"Vexen? Lexaeus? Zexion?" A soft voice carried through the empty castle. The owner had never been here before but when he'd received the news he couldn't just let it pass without confirming it for himself. Marluxia and Larxene had never been very nice to him but the others…they weren't that bad. Zexion had always been polite, even helpful, Vexen somewhat similarly, though he was more prone to getting mad at the poor water elemental, and Lexaeus was easily the kindest of the entire organization. Axel was his buddy but he was kind of mean and lately he seemed very distant and distracted. He still had his sitar but he was lonely and starting to feel the pressure of the other members scorn. So…somehow he had ended up here, looking for traces of those few members he held some fondness for. He just couldn't believe that those 3 had truly disappeared. Vexen was always so smart, Zexion was far to clever to have let himself just fade away and Lexaeus was so strong, there was just no way.

Normally, he didn't really question what the superior told him but something was calling him here, something that made him sure that some life still had to linger in this castle. He slipped through hallway after hallway with no response until he thought he heard a whisper on one of the higher levels. He felt excitement tighten his chest, he recognized that voice! He picked up his pace, trying to pin point where the sound had come from. He heard it once again from a room just ahead. He was running by now, almost slamming into the wall as he skidded into a dark room. His eyes scanned the room, but saw no one.

Had he been hallucinating? It was empty other than what he recognized as- excitement stirred again- Zexion's Lexicon! "Zex-" He stumbled over to the table, hesitating for a moment before picking up the book and running a hand gently over the cover. He heard the voice once again, weak but still the same. *Don't-* He yelped as the book in his hands started to glow and then begin to morph into a familiar form. Once the transformation was complete, instead of holding the Lexicon he was cradling a small body. He was shocked by how bad Zexion looked. He was thing, more so than was healthy, paler than snow, and most obvious was the ugly red finger marks stretching across his neck. "What the?..." This couldn't be from the keyblade master could it?

Drawing Demyx here seemed to have drained what little strength the schemer had. He set the other man so he was sitting upright on the table and cupped his hand as he conjured up a handful of water, which he eased in-between the pale cracked lips. A little more life seemed to show in the other mans dull eyes. "What happened?" Zexion seemed to take a few moments to process the question, though his eyes darkened immediately in the grip of a powerful and unpleasant memory. He opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn't seem to produce a sound loud enough for the water elemental to hear anymore. Or perhaps he had never been able to. Now that Demyx thought about it those whispers, especially the first, he should have never been able to hear. Zexion had somehow put himself inside his Lexicon, there was no way he could of actually spoken. And now he couldn't seem to evoke that other form of communication. Unsurprisingly, there was a great deal of frustration in the other's eyes.

He carefully poured a few more handfuls of water down Zexion's throat before he seemed somewhat stabilized. "I'm going to go get someone else, you stay here." However stupid telling someone who hadn't the strength to even sit up on his own to not move may be, it just sort of came out automatically. He set Zexion down and turned away to open a portal, only to feel a surprisingly tight grip on his arm. He turned down to stare at the weak man who had somehow gathered up this strength.

"Don't…tell anyone…" Though soft, Zexion's voice held a strong tone of desperation. Demyx stared at the firm expression on his superiors face and wavered. Don't tell anyone? Why couldn't he tell anyone? He leaned forward as Zex started speaking again, but all he caught was "-Yourself" It took some pondering, but Demyx figured that Zex wanted him to help Zexion on his own. Which was…baffling. Zexion could recover so much more quickly with the help of the more skilled organization members. "Demyx!" Demyx jumped, rocked out of his thoughts by the strong tone. "You must not tell…my life…and that of the…organization…" Zexion's breathing was starting to become labored.

