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Marluxia was not new to the Organisation's missions. He'd long forgotten how many he did. How many people he had killed, how many hearts taken. But this. This mission was different. He had to manipulate another nobody. She wasn't like Them, Though. Her name was a completely different one from her person. And most importantly. She was a witch. Marluxia didn't know the circumstances, but she could manipulate other people's memories. She wasn't like Them. They weren't supposed to feel empathy for her, she is just a tool for their plan. They'd finally have stopped Sora thanks to her.
But then why? Marluxia saw her drawing. He felt something weird. Could he even say felt? After all, it's not like he had a heart. Like all the others, he couldn't remember what "feeling" was like, so why bother using it as a word? He had no recollection of what life for him was like before losing his heart. He didn't remember his name. And when he tried to remember his previous life, he felt an headache. He didn't have an heart to feel, but if he did he'd probably say he was feeling sad. angry. Upset. Can't exactly pinpoint why, though. Whatever was going on only worsened when seeing Sora. "My friends are my power!" He'd say. The little boy was so solar, so loyal. Marluxia felt his stomach twist. He didn't have feelings, but if he had a heart he'd say he was Angry when looking at Sora. All the others hated him, too. Well, not really. Axel didn't. didn't he? But it didn't matter. The guy had softened For those two kids. Everyone else at Castle Oblivion hated him. At least, they would if they could. The word "hate" wasn't the right one. Unfortunately, there weren't words to describe one's unfeelings. So Marluxia was stuck with these already existing words.
"What are you drawing?" He approached the witch, he wasn't supposed to make her feel at home. It didn't matter how She felt. Although, She couldn't either? Marluxia thought to himself. She was such a little girl, for some reason a name came up in his mind. Not a random name. One of a flower. "Strelitzia" It wasn't weird to him. His whole thing were flowers, but for some reason that specific one burned his chest. He looked at Namine again, the name of the flower hitting his brain, like something just clicked. She was drawing, as always. That's how her powers worked, he'd figured. And yet, in the white of the castle, he easily pictured her in a field of flowers, fantasising about people who she never talked to. And for a monent. Just a brief, Scattered moment amongst others, Marluxia "felt" home.
But then, it'd end eventually. Namine was just a tool again. A witch whose existence was only useful to the organisation. To be used by them. To be owned by them. She wasn't a person, after all. Just a nobody. But was she really different from them?
She couldn't escape, she couldn't feel. She had no heart and no soul.
But if she was a witch, what did that make Marluxia and everyone else?
The more he thought about it, the more his head hurt. But then, he'd remember. Namine is a cruel witch. She can manipulate memories, and he had been spending more and more time around her, the others were busy fighting the keyblade wielders. That must be the reason for the "pain" he "felt". That's what Marluxia decided. But could he really endure all those fragments he'd been seeing? it made him hurt. He'd see a girl, a bit younger than Namine, her hair long and a pretty shade of red, her hair kept in two pigtails, she was wearing a white dress, longer than Namine's and instead of drawing she was making flower crowns. Sometimes he'd see her instead of Namine, and for some reason that made it impossible for him to do his job properly and use her as the tool she is.
But all this had to end, eventually. The mission wasn't going to last forever.
Marluxia was bringing Namine to an upper floor, they were going to wait for Sora. He held her wrist violently, forcing her to come along. It hurt her, he assumed. Unfortunately, Nobodys don't have hearts. And so, he didn't care.
Did he?
And then. Namine held Marluxia's wrist with her free hand and stopped walking, stopping him too.
"Please! Don't hurt him!" Namine shouted, her tiny voice full of tears.
Marluxia wanted to make her shut up and finish his mission, but when he turned around to face her
"Strelitzia..?" His head started hurting. All this was too familiar, but having no memories of what happened before he lost his heart. it'd just confuse him. Marluxia's hear started to hurt, as he looked at Namine he saw her. Strelitzia. That was her name, Marluxia decided. He found it weird, because it wasn't a flower one would see often, especially not in the organization's castle.
The Strelitzia represents joy, freedom. Paraside. It was indeed, weird. Because the witch wasn't free. and she couldn't be happy. She obviously wasn't in paradise. But those thoughts didn't matter, so he took her wrist, again, harder this time. And kept walking her to the last floor.
But the more they walked, the more Marluxia's head was filled with things that did not belong to him. Or at least that's what he thought. Because he was a nobody now, it didn't matter what had happened to him before. or who he met. It just didn't matter, why would it? Nobody else could remember their lives before the organisation, so why would he be any different?
Then it clicked.
Namine; the memories witch. Being all this time with her. She was doing witch stuff to him. There wasn't any other explanation.
He tried to ignore it, what could he have expected? He's messing with a witch! Of course she'd curse him, too.
He knew from the beginning, that a witch could only bring pain. But there was something that lead him to ignore it. Maybe he understimated her. He thought of her as a tool, not a person. not a threat.
But now was too much, who did she think she was?! Messing with His head?? Marluxia turned around and slapped her.
He forgot the witch was a weak little girl, her nose started bleeding. She looked at him with her big blue eyes, tears starting to form in her eyes, but she knew she couldn't just cry. So she kept all of it in.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Marluxia shouted, not looking at her anymore. "You thought you were smart, huh? Messing with my head too??" Namine wiped the blood from her face, her little white dress got a little dirty as she looked at him, confused.
"I... I didn't do anything!"
"Brave of you to talk back. But I know these.... things... that I've been seeing Are your fault! So don't try to hide it! You're nothing but a witch!!"
Namine quickly shut up, she straightened her back, took a deep breath and looked at him in the eyes. the blood had stopped flowing, it was drying on her little pale face
In that moment, When Namine's eyes tried so hard to be strong, Marluxia saw her again. one last time.
"Let's go." He took her hand once again, this time nothing was going to stop their plan.