damned_institute | Day 39: Sun Room [Fourth Shift]

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Day 39: Sun Room [Fourth Shift]

Yue was all too pleased to leave the cafeteria by the time lunch was over, even if he still wasn't satisfied that Fai was properly taking care of himself. It was clear that Touya hadn't accepted the answers he'd been given and intended to find out just what the guardian wasn't telling him, and being watched so closely was beginning to get uncomfortable.

It was clear that the truth would have to come out at some point, especially if they were going to be spending any amount of time together. Avoiding him was entirely out of the question, but at the same time Yue stubbornly refused to consider the idea of just outright telling him about what had happened in the last week. It was a dilemma indeed, and only served to make him even more irritable than ever.

How could he admit any of it? That he was weak and crippled, betrayed and altered by his creator? That he'd almost broken the promise he'd given in exchange for Touya's power? The latter he couldn't help but be reminded of every time he saw this Touya, who had only just gone through it, and would remember it even more clearly.

Fortunately Yukito was staying silent for the moment, although he could feel his other self's disappointment at being unable to speak to Touya so far, and it didn't make him feel any better.

In the midst of all this Yue was rather dismayed to realize that the nurse wanted to lead him to the music room, of all places: that was the room where he'd met the Sakura-who-wasn't-his-Sakura the week before, and needed neither the reminder nor the inevitable noise in that room. He abruptly halted in his tracks and refused to continue on. The nurse seemed initially disappointed, but finally agreed to let him stay in the Sun Room instead; the guardian found a corner in which to stand, arms folded across his chest and lost in his own ~~brooding~~ thoughts.

[for Sokka]

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...oh my.

The more Grell spoke, the wider Luxord's grin grew. It reminded him of how he'd shown that damn thief the error of his ways days ago, though it seemed Grell came out much less damaged than X had. And torturing the boy, that cold, unreasonable brat to the point sobbing?

By the end of the spiel, Luxord was laughing.

Still, some points of discussion were rather intriguing. After the chuckles died down, he spoke once more. "A rather vengeful god, I see. An angel of death, perhaps?"

That smile was a gorgeous thing, wasn't it? Of course, Grell wasn't about to lend his heart out to anyone - not until he saw them awash in blood. That was what had stolen his breath away when he saw her. Her anger and anguish, her pain and righteous fury at the women who threw away that most precious gift given to all of womankind; it had been glorious. When the blood hit her pale skin, it was like watching Da Vinci paint. Each splash of blood that marred her skin and stained her hair had been the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

Until Grell saw that against Luxord's skin, he'd have no idea whether this man was to be his next Romeo. For now, however, he could delight in the laughter he brought to Luxord. Smiling, he crossed his legs and casually ran a hand through his hair, brushing it back over his shoulder. "How did you know? I take pride in my work, love, and I don't stand for anyone mocking it. But what is it that you do, hm? I don't mind talking about me, but I have far more interest in you right now."

Though the Nobody was never one to believe in religions, he was not about to say as such to the redhead. Truly, he enjoyed the man's company already, so there was little point in ruining that so suddenly.

As for himself, well... "That would be quite a long story, my lady. As you are a god, I am a Nobody: the remaining body and spirit of one who has lost their heart and all emotions therein to the Darkness, yet have clung to life regardless." Hopefully Grell would be more receptive to this fact than 5 had. ~~He really did not wish to slice open his hand once more.~~ "I am number ten out of the thirteen Nobodies strong enough to form Organization XIII." Very original name, Xemnas. "As such, it is my duty, with the rest of the members and those lesser Nobodies under our control, to essentially rip the worlds asunder by manipulating the inhabitants, bringing out their darkest of emotions, and allowing the Darkness to overcome them as it had us." He paused, thinking this over and placing a hand over his goatee. "It may sound vengeful and reckless, I suppose, but there was a point to it, aside from the entertainment value of universal genocide. When one loses their heart, they become a Heartless, as the name would imply, and that heart dissipates into what is known as Kingdom Hearts. Our leader decided that if he were to overload this world with the hearts of others, we may use its power to regain our own lost hearts."

