The next morning she woke up without a headache. She got up and went down to the Grey Area where she saw the person with the bluish hair. When he saw her he walked over to her.

"Hi Zexion," she said. So that's his name.

"Hello Jexa," he said, making the assumption that she knew his name because someone told her. "Today I have to show you magic."

"Magic?" she asked, curious. No magic existed back in her world.

Zexion nodded. "Tell Saix you're leaving, then we can go. I'll explain there."

Jexa didn't say anything and moved over towards Saix. He gave her a small piece of paper with her instructions on it. "Follow this," he told her as she read it. "Zexion may be your mentor for the day, but Xemnas has made me your permanent mentor. This is what I want you to do. Listen to what Zexion says as well."

She pursed her lips. He had taken up her offer of doing as twice as much work in one day even though she hadn't stayed in her room. Great. "Okay," she said without any hint of the resentment she harbored a moment before, then headed back to Zexion. On the way back she read over her card again.

Jexa,

Here is a list of what you are going to do today:

-Learn basic magic

-Follow Zexion once your mission is done

-Report back here

Saix

She pocketed the card and followed Zexion through a portal. When she came out, the eternal sunset of Twilight Town shone down on her face. As pretty as it looked, she wished that the sun would set, even if only for a moment, to end the limbo. Zexion cleared his throat, returning her attention to him.

"Now, the first thing to do is figure out what type of magic you excel in," Zexion said, his hand on his Lexicon. "For example." Suddenly the scenery changed to a place the darkness had no information on. It did have information on Zexion, however, and told her that he could make illusions.

"Nice," she said, looking around the fake blackness. If she stared at one spot for long enough, that piece of the place seemed to waver. "So is this magic or learning how to perfect our element?"

He closed his book, making things go back to normal. "Both. First we need to know what your element is."

"Darkness," she said without hesitation.

"Alright, but only if you're sure. Demyx said that his element was something ridiculous and ended up bedridden for a week."

Jexa raised an eyebrow. Even for Demyx that was majorly stupid. "And you let him do that?"

"No, Xaldin did. He couldn't care less about those like Demyx." He shook his head slightly. The Whirlwind Lancer needed an attitude adjustment. "Anyway, we need to get on with the mission. The first thing to do is tap into your element."

She waited for the next set of instructions, but he wouldn't give them to her until she finished the first one. Sighing, she went deeper into her being than she ever had need to before. Inside, her darkness was a sleeping creature that raised its head on her arrival. To her, it was a beautiful, elegant thing, but to anyone else it would seem like a horrid, hideous beast, something like a deformed Possessor. Still, Jexa couldn't stand to stay away and she had to reach out to touch it. Once it was under her hand she felt an incredible rush of power, like she could fight off anything that came her way. When she opened her eyes Zexion nodded with approval.

"Your scent is slightly different, so you must have done something right. Now, summon your weapon." Once she had her sword in her hand Zexion opened his book again. "Now, fend me off."

"I thought that we were going to do magic," she said, confused.

"We are. At some point you should know what you have to do." With that he disappeared as the strange scenery came back.

"I hate these illusions," she grumbled. "Ow!" Something whacked her in the back of the head.

"Where am I Jexa?" Zexion's voice taunted. She sliced into thin air in hopes of hitting something or distracting him. There was a faint chuckle as she grimaced. "That won't do and you know it. What can you do?"

"I don't know! How can I fight you if I can't see you?"

"Find me," he repeated, his voice softer. Another blow was landed on Jexa, this time on her back.

"Quit!" she shouted, throwing a punch so hard she spun around. Again, she struck nothing, but something clicked, like suddenly there was some other weapon in her possession. It was almost like some type of radar.

"What do you do Zexion? You can't do this all the time," she said, talking to keep him busy as she tried to figure out how to use the radar-like ability.

The swirling scenery shimmered for a second, showing his uncertainty. "I normally show people what their hearts want to see or what they fear the most."

"That would work well," she said, walking around the place slowly with her sword up, using the weapon as a prop. Already she knew that her ability was linked to the darkness inside her, but she didn't know exactly what it that ability entailed. Usually the darkness gave her information, told her what she wanted to know. How was that linked to anything?

