damned_institute | Day 40: Recreational Field

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Day 40: Recreational Field

Kio's breakfast ended on a much happier note than it had started. However, for once the announcement truly surprised him. He blinked as his nurse came to pick him up. Recreational Field? But.. but if they had a greenhouse, he wanted to go there. The prospect of gardening was a truly liberating one, an island of joy in this hellhole. He thought about going to the Sun Room and lying down, but it occurred to him that he hadn't had proper fresh air since being here. With a cheery goodbye wave to Honey, he followed his torturer outside.

It was much better than he had expected. The sun wasn't too hot (what time of the year were they in, anyway?), so he walked slowly along the walls, fascinated by the size of the field. He wondered if Sou-chan was alright. He hadn't even checked the board. Well, if Soubi wanted to apologize, Kio would be willing to listen. The place was so crisp and clean. He had to think if anyone had ever gone over the walls. What was out there? Freedom? Or a different sort of monster?

Leaning against one of the walls, Kio took as much advantage of the sun as he could. He desperately wanted a lollipop. One was quietly nestled in his pocket, but he would need to wait until the nurses were busy with other patients before he tried anything. Soubi had gone to some trouble to get them, the least he could do was make sure they didn't get confiscated. So with bated breath, Kio waited for a shift in the mood. He was, for once, content. Not happy, but not going crazy either.

[Sou-chan! Team Loveless deploy!]

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"Seriously?" Demyx's eyes widened considerably. It was one thing to feel hurt at Axel and Roxas having left him behind(or to at least know he ought to feel it), since the three of them had been pretty close. But Xigbar and Luxord...well, he got along with them well enough, depending on their attitudes at any given moment, but he really only had about a one in three chance of finding either of them in a good mood. Most of the time they either didn't seem to care about him at all, or were actively harassing him - so for them to invite him along took him entirely by surprise.

It was...actually really nice of them. Nice enough to make him wonder if it wasn't some joke they were playing on him. More than that, though - "What if I've found people like that here?" he asked, after a pause. Soubi, Matsuda, Senna, Hanatarou, even Sora; he didn't want to be left behind if Xigbar and Luxord left, but how could he justify leaving friends behind himself?

"Well, normally I'd say you should let your heart decide, but lackin' one, you should just decide which ones you wanna go with." A pause, as Xigbar glanced over to Luxord and noticed that the Gambler really did seem to approve of the plan. Weird, but heck, who was he to complain?

"...'course, considerin' us, we could prolly stop by an' visit every now an' again, if you want to stick around here. You know me; always happy t'be the guinea pig if everyone else is too chicken to try it out." He was teasing! ...mostly!

Of course Luxord approved of the plan--as reckless as he could be with his decisions, X knew there was no other choice in the long run. Besides, who better to run off into the abyss with than his ~~only~~ best ~~dude forever~~ friend? Was that not what they were there for?

Though his comment about being a guinea pig only made the Gambler laugh and shake his head. "Which would explain the scars, my dear Sniper. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother."

"That's not fair," Demyx protested in a low voice, half to himself. How was he supposed to choose? He'd met so many people at the institute who treated him like a normal person, who didn't even care that he was a Nobody, ~~who liked his music,~~ who he considered friends. But Luxord and Xigbar were friends, too, and fellow Nobodies on top of that, and he'd known them for years...not to mention that their all having been Nobodies in the Organization meant that they understood each other in ways that no one else could, really.

How was he supposed to pick?

"Why do you have to get out that way?" he said finally. "Couldn't we, you know...just bust out? That way we could all get out together." It wasn't like Demyx at all to be the one advocating the more violent solution, but if it meant not having to make a tough choice like this, he'd actually prefer to fight.

"Yeah? Sometimes I wonder why you need me at all," Xigbar shot back to the Gambler, grinning as he did so. Shame that the topic wasn't really involving him, but... soon. Soon.

For now, he had Demyx to worry about. "Well, there are two real big problems with the 'bust out' plan. First o' all, doesn't seem real likely to work. People just get dragged back in the mornin', an' it's not like anyone's actually ever managed to do it. Second an' more important... we bust out like this, we're stuck as we are. Nobodies, no heart or nothin'. It's a fine deal for normal folks, but I'm not going to live a not-life without even my powers to make it worthwhile. Either I get my heart, or I get my guns; not gonna accept anything else."

"...anyway, you can think it over for now. Talk it over with other people, see what they'd wanna do, or just think about it yourself. Me? I've got some unfinished business to take care of before I even start convincing folks that I'm normal."

Luxord gave good chuckle at that, but otherwise said nothing. ~~He would not start singing. Must resist.~~

But ah, it seemed Xigbar was missing a point there. "Thirdly, if I may interject, there are the odds that if we do manage to escape from here, it could return us our own world and we'd simply be in the exact time and situation we were taken at. To be completely honest, dear Demyx, I've no desire to feel that horrendous pain Sora and his little key brought me once again. I won't." That and they would probably be eaten ten times over trying to break out. At the very least, they did not need to worry about those birds...

