Dedicated to one of my best friends for her birthday. This was finished awhile ago but it took me three years to do it. Damn writer's block.

It was hard being the only one in the Organization without an actual "job". What was even worse was when I could hear the other members whispering about me behind my back.

"Lazy piece of…"

'Why Xemnas let him join I have no clue why…'

"Should be a Dusk…."

Screw being a Dusk how did I make it to being a higher class of Nobody? What makes me so special? Well…as special as one can be when you don't have a heart. Do I even remember my true self or that first week as a member of the Organization?

I strum a few chords on my sitar; the only reminder of my former self. Everyone remembers who they are, except me. When I play though I feel something stirring; waayyy down in the core of the void that is myself, a slumbering serpent flicks its tongue in mild interest before lying down for another extensive period of siesta. I wish I could join the serpent in said sleep, but I had to work.

Yeah, "work". For me that was essentially sit down and file paperwork for Saix. Everyone would go out on missions and I would sit in a dusty room, pen in my hand tallying up the number of hearts Roxas had managed to collect. A heart… is that all I need? What my entity lacks is something so fundamentally trivial? If it's enough to make Roxas chase Heartless day in and out maybe it really is worth it. But then again, blondie's such a zombie he'd chase after anything if it made him seem more competent.

I could be cheerful and say that I'm pretty impressive since I'm the only one who can actually play an instrument that doubles as my "weapon". But the fact that I am the only one who is a musician makes me feel bested even without an opponent.

Being alone like that doesn't make me unique; it causes me to be downright pitiful. I mean, everyone else has a buddy or at least a rival in this establishment with who they can butt heads with or at a minimum talk to about their day. Me? I'm all alone, my agenda and my memories are always solo. I mean sure there are a few occasions where I go out with Roxas on a combat mission or two but blondie always runs off to fight by himself never even looking back for me. And what do I do until he returns with said mission complete? I find a shady nook and you guessed it, I sleep.

I wonder if a person can die from oversleeping. But then again since I'm a Nobody, are we even capable of dying? Don't you have to be whole to experience something as final as death?

…

I got up today, pretty unwillingly, not really looking forward to another day of work. Since I'm awake I'd much rather just sit here and strum on my lovely sitar but nooooo, I gotta go play secretary for Saix. I walk down the hallway playing a melancholic tune as I wonder if I'll ever be able to play something lighter instead of my usual bored chords.

I collect my job list from Saix and resist the urge to shriek when I see the fate awaiting me. Saix is trying to send me on a mission all by myself under the pretenses of doing recon. Hold up, let's lay out the cards and call their bluff as Luxord would say. They seriously expect me to go to a hostile world, by myself, and just run around in an attempt to check up on the Heartless population there? The higher ups have finally lost it.

I turn to Saix only to find him talking to Roxas and Axel, the wonder pairing of the day. I can't be resigned to this horrible destiny right? There's a law that says you can't just bump off the members you don't like right? But then again…with that incident at Castle Oblivion is there anything to stop them now?

With a saddened sense of ish-being I prepare myself for departure. The shop Moogle is still as snarky as ever, doesn't he know I'm being sent to my death? Can't I get a discount for once? At least I shall have my sitar to accompany me… Thoughts of my sitar make that clandestine serpent within me stir in interest before backing down once more seeing as I'm not going to play anything.

My mission sheet says I'm to go to the newly acquired desert world called Agrabah. Great, I get to die in a desert while sweating buckets, gross! Maybe there's a calm oasis out there with a tree I can sleep under. But there's no Roxas to complete the mission for me this time around, so this means that…**le gasp** I ACTUALLY HAVE TO WORK! X-X

…

Well, I made it to Agrabah. I've been here three seconds and I've already sweated out half the water within me. Even my little water clones are evaporating at too fast a rate for them to even turn into cooling mist first! I don't like it here. Not one bit. But I know what always makes a situation better! I start to strum on my sitar, a happy jumble of notes and chords that don't really make up a song but hey I'm bored to non-water based tears here. Forget the fact that in recon we're supposed to be quiet I was playing loud and proud.

I start walking around the world looking for Heartless as I switch to a finer tune I created called "Waterfall". This one is pretty cheery, a perfect companion when you're strolling around almost mindlessly. As I reach the palace gates after doing a thorough examination of all the alleyways and side streets this place has I begin to wonder where in the heck are all the Heartless? Like, this is starting to become really bazaar. Haha, get it? Bazaar like bizarre but instead it's a shop like those found in the desert communities, ah Demyx you're a funny guy…

But seriously, where are the Heartless? This is definitely report worthy and because I discovered it Saix won't yell at me for not doing anything on my mission. Hooray! I play a victory chord but as I turn around to go retrace my footsteps my fingers freeze in place. I'm surrounded by scores upon scores of Heartless. And they're all staring at me in this needy way; almost like…THEY'RE GONNA EAT ME! Run, Run away!

I book it towards the nearest exit playing scare chords as I go only to find it blocked by an oncoming wave of Heartless. They're everywhere! Goodbye Organization XIII, goodbye lovely sitar, goodbye best friend Axel, so long self-righteous Saix with the penciled in X, farewell ever so manly Xaldin with those sexy muttonchops, goodbye Demyx!

I cringe and hide behind my sitar while waiting for them to start chowing down on very tiny body. I wait in fear for what seems like hours but the pain never comes. I peer tentatively around my sitar and find all the Heartless just staring at me, like they're waiting for me to do something. Well, what do they want me to do? The only things I'm good at are sleeping, running away, and playing on my sitar.

The more brilliant part of me, (which is also the more cowardly part as well) highly doubts that the Heartless want me to sleep, and if I run, more than likely they'll just chase me some more so all that is left is playing on my sitar. I pluck shyly at the strings, ready to run at the slightest sign of a threat. As the notes began to string together the inky black creatures started to sway in time with the music, and although they didn't have proper faces that could display emotion they all looked peaceful, content even.

I kept playing random harmonies as I slowly rose up to a standing position where upon I switched to playing "Cascade" for the music-hungry mob. I begin walking, and they followed. We traversed up and down the city streets, where through my music, I would command parts of the group to disperse and remain in one section of the city, where they could collect more hearts for Roxas to later come and fetch.

Their footsteps kept pace with my rhythm, echoing in certain places as we moved through the city's cramped alleyways. I eventually found my way back to the main plaza and by this time I was performing my own theme for the remaining Heartless. And there were many, so very many of them despite my efforts to lessen their menacing numbers.

But the effect was still none the less amazing, they were dancing. They were actually dancing! They were swirling and swaying and spinning and whirling and twirling and oscillating and undulating like water itself. They obeyed my every command, slaves to my music, to my power. Is this my purpose? To summon unbelievable hordes and masses of Heartless that would even make the famed Keyblade bearer turn coward?

All those unanswered questions, are complete now, just like I am. Well, as complete as a Nobody can get seeing as how we haven't achieved our goal of obtaining hearts for us all. But, tangents aside, I have found my purpose. I have discovered what defines me as a member of Organization XIII and as I make this realization that slumbering secretive serpent within me stirs and hisses with glee and uncoils it's lengthy body and releases my true potential. My sitar transforms before my eyes and turns a deep shade of azure blue, closer to lapis lazuli in its hue. The strings become a pure silver tint and gold bands appear as markers with a solid strip closer to the base. Its shape becomes that of Organization XIII's emblem and with this new instrument in my hands I know I have finally earned my chair in the Organization's castle.

I, Demyx, have at long last, ascertained my job.