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Merlin's

(prepare for pure saix-assness)

Saïx looked over at Riku, a smirk cross his lips at the sight. So Riku was hiding himself again? How pathetic. "So, Riku, returning yourself to your depressed atire? It suits you." He mocked, watching the blindfolded boy sit down. "Looks like the boy from the darkness has returned."

He leaned back in his chair. He was being an a**, he knew it. But to him, it was amusing seeing Riku in pain. He hated the boy. Hated him with a passion. So doing this and making it worse brought amusment to him.

"I wonder...will you be an idiot and embrace the darkness like you did for that witch and Heartless years ago?" Saïx asked darkly.

For a moment, Saix's comment didn't click. He was so preoccupied with thoughts of Pride and the conversation with Roxas, that it took a long moment before he realized what Saix had been insinuating.

"I wonder...will you be an idiot and embrace the darkness like you did for that witch and Heartless years ago?"

For a split second, every emotion imaginable sped through his mind. At first, he thought Saix was referring to Namine, after talking with Roxas, and then he realized. No- He means Maleficent. He thought for a moment, then stood slowly, walking very steadily toward the reclining ex-Nobody. He leaned over, hands hanging loosely, and he smiled eerily.

"I have two words for you, Saix," he said quietly, then grabbed him by the lapels and threw him hard against the wall, pinning the man against the wood with his handholds. "And they are: ********. OFF."

He took several deep breaths, glaring through partially transparent black fabric into gold eyes and an X scar. "Never talk to me again. Especially about things you can't possibly understand, you overblown lapdog."

Merlin's House

Axel suddenly turned from the door. He hoped that Xigbar would catch it, because he stopped keeping it open. He wouldn't normally leave him standing at the door like that, but right now one of his friends was in trouble.

"HEY! CALM DOWN, BOTH OF YOU!" Axel shouted. A fight like that would kill everyone in the room!

"This isn't the time or the place for another fight!"

Merlin's House

Rapid assessment... too close range. Way to the Dawn no good, but that meant the Claymore was out of the question too. A little woozy but much better for having the potion and food in him.

He was ready for this... dammit he needed this.

"Shut up, Axel, stay out of this!" He turned away from the fiery redhead back at his current target. "Eat my words? Why don't you eat yours? I'd be happy to get a nice big silver bowl with the word SAIX across the side in red print so you can eat off the floor!" He sneered and swung wide, missing with his left but connecting solidly with Saix's cheek with his right. "Take that, son of a b***h." He would have added "literally" to the end but he was interrupted.

Saix, roaring and spitting like a rabid wolf, grabbed him by the shoulders of his vest and lunged forward, teeth bared and aimed for his neck. "You're dead, Dark Prince."

"Watch it, dog-breath," Riku growled, shoving the berserker off and away, leaving his skin thankfully un-bitten. Would have needed a rabies shot... He pulled a fist back, ready to slam it into Saix's stupid scar, but before he could begin to swing a fist -Saix's, big surprise- connected solidly with his gut. He groaned, doubling over so far he could rest his hand on the wood tiling.

He could see, vaguely, that Saix was about to hit him again and he rammed himself forward, knocking Saix off balance when his head hit the taller man's chest. As soon as the snarling fighter crashed to the ground Riku was sitting on his chest, hands locked around his throat.

"For all the s**t you've put me through, for all the wisecracks and snarled implications, I'm going to kill you, Saix. I will gladly kill you."

Everybody all but ignored Xemnas' fall... Which meant that they didn't notice the man's body shaking as he stood up, ignoring his own injuries. Blood streamed down his face as he staggered back a bit, before gaining his balance.

An eerie dark feeling fell over the room as the man let his arms hang down to the sides of his body, before his two long sabers appeared as his hands.

"That is enough."

The man's voice had lost that innocent feeling as he walked over to Riku and Saix, his gait a bit wobbly but almost like he was stalking along. His weapons were thrust in between Riku and Saix and forced them apart. A sadistic grin crossed the man's face as he heard the slight burn of their clothing and skin against his weaponry. With a quick motion he half threw Riku to the middle of the room.

It was just as simple as that... When you were evil and had no regrets.

"I will have no such actions in my presence. And I assure you, I am watching." His orange eyes widened a bit as he glared down at the two and then over at the group.

On that ominous note, his body slumped back down, collapsing on top of Saix. The room was extremely silent as the man twitched lightly. There was a soft moan.

"... Saixy...?" The old voice of Xemnas returned as the man looked up at the man he was laying on. His eyes were lost and confused. He paused for a very long moment. "Saix I made puddles again..." He looked up, the gash on his forehead still bleeding profusely as he looked worriedly at the blue haired man.

"W... What... Did I do to make you look at me like that...?" He asked, completely ignoring his little problem.

Merlin's House--Wall

Oh. No. Axel suddenly looked very shocked. It was the old superior. He hadn't seen him face to face since his punishment. The thought of all the pain made the redhead, normally arrogant and joking, want to go and tremble. In pure spite of the thought, he stopped any possible shaking, and stood.

But none the less, Axel retreated slightly, back against the wall and away from the armed man. He didn't ever want to have to face that man again, the various scars from his punishment giving him more than enough reason.

So there he stood. Against the wall and scared that at any moment, Xemnas might notice him. But he didn't. And then it was this new, not evil version of Xemnas. Axel sighed with pure relief.

Merlin's Home

A large crash suddenly brought Leon’s attention to the side of the room. Xemnas? And …

“What the hell is going on?” Leon hissed, pushing his way over to Riku and Saix. Riku was about to kill Saix if it wasn’t for Xemnas. This was all a mess… on huge mess. Leon rubbed his brow. A headache. A burning, steaming headache. He knew that this one wouldn’t be leaving any time soon. There was too much going on, all these people, the fact that none of them heard him, Seifer returning, Rinoa, these Heartless…. Everything!

“WOULD EVERYONE BE QUIET FOR ONE SECOND?!”

Silence over took the room. It was the first time Leon ever had to raise his voice like that but at the moment, he simply different care. Along with the excruciating headache, his patience was unbelievably thin.

“Thank you,” He added, looking around the room. “I am assuming everyone is here because I am not waiting any longer. I am also saying this once and only once.”

Now this was the time… just like in Balamb. He was the leader again. Why or how didn’t matter, he just had to get the team motivated and moving. If anything, they were falling apart. He was still part of SeeD… He still had to do something…

…If only Rinoa was here… What would she say? What would she do?

“If you remember correctly, these Heartless and Caesar are our enemies, not each other. I swear if you guys keep this up they will kill us all. And if you do that, they will win. I’m not asking everyone to like each other but just work together, okay?”

“What we need to do is find these Heartless’ base and eliminate them once and for all. Then we can all return to our normal lives. I suppose if you simply want to get away with those you don’t like, this is the best option, got it?”

“Now, I have prepared four gummi ships and Sora has one as well. We can fit four people into each ship so we’ll have to split up into groups. Please get in a group you can work with, okay?”

“I have checked the navigation gummies and where we can only go to a limited amount of worlds. They are Neverland, Port Royal, Beast’s Castle, the Pride Lands, and the Olympus Coliseum.”

“So if everyone could pair up into five groups of four or less, that’d be best.”