Disclaimer: I don't own the characters.

They are not going to get us.

The bloodloss made it hard to concentrate. Xigbar just teleported in the hope he got at the right place. It turned out he did. Granted he and the rest ended up a metre above the floor but that didn't matter. He fell down in a haystack. The gunner desperatly scanned the inviroment hoping that he was at the right place. He saw Luxord and for a second he felt relieved.

Luxord was still okay. Thank the gods he was still okay....

Xigbar's world faded to dark not too long after that.

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Luxord craweled out the haystack cursing like there would be no tomorrow.

'If I was you I would start being concerned about Xigbar...He didn't look all too well when he teleported you out.'

He suddenly saw the fainted gunner.

All the blood drained from his face. Then without thinking he ran over to the unconsious gunner.

"Xig? Xig?!" He shook the limp body. "Xigbar?!"

Still no respond.

'Potion...'

Luxord didn't remember why he started to carry a potion around, probably because off some stupid stunt Xigbar once pulled. This time he didn't regret it. He pulled the cork off with his teeth, forced the mouth off the gunner open and poured the potion down his throat. It was a relief on itself to see that the gunner still swallowed by himself.

"Holy shit... Is he going to be okay?"

Part of the gambler shot up in surprise when he heard Axel. Then it clicked.

"I don't know....Demyx can heal right?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Get that cloth off the ship over there so that we can leave."

"Ship?"

"Yes, a gummi ship. I obtained it while I was still in the organization."

Ah yes. How he got that ship was one off the most embarresing stories about the gambler and also the one that made Xigbar laugh the loudest. It was the epic tale of Luxord his first mission and it contained pirates, Sora, a drunk party, a sea godess, some gallons of rum and Luxord proposing to a mob. Somehow he ended up with the keys of the ship and later he parked it here.

The gambler pointed. "Over there."

He hardly noticed Axel running away.

'Xigbar...Please don't die.... Not yet... Not now...'

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[flashback]

They were running for their lives.... Again.

Xigbar didn't know what came over him but still turned his head to Luxord.

"Lux? If we survive this...Marry me?"

"Why not?!"

After their escape the gunner had bought the 2 small golden rings. As a promise. Luxord had bought two silver chains to hang the rings on. Neither had token them off since then.

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Everybody looked in shocked silence to the red proof.

"No fucking way. Saïx? Dead?"

Xaldin nodded. "It looks like that... I mean the proof never lies so...." He halted mid sentence.

"No.....no.....no fucking way..."

"Xaldin what's..." Larxene halted when she saw it. "Oh no....The idiot..."

The remaining members of the organisation turned their heads. Xigbar his proof had turned purple and was starting to turn completely red.

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Leaving Xigbar at the hospital was one of the hardest things Luxord had ever done. But he had to. Demyx couldn't heal Xigbar completely no matter how hard he tried. And dragging Xigbar along on their crazy escape attempts wasn't an option.

So the gambler had dumped some of Xigbar his personal stuff in a backpack, wrote a small letter of their plans and dumped the gunner at the hospital. He had stayed until someone took Xigbar in. It was the best he could do.

Luxord started the engine of the car and drove back to the hideout. He sighed. At times like this he grew tired of the case. Sometimes he even wanted to give up. Xigbar had never allowed him to.

"I know Lux, I know... But see it this way. If it's this hard to get what you want then it must be worth it, right?"

Luxord believed that. But still...

"Ow come on capt'n... Ya never quit! Besides... Nobody likes a bad loser. Better ta give ya best and fail then sulking like a big baby and not even trying... Jes' my opinion."

Seth had once said that to him. He closed his eyes for a second. Today he had lost a friend and might even lose his lover.

"Okay who are ya? And what have ya done whit ma capt'n?!"

"Seth, you bloody fool! It IS me!"

"Don't lie ta me ya shithead! My captain is NOT a whiny bitch like you! So snap out off it and act like a man dammit!"

Luxord couldn't help the sad smile when he reminded that. It had been one off the few times he really hadn't known what to do and had started to despair. Seth didn't accept that. He had, kinda forcefully, dragged his captain out of that. Hell, they even had started fighting.

But in the end it had been what Luxord needed. He snorted. Here he was whining again. Bad habits died hard he guessed.

The gambler smiled a sad smile. He had made his choices and he had recieved his cards. He couldn't step out off the game so he was left with no choice but continuing to play. And hey, he had played with worse cards and still had he won. So how bad could it be?

Luxord tried not to think about that.

