Disclaimer - Don't own Kingdom Hearts.

As a note, the names of any 'books' that are in here, I pulled out of my ass, but if there are any books in reality that have these names - I don't own them any more than KH. And there's quite a bit of Zexion in this chapter. I'm not really sure why.
Also, there used to be a rather 'adult'-oriented part at the end that I chopped out for on here because... well, I don't want to give ffnet a reason to ban my butt. xP So, abruptness at the end? That's why. For those who care about the actual plot, it's just Vexen involved (wink wink).

Chapter II - A Library Moment

Around a year's time from now, the Proof of Existence would be a desolate graveyard, containing nothing but the broken and decrepit headstones for its former residents.

At present, however, it was one of the most lively, bustling areas of the Castle that Never Was.

Although the Organization was filled with Nobodies with no hearts or emotions, that did not keep them from holding sociable, polite conversations with one another. Xigbar had managed an apparently jovial conversation with Xaldin and Luxord and was talking animatedly as was usual. Lexaeus stood near his room's door, calmly listening in to the former's conversation. Axel leaned against a wall, listening to Demyx talk about music, his usual topic of choice. Marluxia watered a large flower that he had insisted on decorating the room with. All in all, a typical scenario. Except for three of the members.

Saix had developed a tolerance to this scene, due to the fact that Xemnas was usually amongst them. But because their Superior had remained with Vexen, the Luna Diviner receded into his room for the time being. Similarly, Zexion was accustomed to Vexen's presence and without him there, the Cloaked Schemer simply paced slowly around the room in thought.

Most out of place though was Larxene. As the newest member, she had no patterns to fall back on or comrades to gravitate towards. Technically, she didn't even have a room yet- Xemnas told her where the Proof was, to go there and that he would show her to her room. She could have figured out which was hers though, the arrangement of the doors was easy enough to understand, but where was the fun in hiding in one's room when one could... annoy? Thus, she found a wall to lean on and in a few minutes time, found a worthy target. "What are you doing?" she asked the roaming Zexion, when he was a few feet away from her.

Zexion blinked, showing an ounce of surprise, before answering, "Thinking."

Larxene rolled her eyes, "Your feet have to move in order for your brain to function?"

"It can help," he replied, hoping that disinterest on his part might convince her to move on, as he had been accustomed to with Axel around.

The female Nobody snorted, "That's men for you." Her eyes moved to the right of Zexion and a smirk grew on her face. Following her line of sight, Zexion saw Vexen had finally appeared.

The Chilly Academic's normally foul mood had become even worse as he stepped into the Proof of Existence. After a good measured glare in the directions of Marluxia and Axel, he stomped his way over to Zexion. "I need to borrow a book, Zexion." Screw social life, he needed to experiment to keep him from doing something like turning Agrabah into an ice rink.

Zexion sighed and shook his head, "I suppose one greeting a day is your limit." He lead the way to his room's door and when he checked to see that Vexen was behind him, he saw Larxene trailing behind the both of them. The Schemer cleared his throat, "May we help you?"

Larxene shrugged, "What? Girl's not allowed to touch your private books?"

As much as Zexion didn't want to spend more time with the woman, he didn't exactly want to cause a ruckus either. This late in the day was not a good time to pick fights. Besides, a book might just be the thing to get her out of his hair. "Very well," he said and entered.

Just as Vexen had converted his room to a dark, dank laboratory, Zexion had taken it upon himself to provide the rest of the Organization with a library. The finished result was an enormous room, similar to Where Nothing Gathers, containing floor to near-ceiling shelves that were filled with ever kind of book imaginable. Anything from thick encyclopedic volumes to the simplest novels were stored on those shelves. Zexion alone was the only Nobody to know where each and every book was, as he was the one who had to maintain them.

Originally, the books had all been organized in a very "Zexion"-manner. First divided by what language they were written in; then fiction and non-fiction; then sub-genre, by author's last name and title if necessary - all divisions ordered alphabetically. Simple and clean, really. But of course, the others had their complaints. Demyx wanted all the foreign language music books nearer to the English music ones; Axel didn't like the five mile walk that it took to get from the shounen manga to the pornographic section (Zexion still couldn't comprehend why Superior let Axel get away with that); Marluxia wanted the horticulture books closer to the ground, etc etc. It became such a headache that Xemnas requested that Zexion tweak his library's structure to suit the rest of the group's needs.

Ruining his perfect organizational scheme was not enjoyable, but Zexion had settled. He added one more shelf near the front of the library and agreed to hold each member's favorites right there for easy access. Everything else was the same, but Zexion had to create a full-listing of every book and where it was to be placed, so that the others could navigate as well. That had not been a pleasant time for any of the order, as the calm Zexion had become extremely snappy from weeks of writing down the details of all the books.

