~*Insanity in a Nutshell*~

This must have been how Alice felt when she unwittingly stumbled into Wonderland, like the whole thing was just an unreal dream. The difference with that was a trip to Wonderland sounded like fun. Mad Hatter? Talking flowers? Sign me up.

Finding an evil video game character passed out in your living room, however, did not sound like fun. In fact, if you looked up in a dictionary the antonyms of 'fun' this would be the scenario; an evil video game character passed out in one's living room.

Wait, maybe not entirely passed out. His fingers were twitching and I could see his eyes swiveling underneath his closed eyelids. That surely spoke of life, right? Unless someone had a sick interest in necromancy.

"You see him too?" Aki whispered, her voice quavering. My throat was stuck; all I could think of was to nod. It was a wonder I heard her at all; there was a faint, annoying buzzing sound in my ears.

She breathed a huge sigh of relief ("Phew!") and her whole body slacked. It was like she cared more about her sanity than the fact that there was an evil video game character passed out in our living room.

No, not passed out. He opened up his eyes just slightly at the sound of our voices.

Tucking away my better senses of running away and perhaps calling the police (or even fetching a baseball bat), I slowly approached and knelt down next to him.I curled my hand into a fist and meekly tapped him with my knuckle, trying to keep any form of contact to a minimum. "Hey?" I whispered. "Hey, you alive?"

"Nnnng."

Well, he could speak. That was surely a good sign.

He produced a few more sounds, enough to tell me that he most definitely wasn't dead. He shifted. One dulled green eye swiveled open and fixated on me. Yup, definitely not dead.

Once again I ignored my better senses and asked softly, "Who are you? Can you tell me what your name is?"

His lips opened just ever so slightly and whispered something I couldn't catch. The whole process seemed to exhaust him as he grew even paler than before. He looked like a frightful ghost. Aki nervously hovered over me, biting her fist yet remaining concerned. I knelt closer, feeling a sense of idiocy mixed with severe apprehension. "Say that again?"

His eyes inched open, and he released a heavy breath. "Vexen."

Well, damn.

Sure, just because he said his name was Vexen didn't actually make it true, but considering the sorry state he was in I doubt this creeper was in much a mood for lying. Vexen is probably a real common name. Nothing to worry about.

Biting my lip, I quickly became lost at what to do.

Suddenly Aki dropped to her knees and knelt down far too close to him for my taste. Her hair brushed his clammy forehead. Eyes scanning over his face, she seemed to reach a decision. "D'you...think maybe we should move him to the couch?" I looked over to her with a furrowed brow, my reluctance obvious."Well, the floor doesn't exactly look comfortable does it?"

"Well, it's a start," I admitted, though I wasn't really sure. But again, we had to start somewhere. Moving closer I whispered, "Hey, don't freak out, we're just going to move you a bit. Kay?" Yeah, don't freak out. Don't try to kill me, that's what I'm trying to say. He slightly inclined his head, telling me that he heard or perhaps just acknowledging my existence.

Shifting over towards his head, I gestured for Aki to move to his lower body. Wrapping my arms around his torso and heaving him up, his head fell limply on my chest. I became acutely aware once again that I was wearing nothing more than a bathrobe. Aki scooped up his ankles and with a nod I counted to three out loud.

"One…two…three!"

With a mighty tug we both hauled the dead weight on to the couch. I couldn't drop him fast enough. I could hear my heart pound in my ears, and I took short, gasping breaths. Jumping back, Aki rejoined me at the other end of the couch, her expression soft and concerned.

"He needs something to eat," she stated simply. I glared at her, not in the mood for her coddling.

"What, so he could try and kill us with it?"

Aki rolled her eyes, actually seeming amused by my words, the damned girl. "We could just get him something to drink at least. Don't we have some orange juice?"

Before I could say anything she dashed off towards the kitchen, leaving me with the half-dead burglar unconscious on my couch. I reluctantly let her go without protest, not enjoying the parlor of the man's cheeks anyway. It was disturbing, especially when my mind tortured me by making comparisons between him and my dead grandfather at his funeral. Thanks brain, I needed that.