"Yes, it normally does." Jexa could hear the smirk in his voice as he came in for another hit. She jumped to the left and rammed into him, knocking the wind out of them both. Then it clicked.

Zexion's whole 'scent' thing was darkness-based. He was almost as in tune with it as Jexa, and that was the reason why she got it when she hit him. Her 'radar' could locate the darkness in other people, and then what she could do with it was her choice. It was a new thing to her, but the darkness had been controlling people's hearts for a long time. Grinning, she held her sword out in front of her as Zexion moved away slowly. He couldn't hide now. The darkness inside of him shone like a beacon.

I wonder if I could control it, she wondered. Axel can do whatever he wants with fire, so why can't I do whatever I want with darkness? Jexa's grin grew as she put her palm out to face Zexion. She felt him falter, the second of pause all she needed. With the mere thought of being in touch with Zexion's darkness she was, and when she thought about how nice it would be for the illusion to go away, the place shook like the place could fall down at any moment.

"What?" Zexion exclaimed.

"This is what you mean then?" Stop. His darkness sat down and obeyed, waiting for her next command. It was more prominent than hers, bigger and more aggressive, but the same thing still comprised of darkness. Jexa backed out of Zexion's head to find him collapsed on the ground, barely able to support himself. At the sight of him she released her hold on his darkness, and with the spell broken he regained control of himself.

"What was that?" he asked, a bit dazed.

Jexa shrugged. "I think that I controlled you by controlling the darkness within you."

Zexion nodded. "Perhaps I should have thought of that." He mulled things over. "Can you control a type of Nobody?"

"Other than you?" she teased. When he didn't laugh she dropped the act. "I'm not sure."

Zexion opened a portal, and still in her element, she knew that it was not back to the castle. "That's fine. Not all of us have a specific Nobody that we can control. Only the most important of us have them," he said with a bit of contempt. With that he left, Jexa following close behind him. The power she gained from the darkness could not be accessed every time, only now as beginner's luck.

Normally the In Between was no place to hide, so Zexion didn't think that Jexa would be able to follow him without his figuring it out fairly quickly. However, he did not take into account the fact of her element and that the In Between was comprised of almost complete darkness. Jexa was able to hide in the shadows fairly well and keep an eye on him. When he opened a portal she kept it open, only as large as a small keyhole though. In the other room Marluxia and Larxene stood with Zexion.

"Zexy, so glad you made it," Larxene said. Marluxia nodded in agreement.

"We were hoping that you would come. Vexen, Lexaeus, and Axel just left. So, you are willing to join us?"

"My mission is going to be here anyway, so I do not see why not."

Larxene clasped her hands together. "That's great. Thanks a lot."

Marluxia gave her a glare then looked back at Zexion. "See you back here tomorrow. We'll tell you what you need to do."

"As long as it doesn't interfere with the Organization's goals," Zexion mumbled. Neither Jexa nor Marluxia or Larxene heard him. Whatever Xemnas said they should do, he would do. They had known each other since they were Somebodies, so his loyalties belonged to the Superior. "Yes, I'll see you here." He made a portal to the castle and went back. Jexa nearly left as well, but stopped when she heard Marluxia and Larxene talking.

"Why did you let him in? He isn't as blind as Lexaeus and not as greedy as Vexen or as useful as Axel," Larxene complained.

"I do not find an issue with any part of our plan," Marluxia said. He was blocking Jexa's view of someone sitting in the room. As hard as she strained she couldn't see it, although she could feel it. She couldn't tell if it was a Nobody or a person who was very upset. "And Zexion will not present much of a problem. Send him to interfere with Sora or play with the Replica a bit and he will see nothing."

"If you say so," Larxene sighed. She moved over to a chair and sat down. The person behind Marluxia shifted over to the side a bit, allowing Jexa to get a glimpse. The build of the person showed it to be female. She had on a white dress and had very blonde hair, just like the girl in Jexa's dream.

