Chapter 9: Transition
A few days later, Demyx was sent on a mission to the caves beneath Hollow Bastion, but he was especially reluctant. Saix decided to take a chance on sending Mikage with him to make sure he got the job done since she was a babysitter (though Myde had been in the same year as them in school). Demyx was afraid of the caves, obviously, which had only become more dangerous since Radiant Garden had sunk into darkness. "Ooh, the caves," Xigbar remarked, watching them leave. "They're going to die, you know."
"Probably." Saix had no qualms or remorse. Xigbar looked at him disapprovingly but said nothing.
"I suppose taking bets on their survival would be in poor taste," Luxord mused, considering it all the same.
Together the two journeyed down there to store some secret data for Xemnas. Mikage knew this flew in the face of DiZ's warning, but she was more concerned with her friend's safety. Armed as they were with a sitar and a broom, she was unsure of their chances of lasting in a fight against the Heartless. Demyx's water attacks only served to temporarily stun them, and the musical notes that manifested did little damage. She noticed as they were fighting that not all the Heartless were attacking; she saw one run away and hide. It's running? she thought. Then she got an idea. "Try playing something that might calm them down," she suggested.
"Not my usual tempo, but okay." Demyx played a soothing melody, which seemed to do the trick. "Who knew that's all it took?" he remarked.
"Let's just store the data and get out of here before they wake up."
"I hear that."
The two of them walked deeper into the cavern past Dusks and other Nobodies, which didn't bother to attack them, until they reached a computer terminal, something Xemnas had probably set up a long time ago. They entered the disc and uploaded the data on the Organization. "I wonder what he plans on using this for," Mikage said.
"I don't know, and quite frankly I don't want to," Demyx commented. Whatever Xemnas had in mind for the Garden of Assemblage or this Cavern of Remembrance didn't interest him in the slightest. If it concerned him at all the way it did Mikage, he didn't show it.
Demyx had to write a report since technically he was the only Organization member on that mission, but he passed the work on to Mikage instead. Just like when we were in school, Mikage thought, having had to do most if not all of the work when the two were teamed up on a project.
Zexion went to the library to find her when she typed up her report. He'd been reading in the lobby when Demyx came in and told everyone who was there about the mission. Zexion found it deplorable that Demyx had put his responsibilities on her, but then again it wasn't like she was in a position to refuse him. "That Demyx is so lazy," he complained. "If he's going to run his mouth, he might as well do the work himself."
"I was used to it back when we were people," Mikage said. "Myde and Lea would slack off, leaving Isa and me to do all the work. This is a nice change of pace for me anyway."
Zexion was silent for a moment, remembering her adamant refusal to join the Organization. "I'm going with some of the others to Castle Oblivion. It'll be a long mission. Since you're not technically one of us, you're not scheduled to go."
"Oh, I'll miss you guys. Have fun, I guess." She finished the report and printed it out. "Who do I give this to?"
"The Superior, but everything has to go through Saix." Zexion thought for a moment. "Hey, since you did this for Demyx, maybe they'll let you go with us."
"Really?"
"We'll have to ask Saix, though, when you hand in this report."
Saix had been in the lobby when Demyx was running his mouth, so he was not the least bit surprised when Mikage brought him their report. She's with the runt again, he thought when he saw that Zexion had accompanied her. "What?" he asked when the two of them continued to stand there.
"I would like to ask permission to be sent to Castle Oblivion," she told him.
"And what do you think gives you the right?" Saix had his own motives for choosing the members for that mission, but he hadn't given her any consideration.
"I've done everything you've asked me to, including this. I haven't asked questions or gone against you in the slightest." If they suspected she could read minds they hadn't done anything about it; for all they knew she was just useless in that department. She refrained from reading Saix's mind just in case.
Saix didn't care one way or the other. The only reason she wasn't a Dusk was that Zexion and Xigbar had wanted to keep her around. Still, he had plans for getting rid of the members being sent away, and if she wasn't one of them, she might become a problem later on. "I thought you didn't want to help us."
"As long as it's not evil..."
"Where did you get the idea that we're evil?"
"It hasn't exactly been sunshine and rainbows around here." She couldn't tell them about Ansem either, but she could only play dumb for so long.
Saix eyed her suspiciously, trying to decide what to do with her. "I'll take this to the Superior and put in your request. No promises."
***
"Why would she want to go to Castle Oblivion?" Xemnas asked incredulously when Saix brought it up at a private meeting with him and Xigbar. "She shouldn't even know of its existence."
"Zexion is one of the members being sent there. He obviously told her about it," Saix replied somewhat bitterly. "Those two have been imitating a bond based on their shared memories. It bothers me."
"Wasn't she one of your friends too?" Xigbar pointed out.
"That means nothing to me anymore. Why were you so eager to back Zexion's request to retain her in her current form instead of punishing her for defying the Organization?"
Xigbar shrugged innocently. "I just like her the way she is, that's all. Turning her into a Dusk would have been a waste." Saix shook his head, believing him to be a pervert.
"It makes no difference if she goes with them or not," Xemnas decided after a moment's silence. "She may even be useful in our search for the other Chamber."
"Are you sure that putting Marluxia and his group in charge of Namine is such a good idea, though?" Saix asked abruptly, trying a new tactic.
"Do you doubt me?"
"No, Superior, never. It's just...wouldn't you trust Vexen's group more to keep an eye on her?"
"Yeah, why put a suspected traitor in charge of the whole operation?" Xigbar added. "Not that I'm questioning your judgment either, just curious is all."