Leaning in as close as I would dare, I closely scrutinized him. At first I was hoping I could find some flaws that all cosplayers possessed, something that told me he was just another Steve or Larry. Synthetic hair, fake leather coat, you know, the works. If anything, though, it just made that sinking feeling in my stomach grow worse. It wasn't just his hair or the startling green eyes, but even his facial features caused alarm. The high-cheek bones, the gaunt features…

Unless this guy was an extremely avid Vexen fan (which was silly because no one liked Vexen that much) I didn't have any other choice than to cave into that tiny little voice in my head.

Either that or check into an insane asylum.

Aki then returned with the orange juice in hand. It took both of us to prop him up into sitting position, which was very frustrating as he was very heavyand kept sliding back down. Eventually we propped him up and I crossly shoved the glass under his nose.

"You'll want to drink this," I stated. His eyes were bleary as he tried to focus on the cup. "It'll give you some of your energy back." Slowly he roused, limply lifting his hand and taking it from me, almost dropping it. He was slow at first, but the more that he consumed the more vigor he seemed to get back. Pretty soon all we had was an empty cup, which he deftly gave back to me. I noted with relief that some color came back to his face. He opened his eyes fully and his eyes sparkled with all the annoyance of an irritated old man.

Well, what do you know.

I gulped, trying to hold back a scream. "How did you get in here?" I hastily demanded.

Eyebrows narrowed at being asked such a direct question, his puffed up arrogance seemed to return along with his energy.

"I think the better question would be why you have brought me here," he said. His voice! Even his freaking voice!

My jaw locked stubbornly. "No, it's not really a better question at all."

"Oh, really? And just why not?"

"Because we did not bring you here," I snapped. He snorted contemptuously. "My little sister woke up to find you sprawled across our living room floor in a coma. You brought yourself in here."

"Don't be absurd!" he retorted. "The last thing I remember was confronting that little Keyblade brat, and now this horrid place."

For half a second, I felt sympathetic. Whether or not I felt sorry for the fact that the old guy didn't know he was dead, or that he was completely and incurably out of his mind, I couldn't tell. My mind was a complete, jumbled mess and at that moment I couldn't have added two and two together without it making up six.

"You might want to fast forward a bit," I said tersely, humoring him. "Don't you remember? Axel? Fire? See you, Senpai? Any of this a-ringing a bell?"

Vexen opened his mouth, looking quite intent on verbally smacking me, when dazed horror suddenly dawned on his face. Clearly, from what I could of his expression, it did ring a bell. A loud one at that.

He lurched to his feet (doing well to startle me and Aki out of oblivion) and looked around wildly, as if he suddenly realized he had no idea where he was. It was the poster-board picture of someone in a panic, complete with running a frenzied hand across his face. He whirled around on his heel, his eyes wide and panicked, fixated on me. I grabbed for Aki and moved her closer to me.

"Where am I?" he asked vehemently, fear visible. Both of us remained quiet, unsure of how to answer such a question.

Aki managed to collect herself before I could. "You're on planet Earth." Her voice was surprisingly steady. "Our house, specifically, but...Well, this is our world, umm, sir?" She trailed off awkwardly, eyes colored with concern.

Her words, however, seemed to do the trick, as his panic alleviated, for the moment.

"So…I'm not dead?" he asked timidly, his tone hinting relief.

"Oh, you're deader than a doornail," I stated matter-of-factly. Aki glanced at me. "This place that you're in is a completely different universe. Dead." It was the wrong thing to say, I knew it was, but his reaction was so instantaneous I barely had enough time to regret it. His panic quickly resurfaced, along with a touch of defensive anger that was directed straight at me.

"And just how do you know that?"

"We saw you." Aki sounded cheery. "Die, I mean. You see, you along with the rest of the Organization are all a part of a video game."

