Loop

The difference between false memories and true ones is the same as for jewels: it is always the false ones that look the most real, the most brilliant. ~Salvador Dali

"Along the road ahead lies something you need."

He whirls; nothing but the full moon sits to great him, mocking him with the glinting starlight. He turns again and there they stand, a figure with a hood, short and curvy and feminine and resolutely familiar and he knows that person, he knows that voice.

"However, in order to claim it, you must lose something that is dear to you."

The voice is empty and lacks conviction but it rings in his ears anyway, the message itself slipping in one ear and out the other as he stares, awed. Darkness swirls and the figure fades away, leaving him alone with the crystalline fog of his breath and Donald's snores. He stares at the place that the girl disappeared, eyes impossibly large.

"Lexi?"

In a room of pure white, a soft young girl sits, pale hands clutching a colored pencil and a sketchpad as she draws; peering over her shoulder is a similarly pale though admittedly taller girl. A small doll sits caged in a corner, a necklace clutched in it's felt hand. The picture would be noticeably better had the blonde girl the right tools, but it is still a work of art, the slender features of a castle - of the castle - apparent, albeit more colorful on paper than in reality. The silver-haired girl squeezes her companion's shoulder before walking out of the room to find a pink-haired man preparing to greet Sora.

"XIV," he greets, peering into a compact mirror. His hair is layered to his shoulders and he smells distinctly of roses, and he pauses before turning to the hooded figure behind him. "Lexi, how do I look?"

"Stunning, my lord," the voice replies tonelessly, and Xandra takes a large step away from the girl. The Nobody and Heartless(at least, Xandra is fairly sure Lexi is a Heartless) always feel this sort of pull towards each other, and when they're too close they both began to flicker; Xandra's greatest fear is that she will one day disappear into the girl.

"Hmph." Marluxia is obviously not satisfied, though it's not as if it matters much; his hood will be up anyway. Xandra doesn't say that, though, because if she does she'll surely be punished, perhaps turned into a Dusk. Marluxia sighs before finally putting his hood up and gesturing to Lexi, who steps forwards; the male Nobody creates a corridor and the two step into it, reappearing at Oblivion's entrance room. Lexi glides to a corner and the now-anonymous man watches, amused, as the duck and the boy argue. Lexi mentally lables them - Bob, George, Sora.

...Sora?

"Sora!"

The door shuts quietly behind the hooded Nobody, and 'Bob' gapes at him. "That's it!" Sora calls, drawing his weapon. "Who are you?"

Marluxia's only response is to quietly walk forwards, his heeled boots clacking against the ground; Lexi glides with him, but for the first time in recent memory her mind is racing. Sora Sora Sora, the same Sora or a different Sora? Is there more than one? Sora...

"Wah! Heartless! Oh yeah?" 'George' calls in response to absolutely nothing. "I'll try some magic! THUNDER!"

Complete, utter silence.

"...come on...THUNDER! THUNDEEER! Come on...blizzard? FIRE!" For perhaps no reason at all, Lexi is holding back an amused grin. Stupid duck... "Why isn't it working?" 'George' demands, face panicked.

"I should think it's obvious."

This is when things begin getting tense; Lexi clutches the knives Larxene was forced to lend her in preparation. Her job is to protect Marluxia from harm; it is the very root of her existence, she'd been told. Even if this is Sora - the Sora, the Sora that she knows, that name, the only thing she is sure of - if harm comes to Marluxia, she'll have to hurt him. "The moment you set foot in this castle," Mar continues, oblivious to her, "you forgot every spell and every ability you ever knew.

"In this place, to find is to lose and to lose is to find. That is the way in Castle Oblivion."

"Castle...Oblivion?" Sora repeats, stumbling over the words. Darkness covers Marluxia as he portals to the other side of the room.

"Here you will meet people that you have known in the past," the man warns mysteriously. Lexi wishes for a moment that she could sound that distant. "And you will meet people you miss."