"Marluxia please, I-"

"Be quiet Namine. This is not your conversation."

The girl cringed and said no more, drawing instead. Larxene and Marluxia left the room chatting amiably, leaving Namine all alone. "What does it matter?" Jexa her Namine whisper as she set her pencil down and traced the outline of her picture. Jexa wondered what could be so dismal as to bring that comment up, but her mission including nothing about tagging that girl.

She let the portal slide close and opened one to the castle. Saix was talking with Marluxia and Larxene so she sat down in a chair to wait for them to leave. The effects of the darkness were gone now, and she felt exhausted. She might have fallen asleep then and there if Roxas hadn't come through a portal. He looked miserable, and not like a Nobody miserable, actual misery. She shook her head and the expression was gone from his face. "Now I'm seeing things," she muttered.

Roxas sat down in the chair opposite to her and sighed.

"What's the matter Roxas?" she asked, wanting to make sure she stayed sane more than for his wellbeing.

"…Nothing," he said somberly, and then went over to Saix to tell him that he had finished his mission. He didn't know what to think about the day's events. Where was Axel? Was he really his friend? How should he know anyways? He had said that he was going to Castle Oblivion, but that was tomorrow. It was so confusing.

Jexa watched him leave, eyes narrowed. That kid had issues. Still, no one else remained in the Grey Area, so she needed to stop worrying and go to Saix. Before she could get up, he came to her.

"How did your mission go?"

"Pretty well. You didn't tell me that it wasn't magic but control of my element."

"I assumed that you would figure everything out in the end," he said with double meaning.

"I did. I can control the darkness inside people to an extent, but it wears me out once I'm done."

"And?"

She turned around to look at him. "He has nothing to do with what Marluxia and Larxene are doing. Vexen was bribed and Lexaeus couldn't see what they were doing, at least that's what they said. Lexaeus or Vexen might have an idea of what they're doing, maybe even both of them. I'm not sure."

"Do you have any idea of what they're doing?" he asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. She shrugged him off.

"Stop touching me, okay? I'm getting sick of it."

"You're off topic. How did the whole mission go?"

"I-" Jexa stopped abruptly, tasting something that was familiar yet not. It was a sweet taste with a little bit of sourness to it, but not much. She looked around to see Zexion standing in the doorway, watching them. When he realized she knew that he was standing there he left. So Zexion can smell the darkness in others and I can 'taste' nearby people who's darkness I've touched, she thought. But if I let go of the darkness- When she did, her exhaustion increased and the taste vanished

"I don't know what they're doing, but that's why you're sending Axel and I to C.O," she stated.

"That's right." He took his hand off her shoulder and left the Grey Area, most likely going to tell Xemnas what Jexa had said. It unnerved her to know that everything she told Saix the Superior heard. Something about the leader of the Organization was just, off, but she knew she couldn't say anything about it. Doing so would mean being turned into a Dusk immediately.

When she reached the door of her room, she hesitated, trying to decide whether to go to sleep or tell Axel that she would be going with him. The day had been tiring, but he should know what to expect on the mission. Eventually she gave in and went over to Axel's door.

"Axel," she said softly with a small rap on the wood, trying not to disturb him in case he was doing another fire trick. Still, another explosion erupted inside the room, much louder than the one Demyx had caused. Angry footsteps started up, becoming louder every second. Jexa took a few steps back so there would be some distance between her and the flames Axel could unleash.

"Larxene, I told you, I'm good and ready for this. I-" He opened the door to find Jexa against the other wall. His face relaxed and he sighed with relief. "Newbie, don't talk like that. You sound exactly like Larxene when you do," he said, rubbing the back of his head.

"O-kay," she said slowly, not sure if it was an insult or not. "Um, can I come in?"

"Er, sure,' he said, opening the door wide enough for her to walk through. Jexa moved over to the far wall and leaned against it. There was another burn mark on the opposite wall just above his desk and next to his window. Some of the papers and books on it had been singed. A few of the books belonged to Zexion or Vexen. Even with so little time in the Organization, she knew that those scorch marks would land Axel in major trouble.

