Passion Lost

Chapter One

First of all, there are some things you must know; Xenon joined Organisation XIII at the age of 16, shortly after giving up her heart to save a sick child. It was her father, Xemnas, who found her and gave her the name she has now (her original name was 'None'). Xenon has remained loyal to the Organisation, though she continues to have problems about attacking the helpless or weak.

She has had her hard times, too; when her half-sister, Snake-Eyes, was brought to the Organisation by Marluxia, for example. Snake-Eyes very much hated being a Nobody and hated Organisation XIII even more. So Xenon set out on a quest to bring her sister out of Castle Oblivion, with the help of Sora, Aliera (a firm friend of Sora's) and Demyx (her boyfriend). Unfortunately, they did not reach Snake-Eyes in time…Marluxia had force-fed the girl a Paopu fruit. Snake-Eyes was eventually separated from Marluxia, but the trauma done was too much…she died soon after, causing Xenon much distress. If that wasn't enough, Demyx was very nearly killed by Xenon when her anger reached crisis levels, and she went on a rampage. Xenon decided that, after this event, she could not be the girlfriend of Demyx any longer (for fear of harming him, so this was done out of kindness).

But that was all a long ago. Xenon is 23 years old now, still a member of the Organisation, and about to go through some very tough times indeed. When many members of Organisation XIII start to flirt with her, will Xenon open her non-existent heart once more after sealing it off for years? Will she be able to bring herself to help Aliera and Sora when they come to her to help in an urgent quest? Can Xenon stand against her father when she discovers his latest plan?

Will Xenon finally find her destiny at last?

"What are you guys doing?" Axel asked, walking into the room where several of the members of Organisation XIII were. At that time Roxas, Demyx and Vexen were standing or sitting around, watching Luxord and Xenon. Luxord and Xenon were playing a card game of some sort. Axel walked over to Roxas and leant on the back of the sofa that Roxas was sitting on.

"What have I missed?" Axel asked his friend.

"Luxord and Xenon are playing a game of Pontoon." Roxas whispered. "They've both got the same score so far, and this is their last turn." Axel looked up. Xenon had taken her turn and had chosen not to make any alterations to her hand of cards. Luxord had added one card to his hand, so now had three. He glanced up at Xenon, who nodded to him, indicating for him to show his hand first. Luxord did so, grinning smugly. He laid the three cards out one after the other on the table in front of him.

"18." Luxord said. Xenon looked at the cards on the table; a 5, 7 and 6. She looked back at Luxord, raised an eyebrow, and then placed her two cards down on the table. She spread them apart so as to make them clearly visible. She then leant back, grinning modestly. The cards on the table were the same. A pair of tens.

"20." Xenon said, quietly. "I win." There was silence for a few seconds. Then Luxord laughed.

"You beat me again!" he said, gathering the cards. "Seriously, it takes a lot to beat me in a card game." Xenon laughed a little to herself. Demyx spoke up.

"Since when do you guys play cards?" he asked. Xenon rolled her eyes and looked over to him.

"We've been having a daily game of cards for the past few months." she said. "I thought you would have noticed THAT much." Axel laughed.

"You just got well and truly OWNED, Dem." he said. He punched Demyx in the shoulder and then ran, Demyx not bothering to follow. Luxord shuffled his cards again.

"Up for another game?" he asked. Xenon shook her head.

"Maybe later. Got some stuff I need to do first." she said. She stood up, shaking Luxord's hand as she went. "Good game, by the way!" Xenon walked up to the wall and disappeared through it. That was one of her abilities; she had space-manipulation powers, a bit like Xigbar. That was why you could never lock her out of a room, because she could always just walk through a door. She hardly ever did that, though, to avoid intruding on anyone else. She was polite like that.

"She's cute, isn't she?" Vexen asked, once they were sure that Xenon herself was out of earshot. Demyx looked at him.

"Careful what you say, Vexen. That's my girlfriend you're talking about." he said. Vexen glared at him.

"FORMER girlfriend, Demyx." he reminded him. Demyx sighed.