"I...miss...?" Sora asks with a frown, and Lexi can't help but think that he's a little slow. His face portrays his sudden enlightenment, and Lexi senses rather than sees Marluxia's triumphant smirk. "Riku and Lexi! You mean they're here?"

Lexi jumps at the sound of her name and for the first time, one of the trio notices her presence; the dog prods the duck and points to her. She remains absolutely still because I don't care if it's that Sora, if he attacks Marluxia it's my job to stop him, oh God I'm sorry Sora, I'm so sorry if I hurt you. "If what you want," Marluxia tells him with a smile, "is to find them..." He lets out a small wave of darkness, complete with his trademark rose petals, and then he is not just running to Sora he is running through Sora and Sora is gasping in pain. Marluxia halts and Sora jumps to attack him...

And quick as a shot, Lexi is there and she is batting the boy backwards, and Sora looks startled and can he see under her hood? She panics for a moment but then she focuses and suddenly he is completely across the room from the force of her strike. She is half-kneeling offensively, so she stands and clicks Larxene's knives safely back to her palms; Krynt is strapped comfortingly to her back, glinting in the whiteness of the room. She glides back to her corner and Marluxia turns around. "Don't be alarmed," he says soothingly, voice amused despite himself. "I merely sampled your memories, and from them I made this." He holds up a card and it's so startling familiar that Lexi has to resist the urge to clutch her head in pain. "To reunite with those you hold dear."

"What's this, a card?" Sora asks after Marluxia throws it to him.

"It is a promise for the reunion you seek. Hold the card to open the door, and beyond it a new world. Proceed, Sora; to lose and claim anew or to claim anew only to lose." He disappears, and Lexi can't resist smiling at Sora before she leaves with him.

"Tell Lexi I will not need her for this section - "

"Yes, my lord."

"And please have her accompany Axel next time, I'm sure he'll be intervening during my next chat with the Keyblade master - "

"Yes, my lord."

"And do take Zexion some food, would you? He's practically starving himself in the castle library."

Her nonexistent heart thumps. "Yes, my lord."

Marluxia smiles a rare smile, and as he disappears to teach Sora about the cards, she hears him speak. "You know, Xandra...you aren't a bad subordinate."

Xandra breathes a sigh of relief when the man finally disappears, starting when she hears breathing behind her. "No need to freak out, kid. It's just me," promises a voice, and though Xandra relaxes, her heart(she's not supposed to have that, is she?) is still thumping loudly in her ears. She turns around to find the red-haired man smirking at her and she bites her lip. She's never known Axel personally, though Demyx has talked about his escapades quite a bit, and she has to admit that she's a little nervous to meet him. "Hey, you're that girl who Demyx has taken a liking to, right?"

"Erm..." she isn't sure how to respond to that, so she keeps her voice cautious as she replies. "You could say that we're friends, I guess. You're Axel, right? I'm Xandra. Number XIV."

He smirks and bows mockingly; she backs away, unsure of how to respond. "Jeez, I'm not gonna bite your head off," he tells her, rolling his eyes as he straightens up. "So your element is...what, voices?"

"Sound," she replies, frowning and at him and biting the inside of her mouth. "And it's not an element, it's a realm."

"A realm?" Axel asks, blinking. "You mean...like light and darkness, a realm?"

She's starting to find that she doesn't like Axel much. No, like ramen and video games. "Mmhmm."

"Sounds exciting."

"I'm sure everything does to you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he demands, expression going dark.

She shrugs apathetically. "Nothing. I need to go talk to Lexi, so I'll see you later."

"Yeah," he replies, eyeing her as she turns away. "See you..."

The moment she turns the corner, she breaks into a run, getting as far away from Axel as possible because something about him freaks her out, be it the ruthless look in his eyes or the teardrop war paint on his face. Her legs are pumping and suddenly she is on the floor, splayed out across the corridor, and a cobalt-haired teen looks dumbstruck, sitting on the floor and surrounded by books. She immediately begins gathering them, rambling apologies and oh my god she is so sorry and -

"Silence."

Immediately, the room is so perfectly still that a pin would be afraid to drop.

