Stuck in the Shallows / KH

IX. Ghosts

The Chamber of Echoes was a vast, white room with thirteen elevated chairs arranged in a circle around a platform. Demyx hated it. The lighting in there hurt his eyes and he felt uncomfortable if his chair rose to the same or a similar height as the person's next to him.

In this case, it was Axel who sat beside him, silent, his eyes fixated on the floor. It was a relief on Demyx's part when he didn't seem to notice that their chairs were at around the same height and he could sink down and get comfortable for the undoubtedly long and bland meeting he was about to endure. 

Around him, like converging ghosts, his cohorts appeared out of nothing. Kind of fitting, if he thought about it. They really were like ghosts, all of them seeking a purpose, seeking the "light" that would save them from a dark and meaningless existence. 

He chuckled humorlessly at the thought and, from the seat across from him, the Organization's Number X, Luxord, picked up on the sound and raised an inquisitive eyebrow. 

"Care to divulge with the group what, exactly, it is that you find so amusing?" 

Feeling his shoulders tense instinctively, Demyx huffed and looked away. "Nothing, Man. I was just thinking about something funny. You wouldn't get it." 

God. Everybody there was so bitter and combative. Why couldn't they just mind their own business and leave him to his dwell in his own, little world?

"Of course we wouldn't. Your humor is trash," snarked Larxene from a few seats away. 

Cutting her a glare, he crossed his arms over his chest. "Says the one who thinks that hurting others is a kind of humor." 

Larxene smiled sweetly. "That's because it is. Don't expect me to apologize for finding your failings funny. Like when you walked into that brick wall earlier? Good stuff, right there." 

At a loss for witty retorts, but embarrassed that she had disclosed his prior humiliation to the rest of the Organization, Demyx stooped to his most primal defense mechanism and, gesturing crudely with one hand, repeated her own words back to her to her in a shrill and mocking tone.

He shrank back with an admittedly girlish squeal, however, as her knives came whizzing past either side of his head. "H-hey!" 

"That's enough." 

That voice. 

A chilly hush fell over the room as all upturned their heads to he who sat perched upon the highest chair in the room. 

The Organization's Number I: Xemnas. 

"We are gathered here not to fight among ourselves, but to welcome a new member into the Organization's ranks."

"My, my," Demyx heard Vexen murmur from the other side of him. "Seems like it's a new one every other month, as of late. I wonder what's so special about Lucky Number XIII." 

Even as he spoke, a hooded figure came stepping from the shadows, out onto the platform. He couldn't help but straighten as he recognized something that there wasn't a lot of around there: womanly curves. Although the hood did its part in concealing the majority of the new member's features, he noticed a hint of crimson curl unfurling from the confines of the coat and, just above it, a sharp jawline adorned by a pair of rosebud lips. 

"Hm." He leaned forward ever so slightly, not wanting to make his curiosity noticeably obvious. But, Man, would it have been nice to have a woman who wasn't actually Satan around the place. 

"Nixamma joins us as one of the keyblade's chosen." At the mention of a "keyblade," whatever that was, he could not help but notice the way several members perked up and really began to give this new girl their attention. 

"Let us all welcome Number Thirteen and show her our ways so that, with her help, we may find ourselves yet another step closer to the completion of Kingdom Hearts."

The girl was stiff for a moment, as motionless as death. She probably didn't know what to do; he certainly wouldn't have in her situation. His introduction had been pretty to the point, after all. He had walked in, been given a brief welcoming statement, and then was ushered to his room all in the timespan of under five minutes. 

Then, just as he was beginning to wonder if she would move at all, there was a hint of motion. 

She shifted a gloved hand upwards, lowered her head, and slipped her hood down. 

And, in that moment, time froze. 

"Manami." 

He heard her name gasped from elsewhere in the room. But he was too stunned to realize that anything else in the world was happening. There was nothing beyond him and her perfect, heart shaped face and bun-wound, red curls.

She didn't look up, though. 

In fact, he realized with an unsettling feeling, her eyes remained fixated to the wall straight ahead of her. It was as though she didn't even know there were other people there. 

"Xigbar." He barely registered Xemnas' voice as it budged back into his plain of existence. 

"Show Nixamma to her room. Tomorrow will begin her training. In the meantime, you are all dismissed. Prepare yourselves for tomorrow's missions, as this begets a new era in our time as an Organization. In fact... This begets something much bigger than every single one of us."