"Namine is the responsibility of Marluxia, Larxene, and Axel. Mikage can serve Vexen, Lexaeus, and Zexion if they want to drag her along. Those are my final words on the matter," Xemnas concluded, not wanting to hear anything more about it.
While Saix went off to sulk, Xigbar went to tell Mikage the good news, unaware of what Saix was plotting. "Hey Mikage-chan, guess what? Your request has been approved."
"It has?" Mikage hadn't held onto much hope, knowing how much Saix and Xemnas didn't like her.
"That's right. Pack your bags, kitten. You're going to Castle Oblivion."
Kitten? She shrugged off the weird pet name because he had one for just about everyone and she was too excited to care. "That's great. Thank you so much. How did you get the Superior to agree to let me go?"
While Xigbar could have taken the opportunity to take credit for it, he decided to stick to the truth. "Turns out it was a non-issue."
"What do you mean?"
"He allowed it on the grounds that it was really Zexion's request, and they needed to round out the numbers anyway."
"That's right. I have to go tell him." She ran off to find Zexion.
"That kid's got a real older sister complex," Xigbar muttered to himself. "Can't say I blame him, though."
***
Namine had been captured around the same time that Roxas had joined the Organization. Her power was to create or change memories with her sketch book and crayons. While she was held captive by Marluxia, Larxene, and Axel on the highest floor of Castle Oblivion, Mikage was assigned to the lower levels with Vexen, Lexaeus, and Zexion. Each group kept to its own area with a few exceptions, usually whenever Marluxia needed Vexen for something and whenever Larxene decided to antagonize Mikage instead of Namine for a change.
Down in the basement, they had devised a chore chart dividing eight tasks among the four of them: Vexen got dishes and garbage, Lexaeus got communications and cooking, Zexion got what he called patrolling and forgetting, and Mikage got cleaning the washroom and everywhere else. It was designed to rotate, but Zexion's tasks seemed specific to him and required the least amount of effort while Mikage was always the one cleaning. Once, Axel asked her to do the cleaning upstairs too, but Vexen claimed ownership over her and shooed him away.
"I like being on Team Vexen," she said.
"'Team Vexen?'" While flattering to him, Vexen thought this was her strangest notion yet.
"Well it sounds better than Team Basement and Team Upstairs. You and Marluxia are the captains."
Vexen exchanged a look with Lexaeus and Zexion, who often spoke out against him. Some team captain I am.
"Go team!" she cheered, pretending to be oblivious to their thoughts.
Lexaeus observed her working hard. "Are you sure you can take on the brunt of the cleaning by yourself?" he asked. The Dusks hadn't been sent along with them to keep everything tidy, so she was on her own.
"It's a much smaller space than the main castle," she replied. "I don't mind. The four of us don't make that much of a mess."
He looked over at Zexion, who was hiding in the corner using his sense of smell to detect intruders. "Have him help you. He can't just stand there doing nothing all day."
"How is forgetting even a chore?" Mikage asked.
"Don't ask me. He made the chart."
Mikage asked Zexion if he wanted to help her clean the library. He flatly declined. "Come on, you used to help me when you were a kid. Are you saying you're above it now that you're grown?"
"I'm saying that cleaning is your job. Watching out for intruders is mine." Disappointed, Mikage walked away.
Later, Vexen returned from upstairs, where Marluxia had asked him for a favor. "Vexen, you reek of him," Zexion exclaimed. Marluxia seemed always to be surrounded by flower petals, which reminded him too much of the home they'd destroyed.
Vexen went to the washroom to take a shower. When he got out, he ran into Mikage, who had finished the library and come in to clean. "Vexen!" she yelped, reddening despite the fact that he was sufficiently covered by his towels.
"Mikage!" he shouted, also embarrassed. "What is the meaning of ambushing me in the shower?!"
"No one told me you were in here..."
Vexen took a couple of calming breaths. "It's okay, just come back later," he said, pushing her back out the door. "And get Zexion to help you."
She tried again to ask Zexion for help. "You can multi-task, can't you?"
"Sorry, the fumes would only muddle the scents," he replied, not sounding sorry at all.
"You could have told me Vexen was taking a shower."
"You didn't ask."
Mikage changed tactics. "Do you ever miss home?"
"You were just there with Demyx."
"Only underground, not that the rest of the place is in better shape. We've been in the darkness for too long. I miss the flowers and the water and the sunlight..."
"Are you crying?"
"No, I've got dust in my eyes from the library."
One way or another, Zexion was guilted into helping. "Okay, I'll keep a lookout while you clean the washroom so no one else gets disturbed. Sheesh."
When they were finished, she said, "Did I ever tell you I have a brother about your age?"
So that's how she knew how to twist my arm. "No, you didn't tell me anything about your family, other than the day your grandmother died." On that day she'd shown up to the castle in tears, and Ansem was going to send her back home, but she'd said she'd rather not be there.
"Our aunts take turns looking after us."
Zexion was taken aback. "What? You mean you don't have parents either?!"
"No, we have a father. He's just hardly ever home because his work takes him far away."
"And your mother?"
"Mom...died when we were little."
"I'm sorry." And this time he meant it. "Is that why you stopped talking?"
"It was. Mako-chan was only two and doesn't remember, but I was the same age you were when I started watching you." Zexion could tell there was more to the story but she didn't say another word about it. "I think Lexaeus is getting dinner ready. Let's go."
The next day Zexion still didn't leave his corner, but he started moving the broom around the area to help without being asked.
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