"I would have handled that a little bit more delicately, but that works too," I muttered under my breath. Taking a breath, I braced myself for what I was to say next. "But of course none of that matters because you aren't really dead."

"I—I'm not?"

"No," I replied hotly. "Because you aren't Vexen."

Now he was getting even angrier, standing up at full height, towering over us.

"I most certainly am…Vexen," he snapped back.

At that point my already delicate patience had cracked. My glare became fierce.

"If you were Vexen, which you aren't"—I added tersely—"that would mean you would have somehow resurrected yourself through means completely unknown, defined all laws of reality and outlying planes and shot out of that game over there,"—I pointed to the said case—"and have traveled across the space time continuum in order to reach here."—I pointed at my feet—"Unless you are a figment of my imagination, which I am still strongly considering, you aren't real."

Vexen's jaw flapped uselessly. I was impressed he was even trying to make sense out of all this. He seemed to be having a pretty tough time trying, though, which garnered a proud sense of satisfaction from me. He sunk back down onto the couch, looking completely at a loss of what to say.

And that, as they say, is that.

I was already planning on what to tell the people at the nut house when Aki suddenly placed a hand on my arm. Her expression was nothing less than everlasting patience. "You know as well as I do that some things don't have to make sense. They're a lot of things that could have happened to bring him here, things that we don't know about."

My glare grew darker, but I didn't reply, unwilling to consider her words. To actually think that she could be right...that he was actually real...

"I don't know how to prove it to you," Vexen said suddenly, looking up at us with a desperate expression, "but I am Vexen of Organization XIII. I swear it upon anything that has value."

I narrowed my eyes, unimpressed. Suddenly a brilliant, crazy idea came over me. I eyed a stray paperweight resting on one of the end tables. Scooping it up, I said haughtily, "Alrighty then, here,"—I tossed him the paperweight—"freeze that."

Clumsily catching it, he stared at me with an offended expression, as if such a test was beneath him. I gestured impatiently at the weight. He bit his tongue, but otherwise focused his attention on the object.

A few seconds passed, and by that time I had already triumphantly convinced myself that all this was just a monumental waste of time. I was prepared to bitterly scold him—

—just as the frozen weight crashed onto the floor. Icy fragments scattered everywhere. The paperweight could clearly be seen frozen in a block of ice.

My face turned pale white and my jaw dropped; I think my ears popped.

"Okay, now just was that supposed to prove?" Vexen asked sharply, obliviously unaware of my imminent meltdown. Aki began trying to comfort me, patting my arm, saying words that I couldn't register.

I sunk down onto the couch, my eyes wide and unseeing, clapping my hand over my mouth and trying to bite down the scream that was building in my chest. Spots danced underneath my eyelids and I felt a crushing wave of vertigo.

"Just breathe, D, there's nothing to be afraid of," said Aki, placing comforting hands on my shoulders like I had done not twenty minutes ago. I only barely managed to hold back the dizzying nausea, trying to focus on the warmth of her hands instead.

"What's the matter with her?"

"She's going into shock."

"What? Why?"

"Well, you see, in our world people just can't freeze things at will. That's what we call paranormal activity."

A few moments passed. I could vaguely felt myself trembling and I could suddenly see Aki's pale white expression, her purple eyes colored with worry. "Don't worry, D," she said in a tiny voice. She sounded very, very small and unsure, and I realized that she's probably never seen me so freaked out like this before. She squeezed my hand. "Why don't we all go into the dining room and have some breakfast? I'm starving."

I nodded blankly, covering my eyes with my hand, trying to block out the world and collect my thoughts. I was led to the dining room and sat down in one of the elegant chairs. Quite randomly I thought about how I haven't been in this dining room for three solid years, usually preferring to eat in the living room than the stylish sitting room usually reserved for society's finest. Dad did always like fancy decor.

I buried my head in my arms, quavering silently, trying to slow my breathing.