"Yeah…but she only dumped me to avoid hurting me. And she hasn't gone on one of her rage-rampages in years." he said, quietly. Vexen chuckled to himself.

"I think she's moved on, Demyx. I think she doesn't have feelings for you anymore." he said. Demyx leapt up as if given an electric shock. He seemed about to disagree but then he sighed and sat down, putting his head in his hands.

"Maybe you're right." he said, quietly.

"But that raises the question…will she ever love again?" Vexen went on, half to himself. "And more importantly…WHO will she love?" Demyx looked up.

"Oh, come on…don't tell me YOU'RE thinking of hitting on her now, are you?" he asked. Vexen laughed.

"Demyx, I think all of the guys are going to try!" he said. "But can you really blame us?" Demyx shook his head.

"I suppose not." he said. "But are all the guys really going to try and get Xenon to love them?"

"I think so." Luxord said. "I heard that Xigbar's going to try and impress her somehow…or was it Saix? Could be both of them."

"How about you then, Luxord?" Demyx asked. Luxord paused, as if thinking.

"I might try to get her attention." he said, eventually. Demyx was horrified. The news that loads of different guys were all going to try and get the attention of HIS former girlfriend was shocking. He started walking towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Vexen asked.

"I've got some serious thinking to do!" Demyx called over his shoulder, running out of the room. Vexen and Luxord watched him go.

"You lot have got your work cut out trying to get Xenon to notice you." Roxas piped up. Vexen looked over at him.

"What about you then, Roxas?" he asked. Roxas got up and started walking out of the room.

"Not interested." he muttered, softly.

Not long after this, Xenon was heading out. She had received a mission from Saix to destroy a few Heartless and that was all. Xenon took the mission, noting to herself that Saix might have seemed a little shy that day, and got her Keyblade ready. She was just about to leave when she heard someone behind her. Turning around, Xenon found that it was Vexen. She resisted the temptation to roll her eyes. Vexen had been bugging her to be his partner in the lab for weeks now. This was probably going to be the same thing again.

"What is it now, Vexen?" Xenon asked, as politely as possible, though she was tempted to slap Vexen in the face and tell him that she was never going to be his lab partner. She was surprised when Vexen did not start begging her to be his lab partner again.

"Saix sent me. I'm accompanying you on your mission today." he said. Xenon raised an eyebrow.

"Alright." she said. "Just don't slow me down, alright? I've got a job to do and I intend to do it with time to spare. Got a reputation to keep and all that, you know?"

"I understand." Vexen said, nodding. When he saw Xenon preparing to open a Dark Corridor he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Please…allow me." He waved his hand, opening up a Dark Corridor. Xenon looked at him, emotionlessly.

"Thanks." she said, in a decidedly bored tone.

Once the two Nobodies reached Twilight Town, Xenon found that she had no reason to worry. Vexen was an excellent battler and did not slow Xenon down at all. She was used to taking on missions alone but even she had to admit that having a second person there to help was a good thing. They were just battling the last few Heartless in the area when Xenon realised something.

"Hang on a minute." she said. "Saix told me a while back that unless I said that I wanted help on a mission, he'd not send anyone else to go with me. So how come YOU'RE here?" Vexen slammed his shield into a Heartless' face and turned to her.

"Gotta find some way to kill time, haven't you?" he said. "Besides, I haven't got anything to experiment on in the lab." Xenon glared at him.

"You tricky little…" she began, but was cut off when a Heartless leapt onto her back. She got it off and stabbed it with her Keyblade, killing it. Vexen whistled.

"Nice!" he said. Xenon looked at him.

"Thanks." she muttered, almost sarcastically. She straightened back up and looked around. "That was the last of 'em. Reckon we should RTC?"

"Yes." Vexen agreed, nodding. He stared at Xenon for a minute or two.

"Ok…this is awkward…" Xenon muttered. "Come on, Ven. Let's go." She turned around and started walking. She was about to enter the Dark Corridor and return to the castle when a thought struck her. She turned around to Vexen, who took a moment to meet her eye.

