A/N ~ Okay, so I just finished writing the last chapter right now, but I decided to do a chapter break right now to both suspend you (if it did)--I like giving cliffhangers—and it just seemed like a good time to start a new chapter since it's more linked together on its own than merging it all into one... X3

Chapter III ~ First Signs

Saix soon weakly opened his eyes; a couple tries to finally have them stay. The first one he saw was his Superior standing by him and hoping the Diviner will still live. "Saix..?" Xemnas quietly said, "Saix?"

The blue-haired man tried to remain conscious, faintly groaning in slight pain. "Xemnas?" he asked. The last thing he remembered was escaping HalloweenTown for his dear life.

"Right after cleaning duty, we found you all-bloody and half-dead in one of the halls," Xigbar informed, "You're just lucky Vexen was around the corner." "Yeah," Axel added, "Or else we would've just poked you to your death—as if you weren't dead already."

Saix gave a low growl; then again, it wasn't as if he could ever count on them anyway. "Stop it you two..." Xemnas ordered, "You know very well what Saix would do to you if he weren't in this serious of a condition!"

The trouble-making duo looked at each other and chuckled. "Sure do," Axel joked over to Xigbar, "That's exactly the point." "Yeah," the Freeshooter agreed, "He's far too weak to do any pain on us..." The two then laughed heartily. "That's quite enough," Xemnas ordered, leading them out the door.

Their behavior only made the Diviner worse. "If I only weren't in such pain," he muttered, "I'd make you two feel this tenfold!" "Saix..." Xemnas sternly tried to calm the berserker down as much as possible, "Save your strength first hand. Then I'll let you handle them."

"Yes," Vexen agreed, walking through a nearby doorway, carrying an empty syringe. "When you were found, you were in such terrible shape," he continued, setting up the syringe with a needle, "Scratches, bite marks, bruises... If you weren't breathing, I would've claimed you as dead."

As the blond scientist walked up to Saix with the needle at hand, the Diviner tensed his whole body up from what was to happen. Xemnas placed his arms around Saix's shoulders; in return, the Diviner couldn't help but clutch onto his arms as the Superior patted and ran his hands along Saix's back to comfort him.

Vexen tried to talk sense to the blue-haired man. "This shouldn't be as painful as how you apparently were," he said, "In fact, this is truly painless in comparison!" He then stuck the needle into Saix's arm, causing the berserker to cringe in pain. Vexen looked at Saix rather shamefully. "Didn't you used to like this sort of thing back in the apprentice days?" he asked, rather rough in his tone as he began to draw out some of Saix's blood. Saix sighed painfully and glared at the Academic. "Back then, it wasn't really for this kind of purpose," he claimed as Vexen began to withdraw the needle. Xemnas just glanced surprisingly at Saix's words; back then, to him, it was still a part of their research than anything else, but he eventually brushed it out of his mind.

"I'll take a look at this blood sample and let you know the test results as soon as I can," Vexen informed, bandaging Saix's arm in the process. Saix placed his hand over the area, still feeling the throbbing pulses under the bandage. "You may go now in the meantime," Vexen continued, walking through a door to the inner section of the lab.

Saix stayed on the counter for a moment, his hand still over the bandage. He could also feel as if a headache was forming inside him, but he only figured it was being dizzy after the battle. Xemnas stood next to him, his arms crossed as he glanced over at him, pondering. After a brief moment of silence, the Superior finally asked, placing one of his hands on Saix's shoulder, "What happened in your mission that would make you look like this?"

The Diviner couldn't face him. He remained quiet, eventually causing Xemnas to try and make eye contact. Saix then realized that the event wouldn't go away if he'd just kept it hidden; however, he still didn't want to prove a "defeat" that had happened, especially if it was related to his own mission. He sighed deeply, and without fully facing his Superior, he merely turned his eyes.

"I just—had to go through an obstacle in my way..." Saix said.

Xemnas grew curious. "What kind of 'obstacle' could have brought my Saix to such a condition?" he wondered. The Superior knew that he needed more than Saix's minute hint; he needed more specifics. "Obstacle?" he questioned.

Saix really didn't want to let Xemnas know about what had happened. "It's nothing!" he exclaimed, unaware that he'd just snapped at his lover, "There's—there's no importance to it right now, Xemnas. Just forget it..."

"I can't!" the silver-haired man claimed, shaking his head, "And how can you argue that there's no importance when it truly is? If you're in this poorly injured state, of course I would surely be concerned about you..."

