• Laughter was rare at Castle Oblivion and even more rarely was it because of pure, unadulterated joy. Xemnas laughed when a plan went according to how he had designed it, Vexen laughed when his puppets were manipulated just so, and Larxene simply laughed to mock someone else. Out of all of them, Vexen’s laugh scared Roxas the most- though he would never be one to admit it. The scientist’s laughter meant pain and most had learned to stay away from him when he was in one of his moods.

    Demyx, on the other hand, laughed almost freely, a big, toothy grin on his boyish face. Axel
    laughed too, but not as often and many times- it was forced, a dry husk of what it had once been- what it might have been if things were different. Castle life had that ability, Roxas had said to the redhead once, to suck the life and the laughter from you and leave you as only a shell of what you once were. Axel had laughed then, as well, dryly, humorlessly, responding that it was
    impossible since they were already shadows from the people they had been so there was nothing left to take away. Demyx, his smile diminished after the melancholy conversation, had protested that they could laugh if they wanted to because even if they lacked real hearts they could still feel and remember things- laughter was one of the easiest things there was.

    Part of Roxas wanted to believe it, believe that somewhere inside him he had the capacity to
    laugh again because somehow, he could remember sitting on a beach or in a cool, hidden cove
    on an island, laughing with other people he knew weren’t his to begin with, but maybe,
    once-upon-a-time they were. Sometimes he’d remember and try to imitate it in the darkness of
    his bedroom, but he could never get it to sound right- it always echoed off of the naked stone
    walls sounding just as hollow and false as he felt.

    And then she heard him try.

    For the longest time, Roxas actually thought she was incapable of speaking. Every once in a
    while he'd be assigned to keep an eye on her, and every time he was bored to tears with it all. She never spoke, barely moved, and was always either staring out her window or drawing on a
    sketchpad whenever he saw her.

    It was one day that Roxas tried to laugh again, but it too was hollow and useless.

    "What are you trying to do?"

    He jumped. Roxas had never jumped before. How could he be startled like that? Something
    about her voice just made his whole body react. There was a long pause between them, Roxas
    turned his head away, feinting an air of superiority.

    "N-Nothing."

    He stammered. Mentally, Roxas scolded himself, he didn't stammer!

    He glanced back at Namine, and to his esteemed surprise, she was very quietly and politely
    laughing into her hand. Roxas was immediately irritated. Demyx had said that laughter was one
    of the easiest things there was, so why couldn't he do it? Even Namine, in the first moments he
    knew she was capable of forming sounds, could laugh.

    "Something funny?" He asked, a hint of anger evident in his tone. Namine stopped her quiet
    laughter immediately and stared at him with those large, pale eyes of hers. Roxas felt uneasy as the object of her gaze. It was as if she was looking through him.

    "You don't know how to, do you?" She asked.

    Roxas blinked once, then twice, but remained silent. Maybe she really could see through him. He turned away hastily, regretting ever trying to laugh in her presence.

    "Don't know how to do what?" He asked, feinting ignorance.

    "You know." Namine said knowledgeably, "You don't remember how to do it?"

    "I don't need to, there's no use in... that."

    "Of course there is."

    His eyebrows threatened to vanish beneath his bangs, he didn't understand.

    "And how do you know that?"

    "Because..." Namine began slowly, "That is not something taken from us with our hearts. It is an echo of our souls, something we still possess."

    "But we don't exist."

    "That... I do not believe."

    Again, her philosophies startled him.

    "We're Nobodies. Nothing. Nothingness."

    "Well, we are here; we do exist as we are. I used to believe the same thing: that we were doomed to fade into darkness, but I changed that when I first met you."

    "Because of me?" Roxas inquired. Every time she opened her mouth he grew more and more confused, "How did you figure that out?"

    Again, she laughed very quietly and politely behind her hand.

    "Would you like to sit here and discuss that until you go, or would you like to learn how to laugh
    again?"

    That caught Roxas off guard. And yet, as ridiculous as a conversation about laughter between the two seemed, he was still intrigued. At the same time he was embarrassed for showing such blatant curiosity; such thoughts were unlike him.

    “…I would… like to learn, that is.” He answered, nearly glaring at the floor. This girl seemed to bring out the weirdest things in him,” But how-?”

    He paused as Namine stood up. She was surprisingly thin, and made barely a noise aside from the clicking of her shoes as she crossed the room. She held something carefully in both hands; Roxas assumed it was what would be his ‘key’ to learning to laugh again.

    Taking one of his hands in hers, Namine carefully deposited not one, but two small items in Roxas’ palm. For a moment, Roxas just stared at it, completely and utterly confused.

    “You’re kidding, right? What will this do?”

    “This?” Namine said, giving him a near fierce little smile, “That’s just the tools and instructions you’ll need.”

    One of the items was a piece of folded paper, which Namine indicated to with a gentle touch.