...Now that he was explaining this out loud to someone else, he was realizing why it had sounded so far-fetched to Brainiac. If there were a god to his universe, it was most definitely under the influence of some substance. He would have followed that exposition with a short "I'm not crazy, by the way," but he doubted it would be convincing.

"So yes," he said with a nod. "I destroy worlds."

A Nobody? Well, that would explain the feeling that something was missing from Luxord. He'd never met a person who had lost their heart and survived to tell the tale either. If there were only thirteen of them, though, that would explain why. A group so strong that they could overcome the loss of their soul - it almost seemed impossible and yet, here was Luxord as proof. Grell had never heard of this Kingdom Hearts place, but he figured it would be simpler to play along. Luxord was kind enough not to be a brat about his being a god, so why should he be one about this Nobody business?

Besides, it was all terribly romantic, wasn't it? Losing one's heart and then chasing after it, caution to the wind, tearing down any opponents in the way - it was like a storybook (admittedly with a lot more death, but that made it better). They killed to regain their hearts - she had killed to enact vengeance for her lost love. Such beautiful reasons and such beautiful people.

Luxord destroyed worlds - which Grell should have opposed seeing how death was his business and if people weren't alive, they couldn't die. However, Grell never had been one to play by the rules. "And with such flair, too. I believe that is one of the best histories I've heard here so far. But to think such a tragedy has befallen you - to lose your heart. It nearly breaks mine."

Really, that was tip of the iceberg to his tale, though he would only elaborate if the lady wished him to. Were it to be a story, he'd a feeling the prologue would take five hours by itself. No one would wish to sit through that, even though it was a well known fact that, if prompted to speak of himself, Luxord could go on forever.

So he simply nodded. "True, I have lost my heart. It may also be true that I may never regain it, as our group had been foiled, both by traitors and a certain outside influence. Yet I am still here through Lady Luck's blessings." He pulled half of the cards from his sleeves and began shuffling them back and forth, more out of habit than for show. "Should I not make the best of it?"

There was one thing to arouse his curiosity, however. As stated before, he never much believed in gods, so the idea that he might have actually met one... Well. "What exactly is it that you do? Does it truly involve scythes?"

The tragedy just seemed to continue. Not only had Luxord lost his heart, but was perhaps doomed to never recover it. The idea of losing his heart (the metaphorical one) was absolutely unthinkable to Grell. His heart was his, well, heart. He needed it. A woman couldn't be passionate, truly alive, without her heart; and a dispassionate woman was no better than trash. He'd disposed of more than his share of that trash before coming here.

"A betrayal, too?" Grell wondered if the betrayal stung as Grell's had. Without a heart, could Luxord still feel the sting of anger that came with watching as an ally turned on him? The death god sighed, remembering the disappointment when his beloved Madam had given up on him for that brat nephew of hers. He didn't seem particularly put out by it. Quite the opposite, really, since he appeared to be looking forward instead. "C'est la vie - that is how the dice falls sometimes; and they appear to have fallen in your favor. Take the chance you have, hm?"

Watching as Luxord shuffled the cards he somehow produced from his sleeve, Grell smirked. What did he do? That was simple. "I kill people - in the simplest of terms. A death god receives a List detailing those who are scheduled to die." A boring list, if anyone asked Grell. It was much more fun to set up little traps and kill them in inventive ways. "We wait for the exact moment and then..." Pulling his finger across his neck, Grell grinned. "Curtain call, the play is over. I read their Record, kill them and send their Record and their soul on their way to Heaven or to Hell."

And how he missed that job. He hadn't killed a single person in the past few days and his usual day was filled with at least ten or twelve. People just couldn't stay alive these days, or ever. "And...in a way. We upgraded awhile ago out of those ugly old things though. So unfashionable. I customized my baby so she sings like an angel when I'm tearing through the list of the damned. I'd show you, but this hellhole stole her from me."

