Knocking on Death's Door

[Sai]

In the central area of the Underworld, where lead off to the stairs to the living world and in the other two directions the UnderDrome and the entrance to Hades' personal playground the labyrinth... a swirling vortex of shadows would open itself, standing the height of a full grown man. From its dark folds stepped a bizarre sight indeed. A man wearing the trappings of the Organization, except that his garb was not the midnight black hue that others like him had chosen to wear. His was a silvery color more akin to the lesser Nobodies, the pockets on which bore the symbol of his like. On his head was a typical black mage hat, hiding most of his features and that which wasn't obscured by the wide rim was hidden behind a crimson scarf and a swatch of dulled blond hair. Only a single eye, golden from the transformation to a creature with no emotion, could be seen.

Sai stood there, looking this way and that upon his entrance to the underworld. This was his first visit here, and he didn't know what to expect. Drawing his wand from his coat, he kept it at the ready, in case any of the dead things here decided he was a meal... Stepping forward to give the next to enter some space, Sai began to examine the place, looking for clues as to where he might find his prize. The stairs lead up to the Colosseum, where heroes duelled and monsters rampaged. Down the other path, the dark, twisting labyrinth of Tartarus... a death trap by any other name.

"Hmm..." he muttered to himself... thinking.

[Leckseeuh]

From the shadows of a Dark Corridor, behind the man with the wide-rimming mage hat and crimson scarf erupted a girl. This girl couldn't be older than 20, 16 at the least. Her brown hair was down to her knees with a purple streak, her bright shorts and shirt stood out in this place. Her hazel eyes that originally shined were now dulled by the lack of light, now looking slightly yellowish. In her pocket was a little pink bunny rabbit who's expression changed from what it was [:3] to a disappointed face [:|].

Her name was Lexia. she sighed and shuffled through her pocket for a rubber band, tying up her hair and looking around. It seemed dreary and lonely, a dull grey-blue color. She wiped her head off as if it was hot, looking at Sai.

"Hey." She walked up to him and tapped his shoulder. She sighed and tapped her foot, shifting her weight to one leg. "I never did get your name, did I?" Lexia crossed her arms and looked at him again, at the scarf, the cloak, and most importantly, the yellow eye the peered out from under the mage hat. She just smiled like she always did and chuckled.

[Lilith]

a fair while after Sai had appeared in the dark dank catacombs, Lilith was approaching the world. she looked for where she needed to go and took her bike down to land, the roar of the engines echoed through the colossal halls and were finally silenced as she landed.
she stepped off and removed her heavy dress revealing her less formal attire, Lilith flexed her body, being stuck in the constraints of the fairly small shadow of a parasol played hell on the joints.

"finally I can move"

she stuffed her dress and parasol into a compartment on her bike and sent it into orbit, ready to be summoned at her will.
The vampire readied her pistols, checking the slide, sights and finally the clip

"all good"

Lilith suddenly burst into a run, she left her arms trail behind her as she ran, from an outward perspective it looked like she was just a blur of black flowing through the tunnels

"now where is that guy... I never caught his name"

[Sai]

Sai glanced over to the massive doors leading out of the underworld. He thought he heard the distant rumble of an approaching spacebike, signalling Lilith's approach. She'd be here shortly, he could tell. Just as he was thinking on the preciseness of his estimate, he felt the tap on his shoulder and slowly turned to face the first of his associates. She still clung to that need to be happy even though the both of them knew she couldn't feel it. Sai... understood why. Without a heart to feel, some of them desperately clung to their humanity even if they had to trick themselves into thinking they still had it.

Sai... would not be so fooled again. He was naive, and that's why he was where he was. He wouldn't pretend, wouldn't lie, not to anyone especially himself. However, when the question of a name came to him... he was hesitant. His name... what was it again? He looked off, trying to think. He remembered who he was, certainly... but could he rightly call himself by the name he once held so close? That name was being used by his Heartless, made an object of terror and hatred, the last thing most heard before losing their hearts to dispair... He had to give her something else...

"Sai..." he said after that moment of hesitation. "My name... and my title. It means 'to learn'..." He looked off again. "Sai" as he called himself was his title when he was whole. Sai-Atticus, apprentice mage of the Black Mage Academy, Cornelia. The classifications went as follows: Nu, meaning one who has only just recently uncovered their ability to use magic. Sai, meaning apprentice or learner. Mage, meaning one who has been granted liscense to study independantly. Then Wizard, a fully realized magic caster. There was another class beyond that, known as the Waltz... but many considered it only a myth.