    “Just follow what it says on that, and I guarantee you’ll be laughing perfectly in no time.”

    Roxas unfolded the paper and read it carefully. He actually read through it quite a few times.

    This idea… it was completely crazy.

    “You’ve got to be kidding me…”

    Again, Namine laughed, but this time she did not hide it.

    “I can laugh, can’t I? Please, just trust me.”

    Roxas covered his eyes with his hand a shook his head. Was he really going to consider going
    through with this?

    “You know… its just crazy enough …”

    He pocketed the paper and additional item, before standing up.

    “I think it’s time for me to go.”

    “Yes, I think it is.” Namine agreed, smiling sadly, “Good luck with that.”

    Roxas touched his pocket, the corners of his mouth twitching upward.

    “Yeah… I’ll be sure to tell you how this turns out.”

    “No need, I already have a pretty good idea of how it will.”

    [X---x---X---x---X]


    Contrary to popular believe, the rest of the Organization did have things to do outside of plotting
    and being generally diabolical in every sense of the word. Lexaeus liked puzzles, Marluxia had
    his garden, and as stunning as it may have been, Larxene liked to read. So it was only a matter of time before Roxas could follow Namine’s instructions through and learn to laugh again.

    His opportunity came at a prime moment; one of the numerous couches and chairs in their library was occupied by another member, one whom was fast asleep in the crook of his hand, red hair standing out in the dreary library like Goth kid in the middle of High School Musical.

    Roxas fished Namine’s peculiar gift out of his pocket and stared at it for a moment, reconsidering what it was he was about to do. Something in the back of his mind was egging him on, urging him to try and recover yet another piece of his lost past. What was it? He wasn't sure what had persuaded him, maybe the desperation for a chance of truth, or... maybe he was just bored...?

    None the less, Axel slept like a rock. That, coupled with Roxas' own innate stealth made sure
    that Axel wouldn't be waking up any time soon.

    [X---x---X---x---X]


    Axel awoke some time later, none the wiser to what had happened. And while they all seemed to believe the lacked hearts, they’re stomachs were quite intact. Axel's was, at the moment, growling like a rabid animal. After a quick yawn and stretch Axel stood slightly stooped as the
    familiar tendrils of his power enveloped him and deposited him down in the kitchen.

    Admittedly, being able to suddenly poof himself down several floors had its advantages.

    The kitchen was quiet upon entry, even though several people were there. Axel suspected it was probably Saix's fault that things grew quiet in his presence. The littlest things would set that freak off. (Then again, sometimes he got irritated when things were too quiet.) Along with him in the kitchen were Demyx, Zexion, and Roxas. Saix was easily the taller person there as well. Demyx and Roxas were speaking in very hushed tones when he appeared, their backs facing him. Zexion was sipping from a cup politely while thumbing through a book. As for Saix, Axel knew it was meat, but what it was and what he'd done to it was up for debate. He'd just raised the meaty mass on a large bone to his mouth when he caught sight of Axel and paused, his mouth dumbly hanging open in surprise.

    "Number VIII, why, when you enter a room, does it..." Zexion began, looking up from his book.
    Axel could remember the last time he'd seen Zexion act so oddly. As soon as their eyes met,
    Zexion slapped his hand over his mouth, like he was going to be sick. Instead, his cheeks puffed up and his eyes began to water. Was he laughing?

    "What's wrong with you?" Axel asked, remaining calm. Zexion shook his head, unwilling to
    answer at the moment.

    Then Demyx and Roxas turned around. Demyx was first, and let out a single "Ha!" to punctuate
    the air before pressing his head against the table and pounding his fist against it. As for Roxas, he merely stared at Axel for a moment, his face completely blank. Whatever the reason for their
    reactions, Axel was getting severely irritated. He put his hands on his hips and peered down at
    the youngest member of the Organization.

    "What?" He asked, ready to smack him across the back of his head for staring.

    Then, to his immediate surprise, a strange noise forced its way out between Roxas's lips and
    echoed throughout the entire room. It mildly surprised both Zexion and Saix too, and caused
    Demyx to laugh even harder as the sound propelled Roxas out of his chair. If Axel wasn't already angry with the lot of them, he probably would have thought it was funny too. For ages Roxas talked about his own inability to laugh and here he was, lying on his back, clutching a stitch in his side and howling with laughter. And as oblivious as Axel was, he couldn't see what had caused it.

    "Hey, hey! What's so funny?!"

    He caught a spoon as Saix tossed it to him. With a rare, tiny smirk he returned to his meal after saying, "Take a look, Axel."

    Axel studied his appearance in the rounded end of the spoon, expecting to see that same devilish rogue he was so familiar with. Even if he had just woken up, he was confident in his own ability to look good.

    But looking good was not what he saw when he saw his reflection.