"Yes, though they were hardly friends of mine." Marluxia, Larxene, Roxas, Axel... "Two attempted to usurp power from our leader and were taken care of, one who held a vital role in our plans defected, and the last could not, evidently, stay within our group with his darling friend, the defector, gone, so he went to ally an enemy who resembled him." Oh, Axel. Luxord would not mourn his sudden disappearance from here. "Though these little dilemmas had been solved, the loss of life resulting from them had weakened the Organization to its eventual destruction." Again, not the entire story. However, if explaining his existence, their plan, and Kingdom Hearts sounded silly enough, trying to convey the idea of the Keyblade and its Master would be insane. And as Grell had said, he was still here; what was there to be upset about? Everything happened.

Shuffling the cards as he may, Luxord still listened to the god's words. It was awfully fascinating, though the idea was still odd. He'd died twice and had no experience with such happenings. Then again, they did hail from different worlds, different rules... Besides, it was not as if either one of his deaths had been natural. Perhaps there were gods, heavens, and hells in other worlds, but he'd doubts of his own.

And though he was thankful for the lack of an actual scythe (Marluxia having one was enough for three lifetimes, thank you), that statement required more elaboration. The description was vague, but, he supposed, it made it sound like some sort of electrical saw (the only other options under "loud and capable of ripping things to pieces" were Demyx's sitar and a paper shredder). And that notion? Was brilliant in of itself. Luxord smiled brightly at the idea. "She sounds as charming and unique as her owner," he said with a chuckle. "Could you at least, perchance, describe her?"

Well, so long as they didn't qualify as friends. Grell had no qualms killing off the annoying cannon fodder. Nipping the ugly flowers in the bud was important to maintaining a healthy garden and Grell was a very good gardener. Or he liked to think he was. Crossing his arms in front of his chest, Grell clicked his tongue against his teeth in disapproval. "Betrayal is the one thing I don't stand for. Those sorts of people need to be taken care of quickly; preferably as painfully as possible. I do hope you gave them their medicine."

And made them choke on it. Thinking about the Madam's choice made Grell's blood boil. That boy. If it wasn't for the butler at his side, Grell really couldn't have cared less about him. Her refusal to kill him in the end had been a slap across the face after all he'd done for her. It hadn't been that long ago that he'd viewed her Record either, now that he thought about it. Gritting his teeth, he chased those thoughts away - they left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Luckily for him, Luxord was there to cheer him right up. The compliment was met with a brilliant grin and a girlish toss of his hair over his shoulder. If he wanted to hear about his baby, he would tell Luxord all about her. "All death gods are given a tool of the trade and I was just lucky enough to receive a chainsaw. But my poor darling, she was so plain and hadn't the strength to sing yet. So I was ever so kind to her, I repainted her to a beautiful red with gold details and upped her horsepower, gave her just the right balance from blade to handle and now? Now she's perfectly fit to me." Or she had been. Only God probably knew just how much Grell missed his scythe. She should have been in his arms now and yet all he got was a horrendous headache any time he tried to will her into being. It was painful both in the physical sense and the emotional one. Sighing, Grell glanced down at the cards in Luxord's hands again and raised an eyebrow. "Just what are you doing with those anyway?"

He shrugged. "They were taken care of before I could have a say in it. Though most of them were bludgeoned horribly to death with a blunt object, so I suppose it was painful." Luxord would know, considering that same blunt object not only beat him, but cut him in half. CUT. HIM. IN. HALF. Augh.

He would have dwelled on this longer before Grell up and said the magic word. 'Chainsaw.' Grell used a chainsaw, a customized red and gold chainsaw, to take peoples' souls and generally torture them for enjoyment.

Had he less self control, Luxord would have simply leaped into Grell's arms, kissed him full on the lips, asked the man to marry him and end the conversation there. Luckily, his cards were called into question before he could continue staring at the lady with the closest to a love-struck expression a Nobody could manage.

Ah, his cards. As long as he held them, he was perfectly safe. "These," said slowly, drawing more from his sleeve and fanning them out for the other to see, "are my weapons. Some chose to underestimate them, and there is nothing more delicious than the expressions they wield when they've been proven dead wrong."

How brutish. Grell supposed that bludgeoning people to death was one way to ensure their end, but he didn't really see much style in it. Smashing through enemies without a care in the world, no finesse, no instructions needed - what a way to go through life. Grell preferred a nice sharp knife and all the time in the world. "Ah well, so long as they died for their crimes."

