Author's Note: I'm amazed y'all like this as much as you do. I definitely wasn't expecting a lot of people to enjoy this, but let me tell you guys: I am flattered. Thanks much. Also, the idea for Demyx's behavior here comes from a girl I role-play with, so all credit there to Renée-san with much love...
Warnings: Axel. Some swearing. A bit of odd stuff, but that can be expected, right? Oh, and I should probably say this now: yes this is a Zexion/Demyx fic, but I want to play with Axel/Demyx a bit first.
Disclaimer: -there is a resounding crash as author falls off her chair and lands on the floor laughing her ass off-

Chapter Two

He was drifting between consciousness and the black void of nothingness that he had known for…however long he had been there. His senses were picking up signs from outside the safety of his mind; he could feel a chill, smell salt, and hear waves crashing against stone. Something wet touched him and his eyes cracked open to be greeted by the sight of a dark ocean in front of him. Strange stone stretched across the horizon in an arch, almost black against the velvet deep sapphire of the sky.

He looked around, trying to find some way to know where he was. The terrain looked unfamiliar, but then, he couldn't remember if he had been there before or not. The sensation of the dark water against his skin felt familiar, but he didn't think he had felt it before. Everything around him looked both familiar and unfamiliar. He thought he could recognise his surroundings, but he wasn't quite sure.

"Where…am I?"

It must have been his voice. He hadn't seen anyone else around on the dark beach and he was certain that he could feel the words rise from his throat. He shivered, suddenly aware of just how cool it was. He noted that his lack of clothing could also add to the cold that consumed his body. His hands moved upwards and ran themselves over his arms in a quick manner, an attempt to warm himself up. Despite his attempts, he remained cold.

His eyes closed and he saw images on the back of his eyelids; flashes of scenes he could barely recognise. Creatures jumped at him from the shadows in these scenes that played in black and white in his mind. He could see a clawed black hand reach towards him and he could hear himself scream in pain and fright as something was ripped from his chest. Unconsciously, his hand flew to his chest as he saw these visions, almost afraid that there would be nothing there. A small whimper of relief escaped his lips as his fingers hit solid, soft flesh instead of a gaping hole. All of a sudden, another question rose to his mind.

"W-who am I?"

---

It was obvious the blond boy sitting on the black rock was confused. All of them were when they first found their way to the dark beach. At least, that he knew of. It had been the same for him and Number Seven. He wasn't sure about the other six members; he hadn't asked any of them about when they first became what they were now. It didn't really matter in the end.

Axel shoved a stray lock of crimson hair out of his face, the wind having blown it out of place. He stood to the side, watching the new arrival closely, studying him. He wondered briefly why he had been sent to fetch the new Nobody; he was just a newbie himself. It wasn't like he had any authority in the Organization. The thought was mentally shrugged off; orders were orders after all. If he had to go pick up the newbie, that's what he'd do.

He watched the new arrival for a few moments before the boy began questioning things out loud:

"Where…am I?" the new Nobody asked. "W-who am I?"

"You're just another being of darkness," Axel said, stepping out of the shadows and closer to the blond boy sitting on the beach.

The boy looked up at him with large, scared blue-green eyes. Axel took another step closer and the boy cringed away. The red-head paused and studied the small, thin form. His hand reached up and started to undo the long zipper of his long coat. Shrugging it off his shoulders, Axel held the coat out to the new Nobody.

"Here," he said. "You're probably cold and we can't have you walking around without any clothes."

"What are you going to do to me?"

"I'm not going to do anything," Axel told him. He reached out to help the young Nobody up. As soon as his hand was around the other's arm, however, a blast of water slammed into him.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" the boy shouted.

Axel leapt back as another blast of water shot out of the ground by his feet. "Hey!"

Jeez, what is this kid's problem? the red-head thought, trying to avoid getting hit by another attack. Are all of us this difficult at first?

He grabbed the other and wrestled him to the ground. "Damn it, kid, will you cut that shit out? I'm not going to hurt you!"

"Let go of me! Don't touch me, you bastard!"