Ah, yes, he remembered II saying something as such the day before. The Gambler tilted his head at him, trying to lean back far enough to see past Demyx at the same time. "And what would that be?"

"Wait," Demyx said with a frown. "I mean, yeah, I know breaking out would be hard, and maybe it can't even be done...but what makes you so sure faking your way out will work any better? If they think you're crazy, it's not like they're gonna just take your words for it that you're all better. And you guys are pretty good liars, but when it comes to acting like a normal person I'm the only Nobody who's ever really made a habit out of it..." Truthfully, though, that wasn't even the biggest question on his mind; he'd only brought it up first so that he didn't forget it in the face of his much bigger question. "And what're you talking about, being stuck like this if we break out? How is faking your way out gonna get your heart back any more than busting out would?" Maybe Demyx had missed something - it definitely wouldn't have been the first time - but he was pretty sure he'd have sat up and taken notice if either Luxord or Xigbar had said anything about 'and this is how we're going to get our hearts back first' in regards to their plan.

He fell briefly silent as the other two Nobodies talked over his head. He was probably incapable of feeling uneasy, just as with most other feelings, but if that was true then he was doing such a good job at feigning it that he really couldn't tell the difference.

"...oh yeah, you weren't the Demyx floatin' around when things started getting weird, were you? Sorry, dude, um... well, long story short, Number One-One and Number Eight both had their hearts given to 'em, or at least, hearts that were close enough to what they were supposed to be feelin'. Takin' into account the fact that they'd want us bein' 'normal,' I figure they'd give it to us." A pause, and then Xigbar easily added, "Actin' normal isn't as important as actin' like we wanna be made well. Might take a teensy bit of effort, but it's just a matter of gettin' a doctor's say-so."

Anyway, he had to grin at Luxord as he easily answered, "I was thinkin' of settlin' scores in here that we'll never get a chance to settle on the outside. Certain people are still here an' all." He was sure that Luxord would get his drift; only one person in this place had a score to settle with Xigbar, now wasn't there?

That was the blessing with having II around: Luxord never had to explain anything. Occasionally, he wished he had a Xigbar-whistle to call the man when he did not feel the need to describe a situation himself (which was a good chunk of the time). Unfortunately, it was never to be. Unless, of course, he had bit of whiskey contained in a little glass vial. That would bring II over when he needed him.

...in any case.

"What a marvoulous idea, my dear friend." Oh, X knew who he was referring to. Hopefully, IX didn't. "Will you be doing this on your own?"

That there had been another Demyx around - or the same him, possibly, with memories he no longer had - was an idea he'd never really get used to. It made things even more confusing than usual. "They just had hearts - given to them?" he repeated, disbelievingly. "Is that even possible?" Demyx knew full well he didn't understand the complexities of how Nobodies worked - probably understood less of them than any of the others, even, since he'd never really tried to - but he was sure recovering their hearts couldn't be that simple. If it were, then the original six probably would have to have been idiots not to have figured it out by now, and whatever Demyx thought of Xemnas and Xigbar and the others, he knew they weren't idiots.

But the thought of Axel, with his heart back...that was a tough one. Was he supposed to feel happy for his friend, or jealous? Could he be both at once? Some emotional complexities even he had forgotten.

Still, there were more important things to talk about. "But...that won't work," he said, frowning. "Not for sure. I mean, I was around before, right? And I never got a heart...did I? Plus I just wound up coming back here. So what happens if you don't get your hearts back before they turn you loose? Or if they just drag you back here?" Maybe he was missing something.

And then somehow Xigbar and Luxord changed the subject on him. Were talking over his head about it, too. Demyx huffed quietly to himself, glancing between them. "What're you two talking about?" Actually, he had an uncomfortable feeling he already knew - he was oblivious, but he wasn't totally dense, and he was pretty familiar with how the other Nobodies' minds worked.

"Yeah, it was just like that." Xigbar snapped his fingers to emphasize the point, as he was pretty certain he'd figured all of this out. Or at least, he'd figured out enough to have a workable hypothesis. "An' if we don't get a heart, then I'm sure we can cause enough trouble to get thrown right back in here. 'sides, from what I hear, people who left an' visit the place seem to act normal enough. Sounds to me like we'd get our hearts, an' if the docs already know how to do it, then maybe it could even be a negotiation point. Won't know until we find out."

For himself, Xigbar didn't mind entertaining the thought of someone else finding out how to restore their hearts. He'd had his own theories, but after a certain meeting with Xemnas, it had become clear that the purpose of the Organization wasn't actually to get their hearts back. It was all about Kingdom Hearts and the creation of Xemnas's new world. It was just that most of the people didn't want to admit that that was different from actually getting their hearts back.

Ah well. He winked- or blinked, whatever- at Luxord, simply ignoring Demyx's question for the moment. "You know me, dude. Don't like havin' anyone else crowdin' my scene."

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Day 40: Recreational Field

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