"How do I say this?" she said, crossing her arms. "Uh, I guess that I've been assigned to spy with you tomorrow."

Axel froze. Luckily the door was closed so Larxene couldn't hear them, but it must have been a shock to him.

Jexa looked away from the redhead. "Xemnas' idea." She laughed. "Oh man, won't Marluxia be ticked that I'm coming with you guys. I turned down his offer the other day."

Axel eased up enough to face her, but it was clear that he was still cautious. "He'll probably keep his cool, but Larxene won't." He brought out the can of paint from his closet and started painting over the black spot. "You're really coming with me on the icky job? Good, there's always a need for a distraction."

"I'm tired Axel. See you in the morning," she sighed as she turned to leave.

"Hold on," he said when she was halfway across the room. "Why send a newbie on this mission? That isn't like Xemnas at all."

She chuckled as she was heading out the door. "Let's say that he likes what I can know." Despite what she thought would happen, Axel dropped the subject and went to bed. Jexa closed the door behind her and went into her room. I get to go on a real mission tomorrow. How fun, she thought, half-delirious with exhaustion. I wonder what will happen.

That night she dreamed again. In the dream she saw the same boy from the other dream walking down a path in the middle of grassland underneath a starless sky. Then, someone from the Organization appeared in front of him and led him further down the path. The boy, curious about the stranger, followed him, but as he turned a corner the Organization member couldn't be found. He looked around confused, then spotted a castle in the distance. It was obvious that he really wanted to go explore it, but he went back in the direction he came. At one point he strayed from the path and went through the grass back to his friends who were sleeping in the tall grass. Their appearances didn't fit in with the norm. One was a duck and the other was a dog. The boy didn't seem to think that this was weird at all and laid down in the grass beside them, falling asleep shortly.

In the morning Jexa had another headache, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the first one. She was able to get out of her room no problem, but walking with the fresh pounding only made things worse. Halfway to the Grey Area she was forced to sit down and take a shaky breath. I'm not doing this again, she thought, waiting for it to subside. Next time I don't leave until it's gone. A few minutes later, Jexa continued on even though it had not gone away fully. When she reached the Grey Area Saix was waiting for her.

"You're late. All of the others have gone on ahead," he said, opening a portal for her.

"I had another dream with a headache to go with it," she stated.

Saix closed his eyes in exasperation. The Superior might like her, but he saw nothing extraordinary about her. First off, no one cared about her pain. Secondly, if she wanted to prove herself, she would be better off doing actual work than dreaming the day away. "What was it this time?"

"The boy again. It was nothing special, him walking down some path, one of us guiding him down it, then he went back to his friends. I think that he would have gone back though." She thought it over for a minute. "Why do you want to know?"

Saix opened a portal for her, his eyes shining. What's with that? Jexa thought. He rarely showed any form of emotion. "The Superior thinks that what you dream is true, so every one that you have has to be reported. Tell either of us if you have any more."

Jexa opened her mouth to ask him a question, but he shoved her through the portal before she could get it out of her mouth. When she came out she was pretty sure that she was in the basement of C.O because of how dim the lighting was. On a long table standing along one wall there was all sorts of test tubes and other scientific equipment with some scattered papers and open books as well. As she reached for one of the vials filled with something unnatural, Vexen slapped her hand away.

"Hey, what was that for?" she asked, insulted.

Vexen's face returned to its normal somber, creepy expression from the annoyed one it had been moments before. "I do not need children disrupting my experiments."

"I'm not a child," she muttered. "I'm sixteen." Vexen took no notice of her and went back to working with the all of the strange things. "Freak," she added when she was far enough away that he wouldn't hear her.

"What he does benefits us greatly," a voice said from the darkness.

"Hi Zexion. Still, you have to admit that he's-" Jexa gave a little shudder, failing to find the proper word to describe the way Vexen seemed to her, something between creepy, obsessive, and vain.

"Yes. I can agree with you there," he said as moved out of the shadows, his eyes narrowed into slits. "Why are you here Jexa?"

"Same as you, my mission for the day."