Even though he'd seen the room before countless times, Vexen still was impressed by his old friend's handiwork. Of all the other member's rooms, Zexion's was the most welcoming to the Academic... aside from his own. He felt something brush against his arm and remember that Number XII was right beside him. He glanced and saw her head tilted sightly, lips parted a little; her eyes taking in the vast room. Taking his chance, he scoffed, "Have you never seen a library before?"

Her eyes snapped to him, the look of awe gone, "You can really kill a good moment, can't you..." She stomped away from him and Zexion and disappeared in the rows.

Vexen frowned. He felt- no, he couldn't feel, just pretend- a twinge of... disappointment, perhaps? At what? That she hadn't stuck around to fight with him as one of the others might have?

"She's right," spoke a voice ahead of him. Zexion had moved along to Vexen's favorites and was beginning to climb the ladder towards the higher shelves. "Was that really necessary?"

"Of course," muttered Vexen, not exercising the usual grandeur he used when bashing the newer members.

"'Of course' he says," repeated Zexion, finally reaching Vexen's books. "Was there a specific one you wanted?" No reply. "Was th-"

"I heard you the first time," Vexen interrupted.

Zexion pursed his lips and said to himself, "Normal people generally answer when they're asked the first time." He spoke louder, "Then which one?"

Vexen pondered. "Actually," he said, "I think I need a completely different one." He gestured in the direction of the other science books.

For other members, Zexion would have appeared self-controlled, but perhaps because it was Vexen he was dealing with, he didn't try hiding the action of banging his head against the shelf, "Then why did I come up here?" He slid himself down the ladder.

Taking the facetious question seriously, Vexen shrugged, "Early aging? Momentary loss of sanity? Lack of sleep?" He was consumed in his mind again.

The Cloaked Schemer ignored his comrade's reply and navigated the room silently. Finding the rest of Vexen's science books, he made to leave the Academic in peace but paused, "Do you need any of your archive?" Vexen's experiment notes had become so numerous over the years that Zexion had offered to hold some of his older, less needed work right in the library. Vexen shook his head as he scanned the books. "Very well," Zexion left.

The blond-haired man tried to focus on the titles in front of him, but to little avail. Physics Theories... Castle Oblivion... The Basics of Biology... Number XII... A Chemist's Checklist... Axel... Astronomy 101... Marluxia's damn flower... The Do's and Don'ts of a Scientist's Lab... Larxene...

Vexen returned 'Do's' back to it's place on the shelf. That had been odd. He was known to brood on things... but to the extent of remembering their name on their first day? That certainly hadn't happened before. Why, it had been a good three months before he bothered to remember Demyx's name- that had been his highest record. The Chilly Academic tapped lightly on the books before him. For whatever reason, that Nobody was getting in the way of his train of thought and no matter what he did, he wasn't going to be focusing entirely on anything else.

Throwing whatever caution he had to the wind, he randomly picked a book off the shelf and walked himself towards the door that he'd come from. Taking a route different than Zexion had taken to bring him there, he came across Larxene again, still looking through Zexion's collection. The thought of going over and talking to her ran through his head, but it passed quickly. Just get back to the lab... he thought.

"Vexen? Did you fi-" came Zexion's voice. That was all it took for Larxene to look up from her book in Vexen's direction. Not at all wanting to confront her, Vexen instantly ported from the room to his own, ignoring the rest of Zexion's sentence.

Said-Schemer groaned again, muttering to himself, "'Goodbye', just 'goodbye', that's all I ask..." as he walked leisurely back to where he'd been.

Vexen appeared in his lab just as spontaneously as he had disappeared seconds before. Frustrated, he slammed his book down on a table (as gently as possible though; he didn't want to damage the book or whatever might have been on the table). Those eyes. It was those eyes again. He just couldn't explain them. They caught his own eyes and for the brief seconds that they were connected, he... he...

He felt.

That wasn't supposed to happen. That couldn't happen.

But it did.

He slammed his fist down onto the table and book, not at all gently. He was a Nobody. A freaking paradox of scientific nature. He had no heart, thus he couldn't feel, yet he and the others could remember how to feel. They could react as if they had hearts, but that didn't change the fact that they had no hearts...

Or did it?

Vexen slunk over to the one arm chair that he kept in his room and plopped himself down. His area of expertise was hard, cold facts. He wasn't supposed to be one who mused daily about the presence of emotions in Nobodies. And yet, as a Nobody, it was probably natural to think philosophically about oneself in situations like this. There he was, back to Larxene.

He muttered aloud to no one in particular, "Well... this may just put a dent in my little crusade..."

Review! (Otherwise the 5-10 minutes it took you to read this will mean NOTHING)