    "Oh, this is priceless, Roxas!" Demyx managed to say between gasps, "You... you are evil!"

    At that point, after questioning what they'd done to him and what many of the words on his face meant, Axel gave chase. Neither Roxas nor Demyx had ever run so fast in their lives. Foolish Roxas was still clutching the blue sharpie in his hand as if it could help him now.

    Larxene was on her way to the kitchen as well, one of few not lazy enough to have to warp everywhere they went. She'd just turned a corner when a couple of black-clad blurs nearly bowled her over. Angrily, she pulled out her own sharp weapons ready to swipe at them in case they came back for more.

    "What the hell?!" She snapped angrily. Demyx and Roxas had knocked one of her favorite books right out of hers hand and touching any of Larxene's property was, in her eyes, immediate grounds for getting beat a misshapen, bloody pulp.

    Yet instead of receive the usual, feebly created excuse that normally lead to her proving why she was called the Savage Nymph, Demyx and Roxas continued to run, screaming as if their were a pair of pansy school girls faced with a horde of lizards.

    "Get the hell back here!" Larxene snarled loudly, "Don't make me chase you little dips**ts! I'm gonna-"

    Larxene paused; feeling the air behind her seemed to be several dozen degrees hotter than normal. Only one person in the building could possibly do that.

    "Oh, now that the hell do you want... Ax...el..."

    The Hallway That Never Was never looked so bright before. Except for that one time Demyx brought back some decorations from Christmas Town…

    The entire hallway behind her was lit up like the fires of hell with Axel in the middle of it, chakrams spinning around him like the wheels of a race car as they spit out tongues of flame. His eyes seemed to literally blaze with the same intensity, his black coat was the only thing that stood him apart from his flames

    Though at a later time she would ultimately deny this, for once Larxene could truthfully say that Axel had her scared completely s**tless.

    However, no matter how frightful facing the flames of hell might have been, the mood was shot down when she spied the word ‘douchebag’ jotted across his forehead with neat, looping writing.

    To his disdain, Larxene began to howl with laughter, just as the others had. The flames died down considerably, but Axel still stalked past her with his head still on fire.

    “…I… I thought we finished your initiation ages ago!” Larxene gasped between breaths. He continued past her, ignoring her jeers at what had been written on the back of his neck as well.

    Following the sound of loud footsteps, Axel briskly followed their path (Why they didn’t simply warp away was beyond Axel, nor was he going to complain).

    “This way! This way!” Demyx said, gesturing to Roxas. Roxas was fast, but not as fast as Demyx was when he was scared out of his mind. It was doubtful anyone could outrun him as he was now.

    “Where are we going?!”

    “Just follow me! I know where to go!” Demyx replied, glancing down at his dancing Moogle watch. It was just about the right time.

    Following as closely as his little non-existent legs would allow, Roxas followed Demyx into a most unlikely place: Marluxia’s room. There were plenty of places to go in the Hall of Naught, why the bloody hell were they going to hid in the most flammable room in the entire freaking castle?!

    Axel was (quite literally) hot on their trail as they entered the hall. Without hesitating, Demyx ran into the door to Marluxia’s room dragging Roxas behind by his hood. Roxas caught one last fleeting glance of the hall as much of it erupted into flames.

    “Marly! Hey, Marly!” Demyx shouted, one hand cupped around his mouth.

    “I’m busy! Get out!”

    “Busy doing what?”

    “Look at the damn watch I gave you! You should know!”

    Demyx grinned avidly, his mental switch flipping from ‘clueless’ to ‘badass’. This was going to be good.

    You see, Marluxia was, without a doubt, extremely fond of his plants. So much that he often put photos of them up on the Internet. Right was just about the time when he broke out the camera for his lovely photo session.

    [X---x---X---x---X]


    As always, Namine sat at her small table, drawing away in her sketchbook as she typically did. Normally, when she heard the familiar hiss of a portal opening behind her, she’d look up to see who it was. Instead, a very small one opened up right above her head and dropped several thin objects into her waiting hands.

    They were photographs.

    She suppressed a giggle at the photo of Axel, flames billowing behind him and igniting several large rose bushes, was running past the camera with a multitude of bright blue words crawled across his face. Judging from the way he was holding up his arms to attack, she could also see that there were words written on his arm to, including the phrase, “The Flamer” complete with fanciful blue designs.

    But perhaps the best photos of all were the ones of a distraught Marluxia bludgeoning Axel with a garden rake, and the photo of Marluxia jotting down a few choices phrases on Axel’s (unconscious) face with a neon pink sharpie he’d somehow produced form thin air.

    Namine paused, a wide smile on her face. Not because of the photos held gingerly in her hands, but because of the faint, yet lively laughter that echoed across a world that had never experienced something quite like it.

    Tucking the photos in the back of her sketch pad, Namine paused and uttered two words.

    “You’re welcome.”