Obviously, the kid hadn't forgotten how to run his mouth or any number of swear words. A string of colorful obscenities flowed from the blond's mouth like water from a fountain. It was apparent that he hadn't lost all his senses, either, from the way he fought Axel off. The red-head growled in exasperation and, with an almost insincere apology, balled a fist and slammed it into the other Nobody's stomach. The blond beneath Axel stilled, unconscious from the heavy blow.

"Didn't want to do that," he told the boy. "But I gotta do what I gotta do."

Haphazardly, Axel pulled his jacket onto the blond and picked him up. He hefted the other Nobody over his shoulder, reached a thin arm out and spread his hand out. A dark portal opened in front of him and he stepped through. The portal closed behind him with a soft whooshing sound.

On the other side was a path, a world between worlds, aptly called Betwixt and Between. This world was all but empty, a mere station where one portal would close and another open to the destination one chose. Axel was to open a portal to the world of complete nothing, the world where the Nobodies all gathered: The World that Never Was.

The name suited the world, as it was nothing but the shadow of a world long destroyed and beyond reconstruction. The world had never and would never truly exist; it was naught but a void created by the inexistence of Light and yet it was not Darkness. Its sad existence was unknown to anything not of the world; for none knew of it, save for the inhabitants. The world, dark and dreary, was the perfect home for those who shouldn't exist.

Axel stepped out of the portal into a large room. It was the meeting room for the Organization in the Castle that Never Was. The Organization's leader, Xemnas, waited in the room, seated in his chair. He looked at Axel as the red-head entered through the shadows and cocked a thin, silver eyebrow.

"I don't believe I said to knock him out, Eight," Xemnas said.

Axel ran a hand through his crimson tresses. "Kinda had to, Superior. He put up a fight."

Xemnas stood up and approached Axel. "Did you get his name?"

"Like I could with him screaming the way he was," Axel replied curtly. He dragged the blond Nobody over to one of the empty chairs and set him in it.

The silver-haired Superior chose to ignore Axel's disrespect for the moment. "Did he show any true power?"

"If you can call geysers 'true power', then yeah, he did."

"Geysers, Eight?"

Axel nodded. "Yes, sir. It seems his element is water. He called up pure water to protect himself. I guess he thought I was a threat."

"So he may have a use to us," Xemnas murmured. "He would be a good opposition for you."

"What do you mean by that, Superior?" Axel asked, a bit put-off.

"Fire and water are opposite elements," the older Nobody explained. "The clashing of your elements would make the two of you perfect for strengthening your control and building up your abilities. Training with him would do you some good."

"I do just fine as I am," Axel huffed.

"You're reckless, Eight. You think you can get by with your flames alone. You have your weapons for a reason; they act as a focus. We Nobodies cannot control our elements without focus, which is the reason why you cannot be trusted to do anything more than the grunt work around here."

"I don't need a focus."

Xemnas glared at Axel. "You cannot control yourself. Until you can, you will not leave this castle for anything more than recon."

Axel muttered under his breath. Xemnas ignored him as he called in one of the other members. Saïx appeared at the door, golden gaze locked on the Superior for a moment before bowing. Xemnas acknowledged the Lunar Diviner before ordering the blue-haired man to take the new Nobody and put him in one of the empty rooms of the castle. The other Nobody nodded, picked up the blond and headed out.

---

He shifted, slowly waking up, disturbed by the softness of the ground underneath him. It was too soft; it felt like he would sink into the ground if he made a wrong move. There was something over his body, something soft and light. He opened his eyes to find himself in a bed. The room was dark and unfamiliar, barely lit by a single, dim oil lamp hanging on the wall. He blinked a couple times before letting out a yelp and leaping out of bed.

As he leapt up, his feet tangled in the blanket that had been covering him and he fell unceremoniously to the cold floor of the room. He lay face down on the floor, tangled in blankets for a moment before crawling out of the blankets and jumping back up. Scared of his surroundings, he left the room in a hurry, not wanting to be in the room. Running out of the room, he looked around to make sure there wasn't anything to jump out at him.

Where am I? he thought, frantically. How did I get here?

He tried to think. The last thing he remembered, he had been at that strange beach, being attacked by that red-head. He remembered reaching out with some part of himself to call up some way to defend himself against the other. After that, he couldn't recall anything. That, in and of itself, scared him.

Shit, shit, shit! What do I do? What do I do?

