A/N: Yeesh... it's been a while. Sorry about that. Good news is that school's almost over. Bad news is that exams are getting closer. Anywho, thanks to surxi25 and Amber-Wolf-Elemental for reviewing! Also, tons of thanks to everybody who faved and put this story on their alert list! The drama's finally coming to this story! Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: Eeeeeehhhhh... Guess what I'm gonna say? Yep, Kingdom Hearts doesn't belong to me. Nuttin'. Bupkiss!

Gasping for breath, Saix leaned against the cliff as he clutched at the wound on his chest. It was unbelievable enough that the Heartless had managed to defeat him, but in his moment of desperation to escape, did he really have to teleport back to Hollow Bastion of all places?! Luckily, he had not begun to fade; however, he still had yet to drag himself to a safe place free of Heartless. Currently, the only place that he could think of was none other than the lab in Ansem's castle. He was in no position to turn down any remotely safe zones, even if that wench resided close to one of them. Besides, he doubted he would be of much welcome in the village.

His mind made up, Saix slowly made his way toward the abandoned castle. However, just as he arrived within sight of it his vision began to blur. "Damn it," he murmured, panting for breath. "Not now… Not when I'm almost there." Unfortunately his body could not support him any longer, and promptly sent him writhing into the depths of unconsciousness. But just as his eyes closed, Saix could have sworn that he saw Runa running towards him.

"What kind of mess did you get yourself into?" Runa muttered as she gazed down at Saix's form. His claymore had long vanished into thin air, seeing as its master was in no position to command it. At the moment, she had half a mind to leave him where he laid in the snow. But as she looked behind him to see the trail he had created in his desperation to stay alive, she felt a twinge of pity toward the Nobody. It was obvious that he had gotten into a fight of some sort, and had sought to find refuge in Ansem's castle. Looking back down toward Saix, Runa's expression softened as she saw his face twist in pain. Nobodies may not be able to have hearts, she realized, but they were perfectly able to feel pain.

Squatting down next to his shoulder, Runa cautiously tapped his shoulder before immediately moving away in the case that Saix would rather take a few of her limbs while her guard was down. However, when he made no motion, she carefully tapped him a few more times before simply sitting in the snow next to his body. "Well," she huffed, blowing a stray strand of brown hair out of her face. "Better get you out of the cold." Ever so slowly, she managed to drape his form over her back so that she was fully supporting him as she walked painstakingly through the snow.

Honestly, she had no idea of what caused this sudden act of charity. All she knew was that there was no way that she could leave him half-dead in the freezing snow. But where to put him? He was looking for a keyblade warrior in Hollow Bastion, and her brother fit that very description. She couldn't possibly put her sole sibling in that sort of danger. But… there was always a few other rooms that Ansem had put into the castle in the case that she and Alec needed a better hiding place. A panic room of sorts, she guessed it could be called. That settled it; she would put Saix into the room until he healed. 'Or whenever he decides to leave, seeing as that I'll never be strong enough to force him to leave,' Runa chuckled to herself as she made her way towards the castle.

It was strange, this. He was under the impression that he was lying somewhere impossibly comfortable when he should have faded long ago. Unless… he had already faded? No, if he had faded, he would have simply ceased to exist. The notion of him feeling comfort would have been something close to impossible. So then, where was he?

Stirring slightly where he laid, he gave a small grunt as he felt the wounds on his chest. A quick clutch at his chest revealed that someone had already bothered to bandage him, which came as a surprise to him, no matter how much he wished to deny the emotion. But he definitely couldn't refute the shock he felt when he felt a hand firmly smack his hand away from his wounds. "Moron," a familiar voice said. "I don't know what kind of trouble you got yourself into, but if you make those wounds reopen, I'm not gonna go through all the trouble of bandaging them again." His eyes snapping open, Saix resisted the urge to groan in frustration. He would recognize that voice anywhere.

"Damn woman," Saix cursed underneath his breath. "Don't you notice that I didn't bleed? What in all the worlds' names made you think that bandaging would help?"

"Do you think that you could just be grateful that I didn't leave you in the snow, and shut up for once?" she growled. Saix cautiously observed Runa as she bustled around the room, apparently searching for something. "Honestly, do you just come by here when you're bored sometimes so that you can torture me some more?"

"I didn't mean to come here," he stated blandly, directing his vision away from her. The room he currently resided in was considerably modest, and had obviously seen better times. A few lamps on the wall provided the lighting in the room, while the rest of the chamber contained a few pieces of furniture. And apparently, Runa had stripped him of his cloak while bandaging him, if his bare chest was any indication.

"Sure," she replied disbelievingly, rolling her eyes. "But seriously, don't you have somewhere to go back to?"

"Are you eager to be rid of me that much?" he sighed as he debated whether he should continue to lie on the bed. Deciding against it, Saix propped himself on his elbows as he watched Runa to continue rushing around the room.

"If I was 'eager to get rid of you' then you would have frozen a long time ago, I can promise you that much."

"Then why are you helping me?" And to his astonishment, that comment made her shut up.

"I… I don't really know, to be honest," she murmured softly. "I just… couldn't leave you out there, wounded like that."

"So, it was pity?"

"Maybe," she responded, finally finding what she was looking for. "Maybe not. I'm not really sure." Throwing the object at him, Runa gave a small smirk as Saix caught it with his lightning-fast reflexes. It took every ounce of control she had to not giggle when she saw the look of utter shock when he found that the object was a small loaf of bread. However, his face quickly turned from one of shock to one of arrogance.

"You do realize that Nobodies need no source of nourishment?" he drawled. "It does little to nothing for us."

"Yeah yeah," she muttered. "Eat up anyway. I'm not about to let you starve, whether you need the food or not."

"Hn. Very well." After simply staring at the bread for a while, he then said patronizingly, "But couldn't you have gotten something more appetizing?"

"If you want something else, you can go out and get it with your own munny. But until then, you'll eat what I buy… snothead," she muttered, turning toward the bag that she had gotten the bread out of. When he was sure that Runa had turned away, Saix gobbled the entire loaf in a few bites. Sure he didn't need it, but it was nice to feel as if you had a full stomach. However, as he stared at Runa's turned back, Saix couldn't help but feel a slow warmth spread from the place his heart should have been.

A/N: Again, please let me know how I'm doing. Thanks for reading!