"Uuuh, Mister Vexen?" I heard Aki whisper a few feet away. I hadn't realized that he had followed us. "You're going to have to help me make breakfast." Vexen spluttered. "Well, you can't just expect us to make your food for you! Plus, I don't know how to work the iron. Sis never lets me use it."

Their scuffling moved out of the dining room and into the kitchen. I took this time to try and collect myself accordingly, lifting up my head and shaking myself. Okay, okay D, don't panic. That's Vexen. He's real. He's real and dead. He's alone in the kitchen with my little sister.

"Belgian waffles?" Vexen yelped from the kitchen. Aki giggled and said something I couldn't catch. I clapped my hands over my ears, groaning.

So he's making you Belgian waffles. No biggie. I began to take deep breaths to calm my racing heart, thankful that Aki had taught me those breathing techniques. Oh, what am I going to do?

"Take it one step at a time, D," I muttered. Sinking deeper into my chair I tried to empty my mind of all thoughts, focusing on all thoughts unrelated with anything electronic or otherworldly. It worked for a bit, too. I kept up the exercise for a good five minutes, focusing heavily on the last words that I had said to Wendy yesterday as my distraction of choice.

I will talk to you tomorrow, Ms. Lambert.

I seriously need to call her…was it really only yesterday?

Just when I started to feel slightly sane again, Aki came waltzing back in through the swinging door carrying two plates. Vexen followed after her with his own waffle. He looked decidedly uncomfortable.

"These came out really great, sis!" she exclaimed, placing one golden, crisp waffle that looked like it was sent from heaven in front of me. She mustn't have seen how green my face had gotten, or was just ignoring it. "Vexen's a great cook!"

"Right," he murmured. He looked at the table in confusion before Aki gestured for him to take the seat across from me. Sighing, probably not wishing to be near me just as much as I to him, he sat.

The next few minutes were filled with anxious silence, minus the clattering of Aki's silverware. Only she was eating, looking completely at ease, whilst Vexen and I were staring out our waffles like we were going to vomit on them. For once I actually sympathized with him. Vomiting sounded really good right now.

"Oh come on, eat your waffles you guys!" Aki cried, sounding like she had a golf ball in her mouth. "You'll feel better with a full stomach. Trust me, they're good." She continued eating, as endearing as ever. Her face, though, was still a little bit pale and I noticed her hands were shaking. I could tell she was trying very hard to keep a tight upper lip.

It took some willpower, but I managed to look up. He was still there, green eyes distant and flaxen blonde hair still in terrible condition. He met my gaze, and just shrugged, looking too exhausted to argue. We both reached for our silverware and dug in. I was surprised to find that Aki was right—these were pretty good.

Obviously Vexen was a man with many talents.

Pretty soon the food was gone, and an awkward silence befell the room. No one could think of anything to say. Of course, what could you say in a situation like this? Once again, my younger sister was the first one to collect herself.

"I'll go get us something to drink," said Aki pleasantly. "Urrm...mister Vexen? Do you like milk with your waffles?"

What a bizarre question.

"Uh, I don't mind," he said and I felt my lips curl into a small smile at his expense. My little sister nodded and trotted back into the kitchen. When she left, I shook myself a bit, trying to ignore the fact that I was now all alone with the nonexistent person in my living room. It's been ten minutes and he's still there…time to accept the fact that I'm just crazy…

A few minutes passed, and the air grew thicker. I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"So…" I mumbled awkwardly. "You're Vexen, huh?"

He didn't look at me. "Yes."

Yup, definitely insane.

"Sooo…Vexen…Number IV, right?"

"Yes."

"Ice powers…and a shield…you're pretty good at magic, ya?"

"Yes."

I rubbed the back of my neck, trying to lower my hackles. I had the distant urge to get up and run into the nearest lake and drown myself.

Since I was so bad at small talk, I decided to take a more direct route; ask him the question that had been weighing down on my mind the most. In other words; interrogation. I took a deep breath, hoping to ease us both into the inquisition.

"So…you don't have any idea how you could have gotten here?" I began timidly. He shook his head.

"I already told you what I know."