"Tell me, Xandra," Zexion says quietly. The two have spoken a few times before (as Demyx had a very...odd relationship with him back at The World that Never Was), but he has no idea how fervently she admires him, how handsome she thinks he is, how intelligent, how polite. "Why were you headed to the basement?"

"Oh," she flushes. She knows that Zexion, Lexaeus and Vexen usually frequent the lower level of the castle, but she hasn't dared to go down there to watch them...all she is sure of is that they are planning something in the way of replications and cloning. "I was, um, looking for Lexi. Do you know where she is?" Out of nerves, she finishes gathering his books, starting to stack them neatly in a pile.

He gently lays his hand on her arm and she freezes, blood rushing to her face. "That won't be necessary," he mumbles before beginning to pile them himself; she sits there, watching him in awe. "I believe Lexi is in the kitchen with Larxene."

"O-oh," Xandra replies, tongue-tied as she scrambles up; her face is still flushed and she wants nothing more than to crawl in a hole and die. "I, um, I...I'll see you later, then," she says quickly before sprinting down the hallway, slowing when he calls at her to walk, not run.

He must think I'm an idiot, she thinks bitterly as she enters the kitchen. "Oh, look, target practice!" Larxene says, psychotically cheerful; next to her, Lexi is silent, as usual. Xandra freezes before shrinking a few inches in the hopes that Larxene isn't referring to her, but of course she is and the blonde is taking out her knives.

"I-I'm here to see Lexi," the Nobody squeaks, cowering away.

"Aw, come on," Larxene replies with a malicious smile. "Stay a while. There's plenty to help out with..."

"No," Xandra replies, and her thoughts are too scattered for her to create a full sentence and Larxene scares the hell out of her. "I - I - I - "

"Lay off, Larxene."

The room itself seems to be holding it's breath with the exception of Lexi, whose has shaken her hood down for the first time since she was given the uniform (which was at least 2 weeks ago) and is glaring at the tall blonde. She's surprisingly feminine, with a thin, heart-shaped face framed by black hair. There are dark bags beneath her brown eyes and her skin is almost snow-white, but all this pales to the fact that she is glaring at Larxene. Xandra takes a moment to admire her courage before beginning to draw out the girl's will for her.

Larxene is, as Xandra expected seething. "You little - "

"Oh, tell it to somebody who cares," Lexi scowls, taking Xandra's hand as she walks past. Larxene is left red-faced and furious as the teen walks down a few corridors, Nobody in tow. When they can no longer hear the slashing of Larxene's knives against the wall, Lexi turns around, eyebrows raised. It takes Xandra a moment to remember that she has something to tell her, and when she does her voice comes out sounding tongue-twisted.

"I - that is, Marluxia, um, said that you needed to, uh, follow Axel - I mean, after finding him of course, but - "

"Are you okay?" Lexi interrupts sympathetically, and for the second time Xandra is the color of a tomato. She doesn't like how pity-filled the girl's voice, and she takes a step back, forcing herself to calm down. She curses her lack of people skills before speaking again. "I'm fine," she tells her companion calmly, but you need to follow Axel."

Lexi gives her one last, concerned look before nodding, putting up her hood, and walking away. And what gets Xandra isn't what the girl said.

It's that Lexi sounded just like her.

"Boo."

Lexi holds in a snort at Axel's greeting; he winks at her discreetly. Marluxia is frozen and she can just imagine him gritting his teeth in frustration; Sora looks irritated, too. "What do you want?" the Nobody demands.

"No hogging the hero!" Axel replies cheerfully. Lexi finds that she likes Axel, likes the sarcastic way that he jokes that is already obvious, likes the way he seems so confident. He reminds her of someone, but she can't remember who; it's foggy, on the barest edge of her memories.

Marluxia turns, throwing a card as he does so; Axel catches it with ease. "Then perhaps you'd like to test him," he suggests as a corridor of darkness begins to envelope him.