The two nobodies remained still for a moment, looking at each other.

Saix took a deep breath and sighed. "I think I'm just tired, Xemnas," he said calmly, his palm over his forehead, "This headache is making me uneasy..."

The Superior glanced at the Diviner still in pain. He was still clueless on the details of what had happened during Saix's mission, yet he knew that his beloved second-in-command needed to be taken care of if he were to regain any health. "Go to your room and rest yourself for the day, Saix," he advised, guiding Saix down from the counter and leading him to the door. He looked up at his Superior and said, "But Xemnas—" "You know I know what's best for you, Saix," Xemnas interrupted, trying to make his point clear to the stubborn berserker, "Go on and I'll soon see you at the end of the day once I finish through all the reports."

Saix knew that it would be no use to avoid his advice and that it'd be best to simply follow it. "Yes, sir," he kowtowed faintly.

"That's better..." Xemnas smiled as he stepped closer towards Saix. He gently embraced the Diviner with their faces close enough to have his lips barely hovering over Saix's. "Until tonight then, my dear Saix," the Superior quietly cooed, lightly nuzzling Saix before giving him a tender kiss. Saix passionately returned the kiss to him before finally departing the lab. The two of them watched each other until the Diviner walked out the door.

Soon after Saix had left the lab, he started to become faint. At first, his steps became misaligned, causing the Diviner to walk unsteadily through the hall. He placed his hand over his forehead as he stumbled, disoriented until he found himself leaning against the wall. "Damn headache..." he weakly groaned in pain. For a moment, he leaned against a wall to regain himself. "I'll never get to my room like this," Saix thought to himself, breathing deeply from his suffering. He then held up his hand against the wall to summon a portal that would take him to his room. Once it opened, he sighed and went through it to his quarters to rest.

--

Meanwhile, Xemnas was still in the lab. He had followed Vexen, who had just began testing Saix's blood sample. As the Superior walked up to him, he knew that Xemnas had followed him down to the laboratory.

"I know how you and Saix are, Superior," the Academic said without turning to face Xemnas, carefully transferring the blood in the syringe into a test tube, "But I'll be honest with you..."

Xemnas remained quiet. With words like that, he feared the worst of what Vexen would say about Saix. He thought about it for a moment with a gulp and a sigh. "What do you think of it?" he asked worriedly.

At that moment, Vexen had finished the transfer and placed the tube in its holder and took a small sample from it with an eye-dropper. He turned towards the silver-haired man. "When I'd seen Saix, he was in such poor condition," he explained, "He was unconscious and badly injured..."

"Saix..." Xemnas thought to himself, his eyes looking down, "If nobodies do not have emotions, then why do I have a sense of—guilt within me?"

"And because of that," the blond scientist continued, "I'm not sure what had happened during his mission that would have caused him to be in that shape." He paused to think. "And knowing that certain berserker," he commented, "Not many are able to surpass him so greatly like that. In fact, as much as I despise this type of ranking system, among the Organization, only you would be able to keep him in line, Superior." With that, he attempted to prevent a disgusted frown on his face as he hated how Saix, a lesser numbered rank, had been appointed as "second-in-command" in comparison to a higher numbered rank like him. However, he knew that, aside from sheer strength among everyone else, Saix achieved that position by Xemnas through other means in which he had no interest in pursuing.

"Very true," Xemnas nodded. He paced momentarily, questioning himself. "What exactly did happen during Saix's mission?" he pondered. Then it suddenly came to him. "Hmm... Perhaps it was what he was to search for that got him?" the Superior wondered, "It would make the most probable sense if that were so..." He glanced up at Vexen. "Do you think it could've been something like a heartless that attacked him?" he asked.

Vexen became deep in thought as he placed the blood from the eye-dropper into a small disk to study its developing culture. "It's very possible, Superior..." he said, looking back at Xemnas. "But I truly can't say for sure until I get all these tests completed," he continued, pointing at the test tube samples and the blood culture in the disk.

Xemnas knew that back in his Xehanort days, such a test would take several days to reach a conclusion, but his concern over Saix forced him to wanting specifics. "When will you be finished?" he asked.

The Academic was slightly surprised by Xemnas' words. "He used to be a scientist as well," he thought to himself, "And yet, he's asking me when it would be done? I'd expect him to believe it'd be a range of at least a week..." Still, he had to give the Superior an answer. "I can't say for sure 'when,' Superior," he explained calmly, "But I can inform you the very minute I find out something about this."