Glancing up at Luxord, he noticed a most interesting look in his eyes and his smile spread a little wider. My, my, was that what he thought it was? Perhaps he should find his scythe a little sooner than he thought. He might just get lucky because of it. He'd love to see what Luxord looked like, all blond hair and fair skin, when covered in a bloody spray. Would he smile like that or would he rage with beautiful fury like she had? Or would it be something completely different?

If his weapon was any indication, then the 'something different' seemed like the most likely outcome. "Cards?" Unusual, yes, but now Grell wanted to see them wielded. How did someone kill with cards? And wouldn't it be romantic to be sliced open by the Ace of Hearts? Or maybe even the Ace of Spades? Deliciously ironic, really. A flash of red different from the color of the suits caught Grell's attention and he reached out, dropping a finger on the card in question. "Seems like someone got into a spell with you, hm? Or is it just my imagination that has placed a smidge of red on this?"

That they did. Well, save for Roxas. He was rewarded in the end, rejoining with Sora to spend the rest of his days contented and happy on a tropical paradise. It was hardly fair.

Luxord nodded once more, grinning widely. Yes, cards. Normal playing cards, obviously, but they were always deadly in his hands. He began to shuffle them again, though with a more obvious flourish to his movements, each card dancing gracefully between his hands as if they were on invisible strings. It was all for show, of course, and who could blame him? It was never wasting precious time or powers if he'd taken a liking to whomever the show was for.

He folded the cards back into one hand once the god's question was asked, however. In all this excitement, he had almost forgotten the wound on his palm. He outstretched it towards Grell for him to see, chuckling as he explained. "Our dear robotic friend refused to believe my tragic past as anything other than the insane ramblings of a deranged mind, regardless of my easily proven lack of heart. He claimed I could have been inorganic and therefore logically could be without a pulse, so I found myself with need to present solid evidence that I was not." The Nobody flexed his hand, feeling the pull and sting of his skin. "Inorganic beings do not bleed as a human being would. Humans beings cannot live without a heart."

A show to go along with his unusual powers? Putting a hand to his chin, he balanced it lazily between his forefinger and thumb and smiled. If Luxord was going to share his philosophy on death and put on a show for him, then perhaps giving up the butler persona wouldn't be so bad after all. He did like this man, with all his flirting despite his lack of heart.

Reaching out to take Luxord's hand to examine it, Grell resisted the urge to press the wound and force it to break open again. He ran a finger along the cut and then released his hand, a little disappointed in his own self restraint. He had to be kind though, or Luxord might just stop the strange courtship they had going. Then again, perhaps he was like Will and he enjoyed the pain. "Somehow, it doesn't surprise me that the robot was responsible for your injury." Raising both hands as he shrugged his shoulders, he leaned back on the couch and stared out across the room, searching for the boy in question. "And did he finally believe you? I can't prove myself to him so unless I can rip his soul from his body and show it to him, I doubt he'll do more than continue to anger me."

Luxord watched as Grell traced the wound, almost as if expecting something. He was unsure of what--he hardly knew the other. Still, he brought his hand back to himself once it was over.

"He changed the subject, actually." Now that he thought about it, it was curious how he did not pursue it. Something must have distracted him. "He asked if I knew you, to be precise."

Changed the subject? The boy who would never let anyone get the last word in unless it was him, changed the subject? Grell couldn't keep himself from laughing a bit at that. Luxord had achieved something Grell had not, and while that would usually annoy the death god, in this case, he could let it slide. The boy had gotten a shock to his system and that was the most important part. "I applaud you, Luxord. Not just anyone can get that brat to drop a topic."

Brainy was slowly trying to get closer and closer to the truth, poking around at people who had the slightest possible connection to him. Grell didn't much care if he found out, but it would be bothersome. Tonight, he'd definitely have to find that boy and teach him a lesson about keeping his mouth shut. Perhaps if Grell ripped his tongue out - that might work. "Ah, then it was fate that we met today. The universe has been conspiring to bring us together. Don't you think?"

