Okay, no more schedule promises. :P With that out of the way, here is chapter four! Enjoy!

0=0=0=0=0=0

The Longest Night

Chapter IV

Investigations

0=0=0=0=0=0

Axel walked up and down the hallway between floors. Technically, he wasn't supposed to be here until Sora cleared Traverse Town, but he had gotten the urge to take a walk after truly paying attention to the way Roxas had looked at him. That glare had been burned into Axel's eyes.

"So, Roxy is looking at you like you killed his goldfish, huh?"

He rolled his eyes and turned around. It was Xigbar. "It's none of your business," Axel said.

"Trust me, it kind of is my business." Xigbar walked up in front of him with a smirk on his face. "Everything in this castle is my business now."

Axel crossed his arms. "Spying on us for Xemnas or something?"

"For Saix, actually. He suspects that there are traitors among our number, and he assigned me to watch."

Axel snorted. "In that case, you're the worst mole ever. What if I was the traitor, and you just told me who to kill to keep my scheme a secret?"

Xigbar circled Axel, his smirk now even bigger. "Actually, I get to tell you because Saix wants you to be a mole, too."

"Because we have wonderful chemistry, don't we?"

Xigbar spread his hands out. "Hey. I don't hold grudges."

Axel cocked his eyebrow. "If I set your pants on fire right now, it would be the best pun ever."

"Well, it's not like I'm the only liar in this hallway, now am I?"

Axel narrowed his eyes. "You don't know anything."

Xigbar laughed. "Come on now, don't think that I don't know that you and Roxy aren't getting along. You're obviously avoiding each other. It's about Poppet, right? Didn't your mother tell you not to steal other people's girls?"

Axel avoided eye contact just long enough for it to look like simple irritation. "You annoy me on so many levels."

"I think that's in my job description." Xigbar walked up next to Axel and did a stage whisper in his ear. "But there's an incentive…"

"And what would that be?"

"The fact is that even Poppet knows that bad things are going to happen to her here. But if you go along with the plan nicely, we can make all of that go away, and your little sea-salt trio can have the happily ever after you want…"

Axel bit his lip and fell silent for a minute. "…Xion is going to be fine. And so is Roxas."

"Do you really believe that?"

"…No."

"So all you have to do to guarantee their safety is work with me a little…"

Axel took a long, deep breath. "…All right."

Xigbar clapped his hands together. "Wonderful! We're going to get along just fine as long as you work with me."

"How are you going to keep Roxas and Xion safe?"

"Don't get ahead of yourself, now. Just trust me…"

0=0=0=0=0=0

Xion hated leaving her room. The only place where she felt safe (well, not about to have a sudden case of amnesia, at least) in this castle was in the bed, with the blanket up, holding Roxas' hand. She had nightmares whenever she slept now, so instead she would lay in bed and have Roxas keep her awake while she laid down and closed her eyes. It wasn't even close to being the same as real sleep, and it showed, but it was better than passing out in the middle of a meeting or waking up from a short nap shrieking like a banshee.

It'd be different if she had any actual responsibilities here to keep her busy, but the most she ever had to do was maybe put the dishes in the dishwasher after meals. (Having an actual dishwasher may have been the one advantage of the place.) Back home, she would have enjoyed being able to relax all the time…but in this place, she felt like she needed some kind of busywork to do to take her mind off all the stress of just being inside the castle. It didn't help that Namine didn't talk to them much—she always seemed hard at work, drawing pictures. Xion always found that looking at those pictures gave her a headache, so she tried not to pay attention to them.

She had been planning some more time for 'half-napping' when Zexion had called a meeting. For the most part, she was glad it was Zexion and not Vexen who was in charge here. But living next to him in a mildly cramped basement was a bit different from sharing a massive castle with him. As it turned out, the whole 'all I do all day is read' thing was an act. In reality, Zexion made for a cool, calculating leader who could put anyone in line, including Vexen. He was intimidating, to say the least.

So, Xion's inferiority complex told her that this meeting was about her. She clearly hadn't been doing enough work, Vexen had told her as much (at least, for the ten seconds it took for Zexion to notice and send him a quick glare). Obviously, she was in trouble. This place in general made the inferiority complex go through the roof.

Zexion noticed how she was looking down at her lap. "Look up."

Xion just shrank a little more. "Why?"

"Well, how are you ever going to pay attention if you're distracted by your amazing lap?"

Xion couldn't help but smile a bit, though it faded quickly. She managed to look up. "Am I in trouble?"

Zexion raised his eyebrow. "Why would you be in trouble? You've done nothing of importance since you got here."

"That's exactly it, isn't it?"

Zexion shook his head. "This meeting isn't about you. Trust me, Vexen is handling his workload just fine."

Vexen mumbled a bit to himself, and Xion covered her mouth to keep herself from laughing. She nodded at Zexion. "Okay."

Zexion sighed and sat down at the head of the table. "I've detected an odd smell in the lower levels."

Roxas, who was sitting to Xion's right, tilted his head. "We have to declutter again?"

Zexion took a deep breath. "…No. Everyone has their own aura. I can smell that aura."

Roxas bit his lip. "Oh."

"Anyway…it smelled like the Superior. Like darkness."

Xion shrank back a little more. "You mean Xemnas is here?"

"No. The person I detected, whoever it may be, has a very strong heart. I could tell."

Lexaeus leaned back in his chair. "One of Sora's friends, perhaps?"

Zexion scratched his chin. "Maybe. But if you're saying he's making a multi-pronged attack, I don't think so. It's obvious that he came across this place by accident. How would he be able to plan such a thing?"

Roxas thought for a second. "What if he did come on purpose, and he's just faking us?"

"That's an idea. We do know he's capable of impressive strategy…but Xion said that the Sora we faced previously was from some future time period, correct?"

Xion blinked, then nodded. "That's right."

"So he's probably not at the same level of expertise in this time period. So again, all signs point to this person being on a separate mission, if not being separate from Sora entirely."

Vexen clasped his hands together. "I say we just go down and deal with them now."

Xion nodded. "I never thought I'd agree with Vexen, but yeah, I think we should get him while he's still alone."

Zexion considered this for a second. "…Let's wait and see. Maybe this isn't as big of a problem as it seems. Or maybe it's much, much bigger than it seems. We don't know yet. So for now, we need to wait and see what happens."

"What do we do until then?"

"We continue on as normal. We'll keep an eye on this person, see what he does. If we need to eliminate him, we will. But I think that if we play our cards right, we can use him."

Xion looked down at her lap again. "I want to do something…"

Zexion sighed. "I know. Tell you what. I'm going to be investigating a bit more. If you follow my instructions exactly, you can come with me."

Xion looked up again. "Really?"

"As long as you don't interfere in my investigations too much."

Xion nodded. "I won't, I promise!"

Zexion smiled just a little. "I always did like you, Xion. Whatever you have that lets you retain some modicum of joy, it's contagious."

0=0=0=0=0=0

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Remember, reviews are always appreciated. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for chapter five!