Sai closed his eyes, remembering how he coveted that title... and how it lead him here. Opening his eye, he looked again to Lexia. "And you're Lexia, one of the Organization's potential recruits. Number VIII spoke highly of your potential, though I don't know if you were ever an actual member..." He tilted his head. "I'd have guessed you were, based on the presence of the X in your name... it was their mark..."

His eye betrayed something like guilt for only a moment. Then it was blinked away as easily as one blinked off a fragment of dust. "They're gone now... only their memory remains."

[Leckseeuh]

Lexia listened to Sai speak, hearding his real name and letting it echo in her head. Wen he finished speaking, she swallowed and said his name under her breath, slowly, just to say it. She looked at him when he opened his eyes again, speaking of her. Her name, about the Organization. She sighed and felt something hard in her throat.

Only thier memory remains... She thought for a minute. She swallowed hard again, ready to speak. "Axel? How did he know about me?" She uncrossed her arms and set them at her sides, sighing. Her voice was haunted by a melancholy tone, the tone she used whenever she had these kinds of conversations. She shook it off and breathed deep. "Did you know him? Did he know..." Her voice trailed off, deciding to sit on the hard ground and speak, holding her knees to her chest, holding them for comfort.

[Sai]

"There's no point in pretending to be sad, Lexia..." Sai muttered, looking off. He didn't care, really, if she was or wasn't. He already knew she didn't actually FEEL the emotion. Such a thought was rediculous, to feel anything without a heart. "Better to put these things behind you and move forward..." He started walking about again, checking nearby unclaimed treasure boxes and finding various little things here and there. A potion, an ether. Nothing to be excited about, but useful still.

"Number VIII knew about you because he was one of the Organization's recruiters. It wouldn't suprise me if he knew the names of several Nobodies. He only ever referred to the 'cheery girl' as Lexia, so I hypothesized it was you. He mentioned many other names, but none of which leap out in my mind at the moment." Sai slipped the items he had found inside one of the oversized pockets on his coat, each of which was enchanted to hold an infinite amount of items.

"Regardless, any information he might have possessed to our benefit is now lost. He sacrificed himself for the sake of the Keyblade Master Sora, under the pretense of a perceived friendship between himself and number XIII, who had already rejoined with Sora and become whole once more." Sai turned to Lexia, shaking his head. "Noble, but a waste. None of the Organization still remain. All 13 members are gone, a result of their lack of foresight. It is regretable, but unchangable."

He spoke so bluntly, so harshly. It was hard to believe at one point, the man who he once was had a very strong friendship with Even, who became Number IV. "Anything else, while we wait for Lilith's arrival?"

[Leckseeuh]

Lexia pretended like she didn't hear him when he said not to pretend. The only reason she smiled or actually pretended that she was happy was to keep that little shard of hope left in believing she could go home, be with her friends, live how she did with a heart. Carefree. Safe. Happy. Happy. She wasn't paying attention when he spoke, but heard it clearly. She sighed once he finished, closing her eyes.

"Did Axel know about Miiaxra?" Saying the name made her shudder. Not a scared or distasteful shudder, just a shudder of some sort of nostalgia. Her sister, and how she was so anti-social and preferred books over people. When she thought of that, a tear went down her cheek, and she didn't notice until it fell on her leg. She watched it trail down until she wiped it away and sighed.

[Sai]

Sai looked over to her again, lifting an eyebrow. "He may have mentioned the name in passing. Why?" Clearly it didn't matter to him, though he did notice her crying. Bizarre image that, a nobody with tears. The only one that ever really achieved that was Roxas, and that was because the circumstances of his creation were... unique. He was tied to another Nobody, and his heart had reclaimed a new form, so he was connected to the active Sora, making for... very unusual side effects.

Sai walked over and reached up, wiping the tear from the girl's cheek and looking at the moisture on his glove with mild interest. "Female Nobodies are... a bit of a mystery to me..." Sai admitted, rubbing the salted water between his thumb and forefinger. "They tend to exhibit feelings more... readily than others. For example... Number XII, Larxene, was particularly vicious and seemed to almost enjoy her mayhem even though she clearly could not. Then, there's Namine, who while she existed seemed to show great amounts of concern even though, again, this is impossible. Perhaps someday I'll understand it better, but for now the gender remains a mystery..."

