paixaorpg | Getting a Foot in the Door [complete]

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Getting a Foot in the Door [complete]

Character(s): Zexion and Larxene
Content: Zexion takes it upon himself to share a few things with Larxene
Setting: Larxene's lairbrary
Time: Fushigi mystery~
Warnings: Plotting and Org. politics

The first steps of his plans thus taken care of, it was time for Zexion to turn to the other rather time-sensitive piece of the groundwork. And, unfortunately, the somewhat riskier of the two pieces. Lexaeus, at the very least, was a familiar and welcome presence no matter the discussion. Larxene was almost exactly the opposite. Consequently, her reaction to the unwelcome news was less certain and she was someone with whom uncertainty did not bode well.

But there were times when sacrifices had to made. This was one of them and chances like these came only all too rarely. It was with that in mind that he turned to his task, the swirling darkness of a portal announcing his presence in the library that Larxene seemed to have taken as her own.

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Larxene had been taking time to relax--something she didn't do often, preferring to spend most of her time playing with the many toys the city had to offer. As it was, she was reading, but the familiar sounds and sights of a portal opening drew her attention. She didn't get many visitors; when it wasn't Marluxia but Zexion who stepped out of the portal, her eyebrows lifted.

"My, what brings you here?" she asked, watching him carefully, as a predator might regard another whom has intruded in their space and yet they would rather avoid a fight with.

What brought him here? Nothing more or less than secrets that had been laid bare; things that he hoped she had yet to hear. But of course, he wouldn't be getting to that straight away. To do so would be to imply that he was desperate, and he couldn't have Larxene think that of him.

"Merely some things I thought you might like to hear," he answered, keeping his voice to tones that would imply disinterest at best. He didn't have to tell her any of this, although he would be loath to be forced to forfeit this piece lest his plans fall all to naught.

She, at length--a display of consideration--put the book down, and sat up to look at the other Nobody. Zexion did not reveal information recklessly, as much as she would have loved to see what it was he knew about the city. But she didn't want to seem to eager, either. And so was the balancing act of Organization interaction.

"Oh, something interesting?" she purred; he had her attention.

What, precisely, Zexion knew and did not know about the city was sadly something that Larxene would never find out. After all, every piece of information could be useful regardless of how insignificant it may have seemed at first. Therefore he would be careful about how much he gave to Larxene.

"It centers around people you're well-acquainted with, at the least," he answered after a moment's pause. More accurately, the future of said people, but again, he was hardly going to reach his point all at once.

Larxene was used to the game of giving up information like each bit was especially painful to lose, but she was not fond of having it used on her. She shifted, resting a hand on the arm of the couch she was in, and her head on her hand.

"There are many people in this city," Larxene said. "Do you mean one of the other members of the Organization?"

Well-acquainted with seemed to imply that--but who could she be considered well-acquainted with? Marluxia, perhaps? Did Zexion know?

No, how could he have learned?

He knew something about Marluxia at the least. Perhaps not what Larxene was concerned about him knowing (or perhaps it was?) but he knew something. Something interesting enough to bring him searching her out, instead of sitting like a spider in his web and pulling her closer bit by bit.

"Tell me," he answered, "have you ever considered what may come of us in the future?"

It might seem like a sudden change of topic, but it could also be taken to imply that her second answer had been correct and he simply hadn't bothered with the intermediate step of answering in the affirmative.

Larxene followed along easily enough; sudden topic changes didn't seem Zexion's style, and so this must have been related. She watched him carefully for any twitch that might mean something, anything she could catch. Of course, it was hardest to watch the blank faces of Nobodies, but enough of them pretended that perhaps she could catch something.

"Don't we all?" she said. "But none of us can know for sure."

Not for sure, no. But there were people in the city from timelines far past their own. As a matter of fact, one of them had come to him for testing. The same one that, unbeknownst to him, Marluxia and Larxene had spoken of.

"No?" he answered, raising an eyebrow slightly. "I had the opportunity to speak to someone who seemed to present a compelling argument otherwise, not that long ago."

Edited 2009-03-11 21:58 (UTC)

That caught her attention, and she perked up more obviously, leaning forward just a bit.

"Someone from our future, then," she said, knowing well that the timelines they drew toys from was not a stable one. "And what did he say?"

Zexion would have asked how she had known it had been a 'he' without him mentioning the gender of his informant, but those who knew their worlds seemed to be male far more often than not.

"Any number of things," Zexion answered. That much was at least, the simple truth. "Of particular interest was what he had to say of the fate of the Castle."

