busy coddling an uninvited keybearer all their own."

Ah, but that made some sort of sense. So that was where Vexen had gotten his samples.

" Riku."

" Yes. Riku. And the idiot scientist went and cloned him. Because more keybearers was just what we needed running about the castle."

" 'Idiot scientist'?! How dare you!"

" That thing attacked me," he frowned, ignoring Vexen's shriek. " Just as Sora was about to surrender."

" Well, at least it didn't kill you."

Zexion's voice was dripping with sarcastic bitterness. Axel smirked, a Cheshire grin gleaming in the half-light.

Ah, yes. Axel. Double-agent.

He fixed the lanky red-head with his most chilling lordly stare.

" I thought Sora killed you."

" Well, likewise. Doesn't seem to count for much these days. I was pretty sure you, Larxene and Lex had kicked the bucket, and I know for a fact Zexion and Vexen did. Only, apparently not."

" Murderous filth," Vexen hissed between his teeth.

Marluxia frowned deeply and looked around the group. Axel was right. At least half of them had been reported dead by the time he met the keybearer. And…I?

" We were all dead?"

" Not me," Axel chirped.

" That could be arranged," Lexaeus growled, the restrained but very potential violence apparent in his looming frame enough to at least temporarily wipe the smug grin from Axel's face. Thankfully.

It still made no sense.

" Can you then explain to me," he said with studied calm, "why it is we're all standing here now?"

" I could explain," Vexen declared, his cold voice the strained but ruthless crack of ice close to breaking. " But I doubt any of you dim-witted fools would understand it."

Marluxia blinked.

" You? You helped us?"

The utter fury in those too-green eyes was almost enough to make him take an instinctive step back.

" I helped Lexaeus. I thought he could be of use when everything started falling apart. Zexion as well. You three, however, shouldn't get too used to your briefly prolonged existence. The Superior will soon deal with you traitors accordingly."

Larxene scowled darkly, hands on her hips.

" You still think that's going to happen?"

He steeled himself to step in and ward of the inevitable argument before the shouting started again, but before anyone could say another word a low grinding rumble shook the entire castle to the core.

" Okaay," Axel finally said into the following solid, claustrophobic silence, letting go of his makeshift support which just happened to be Lexaeus.

" Again? What the hell was that?"

" The scents have changed," Zexion mumbled, listening to the heavy silence as intently as the rest of them.

" Xehanort's heartless' presence is much weaker, not entwined with Riku's the way it was before."

" They're all still here? In the castle?" Marluxia asked, his voice sharp.

Larxene gave a scornful giggle, but there was a nervous tinge to it.

" No, we told them shoo and they went away. Of course they are; why do you think we're huddled down here in the deepest bloody basement with the other rats?"

" Sora, the dog-knight and the duck-magician," Axel counted on his fingers. "Their mouse-king is here, too. And Riku. Don't know if the replica is still out and about."

" He's not" Vexen muttered. " I couldn't have retrieved Zexion if they were still entwined."

The short illusionist shuddered and shot a murderous glare in Axel's direction, then turned sharply as a thought struck him.

" Lexaeus, Vexen, there is… something else, too. I forgot to tell you, I caught a familiar scent when I faced Riku. I couldn't believe it at first, but now with Xehanort's scent faded from his I'm sure."

Something about the uncharacteristically low, almost choked voice sent an unpleasant tingle down Marluxia's spine and he found himself automatically clenching his hands, narrowing his eyes.

" Well? Out with it!" Vexen spat, apparently as mystified and edgy as the rest of them.

" It's him."

The high-strung scientist scowled impatiently.

" Him? Him who?"

" Him," Zexion repeated, then elaborated with obvious reluctance to speak the words out loud. " Our mentor and king. Master Ansem."

***

Never had any one word had such an impact on any of the elders that he could remember; Vexen went stark white and a few inaudible words escaped too-tight lips before he caught himself.

" Here? Now? But… that's impossible! How?"

" I don't know. But he is here. Real. Not an illusion like that Maleficent from Riku's memories."

Lexaeus was scowling deeply, but even the usually so stoic man seemed thoroughly shaken.

" Could he have followed Riku out of the Realm of Darkness?"

Zexion shrugged uncertainly.

" Possibly. Although I keep thinking if he had, I should have sensed him sooner. He's taken measures to disguise himself. Almost as though…"

" He knew we were here."

Zexion nodded. Vexen shuddered.

" If Master Ansem is here… With access to all our research… Everything we have done here…"

" And Naminé," Larxene filled in, the elders' apprehension dampening even her malicious mirth somewhat. Vexen grimaced.

" And Naminé. Damn it."

" Oohh, Xemnas will be so upset," she ruthlessly pressed on. " Still in a mood to go talk to him?"

" Maybe it's just me," Axel interrupted, " but if we have at least six known enemies, very powerful enemies, stomping around in the castle, perhaps we should think about relocating? I don't know about you, but I don't much feel like hanging around should they decide to search the place."

Larxene suspiciously crossed her arms.

" Relocate where?"

" We should of course return to Never Was to report," Vexen said, but his voice had lost its conviction, and he looked to his fellow elders for support.

Zexion frowned and looked around at the others.

" Perhaps… there is still some way we can salvage the situation. If given a bit of time."

Axel shrugged, but his innate restless nature was beginning to shine through, his patience visibly wearing thin.

" Maybe you can ask the keybearers to give you a moment when they come for us? I for one say we get the hell out now."

" Where to?" Larxene repeated, her voice sharp.

" I think, perhaps," Marluxia interceded smoothly, " that at this particular point the 'where to' is not quite as pressing as the 'what from'. The castle is apparently crawling with any and every powerful enemy the Organization has ever made. Zexion is right, we need to buy time. Time we will not get if we are discovered here while still weakened after the last… setback."

The word 'defeat' was much too bitter to willingly take into his mouth quite yet.

Zexion frowned, obviously not happy at suddenly finding his own words used to add credibility to any idea of the Assassin's.

" We need to buy time?" Vexen hissed, reminded of his anger. " There is no 'we'! Don't think your treason will be so easily forgotten!"

Marluxia fired the tall man an exasperated glare, his own fragile illusion of calm fraying at the edges.

" Would you rather let them pluck us off one by one? Again? Perhaps you would rather face your Master Ansem alone?"

That was nasty and petty and beneath him, he knew, but the expression that crossed the elders' faces was almost worth it.

" A truce then," Zexion reluctantly agreed. " For now."

The massive shadow that was Lexaeus nodded his agreement. Even Vexen kept quiet, which was probably the closest to assent he could be expected to come.

" Lovely," Axel drawled. " So we're out of here?"

" Good riddance," Larxene muttered. " Never did like the place."

Marluxia looked around one last time at pure pale marble walls almost invisible in the gloom.

His castle. His seat of power, his chance for greatness, the mighty foundation for a glorious future and apparently impossible dreams.

Damn, damn and thrice damn it all.

" Yes," he said and summoned all the sad vestiges of power he could muster to aimlessly open a corridor of darkness.

The others hesitated, then hurried after him in silence.