"Make it the very 'second,' Vexen," the Superior commanded, turning around to take his leave from the laboratory's lair.

"Very well..." Vexen acknowledged, bowing as Xemnas left.

--

Later that evening, everyone in the Organization was sitting down for dinner. All but one at least. Xemnas couldn't help but notice the emptiness of the seat next to him where his second-in-command sat at every meal time, but he wasn't the only one that had noticed Saix's absence that dinnertime.

"Where's Puppy, Superior?" Demyx asked worriedly.

Xemnas stayed silent; he had no obligation to reply to the Nocturne. Instead of answering, he picked up some food with his fork and ate.

Axel, however, wanted to fool around with Demyx. "'Puppy' is very sick, Demyx..." he chuckled sinisterly. He watched the musician's face grew more precarious. "We don't even know if we'll ever see him in that little chair again..." he continued, putting his arm around Demyx's shoulders and pointing over to Saix's chair.

Demyx didn't like what he was hearing at all. "No!!!" the Nocturne denied, trying to free himself from Axel's arm.

"Oh, yes..." the pyromaniac smirked, laughing and enjoying Demyx's uneasy behavior and the Diviner's absence.

The Superior was in no mood to listen through any rough-housing at the table that night, especially if it concerned anything about Saix behind his back. "That's enough!" he snapped, standing from his chair.

At that instant, Axel and Demyx stopped; the rest of the Organization fell still from Xemnas' words. Demyx then went back to eating his dinner. Axel, however, needed more persuasion and was more persistent than to simply obey an order at an instant.

"But I have a lot more to say, Xemnas," he mocked nonchalantly.

Xemnas just glared angrily at the redhead. "If only Saix were here next to me, he'd instantly swipe that bastard's mouth right off his face the very second I tell him to..." he mentally told himself as Axel continued to ridicule him in front of the rest of the Organization. "Number VIII," he tried to order as calmly as he possibly could, "Because of that, you are to do everyone else's chores for the rest of the evening. And for talking about Saix like that, you will be doing everyone's jobs tomorrow and Saix's chores for the rest of the week as well." Xemnas then looked at the rest of the other members. "The rest of you are excused," he finished.

"Oh, fuck..." Axel muttered as the entire Organization looked over at him and chuckled at his unfortunate fate.

Xemnas had lost his appetite for the rest of dinner. He left his seat with his half-eaten dinner behind still on the table. He walked to the kitchen, and once inside, he took a plate and placed a cut of meat and gravy from the stove on it. Fortunately, all of the food was still hot.

"Saix has been resting since this afternoon," Xemnas thought to himself, scooping some stewed potatoes from the skillet, "He must be truly hungry by now..." He took an extra pair of silverware out of the counter's drawers and carried it with the plate of food.

--

With the plate in his hands, the Superior walked through the hallways that lead to Saix's room. "I wonder if Saix could sense this?" he thought to himself, bringing out a faint chuckle, "He'd likely know exactly what it was like always..." And with that mere thought, he sighed.

After a couple minutes, he finally reached the Diviner's quarters. Xemnas noticed that it was very silent and assumed that Saix was possibly still deeply asleep. He closer, tiptoeing lightly in his steps until he was just inches away from the door.

He gently placed his ear along the door to see if there were any remote sounds on the other side. Everything was still quiet as it was outside his room.

"Saix?" Xemnas whispered. He readjusted his hands to carry the plate with only one hand, and with the other, he carefully knocked on the door. "Saix?" he asked again, slightly louder than last time. There was still no response.

Xemnas decided to investigate for himself. He softly opened the door and peeked inside the room. Nothing but darkness. The only strand of light was a trace of the moonlight that managed to shine through a crack between the thick curtains along the tall windows. Even if the Diviner were exposed to the ray of light, it would not have been strong enough to cause him any signs of the typical deranged lunacy as before.

The Superior quietly made his way through Saix's room, his eyes venturing every corner to search for him. "Saix?" he called out again, "I've brought you some dinner in case you were hungry..." There was still no reply. "I know you've been resting, Saix, and that you certainly need it in your condition," Xemnas continued, placing the dinner plate on a nearby end table, "But you must still eat something to help you get your strength back."

At that moment, Xemnas could hear a faint low sound. He stood completely still, trying to put all his concentration on the raspy sound. "Saix?" he curiously wondered.

The sound changed to a slight growl. And Xemnas noticed familiar claw-like fingers stepping into the thin ray of moonlight. Slowly, Saix's body outlined as he stepped forward into the light. At first sight, Xemnas was more than relieved to see his second-in-command, but when he looked at Saix again, he noticed that he looked very different than his usual self; almost to be like a werewolf in overall his appearance.