Larxene was watching him closely, now, and not bothering to hide it. She had grown tired of his games--and she hated it when people played games with her. "And what did you learn?"

Not surprisingly, Zexion did notice Larxene's impatience. She never had had the patience he would have liked; one of the reasons he didn't tend to talk to her as often as some.

"To put it simply, the Castle falls, leaving behind no survivors save for Axel."

Larxene was silent. He was--he had to be lying. But he was including himself, if he was all of the Castle fell. What would he have to gain? If he was telling the truth, then of course they should plan against it, but if he wasn't--why would he tell her? What was he getting at?

"What?" Her shock was evident on her face.

What was he getting at? Nothing yet. This was merely the groundwork; a suspicion that he had deemed it better to act on. Judging by the the shock on her face, it seemed it was one that had been worth the effort.

"I'm almost surprised you haven't heard," he answered simply. The replica had been Marluxia's first, after all and it was no secret that Larxene and Marluxia were fairly close.

But not, perhaps, as close as he had first guessed.

Larxene's eyes narrowed as she considered her options. Who had he learned this from? Not the child, certainly, but the replica? Marluxia had had both of them--Marluxia hadn't told her anything. Marluxia had told her there was nothing of interest.

"Was it the replica?" she asked, her voice low, surprisingly toneless.

"Riku's replica, yes," Zexion answered with a nod. He'd leave it up to Larxene to guess how, exactly, he had learned what he had and to what extent it extended. The important part was that now she knew what Marluxia hadn't seen fit to tell her.

All that was left was to see how the dominoes fell.

Her nails dug into the couch, and the sound of it was soft but not unnoticeable, although she didn't quite hear it. Marluxia hadn't told her--had directly lied to her--when she asked. And that meant--what had he been planning? Why would he keep that from her?

She stood. "This is--unexpected." For once, she had lost her tongue. This--this changed things. A lot of things.

Larxene may not have heard the soft noise, but Zexion did. It seemed that learning of her death stung. Or perhaps it was simply the fact that it was him who had been the one to tell her and not Marluxia.

"For all of us," he answered, his tone of voice suggesting that he meant merely knowing their own fates and not whatever was on Larxene's mind.

Edited 2009-03-11 22:54 (UTC)

Larxene wasn't sure how to respond--struck speechless, her mind racing, knowing she had had her feet thrown out from under her and hating it. Marluxia had decided that their deaths weren't important enough to inform her about? And he--he, to her face--had said that. And now Zexion was saying that--

Was Zexion telling the truth? She watched him. "Why did Axel survive?" It was all she could think to say.

Why had Axel survived? Because he had been the grand mastermind behind it all, writing downfall across the board with the sweep of his hand. Or so the boy's memories had implied at the least.

"The replica seemed to imply that Axel's hand was the one to send everything down the path of ruin," he answered simply and perfectly truthfully.

Needless to say, he'd be having words with Xemnas on that matter at some point. With so many deaths to lay at his feet he wasn't sure Axel would be much longer a part of the Organization, though the decision would be Xemnas' and not his.

Axel? Axel had sent everything-- but they-- Her hands balled into fists, and every time when she was little, alive, that she had been angry flashed through her mind as the emotion was almost as strong as she had been actually feeling it. She was silent for some time.

"The replica knew... A lot, then," she said.

"More than I had expected of him," Zexion answered. It was the closest thing Larxene would get to an agreement out of him. He had served his purpose well.

The benefits? Those were yet to come, but Zexion had little doubt that come they would.

Larxene didn't expect Zexion to say much more, but she still wanted more information. She wanted to know why Marluxia would keep that from her. She considered going to see him, but checked herself before she did. No, she shouldn't go without a plan. Something, anyway.

"We'll have to do something, then," she said. "About this."

We, was it? That was more than he'd expected to hear her say so soon. Not that he trusted her to stick by it, but it was worth taking note of.

"I intend to see to it that the people who need to know are informed," he answered curtly. "What you do with what I have told you is between you and Marluxia."

So he did have an idea, at least, of what might be going on. At least, he knew Marluxia hadn't told her. And that was why he had told her. She frowned, turned, summoned a portal.

"I suppose it is," she said, and with a distracted sort of wave, stepped through. She needed to--think. Alone.

Ideas, yes, but not nearly as many as it may have seemed. Nor had he known before hand that Marluxia hadn't told her. It had been little more than guesswork.

Guesswork that had been proven correct over the course of the conversation, but guesswork all the same. But there was more to be done, and so he likewise stepped through a portal of his own, heading off to pull in another thread that would someday be the noose to strangle Marluxia.

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Getting a Foot in the Door [complete]

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