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[flashback]

"ya know capt'n. Ya never really told me why yer looking fer that guy. Ya know, the cloaked one."

Rould stared hardly surprised to his first mate.

"Well.... It's a long story."

"Do tell. And we've still got plenty of rum so... What's stopping ya?"

Rould laughed. "What would you do when I told you that I origionally come from a different world?"

"Check if there is still as much rum left as I thought there was."

It was the way how Seth said it that made him laugh. A serious tone you usually never got from the pyro. Even when fighting he still had the tendency to giggle the moment he saw fire.

"It's true though."

Seth stared and sat down. "Tell me.... Pretty please?"

"Well... I come from a more... Modern world called Radiant Garden."

"Hate to say it but that is one gay name if ya ask me"

"Doesn't matter... Anyway my father was a pretty important person there. And as a result, children didn't like me that much. My first friends you could say were my fathers apprentices. I got along with those guys. But then came the last one. A guy called Xenahort."

"Talk about fucked up names..."

"Yeah well... the apprentice I got along with the best started to hang around with him... Granted I was jealous. Anyway, not too long after some fight between my father and Xenahort, my father dissapeared. Some was for the other apprentices. I was scared"

"Can believe that. Wha' happen'd?"

"I've got reasons to believe that their hearts were stolen. By those shadows."

"Ya mean the little cute black things? Ya know, the one from which our navigator wanted one as pet."

"Exactly. In the end there was this huge attack of those things on my when I thought I was going to die, the black cloaked man appeared."

"Black knight on a white horse?"

"Try black knight standing on air. He shot those shadows with some weird looking purple gun. Then he grabbed me and teleported me to this place."

"Just like that?"

"He only said: 'For old times sake kid.' And the he left."

Seth stared at this captain. "Can I ask you something else capt'n?"

"Shoot."

"Those shadows steal hearts right? And ya said ya think those apprentices lost their hearts right?"

"Yes. What's your point?"

"Ya think.... If ya let ya heart get stolen... You'll see them again?"

At that comment Rould went silent. Seth stayed with him for a while and left later for olok out duty.

When they were attacked 10 days later by those shadows, Seth was the only one who wasn't surprised when their captain stayed behind to give them a chance for escaping. Nor was he suprised that his captain didn't come back.

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"You asked for me sir?"

Xaldin didn't like the look on Xemnas his face. He could have handeled it if he was angry or sad, not that they could feel but who cared? After all, nobodies pretended. But Xemnas his face was empty.

A real nobody.

Xaldin surpressed the shudder that treatend to race through his spine.

Xemnas looked up, like he hadn't noticed that the lancer had entered.

"Aah yes, number three," even his voice lacked the usual intonation, "Would you mind taking the other members to Castle Oblivion?"

"Of cousre I ask why?"

Xemnas turned to the window and looked out.

"I think.... that I need some time alone."

The lancer only replied with a "Yes sir."

"Xaldin... From this moment forth you are the leader of the organization. You do what you think you should do. It's your responsibility from now. I've ... got other business to attend too."

He didn't need to explain that. On some level all the remaining members understood that Xemnas wanted revenge.

When all was said Xaldin left the room and released the sigh of relief. He hoped the others were fine. The proof had slowly started to turn to it's normal colour, much to Xemnas his dismay, still Xaldin was worried.

In those days Braig was almost like a brother to him. Frankly it meant that he also should know that Xigbar wouldn't die simply because he was to stubborn.

The worlds had only one Xigbar, and he felt obliged to stay around as long as possible. Even if he was a complete pain in the ass.

The door to the common room clicked open. All the heads shot up when the lancer entered the room.

"People, get your stuf. We're going to Castle Oblivion."

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"So Luxord. What's the plan?"

For some reason everybody thought he was the leader. Frankly it annoyed Luxord. It wasn't like he asked for any off this shit.

There you go again capt'n. Cut the whining, it's not gonna change the situation. Deal with it one step at the time. It'll work out.

And now voices in his head started to give him advice. Way to go...

The gambler looked at Demyx his worried face and Axel his, for once, serious face.

"We're going to we're Xigbar and I agreed upon as meeting point in case we would get seperated..."

The gambler stroked his beard in a nervous gesture and said, "We're going to Castle Oblivion. It's not like the organization resides there. Probably it's the safest place we can go to because Xemnas will never expect that."

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A.N. I can only say: "Sorry for the extreme late update"

(And sorry for the spelling mistakes. My spellingscorrector decided one day that he didn't like me anymore and refused correcting ever since.)