His fingernails were longer and sharper. It appeared that he'd preferred to walk on all fours; his back level at an angle with his shoulders high and hips carried low. His hair no longer gave the softened impression, but looked much more unkempt and coarse. There were bluish patches of short and fuzzed hair on his shoulders, elbows, chest, hips, and knees. He even bore his teeth at his own Superior; all his teeth were sharper as if from a heavy carnivore. His eyebrows were slightly bushier. And even his eyes were very different; they reflected the moonlight to give a glowing effect, and his pupils were no longer rounded but in a slit form.

Saix growled lowly, keeping his eyes locked onto the Superior. It seemed like he didn't recognize his master at all. "Xemnas..." he snarled.

Xemnas just stood his ground cautiously. He took it from experience that whenever Saix went into a berserk state, unpredictability was at a high alert, and how the Diviner was acting, it wasn't exactly being under the moon's effects that caused this strange behavior. "It must be related to his mission," Xemnas figured.

The berserker took a few steps closer to Xemnas, and as he did, Xemnas stepped back, never losing sight of the crazed Saix.

"You're right about one thing..." Saix uttered, "Through today, I have been hungry—starving..." He slowly walked up to Xemnas, who still backed away from him.

The silver-haired man tried to talk sense to the crazed lunatic. "Saix, listen!" he sternly confronted, holding caution for himself, "I am your Superior!"

Saix didn't bother to pay attention to Xemnas' words. He merely growled quietly and continued walking up to his prey.

Xemnas could see that his own displayed behavior didn't help him. If he were to prove to Saix exactly who was boss, he needed to halt any minute sign of cowardice. He frowned angrily, his feet rooted to the floor. "Stop this, Number VII!" he commanded dominantly, "I'm not going to take any shit from you right now! So you better shut up and quit this nonsense if you know what's best for you!"

Saix didn't like his tone at all, and he showed no fear as he still prowled over to the Superior, bearing his fangs and snarling. "'What's best for me'?" he scoffed, "How in the hell would you know—if you don't even know what's best for yourself?" He growled deeper as he was barely several inches away from Xemnas.

The Superior couldn't think of what to do; if he stayed to attempt at scolding Saix any further, he risked being ripped to shreds; if he ran away, Saix may just pursue in chase—even if he could escape, Xemnas would still leave behind his pride and dignity. "Saix!" he reprimanded, quickly looking around him and figuring out his next move.

The berserker stood on his hind feet, his back still slightly arched as if his natural posture were to originally be on all fours. Again, he had ignored Xemnas' words, interested only in the sport of his own interests: attacking anyone who got in his way—even if it was against his very own Superior. Saix hissed much fiercer.

That made it certain; Xemnas was not going to remain to get himself mauled by Saix. As the blue-haired creature roared, he headed for the door. "If I open a portal, he'd do nothing but follow me through it," Xemnas analyzed, getting closer to his freedom as Saix began to chase him, "I only hope he's forgotten how to portal when he's in this stage."

Luckily, Xemnas had left the door slightly opened from when he arrived earlier. He swiftly opened it wide enough for him to get through and immediately shut the door behind him, leaving the insane berserker on the other side. The event happened so quick that the Superior hardly realized what he just did. He stood there, panting, as his hand was grappling tightly to the doorknob to make certain that it was kept shut.

Saix, trapped in his own room, ran into the door. He shook his head to regain himself and restlessly paced in a small circle in front of the door, realizing the situation. He glared at the door and began to claw it severely, attempting to dig out his way to the other side and deal with Xemnas for trapping him. Unfortunately for Saix, the door was made of white marble; it was no match for his claw-like fingernails.

On the other side, Xemnas still held onto the doorknob, refusing to allow himself to let it go until he would be able to barricade it securely. "I can't stay here all night!" Xemnas desperately thought to himself, knowing that if he'd leave, Saix would surely hunt him down the castle. But to no luck, the Superior couldn't find anything that would be strong enough to tightly hold the door in place.

A/N ~ Got this to be finished sooner than I'd thought! X3 lol Must be because I have a lot more time to work on it—spring break and all (that, and I'm on a roll on writing right now)... If that's the case, then I might even be lucky enough to finish the fourth chapter by the end of the week too! :3 And I even drew out what I think Saix looked like in his "demonic" form, which can be found on my deviantART page (and that's listed in my profile page).