In his frenzied state, the boy couldn't control the power within him and something inside him snapped. Below him, the water main to the castle burst from the sheer energy the boy released in his fright.

---

In the Kitchen that Never Was, the second member of the Organization, Xigbar, had been washing the dishes when the water main exploded. The soapy dishwater burst up out of the sink, shooting up and soaking the Free Shooter. He let out a howl as the water blasted into his one good eye. He put up his hands to try and block the onslaught of water, to no avail.

In his office, Xemnas dropped his pen in shock as the scream echoed throughout the halls and reached his ears. He looked up from his reports in surprise, trying to find the origin of the unholy sound.

"…Well, if you're fine," he said looking at a silent Saïx, who was the only other occupant of the room, "Then who screamed?"

---

Panicking, the newest Nobody ran down the hall. Surprisingly, he wasn't screaming his head off. Turning a corner a tad too quickly, he tripped on the hem of the oversized coat he wore. Instead of hitting the floor, he stumbled into a man who had been in the hallway. Looking up, he saw that this man was tall and well-built. He had long, black hair, styled in dreadlocks and angled sideburns. The man, Xaldin, the Whirlwind Lancer, looked a bit surprised at the collision.

The panicking klutz suddenly let out a very high and surprisingly feminine screech. To him, this man was very scary indeed and not exactly someone he wanted to meet in a dark alley, or a white hallway, as the case was. His scream released even more energy, which reached to find a way to protect its vessel. As a result, all the water pipes in Vexen's lab exploded, flooding the entire lab in two or so feet of water, completely destroying two of the Chilly Academic's experiments, as well as a shelf full of chemical components.

Vexen, having been in his lab at the time, added to the screaming as his lab was destroyed. With Xigbar still screaming as water continued to blast out of the sink and the newest Nobody having the lungs of a rock star, the noise was gradually growing louder and louder. In the castle's library, a silver-haired young man quietly swore as the surprise of the screaming caused him to make an error in the crossword puzzle he had been working on.

Back in the hallway, the frightened newbie kneed Xaldin in the groin in his panic and bolted past the man. Luckily for him, this incapacitated Xaldin, so he could turn the next corner as he ran off again. Behind him, the third Organization member started to scream in pain as he fell to the ground, body tense and face contorted into a grimace.

Numerous twisting corridors that were all white and identical made it impossible for the young man to return to the room he had woken up in and he was beginning to think he might have been better off waiting in that room for who knows what. Making a sharp left, he ran up a flight of blindingly white stairs, somehow managing to not fall down them or trip on the long coat. He spotted a set of double doors and burst through them, noisily entering the library of the Castle that Never Was.

Almost immediately, he ran in a tall shelf full of heavy books, unable to halt his rapid speed in time to avoid hitting it. The bookshelf started to fall, but away from the young man, falling instead into the bookcase in front of it, which fell into the one in front of it, thus beginning a chain of events vastly similar to that of a set of dominos that had been knocked over. He stood where he was, watching in horrified fascination as bookcase after bookcase fell over, banging into each other with a clapping noise, loud as thunder, as wood hit wood, accompanied by hundreds of thuds as books fell from the shelves and onto the floor.

The silver-haired young man who had previously been working on a crossword puzzle looked up, his visible eye wide in shock as he watched his beloved library fell to pieces around him. Zexion let out an uncharacteristic scream of outrage and horror. This only added to the shouts already ringing throughout the castle, causing the chaos to spread in a domino effect, much like the bookshelves that continued to fall around the library.

The newest member would later remark that the Castle that Never Was had great acoustics.

Down in the basement gym, a very muscular man dropped a heavy weight on his foot, surprised by the noise that echoed down the ventilation system. He let out a scream of pain as seventy-five pounds of iron crushed his foot, breaking multiple bones in the process, causing the din in the castle to grow even louder.

Turning and running out of the library as fast as he could, the one responsible for everything headed back down the stairs. He decided, as he ran off, that whoever had been in the library must have been scary and that he never wanted to meet that person if he could help it. Dashing around another corner, the boy ran down a different staircase with all the force of a typhoon, knocking down a red-head as he did so.

