NOTICE! Axel's journal, being the main character, will occupy the time's placeholder, so that the reader is aware of how much time has passed. His journal will not have any entries. Contrastingly, when the story shows another character's journal entry date, there will be a journal entry following immediately afterwards in italics.

A/N: Ugh... short chapter... I really wanted to expand this chapter... but so much happened over such little time... and so much more happens in the next chapter that I had to make a cut-off to this stream... Hope you like it and hate it—the way you should!

Chapter III: The Heart Amongst Thieves

"I… I simply just don't like the fact that you made me do such a thing!" Zexion growled, his voice resonating much louder than its usual volume to allow access to the higher members above him. "It wasn't fair…" The images that the teen saw before him—the innocent ritual of love—how was it that such a simple reconnaissance mission would lead to the exposure of two Nobodies, seemingly lost in a world of unfeeling, now dancing in the heat of romance? This thought troubled the sixth Nobody; and yet it was the command to spy on such an event that rang in his nonexistent heart more disturbing.

"And why should you care, Number Six?" Saïx asked bluntly. "I sent you on that mission, and it was your job to get it done. You want to be somebody again, don't you Ienzo?"

The silvery male grunted, turning himself away from his superiors. "Well… y-yes…" The words slipped painfully from his lips; he did not want his superiors to know that they had, indeed, hit a nerve. His simple life as the young boy raised by Even, now a fleeting memory—a sickeningly pleasant one at that. To know that the life that he had once lived was now a shattered reminiscence before him, the thought alone brought a crippling pain to the mind of the Schemer.

"Then there you go. I know that the display that you witness must have been… warm, but what I said must be done." Saïx's words bore an icy chill; his expression cold to match. His words, though inexplicably cruel in the gray eyes of the silver-headed illusionist, were absolute.

He could take these words no longer. This young man had witnessed the true beauty of a quiet romance, and was now forced to submit to the words of a man willing to tear it all apart? "You… You foul man! You disguised it, didn't you? You never allowed me to know that it was, in fact, Roxas and Axel you forced me to spy on!" He cried.

"And what's your point? My point was that this relationship must be stopped. In order for us to obtain hearts, Number Thirteen must be focused. Number Eight is halting that quite efficiently." The ice chilling Saïx's voice did not cease as it delivered its blatancy, adding the dizzying atmosphere of gravity.

"You never told me they would love each other!" Zexion cried, unable to withstand any more venom being spewed against the innocence of the two he had betrayed.

The residing two in the Round Room froze and for once in his heartless life, Xemnas was lost for words. "Wh-What did you say…?"

"I… I won't speak of this anymore!" The man turned to leave, as he would no longer play puppet to the two cruel men's schemes.

"No! Damnit, no! You will stay as you are, Number Six!" And it was here that Saïx threw himself from his seat in the Round Room, summoning the soft, ivory light of the Kingdom Heart before him to his palm. With a flash, his beloved claymore, Lunatic, appeared as the man gripped it masterfully, immediately threatening the Cloaked Schemer. "To ask for that innocent, parentless child would be all too much, wouldn't it Ienzo?" The man mused, a curl to his cruel grin.

"Don't… Don't you dare speak that name anymore…!" Zexion shrieked, the crippling reminiscence making itself all too clear as the Diviner spoke. Enraged, the silvery-locked male readied his lexicon to create a copy of Saïx's weapon.

"And yet, you still manage to fall so innocent; protecting a loving relationship with silence." The cerulean-haired man readied his weapon at the cloaked teen. It was here that he was able to notice the teen's attempt of exploiting his abilities. The cerulean-locked male chuckled. "Oh no, no, no. You see, child, that will not work on me. And… even if you were to, do you really think you could haul that impressive claymore?" Saïx utilized the teen's calculating mind and turned it against him. As Zexion was forced to think for a brief moment, the Diviner knocked the boy off his feet with the flat of his weapon, readying the deadly end at the silvery-locked teen's throat. Forcing Number Six into a calculating situation; his greatest asset and greatest weakness. "And unless you want that same claymore to drive you to oblivion, you'll tell me more about 'them.' "

Zexion growled, then heaved a great sigh, defeated. "There is no winning with you, is there Saïx? Fine…" As the teen spoke, his voice flattened, now realizing that it was spewing the sacred secrets of the innocent beauty of the romance it witnessed. "They were… well, Axel was acting a bit… off, as you may say. He was quiet, and disallowed much movement. He displayed such actions in Castle Oblivion; it meant he was in a deep thought process. After much silence, Roxas began to worry. He cried out 'Please tell me something! Speak, Axel, speak!' or something to that extent, and Axel… he… he kissed him." Zexion averted the superiors' eyes, now ashamed after sullying his friendship's trust due to the voices of blackmail and corruption. This was visible in his one exposed, slate-colored eye; the other, hidden eye matched its pair's expression: shame and horror. "Afterwards, Axel tried to apologize, feeling that Roxas didn't return his feelings… then the boy kissed him back, then they shared a few hours in their intimacy, talking about each other's missions and what not."

"They… They didn't notice you?"

The Schemer sighed, realizing the true nature of the details of his mission. "I… I did as you said. I 'hid amongst the darkness,' just as you'd instructed, Saïx. I… I never knew that it would lead to this…!" The teen's collected rage began to boil, but, being the calculating Nobody that he is, released it gradually. "And to threaten my life as well as theirs! It's barbaric, you hideous excuse of a—"

"Good, Number Six." The Diviner would not allow the silvery-locked pawn before him banter such uselessness. "I thank you for this new information. Now I know not to let Number Thirteen slip by." The cerulean-haired Nobody was not facing the others, eyes targeting the Kingdom Heart just beyond his reach. Just beyond his hopes and dreams was the victory that each one of the thirteen members wished for. He chuckled darkly, his intentions averted to the scheming teen before him.

"Wh-What do you mean by that?" Zexion's eyes were wide with anticipated horror. In his mind, he knew of the punishment that the two were to receive for his betrayal to them, more likely Roxas than Axel. He could feel a sickening in the pit of his stomach as he envisioned the torture Roxas would be forced to endure from the two cruel men standing before him.

It was the Superior who was to speak now. "I'll have you leave now, Number Six."

"B-But—!"

"Now!" And with that, the Superior forced a dark corridor around the teen, transporting him to wherever he pleased. "And until this operation is over, I'll see to it that you stay there." He now turned to his moonlit partner. "So Saïx, what is this plan of yours again…?"

A/N: Like I said, you should kinda hate this chapter for what it's worth. I hope I made you hate it, or at least who's in it! But I wouldn't know, so as I always say...

So, how did I do? Leave me a review saying whatever you want—good stuff, bad stuff, grammar stuff... all the works! :)