"That being nothing," I mumbled before I could stop myself. I paused, softening my tone. "Think hard. No forgotten experiments? Nothing that would whisk you away in case things got too serious?" It was a legitimate question. Vexen was branded as a coward, everyone knew it; fleeing the fight wasn't beneath him. Though his face turned a bit red, obviously offended, he shook his head again.

"Most certainly not."

Aki reappeared juggling three glasses of milk, and something cradled under her arm. I had never been more relieved to see her. She handed one glass to both of us and sat back down, gulping down her drink. Vexen and I wouldn't meet each others' eyes. Neither reached for our glass.

"So," she started, pulling out her mystery item, "remember what I said earlier about you being a video game?" The cartridge was Re: Chain of Memories, which I stared at with wide, unbelieving eyes. She slid it across the table before I could say anything.

I scooped it up and held it close for inspection. "I, in fact, do remember you saying that." As he looked at the cover, his icy expression was very hard to read. There was definitely surprise there, though. And confusion. A dash of fury, perhaps. My apprehension grew.

"See, in our world you guys are a part of a video game called Kingdom Hearts," she explained, continuing to gulp down her drink nonchalantly. Her upper lip was white. "It's an interactive game that chronicles the events of Sora and his Keyblade. That game happens to contain Sora and Riku's time at Castle Oblivion. Chain of Memories, get it?" She smiled.

Now it was Vexen's turn to be completely incredulous. The defensiveness was present again. "That is preposterous. Who would ever be able to record Castle Oblivion? It was a secret location."

I jumped it. "Well, plain and simple, you guys are just a fantasy. Sora, Mickey, Xemnas—you guys aren't real to us. It's fantasy." That's why I was so freaked out, don't you get it? "All of the games, six in total, described the events from the birth of Ventus to Sora's defeat of Xemnas."

Now he was getting angry. Sure, I'd be infuriated if someone made a game out of my life, especially my death.

"All right then," he suddenly snapped. "Prove it."

I blinked.

Prove what? That I've played the game? Wha—?

To my surprise, my mind drew up a complete blank.

Errr...twenty questions?

After a few seconds of thought, I began thinking that if perhaps I could name all of the Organization members that'd be fine, but Aki suddenly leaned over and whispered something into my ear. I narrowed my eyes.

"You sure?" I asked softly. She nodded. Figuring it was much more solid, if not less under-the-belt than what I had, we both turned to Vexen and I said in my most horrible impression of Axel, "I came to stop you from talking too much by eliminating your existence."

His expression clouded with apparent confusion, and guilt welled up inside me. "We are just Nobodies who have…have no one to be yet we still are," I continued, watching the dawning paleness of Vexen's face. I struggled, trying to remember all of the words."But now you…now you can be…"

Aki leaned forward. "Now you can be nothing, instead of just being a Nobody. You're off the hook."

I've never seen someone look as sick as Vexen did right then, and my nausea grew even worse.

"Goodbye," I finished.

What a joke.

"Okay," he murmured in a weak voice. I could see him trembling. "You've proven your point. I have been…been eliminated…" He looked even worse than I felt, and I swallowed the bile rising in the back of my throat. Holding up the game case, his eyes narrowed considerably. "Why are you telling my all of this?"

"So you know just what the hell is going on!" I snapped vehemently, my anger and confusion rising up in a violent wave. He flinched back from my rising anger. "Those games came out years ago, and now suddenly we have a dead guy showing up in our living room, in a near coma nonetheless? Why are you alive? Why is it our house? Will everyone else show up? Why is this happening now?"

"Everyone else?" Vexen screeched.

"Oh, do you think they will?" Aki asked curiously, her milk half-empty.

"I don't see why not." Just saying it made me feel even sicker. What if they all did show up? Would they try to hurt us? God forbid, would they even attempt to kill us?