With a groan, the blond pushed himself up and looked at the victim of his latest klutz attack. With a start, he realized that the red-head was the one who had attacked him at the beach. In a surprising display of agility, the young man jumped up and landed on the red-head, one foot placed on his chest, the other on his lower abdomen, and began to ride him like a champion surfer to the bottom of the staircase. Unsurprisingly, the red-head, Axel, screamed the entire way down, each stair causing him more and more pain until the pair finally came to a stop at the bottom of the staircase and the blond jumped off of Axel and recommenced his race to get out.

"That'll teach you," the blond called back over his shoulder. "Pervert!"

Deep within the bowels of the Castle that Never Was, Xemnas' head fell to his desk with a bang as the screams of six men reverberated throughout the hallways. Through it all, Saïx, who was probably the most psychotic of all the members, stayed still and silent as a statue, with only a sadistic gleam in his fierce yellow eyes. At least someone got a kick out of all of this.

---

"Now, after this morning's rather…unfortunate series of events," Xemnas paused here to look at the newest member of the organization. "The kitchen is out of order, the library is in shambles, and the toilets are all backed up and over-flowing. We will have to temporarily move out until we can get the repairs complete."

"And where will be moving to?" Vexen asked, teeth grinding. He was obviously extremely upset that his lab had been destroyed, despite the fact that he supposedly had no emotions. He was glaring constantly at the ninth member of the Organization, known here on out as Demyx.

"The apartment complex in the Dark City seems the best choice at the moment," Xemnas replied.

Zexion wrinkled his nose. "Please tell me you are not serious, Superior."

"Is there a problem, Six?"

"That place smells overwhelmingly of rats decaying in their own feces," Zexion told him.

"We'll all have to deal," Xigbar said, leaning back in his chair.

Zexion wrinkled his nose in disgust again, arms folded against his chest. He swore to himself to find the apartment in the complex that smelled the least. His sensitive nose wouldn't be able to handle the stench otherwise. He, too, glared at Demyx. In fact, everyone was glaring at the blond at this point.

Demyx squirmed in his seat, the leather of his new uniform, provided by Xemnas, creaking at the movement. The combined heated glares from eight other Nobodies made him feel rather uncomfortable. He clenched his teeth down on his thumbnail through the gloves he wore as part of the uniform, trying to keep from panicking again.

After everything had happened, Xemnas had sent Saïx out to fetch him and everything was explained to him. Well, it had taken the silver-haired man a couple tries to explain it; the first time his words had been hard for the blond boy to understand and, due to all the theories and experiments that Xemnas had elaborated on, the boy had gotten distracted by the rain he could see outside of one of the windows in the room.

According to Xemnas, Demyx no longer had a heart and was just the empty shell of the person he had been. He had explained that Demyx could no longer feel emotions, that the fear that gripped him was nothing more than the faint memories of the feelings that he once had. He told him of the Organization's purpose, to obtain Kingdom Hearts and regain the hearts they once possessed and thus, become human once more. Demyx had stared at the silver-haired man, unable to believe what he heard.

"But I…I can feel!" he had argued. "I can!"

"You only think you can because you have not yet come to terms with what you now are," Xemnas replied, his voice cold and uncaring. "Once you realize that you are indeed without a heart, these false emotions will weaken and no longer trouble you."

"I don't want to be like this!" Demyx shouted. "I'm still human! I can feel!"

Xemnas eventually let Demyx have his little tantrum, stopping the boy only when he lost control of his power. He then explained that Demyx needed a weapon to act as a focus to keep his abilities in check. Once he told him this, he had Saïx escort Demyx back to the room he had awoken in, to wait until things settled enough that Xemnas could call a meeting between the members of the Organization.

As Demyx now sat with everyone still giving him their harsh glares, he whimpered slightly, still afraid of all of them. He shrank back in his chair as Xemnas announced that the meeting was adjourned and that everyone could head to the apartment complex anytime. With that, the silver-haired man disappeared, leaving Demyx to face the other seven still in the room with him.

"Eh-heh," Demyx gulped. "Hi?"

Author's Note: I really have to thank my cousin for all the help she gave me with this chapter. She's actually the one who originally wrote the fiasco scene with Demyx making such an uproar. I just added to it to make it flow better and because I am a detail whore. And again, credit for Demyx's insanity goes to Renée because she is frickin' awesome like that.