nevermore

Much of this relies on a personal backstory that I had set up for Larxene. In my mind, her Somebody name was Enelar, and Saïx convinced her to voluntarily accept darkness.

01 - Walking

She learned to get used to his silent footsteps--careful and deliberate and powerful as a big cat's--but she could never prepare herself for the task of facing him.

02 - Waltz

She threw herself at him, lashing out with kunai and lightning, screaming and careless, and the dance of their bodies was silhouetted by a blood-red sunset.

03 - Wishes

"Don't you ever want it back?" she asked suddenly, and his gold eyes were blank as he replied, "Only fools wish for what they've already lost."

04 - Wonder

When she was stupid and whole she'd asked him how he'd gotten his scar, and he traced the "X" with a gloved finger and said it was no one.

05 - Worry

The moonlight spills over his hair, his skin, casting strange shadows on his face and his scar, and for a moment she's afraid of the demon beside her.

06 - Whimsy

"Don't you think Saïx looks like an Elf?" Demyx asks her, but she just laughs and asks if he's been reading Luxord's books again.

07 - Waste/Wasteland

"This is it?" she asked as he led her into the dark city; she hadn't expected it to be so dead.

08 - Whiskey and rum

Enelar was intrigued by the hooded stranger who ordered red wine, but when he said he liked it because it looked like blood she decided he was just psychotic; she was also hooked.

09 - War

"Beautiful," he whispered, as they watched the armies tear at each other like animals, swords shining in the sunlight.

10 - Weddings

"Once you join the Organization," he said, "you cannot leave until you die," and she felt like she'd just committed to a bizarre marriage.

11 - Birthday

She thought she had been twenty-three when she met him, but the days and months all blurred in her memory until she couldn't be sure; and there was no point in a Nobody counting anyway.

12 - Blessing

"Watch your back," he said sternly, when she told him she was leaving for Castle Oblivion, and that had been enough.

13 - Bias

She never told Saïx that she thought the higher-ups were a load of self-righteous, selfish bastards, because she knew that he was more a part of them than he would ever be to the neophytes.

14 - Burning

Sometimes she dreamed of the man with the golden eyes, and when she awoke she could feel his gaze like a brand against her skin.

15 - Breathing

"I feel alive," he'd told her as they lay exhausted under the sheets, and for awhile they would just listen.

16 - Breaking

She constantly pushed, stretched, dared to see how far she could go, but Saïx knew that one day she would break from being too tight.

17 - Belief

"I don't need you to tell me what to believe in," she snapped, but he was right and that angered her most of all.

18 - Balloon

"Here you go, Mister," said a little human girl, giving him a big bright yellow balloon, Saïx smiled and deliberately burst it in his hands while Larxene laughed.

19 - Balcony

"Oh Romeo," she sneered, mocking one of Marluxia's favorite stories, and she and Saïx acted out the balcony scene in their own way (which involved a lot less dialogue and a lot more skin).

20 - Bane

The Superior didn't have to worry much about traitors, Larxene thought, because one glance from Saïx was enough to turn even Axel's blood cold.

21 - Quiet

"I don't like him; he's too quiet," said Axel, but she replied that he'd never heard Saïx scream, and after that VIII didn't quite look at VII the same way again.

22 - Quirks

Enelar thought that, besides his voice, his blue hair was really the most endearing trait.

23 - Question

He explained carefully how to hunt, kill, and skin an animal before eating it, and after reveling in her shocked expression for a moment he added, "You asked the question."

24 - Quarrel

Larxene had never seen him angry but she never wanted to be there when he finally lost control.

25 - Quitting

When the key-boy had her almost beaten, she imagined Saïx's disapproval and tried even harder.

26 - Jump

He was always just too tall and she had to jump to kiss him because he would never lean down for her.

27 - Jester

Saïx was just staring at Axel and Larxene knew that the joke had gone too far this time.

28 - Jousting

They would duel because she was quick and determined even though she wasn't as strong, and sometimes she came close to beating him but never did.

29 - Jewel

They watched the shining hearts float up into the sky, like transluscent gems, a treasure that was outside of their reach.

30 - Just

She had her own set of morals, even if she didn't always stick by them, but she had to wonder if he really believed in anything.

31 - Smirk

She would have liked to see him really smile just once; the closest he ever got was a predatory grin that never failed to unsettle her.

32 - Sorrow

Enelar clung to the strange man, because the sweet thrill of danger distracted her from the pain she felt.

33 - Stupidity

No matter how cultured or intelligent she tried to be, she only ever felt foolish in front of him.

34 - Serenade

"Screams are the sweetest music," he had told her once; and soon she came to understand just what he meant; she thought she was becoming a little too much like him.

35 - Sarcasm

Larxene knew to watch what she said around him, because Saïx never, ever forgot.

36 - Sordid

Her fingernails made lines in his flesh, but it was only an imitation of passion; she had stopped feeling long ago.

37 - Soliloquy

Marluxia had tried to read a passage from a book about some famous king, but Larxene merely said the character talked too much, and thought that Saïx would say she was wasting her time on frivolities.

38 - Sojourn

Nobody in the Castle commented on numbers VII and XII's long disappearance; besides, the Superior thought both of them could use some relief.

39 - Share

They found some strange, illicit sort of comfort with one another in that the emptiness they felt was inside both their chests, and for a while they could fill the gap with something.

40 - Solitary

Though there were eleven others, Larxene knew that she was completely alone; Nobodies didn't have friends.

41 - Nowhere

"Where do you think we'll end up?" she had asked one night, breathing in the nothingness that was him, and she could feel him grinning into her hair as he said, "Nowhere."

42 - Neutral

She crackled and surged like lightning, bright and fast and serious, and he was a cold and deep pool to drown in; they clashed and collided and, inevitably, found the calm in the eye of the storm.

43 - Nuance

He breathed in slowly, brow strained, and resisted the temptation to call on his broadsword; the blonde asked too many questions (he wouldn't let himself admit that he didn't know the answers).

44 - Near

The Castle was large and white and silent and scary, but somehow she could always find him.

45 - Natural

His muscles moved like water, his hair flowing, his sword a blur, and it seemed like he was born to fight.

46 - Horizon

The view from the highest tower was disconcerting as they looked across at the dark city, and she would have admired the view except there was really nothing to see.

47 - Valiant

Two things Larxene ultimately learned from him: bravery meant being afraid and going on anyway, and also that it wasn't nearly enough.

48 - Virtuous

Her skin felt dirty, her blood tainted, her memory blurred with lightning and scars and blue, and she hated Naminé for being so innocent, and she hated him for the emptiness she felt.

49 - Victory

He looked on her for the last time with a feeling something like pride; the little doll had responded perfectly to his marionette urgings, and he might have smiled.

50 - Defeat

She felt her body becoming effervescent, and she finally understood that she was nothing, and he had never cared for her all along; she had believed in the world he created for her, and now it was crumbling away like sand between her fingers.

fin.