Demyx hastily moved to stop him from pushing himself any more. "Don't worry! I won't tell anyone, I swear!" Well shit, now he'd said he wouldn't, and he never went back on his word if he could help it. He rubbed the back of his head and sighed, looking down at his now unconscious companion. That last bit had been too much. He put a hand over his eyes and took a few easy breaths. "Alright Demyx…you can do this…" Planning and secrecy was far from his strong point, but for the sake of his promise he'd do his best. He started pacing as he sorted through his options. "okay…first problem…here or there?" The thought of leaving Zexion here alone once more gave Demyx a queasy feeling, so he decided against it. He'd have to hide Zexion in his room somehow then. He groaned, man this was getting so complicated so fast. What was going on?!

"Well…first things first I guess." It was late and Demyx had actually snuck his way out, so he could be fairly sure that no one else would be up. That was one very small problem solved; he could at least get Zexion to his room without anything being noticed. Rather than trying to burn out his brain planning any more at the moment, he picked up the unconscious man and slipped through the portal into his room, placing the sleeping nobody onto his bed for the moment. Here came up yet another dilemma. So now that he had him back here, how was he gonna keep him hidden. And more importantly where was he gonna sleep if he gave Zexion the bed. He dropped his head and shoulder and sighed. "man…this is just so complicated." Normally he'd get flashcards for this or something sheesh.

He started pacing again, punctuated by mutters and arm waving as he tried to figure out what he was going to do. In amongst his internal (and sometimes not so internal) ranting he realized that Zexion was shaking in his sleep. He went over and reached out, finding that the other nobody was practically freezing. Demyx realized that not just was the other nobody malnourished by he was probably sick. "Oh man…" He panicked for a few moments before he managed to calm himself down. Okay, so…he was freezing, he needed to wrap him up in blankets. Once he did that Zexion seemed a bit more comfortable, but was still fairly cold to the touch. There was only one other thing Demyx could do really. He sweatdropped, a bit of red coming to his face though his greatest worry was that Zexion was going to kill him for it. Mentally muttering a prayer to kingdom hearts he stripped Zexion down to pretty much just his boxers and did the same for himself before slipping in next to him and wrapping the covers tightly around them both. Demyx wrapped his arms around Zexion, still silently praying for his life, and shivered against the cold. Thankfully he could feel the other starting to warm up, and soon the mutual shivering stopped. Sometime after that Demyx slipped into sleep despite his attempts to stay awake.

"Demyx…" Demyx didn't immediately respond to the voice next to his ear, instead rather sleepily pulling the warm body next to him closer, nuzzling someone's hair rather contently."Demyx!" His eyes snapped open at once, the tone of the other voice rather like a slap in the face.

"…Zexion!" Meeting the now much more lively eyes of the cloaked schemer he almost killed himself as he scrambled away and out of the bed, the tangled blankets dragging poor Zexion down with him. "I'msorryi'msorry!" Only Demyx could crush words together so well. He cringed back, afraid to see the anger he was sure on Zexion's face.

"…What are you doing?" To Demyx's surprise Zexion just sounded rather resigned. Not that he wasn't obviously annoyed, but he didn't smack Demyx or something. "Don't just lie there..." Now his tone was more frustrated. "put me back on the bed." Demyx flushed at his lapse of common sense and hastily helped the weak nobody back onto the bed. It made him want to cry a little at how painfully weak Zexion was, but the expression on the others face made it obvious that Zexion needed no extra reminders of his own weakness. So somehow he kept his composure. With Zexion now propped up and wrapped comfortably in Demyx's bed and blankets he realized that he was still in his underwear. Flushing a bit he hastily pulled on some jeans and a t-shirt. Zexion almost seemed amused by his antics, which was a relief for the nervous nocturne. "I don't suppose you managed to prepare something for me to eat." More of a statement than a question, Demyx winced. He'd been more concerned about warming Zexion up than feeding him, and now it was going to be slightly more challenging to get something.

"Calm down Demyx." Demyx looked over and was surprised to see no hint of disapproval or annoyance in the other's eyes. "Just take it easy and act casual." Demyx realized that he was being given advice for getting the food, and felt a wave of relief crash over him. He didn't have to worry about planning anything now, Zexion was awake and he would take care of everything. Demyx just had to do what he was told. Since he did that all the time that was hardly a problem. He flashed Zexion a cheery smile and salute before snatching his cloak up and heading outside. His relief was great enough he didn't even seem that nervous around the others, though the longer he was out of his room the more nervous he became.