It was enough to drive any person crazy, but luckily I had already had my dose of insanity that day. It didn't stop a rip-roaring headache, though. I sunk deeper into my chair, covering my eyes. "I didn't sign up for this…"

A moment passed before Aki asked in a small voice,"What are we going to do about it, then?" Her drink was now completely consumed, and I was sure that mine was now too warm to enjoy properly. Tiny tortures.

"What can we do?" I murmured, feeling my mind running a million miles an hour. I took a few seconds, breathing deeply, focusing on suppressing the headache. "It's not like we can plug up the hole in the space-time continuum."

Once again all of us descended into a thick silence, so thick that you couldn't cut through it with a hot knife. A constricting feeling was building up in my chest, and I clasped a hand over my beating heart. No way, I'm too young to have a heart attack…not yet at least… "I just want to enjoy my summer vacation."

Aki's eyes were distant and forlorn. "Well, I say we just take it one day at a time till we figure this mess out. Someone probably knows what's going on; I'm sure this'll all by sorted out by SummerFest." Brightening, she smiled. "Don't worry, Vex, we'll have you home in no time."

Vexen was silent.

Take it one day at a time.

Meaning there was nothing we could do.

Sighing, I stood. "I'll put the dishes away, then."

~*O*~

After the dining room and kitchen was clean, Vexen seemed intent on staying as far away from me as possible, rather content with pilfering our house. It was a mutual benefit; I wasn't enthralled by the idea of making small talk with him, anyway.

Aki and I both retreated to the living room, slumping on the couch. I was quiet, eyes unfocused as I tried to think of anything other than our current predicament. My sister had descended into a silent state of thought. Her brow was knitted, and a frown puckered her lips. It reminded me of the face someone would make when they were trying to remember a dream. Guilt squirmed in my chest. This must be so hard for her, and what have I done? Nearly had a mental breakdown. God, but I'm pathetic.

"Hey, don't worry about it." I looped my arms around her shoulders and hugged her close, smirking. "I'll protect you from the evil ruffians." She giggled and looked up at me with mischievous eyes. I sobered slightly. "How are you feeling about all this anyway?"

She frowned, and looked shyly down at her hands. "Well, I guess…a part of me is all like—wow, Organization XIII in my house?" Her eyes grew wide and saucer-like, her cheeks almost crimson. Then her voice took a change in tone, and her earlier expression returned, as if though she was trying to remember something. "But, I mean…another part's saying just how unnatural and…weird it is."

"Heh, don't even fret," I murmured. Eleven year olds shouldn't have to worry about things like this. Hell, people in general shouldn't have to worry about things like this. "I'll keep all those bad men in line."

"Oh yeah?" Her eyes twinkled mischievousness. "You know, Zexion is probably go show up real soon, too," she murmured, wiggling her eyebrows. "What are you going to do when he gets here?"

My grin slipped a little. They might try to kill us, or worse..."I'd rather not think about it, honestly. What would you do? If they show up anyway."

She hesitated for a moment, then said excitingly, "Oh, that's easy. Take them to the beach!"

Wha— The beach?! Can't I count on you to not be random for one day, Aki?!

I was about to ask her what had prompted such an answer when Vexen suddenly appeared in the hallway. His expression was cautious and very, very white.

Well, that certainly isn't a good sign.

"You might want to see this," he ordered briskly.

Aki immediately leaped to her feet and ran into the hallway. Much more cautious, and far more apprehensive, I slowly trailed after her. Vexen came up right behind me, his expression seeming to grow worse the closer I got. Before I could even form any ideas of what had happened, we already reached the scene of Vexen's troubles.

There, sprawled pathetically on the staircase leading up to the second floor, was a comatose Larxene. I heard Aki gasp and I think I did too, but didn't really register it.

It was for the first time that day that I realized I was totally, and undoubtedly, screwed.

~*O*~

I guess I forgot to mention this ficlet is pretty cliff-hanger heavy, isn't it...?

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Comment Question of the Day:

Do you think that Vexen's right to be so paranoid, or is he just a lousy coward?

or

How do you cope with stress?

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Leave a review~! :D

~DM-sama