"You don't think that this is a one-day mission, do you? No, this will stretch on for several days. That's why we're placing it here, so we have somewhere we can monitor Sora and somewhere we can sleep."

"Obviously," she said, not knowing who Sora was but not really caring. "Do you know where I can find Axel?"

Zexion pointed up. "Top floor with Larxene. You might want to-"

"Thanks."

"Why do you-?" He stopped, seeing that she was already gone. That was a quick Corridor for a new Nobody. He hoped that it would be the last time she came down to visit them. Something wasn't right. Then again, he had been having that feeling for days. Zexion allowed himself a small chuckled at the joke and exited the room. "Lexaeus," he called. "You will not believe who else was allowed to come."

Jexa came out in the shadows of a pillar in a large hallway. Not very far ahead she could hear voices, so she moved forward, being careful to stay in the gloom.

"-But we can't do it that way," Larxene said. Jexa assumed that she was arguing with Axel. "It'll take too long. We should cut things off here and now. Get the little memory witch to steal all the memories and let's be done with it."

"Larxene, it doesn't work like that," said a soft, careful voice. Since it was the same room she had seen them talking to Zexion in the other day, she thought that it might be Namine. "I have to do this slowly or else his heart will block me. You know how strong it is."

"See? We can't go fast," Axel said, sounding triumphant.

Larxene grumbled and started walking towards the place where Jexa was standing. The sound of her footsteps kept getting louder and louder. Having no other choice, Jexa tapped into her darkness and tried to change Larxene's mind. Portal out, she urged. Fortunately it worked, and it gave her a taste of Larxene's darkness. It was sweet like Zexion's, but it was a bit salty rather than sour. Jexa sighed with relief and went into the room. She could feel Namine's sadness before she released her own darkness.

"Jexa, nice to see you awake," Axel said, still in a good mood from defeating Larxene in their argument. "You missed the meeting."

"Why didn't anyone get me up?" she asked, taking a seat across from Namine.

Axel shrugged. "Xemnas said to leave you alone. You should have seen Demyx complain when he said that, and his face when Saix looked at him, priceless!" He glanced at the place where Larxene had ported out and then at Jexa's tired face, switching between the two. "Did you have anything to do with that?"

She nodded. "Darkness."

"So long as you leave me out of that stuff I don't care."

"'Kay. What do we have to do here?" She leaned back in her chair and played with a strand of her hair, trying very hard to ignore Namine. The pale girl's eyes were boring into her.

"Watch Sora, steal his memories, make sure that the other five don't get into any more trouble than they have to or should be getting into."

"Who's Sora?"

"Little spiky-hair kid, walks around with a dog and a duck, has an overgrown key as a weapon, our target."

Jexa nodded. "Him." Namine started up on another drawing at her recognition of Sora. Curious, Jexa got up and looked at the picture. She was in it, along with Sora and his friends. It couldn't be anyone but her. Who else had a sword that dark?

Axel snatched it up from under their noses, shaking his head. "Marluxia won't approve of pleasure drawing, you know that."

Namine hung her head. "Yes, I know, but Axel-"

"What was the meeting about today?" Jexa asked, trying to get the subject off of Sora or whatever was going on at the moment.

Axel remembered the meeting and all its oddities. Unlike any other introduction, the member was allowed to keep its hood up without any objections from the higher-ups. "Another new member," he said finally, boiling it down and keeping out Xemnas' speech. "That's three in two weeks." He gave Namine her picture back and started towards the hallway.

"Where're you going?"

"I'm going to play with Sora a bit, if Marluxia will let me."

"Can I come?"

"If you want. Second floor."

Jexa began to follow him, but Namine pulled her back and shoved the picture into her hand. "Take this," she whispered.

She pulled back but didn't reject the offer. Axel had already gone out of sight so she had to find her own way down. After a while she gave up trying to navigate the endless hallways and sent herself down to the second floor.

"Quit hogging the hero," she heard Axel say. Happy that she had found them, she tried to move around the corner.