He moved towards the kitchen in a quick but casual manner, letting out a squeak as a hand clamped down on his shoulder. He turned around to see Axel and let his racing (supposedly nonexistent) heart beat slow. "A-Axel! Don't scare me like than man jesh!" He received a rather amused but curious stare from redhead.

"Well aren't you all jumpy today?" Demyx knew he had to think fast and wracked his brain for a good explanation.

"Er…Xiggy's decided I'm his new play toy so yeah…" That sounded somewhat reasonable at least. Xiggy enjoyed making mischief, and with his powers he had a pathetically easy time of doing exactly that. He chuckled rather nervously and scratched the back of his head. Axel seemed to take what he said at face value, laughing and giving Demyx another smack on the shoulder.

"Sucks to be you man!" And with that he strolled off, probably to go hang out with his new buddy. For a second Demyx felt somewhat depressed at the thought, but remembering Zexion waiting for him he shook it off and marched his way into the kitchen. And almost dropped dead when he walked in and almost slammed into, yeah you guessed it, Xiggy. "X-Xigbar! S-Sorry!" He backed up and scooted out of the others way, but Xigbar didn't seem much inclined to move as he stared at the water elemental with a curious expression on his face. Demyx tried to not look like he was about ready to faint as the other leaned in to whisper in his ear.

"I hear you snuck out last night." Demyx almost died on the spot.

"U-Uh…" Xigbar laughed and poor Demyx got another good smack on the shoulder.

"Never thought you had it in you!" Wait, seriously? Demyx stared after II as he cheerfully walked past and headed down the hall for his own room. Demyx couldn't quite believe his luck. Apparently Xiggy didn't know about Zexion, and was impressed at his nerve. He found himself starting to relax a little. He'd fended off two people in the space of as many minutes; perhaps he could actually do this! Once again buoyed by his natural cheerfulness he strolled into the kitchen, thankful that it was empty now, and quickly grabbed a bunch of the more snack like foods, stuffing them in pockets and various other places so while he had quite a bit on him it hardly looked like he had anything at all. People tended to underestimate Demyx but when he put his mind to something he was perfectly intelligent. He was just lazy. Now loaded down he made it back to his room without any more serious incidents. He'd passed by Saix along the way, but with nerves of steel he didn't know he had he just nodded to the other and kept on going without hardly a change of expression.

Safely back inside his room, he resisted the urge to lean back against the door and sigh in relief. He could do that after he removed all the food and wouldn't crush any of it. He brushed off the table that he normally composed music on and started unloading. He could Zexion's expression out of the corner of his eye and couldn't help but grin. It seemed he was surprised by the amount that Demyx had managed to come back with. Zexy would be taken care of for a couple days at least. He shuffled through the packages and handed Zexion a couple granola bars while he moved the table closer to the bed so even though Zexion couldn't really move around on his own he could still get to the food if Demyx wasn't there. Which unfortunately would be pretty soon. Several organization members' maybe dead, but business still went on as usual inside the organization. He didn't get it, but he couldn't do anything about it either.

"There!" Demyx smiled proudly at his set up, like a little child finishing their first project in elementary. He glanced over at Zexion, who was somehow unwrapping a granola bar perfectly fine while not looking at it. Though he was looking vaguely in Demyx's direction, it was obvious that he was turned completely inward, brooding on something. The look in his eye's made Demyx shiver a little. It hadn't been there before. Demyx had to wonder just what had happened. It seemed that Zexion was strong enough to really hold a conversation now, but he had to leave for his recon mission. "Um…" Zexion didn't even seem to notice he'd spoken. "Zexion?" Finally the eyes focused on him. "uh, I have to head out for recon…"

"Then do so…I will be fine here until you return." How could he be so calm? Demyx boggled a bit as he headed for the door, pausing just before he opened it. He felt like he should say something.

"I'll be back as quick as I can." And with that he was gone.