Sai shrugged and let his hand fall to his side, this moment of confusion passing as easily as a summer's wind. "Where is Lilith?" he asked, looking off to the doors once more, spotting Gabranth there dealing with... wait... who was that?

[Gabranth]

Gabranth with his hand on the gates, readied himself for whatever lie beyond. Cautiously, standing tall with pride, the nature of a Judge, pushing the two doors wide open. "Stay back till I know what is beyond the first steps of these gates Ximar." The Judge had ordered.

As the doors opened, the Judge would look up to the sky. The bright sun would gleam down off of the Judge Magisters armor. Specks of gold trim and a matte black finish would shine. He could feel what sun was once again. A sign that Hades had kept his word and brought him to his flesh and blood self. But the moment of joy and reliefe soon ended. Being the first through the door and having to protect this boy, Gabranth noticed a strange man and a young looking girl. Quickly he took stride, his left foot forward. He was now at a guarding stance. Dual bladed polearm now on the offensive. He then shouted back "Ximar, stand down, ... we have company!"

Gabranth loyal as a dog, would keep his word to defend himself and Ximar.

A minute or so passes. During such time pressure was growing within the Judge. He then demands in that antagonizing way of his. "Answer me! Are you dogs of this God, come to challange me?! Answer!"

[ximar]

Ximar nodded, but he put his guard up. "I got your back."

[Sai]

Sai gripped his weatherwand more tightly in response to Gabranth's damanding question. He glanced from him to Ximar, getting the sense that he knew the boy from somewhere. The scent of darkness heavy on the air was enough to tell him he wasn't all human, and that heavy cloak could only have come from Castle Oblivion... one of the many coats that was made based on the design of Sai's own. The organization had a nasty habit of taking without asking first...

He looked again to Gabranth, his free hand coming out to shield Lexia should this guy get any cute ideas about smacking around a crying girl. Sai spoke up, clear and loud enough to span the distance between them.

"No." He said simply, as if in that one word all the information needed was passed. Of course, after half a second of consideration, he realized he would PROBABLY need to clarify because that one word alone could have been interpreted as an answer, or a refusal to answer... He'd just have to wait until the Judge responded...

And if he attacked, Sai was prepared to defend himself.

[Gabranth]

After seeing this strange man grip, what looked to be a simple wand from a distance. He watched carefully. Knowing even after the brief moment out in this world, This was not his Archadian land. These were people he never before glanced down upon. Spliting his dual blades in two, holding Chaos from above, and Highway Star out front, he takes the stance of an Executioner. A stance that was stead fast and strong, filled with hatered and pride.

Sai spoke up, clear and loud enough to span the distance between them.
"No." He said simply, as if in that one word all the information needed was passed.

Gabranth merely thought to himself a moment. "A simple answer, from a simple dog". He turns his visage ever so slightly to the right, as to not take eye off this strange little man. "Ximar!" he utters in an orderly fashion, "This man do you know of him? Is he friend or foe?!"

[ximar]

Ximar eyed the man, looking him over. His eyes widened. He laughed joyously. "That man is neither light nor dark. Neither good, nor evil. That man is a Nobody!"

[Sai]

Sai... well... sighed. He could tell that Ximar recognized him, at least in part, from the symbols on his clothing. Granted the boy had OTHER senses he could have easily used, but the end result was the same. Sai slipped his wand inside his jacket, hoping this show of good will was enough to put the jumpy man in armor in a more pleasant disposition.

"You might not recognize me, young one... but I had ties to the organization, and clearly you did too..." he said, pointing to the one in the black cloak. "I don't recognize you, with your hood up... And frankly I am a bit confused as to how you got it. The organization has regrettably returned to nothing..." he stayed in place... not wanting to entice a battle if he could help it... Really, what purpose would beating each other senseless serve?

"I am Sai... in name and title. I bare neither of you any ill will. We're just looking for something."

[ximar]

"I am Ximar, The Gravitational Defier. Number 17 in the Organization. I know what's become of the Organization. I am in search of other Nobodies like me. It's good to see I found some." He jumped over the vast distance to him. He pulled down his hood so he could look him in the eyes.