"And next time, don't just walk behind me so you can stare at my butt, ok?" Xenon said. Vexen didn't answer, but blushed slightly, suggesting that that was exactly what he had been doing. Muttering to herself, Xenon went into the Dark Corridor. Vexen followed.

Later on, and Xenon was beginning to feel suspicious. Vexen sneaking out to be with her on a mission was odd enough, but as soon as she got back she had been invited to Xemnas' office. Her father had told her to ignore the other Organisation XIII members if they tried to gain her attention, and if anyone pushed things too far to tell him. This had puzzled Xenon all the more. Why all the fuss over her now? What had happened? And was she honestly worth all that fuss? Xenon sighed. Probably not, she thought. She wasn't beautiful, she wasn't as strong as some of the others, and if there was one thing Xenon was certain of, it was that she WASN'T special. There was nothing special about her. Well, apart from her Keyblade, Star-crossed. But did Xenon really deserve such a miraculous weapon? Again, probably not…

Little did anyone know what was going on many worlds away. In a dark cave somewhere between two different worlds, a spiky-haired boy with a Kingdom Key in one hand was running from shadow to shadow, batting Heartless out of the way as he ran. He kept running at full speed until he reached one of the cave walls. He skidded to a halt in front of it, batted another Heartless out of the way and raised a palm to the rock. He batted some dust away from it, revealing an ancient inscription carved into the hard rock. The spiky-haired boy's lips moved a little as he read the writing.

"The Eternal Light will only open for the holder of a Sacred Star…" he muttered. He ran a hand through his hair. "Sacred Star? What does that mean?" A Heartless ran up behind the boy but was met by a high-pitched battle-cry from a girl with hair just as spiky as the boy's. The girl slammed her own Kingdom Key down upon the small creature of darkness, waited until it faded away into nothingness and then turned to the boy.

"Sora, can you hurry up and do whatever it is you need to do?" the girl snapped. "The Heartless are approaching our position and we REALLY need that Eternal Light thingy unlocked!"

"Aliera, there's a problem." Sora said.

"What is it?" the spiky-haired girl asked.

"According to the inscriptions, we need a Sacred Star to open the Gate of Light." Sora replied. "And I don't even know what a Sacred Star is…"

"Well that's just great…" Aliera hissed. She stood in a battle stance should any more Heartless attack from the darkness. Sora frowned, in thought.

"But 'Sacred Star' does ring a bell from somewhere…just got to remember…" he muttered. He was quiet for a moment more. Then he clicked his fingers. "I've got it! I know where I've heard of the Sacred Star before!" Aliera looked over her shoulder.

"Where?" she asked.

"Remember Snake-Eyes and Xenon?" Sora asked in response. Aliera stared at him. A note of sadness crept into her mind.

"How could I forget those two? We helped Xenon save Snake-Eyes from Marluxia…" she said. "But then Snake-Eyes died…"

"Yeah…"Sora said, somewhat sadly. "But don't you remember? Their Keyblades were almost exactly the same. Snake-Eyes' Keyblade was the Shooting Star and Xenon's is called Star-crossed. And those two Keyblades were called the Sacred Star Keyblades…" The truth of it suddenly dawned on Aliera. Her eyes widened.

"You think that one of those could help us?" she asked.

"I'm sure of it!" Sora said. "But since Snake-Eyes…is no longer alive…then that only leaves Xenon. Hers is the only Sacred Star Keyblade left in existence, seeing as when Snake-Eyes died her Keyblade died with her."

"We need to find Xenon then?" Aliera asked. "But isn't she a member of Organisation XIII?" Sora frowned.

"She almost certainly is. What, with her father being the leader of the organisation. And you know how loyal Xenon can be." he said.

"Yes. But…after all this time, will Xenon help us?" Aliera wondered. "Will she even REMEMBER us?"

"I don't know, Ali." Sora said, with a sigh. He gave a determined look. "But she's the only chance we've got."