No, a raspy voice objected. Who or whatever said it gave her a headache that was worse than first one, sending her to the floor with a small cry. When she opened her eyes she was inside her own head again. Her darkness was tugging on her hood, trying to put it on her head.

Hey, she scolded, making it back up.

On, it ordered. Jexa did ask she was told and waited to see if it was going to say anything else.

I'm, just, going to be leaving, she said after an uncomfortable silence.

No, it hissed. Mine.

Your what?

My talk, your talk.

Look, thanks for all you've done, but I'm not going to give you my voice, she said, trying to escape.

You, borrow, mine. It struggled to form the broken sentence.

Fine, she sighed, seeing no way out. In an instant the world came back. Her hood was on and her throat felt funny, but other than that things were just as they had been before. There was no headache and Marluxia had left, so that was good. Jexa walked into the room that Axel and Sora were in. The kid looked exactly like the boy in her dreams.

"So you're Sora," she said with the darkness' voice. I can't let Riku hear that, she thought, not knowing who Riku even was.

Sora pulled his Keyblade out and turned around to face her, making Axel laugh. "What's with the hood and stuff, kid?"

"Shut. Up," she hissed. "Later." She glanced at the Keyblade wielder. "So Sora, how is Castle Oblivion treating you?"

He slung his Keyblade onto his shoulder. That weapon made her uneasy, even if it was only a giant key. "I think I can handle it," he said with a self-satisfied smirk.

"All right kid, just remember what's in your heart," she advised as she tapped into her darkness. Sora seemed really cocky and people usually weren't cocky without a reason. Normally it meant that they had been very successful, especially if it came easy to them. As she touched the darkness inside of him, something burned her, like she had grabbed hold of red-hot metal. The darkness inside her let out a scream that made her head ring and retreated into a corner. Jexa took a step back, alarmed by what had happened. Whatever it was had disabled her ability to control the darkness inside of people for a few days. Still, she would know if Sora ever came close when her darkness was in play. That was the point of the exercise, but even that small victory was unpleasant. The taste he put in her mouth was very, very bitter with nothing to dilute it, although she thought she might have tasted something else with a tang along with it.

"Hey Jexa, let's go. If Sora doesn't want our help, then why should we stay?" Axel had been talking, but she hadn't heard what he had said.

"I'm not a kid!" Sora yelled.

"Yeah right. You look about ten," Jexa laughed. He and his friends twisted around to fight her, giving Axel a chance to escape. He appeared next to her when Sora turned back around to find him gone.

"You only have to think hard about using a Corridor to leave," he whispered to her. She nodded and left.

"How did you-? No, wait!" she heard Sora yell before she was gone. Where she ended up was the bedrooms. She slipped into one of the beds and fell asleep, tired from the strain her darkness had gone through.

Jexa woke up an hour later feeling a bit groggy. Her little nap had done nothing to change the fact she had been hurt. In the room behind her she could hear muted voices. They probably belonged to Marluxia and Larxene, and she knew that she should figure out what they were talking about, but she didn't want to. That seemed like just another nuisance at the time rather than the mission. Exactly what she had to do she was clueless about. She already rejected Marluxia and Larxene didn't like her, so how was so to get close? Jexa went down into the basement instead to see what the others were doing. The scene was not exactly what she expected. Zexion was reading a book and Vexen was doing more experiments.

"What are you doing?" she asked, suspicious.

Zexion set his book aside and dug around in his pocket. "Waiting our turn. There are only so many things to do here. This is from Saix." He pulled out a note and flicked it at Jexa. She caught it and opened the envelope.

Jexa

I did not want to waste any more of your time here at the castle. Here is the list of things you must do:

-Watch Marluxia and Larxene when Axel is not

-Find out more things about Sora

-Benefit the Organization

Saix

Crumpling up the piece of paper, she went over to Vexen. "I hate being told what to do." The two of them stared at her, uncertain why the remark had popped up. "Is it always like this in the Organization? Always 'do this' or 'do that'?" It was a bluff. If the two of them were connected to Marluxia and Larxene, or even one of them, then it would be good to befriend them. The darkness told her that she was going in the right direction, but she needed to keep talking.