Considering his show of licking up the blood in a disturbing (and almost sexual) fashion, it was understandable the robot would wish to change the subject. And, to be truthful, it hadn't felt as though the effort to frighten him had been worth it--the child didn't tell him he was right and that was all he wished for! The Nobody could pretend it was, but it wasn't. Grell's encouragement helped with the facade, however.

Grell was also very distracting. In a good way, of course. And how could the Gambler resist those charming theatrics without retorting with his own? "To be brought across time and space, through the vast universe, even through the threat of death itself," Luxord paused and moved his hand to run his fingers through that red hair, "or Herself, as the case may be? It could be nothing other than Fortuna's plotting. You should thank that boy before you seal his fate, loathsome as he is, for he is the one who has sealed the woeful gap that laid between us."

The idea of thanking Brainiac 5 for anything more than a headache and days of annoyance was almost laughable. At least, it had been until the boy had managed to draw Luxord to him. Now, Grell supposed, he'd have to swallow his own pride and be sure to voice his eternal gratitude for finding him such a wonderful gentleman. And a poet at that.

What a day this had turned out to be! First, a date with Wally and now this? If Grell didn't know any better, he'd think God was rewarding him for being so good these past...well, one day. Details.

Grell smiled when Luxord ran his fingers through his hair, wishing he'd been able to dress up even a little for him. A little rouge or even lipstick would have been nice and brought out the color of his eyes and made him that much more appealing. He hated being caught without makeup by a beautiful man - it was unfair. "Aahn, I suppose I will. How ironic and yet so perfect is the play that brought us together. To think that he of all people should bring you to me." Reaching up, he grabbed Luxord's hand before he could pull it away and leaned in closer to him. "If you're interested, I was thinking of thanking him tonight."

A date? The chance to see Brainiac 5 ripped into pieces? "I would be most honored to accompany you, my love," he replied happily, leaning in as well, as if they were discussing going to a ball and not a maiming. And, for once, he'd have his uniform to show off. Perhaps Grell had something better to show himself in as well? Grey was hardly the lady's color.

...he had the oddest feeling that he was to meet someone else in the night, but it was pushed away. It couldn't have been that important if he could forget it so easily.

He intertwined his fingers with the god's, his other hand outstretched to reveal the Ten of Hearts between his middle and pointer fingers. Always playing the charmer. "Though wherever shall I meet this God of Death when night falls?"

Tonight would be the test to see if Luxord was really up to Grell's standards. He had looks, charm, poetry and bloodlust going for him, but there was just one more thing that Grell had to know. What did he look like when he gouged into someone? Did he have that almost feral look that Sebastian had when he'd gone to protect his precious master? Or would he have something different? Closer to her? Or more like Will when he cleaved a soul from its body? Without a heart, Grell had no way of knowing if Luxord would even make a face, but he certainly hoped he would. There was nothing more beautiful than seeing a good man dressed in red.

"I'll be making my way to his room - the fool was daft enough to write it on the board where anyone could see. He's in M71." Tonight was going to be fun. The company was perfect and much more in-line with his interests and persuasions than the law-minded crowd like Bruce and Wally. He was going to be able to show Brainiac 5 that he wasn't the genius he thought he was; and he was going to be able to put on a show for a worthy party. "Meet me in the hallway that connects those dormitories? I'm stationed not far from there, but I fear it's a little forward to be inviting you home just yet." Grell smirked as he eyed the card in the Nobody's fingers and then shifted his eyes back to the man's face.

Ah. That was precisely why Luxord never, ever left his room number on the board. At hearing that the supposed genius did, Luxord shook his head and laughed quietly. "How naive of him. I suppose Fate must really wish of you to punish him." It did, after all, work in mysterious ways.

The location was noted and X nodded his head. It seemed it was that time to leave, however, as Nursey McNursingson abounded to pull the Gambler away from his new-found friend (even giving him a short reprimanding for "holding Geoffrey's hand like that, that's not what a man like you does, Daniel."). Sad, yes, but there would be time to play once the doors unlocked. He even made sure to blow the god a kiss as he was dragged away.

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Day 39: Sun Room [Fourth Shift]

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