"Perhaps I would," Axel replies in a failed attempt at looking mysterious. He waves Lexi to a corner and there she stands, eyes never leaving the brown-haired teen, who seems to be watching her just as keenly. "My show now, Keyblade master!" Noting the look on Sora's face, he continues. "Who am I? Oh, my name's Axel. Got it memorized?"

"Uh..." Sora replies, confused. Lexi suddenly realizes that she doesn't recognize his voice, and she bites her lip. Maybe he isn't the Sora... "Sure."

"Good!" Axel says pleasantly, as though teaching a five-year-old how to count to ten. "You're a quick learner! So, Sora. Now that we're getting to know each other better..." The emerald-eyed Nobody grins, summoning his chakrams in a burst of flames. "Don't you go die on me, now!" he finishes, laughing maniacally.

Lexi definitely wants to be friends with him.

The fight is quick and painless, and Axel disappears with amusement painted on his lips; he reappears next to Lexi, escaping the Keyblade master and co's notice. He winks at her, bringing a finger to his lips; she sticks her tongue at him and he smiles almost nostalgically. "That's right," he suddenly says in response to something Sora stated, and the blue-eyed boy blinks as he looks up; for a moment his eyes lock with Lexi's. She is the first to look away.

"Axel!" 'George' calls, breaking the moment. The aforementioned ginger pushes off the wall with a trademark smirk.

"Did you really think after that introduction, I would give up oh so easily?" he mocks, putting his hands on his hips in an almost goofy way.

"You were testing us."

"No duh," Lexi says before she can stop herself; as all eyes turn to her, she turns white as a sheet. "I mean, really Sora," she teases, and her mouth seems to be moving without her permission; in a similar fashion she walks towards were Axel is standing, eyes sparking with amusement. "How many times have we mentioned this?" She taps her head. "Someone's one apple short of a bushel."

Sora scowls at her and she suddenly realizes that he doesn't recognize her at all, and it's really almost amusing. Donald (when the hell did he get a name other than George?) immediately jumps to Sora's defense, yelling "You have no right to say that to Sora!"

"I can say whatever I want," she replies cryptically. "You can't stop me."

"Hey," Sora scowls, "I don't appreciate you talking to my friends like that!"

Her hood falls down, and the entire room freezes. She is taller and more developed, even though it's only been a month or two, but he would recognize her anywhere.

"But Sora," mocks the girl that he is in love with, "aren't I your friend?"

"So you really suck at sounding mysterious."

"When did you grow a personality?"

Lexi sticks her tongue out at the taller male, who is lounging on a white feather couch next to the teen with his nose stuck in a book. She doesn't particularly like Zexion; he's too quiet for her taste, too serious. "I was learning from you," she jokes with Axel, completely ignoring the intellectual as she sits down across from them.

"So you know Sora?" he replies, abruptly switching the subject. Her blood goes cold.

"I don't know."

"It sure looked like it. What, did you two have something going on?"

"I don't know."

"Were you gettin' some?" He waggles his eyebrows as she laughs.

"Oh, totally. We were just going at it every night."

"Someone getting more than me? How is this humanly possible!"

"Better step up your game, because there's a new gal in town."

"Would you stop laughing so loudly?" Zexion hisses as Axel and Lexi burst into giggles, laughing harder every time they even glance at each other. "I am trying to read my lexicon."

"Sorry, Zexy," Lexi grins. "Just having some fun."

It is the first time anyone here has ever seen her smile.

...I am such a terrible writer. T_T This...I just...I am barely satisfied with this. Parts of it...GRRRRRGH. DX

So my favorite compliment in this 'series' thing is that my writing has improved, because I'm really proud of improving. So tell me what I can improve on! Did I rush? Did I make everyone OOC? Did I just absolutely fail and I should go die in a hole? YOU TELL ME.

(Please note that this is neither Zexion/OC nor Axel/OC: To an extent, I support AkuRoku and Zemyx. There are discreet, secret reasons behind ever4y relationship, all of which I will explain...later. You're allowed to ship them, I guess, but it's not going to happen unless there's some sort of overwhelming approval movement.

Also, Xandra and Roxas never even speak to each other, so don't even ask.)