"Yes. At least that's why I'm here; to do experiments that Marluxia permitted me to do under certain restrictions that the Organization would not. He said that I would have to do him a small favor later and I have no objections to that," Vexen said.

Jexa and Zexion exchanged a wary glance. "And you don't know what the favor is or even what it's based on?" Jexa said.

"He said that it would only play a minor role in the whole of his project," he said hurriedly. "Besides, what harm could it cause? Anyway, I am a scientist. I will not concern myself with affairs that do not contribute to my research, and I will delve in those that do."

"Oh please," Zexion grumbled, his nose buried in a book. Vexen had been like that since they were Somebodies.

"No, 'how much harm could it cause' is what you should have thought about, and obviously you've involved yourself in whatever Marluxia is doing. And how do you know if it will help or not?" she said, ignoring Zexion.

"I have not. Whatever it is he wants me to do would be a substantial test for my greatest experiment, that is all." He turned around to work on one of his projects and ignored the rest of her comments.

Zexion pretended to read while the other two Nobodies carried on. He was stuck on the fact that Xemnas sent an inexperienced Nobody into Castle Oblivion to do highly specialized work. Even with all the damage it would have caused, it would have been smarter to send Roxas with them than her. True, she had proven herself to be up to the task of fighting the other day, yet such skills took time to perfect. No doubt she didn't even know the basics of summoning a lesser Nobody, one of the more useful skills when trying to escape or to gain aid in battle. None of it made sense. She wouldn't do anything but slow them down, though she might be a spy or something of the like. Sure, maybe his ways of helping the Organization were a little unorthodox and might seem traitorous, but it was the fast lane. Not one bit of what he was doing would harm the Organization. Xemnas could see that, couldn't he?

"I can see that some of my teachings have not gone wasted on you," Vexen said, snapping him back to the present. That was a big compliment from him. Zexion looked up to see Jexa playing with some of Vexen's materials, making some kind of toxic liquid.

"Are you okay Vexen?" he asked. They had been arguing a minute ago, and she had that weird ability to control people.

The Chilly Academic nodded and held up what Jexa had made. "This is a potion, one of the things that take great timing and luck to make. I believe that it was a minute bit of skill combined with my instruction that allowed her to make it."

"Why don't you ask Luxord to help you with it if you need timing and luck?" Zexion joked, knowing exactly what he would say to his suggestion.

Vexen's face darkened with anger. "The last time that gambler was in my laboratory he destroyed half of my experiments with his guessing!" He struggled to regain his composure. Zexion held back a grin, knowing how Vexen would react if he knew that he found any humor in this. The last time he had laughed at him, his feet had been encased in ice for several hours. He had to get Axel to thaw them out in the end. That had been the scariest part. At least the pyro had been there and he didn't need Demyx to change the ice into water instead, which would have been much worse.

Jexa gently took the vile back and stuck a cork in the top. "Would you mind if I kept this?" Zexion didn't understand that at all, even if it was a potion. What could she do with it?

"If you must," he sighed. Jexa beamed and left.

"You shouldn't have given her that," Zexion muttered, actually reading now, or attempting to.

"True. I should have kept it for myself." He was trying to recreate the concoction but failing miserably. "Though you have more of a problem that I do with it or you wouldn't have brought it up. I know you too well for you to be able to hide that, Ienzo."

"To tell you honestly Even, I don't know why she's here. Xemnas isn't an idiot, we both know that. The strategic thing to do would have been to send only the six of us who have enough experience to go on this mission, yet he sends her. What is he thinking?"

"Perhaps that is what earns him the title 'The Superior', the fact that he can create plans that none of us see logical but he can make them work flawlessly."

Zexion sighed. "I'm not sure at the moment. Sometimes I think that it doesn't matter that we were friends once."

Vexen stopped working and stared at the Cloaked Schemer. "Do you think that he would hide important things from us, things that held great significance? He has nothing to loose and everything to gain."

Zexion closed his book and crossed his arms. "I don't know Vexen. I don't know anymore."