Yes! I have actually managed to trick all but one of you guys (ok, based on the reviews) - I feel so accomplished! I have to admit that I was sad that not so many of you all did not get the bait that I set out, but it still makes me feel happy that I will surprise you. Ah, so this is where EVERYTHING COMES OUT! (well, so there will be some more in the last few chapters, but here's what you've been waiting for). This is a longer chapter than the last few, so I hope it satisfies your needs.

PS: For you reviewers wondering why it says VenXNamine on here, you'll get that answered too. :)


Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Harry Potter, or any other references you may come across in this chapter :D


The first thing Naminé did the next morning was call Lea strictly to tell him that Lea was conscious. Before he could respond she hung up in case the tears began again. Then she grabbed her coat and left the house as fast as she could.

She couldn't be near him. Not after what he had done to her. He had stolen the most precious things she could offer. Naminé began to run even though she didn't know where she was headed. Her breath caught in her throat and tears began to sting in her eyes even though she tried to hold them back.

Naminé finally stopped at the plaza overlooking the sparkling ocean, her breaths heavy and pained. She found herself spilling more tears, though not as hard as the previous night's, they poured from the very core of her soul, staining her cheeks. Naminé lurched slightly over the edge of the railing at the sight of the bright ocean. It was so beautiful, more beautiful than she could ever be.

Ven had left so many marks on her; her body, her mind, everywhere. Naminé couldn't even open her sketchpad without seeing his face over and over and over again. After their kiss the previous night, Naminé briefly realized what had come over her and it just made her cry even more: she had fallen in love with him. Maybe once briefly she had fantasized about her first kiss with Ven, but not like this. This was so much worse than she had imagined. Somehow she had fallen into his trap and the more she got involved with him the harder it was for her to get out.

Naminé closed her eyes. How ironic, she thought, that being around Ven seemed to pass on strife. He sure did live up to his last name.

"Naminé? Are you all right?" Naminé recognized the masculine voice and dipped her head down, shaking it. She felt his hand softly on her shoulder.

"Go away, Sora." She protested, but her sobs broke through her words, making her shoulder shake.

Sora put his fingers under her chin, lifting it up so she looked directly into his eyes. "What happened? I haven't even seen you so…broken."

Naminé recoiled from his intimate touch, wrapping her arms protectively around herself. "You…you wouldn't understand." As soon as the words left her lips Naminé regretted them. She bit her lip. Of all people, Sora would understand her. Naminé lowered her gaze, trying to avoid his gaze.

Sora crossed his arms stubbornly. "Then tell me why I wouldn't understand."

Naminé closed her eyes. "It's complicated."

Sora sighed, scratching the back of his neck, making his brown spikes even messier. "Does this have anything to do with Ven?" He saw how Naminé immediately looked up at his name. "I know you've been in love with him for a while now." He said to her.

"B-But how? Even I didn't know until just…now," stuttered Naminé, confused.

Sora shrugged. "Love's funny that way. We are always the last ones to realize we're in love while everyone else can see it as clear as day." Naminé sniffed, lamost as a sarcastic laugh.

"Sora, why don't you like Ven? Naminé knew her question was blunt and honestly she didn't think that Sora would answer her. He looked away over the sea before he responded to her question, to her surprise.

Sora cupped his hand around the back of his neck. "I've just never liked him, ever since freshman year. I saw him and his friends with their Organization coats on doing crack. I just didn't trust him from then on." His voice was quiet and barely audible, and Naminé had a feeling he was nearly talking to himself.

Sora abruptly looked back at the blonde, confirming her suspicions, knowing he had said too much. He was surprised at the lack of emotion Naminé held on her face.

Sora tiled his head to look at Naminé with wide eyes. "You don't seem fazed at all. Did you know that already?" Sora's voice was incredulous.

Sora was shocked when Naminé nodded. "I just found out," Naminé sniffed, refusing to wipe away her tears. "I just can't believe that he was part of the Organization. He…"

Sora rolled his head to the right. "Ven is an interesting guy," Sora then noticed how Naminé looked down at her hands, which were fidgeting nervously. He frowned. "Naminé, there's something that you're not telling me. Does this have anything to do with when the Organization captured you?"

Naminé sucked in a breath nervously. She tried to respond, but her throat was completely dry. After a couple tries she finally was able to form the words. "There's something that I haven't told anyone, not even Kairi," Naminé felt ashamed that she hadn't even told her best friend. She looked up to see Sora watching her, intently listening. "They did the most horrible things to me to try to get me to tell them about my father's research."

Naminé stopped, her voice catching and a sob broke out from her. Sora grasped her shoulder gently. "It's all right. If you're not ready, you don't have to tell me."

But Naminé shook her head. "No, I have to tell someone. I've been hiding it way too long," Sora gave her a wondering look. "There was one time when one of the Organization members…he-" Naminé's tears made her eyes red. She desperately wanted to stop crying, but reliving the moment in her mind triggered them non-stop like a waterfall. "Raped me." Her voice rasped out and Sora gasped, his eyes widening.

Naminé bent over, grasping her sides, her hand covering her mouth. Sora let her cry out her tears before he dared to speak again. "Naminé, what does this have to do with Ven?"

Naminé shook her head, making her hair stick to the tears that covered her face. Sora's mind whirled before he answered his own question. He let out a growl.

"He raped you?" His eyes then narrowed and his hands squeezed into fists. "I'll kill that bastard," Sora then turned his sharpened gaze on Naminé, making it immediately soften. "Wait, how do you know it was him?"

Naminé tightened her fingers around herself. "Ven…it's a long story, but last night he…kissed me. Then he said something, the same thing he had told me before he…" She couldn't bring herself to say it again.

Sora touched her arm. "Naminé, what did he say?" His tone was cold but attentive.

Naminé searched the brunette's bright blue eyes. "'I'm sorry'. That's what he said, the exact same way." His voice both times had sounded burdened and genuine, but it just didn't make sense at all.

Sora shifted his weight. "Why-"

Naminé shrugged her shoulders in a defeated way making them go limp. "I don't know, Sora."

Sora didn't speak for a long time. He hesitated before he finally spoke. "Naminé, maybe I was wrong to judge Ven by what I saw that day. Maybe he is a good guy who just made some bad decisions."

Naminé's head rose. She had not expected his answer. Sora was…strange. Despite his lack of brightness at times, he was wiser than he looked. Naminé watched him carefully. He truly was a sincere guy and he was really bad at being angry with someone, even Ven.

He meant good and was so open-minded. Then she shook her head.

"I don't think I'll be able to look him in the eye and be able to talk to him again."

Sora gazed at her sadly. "If you're going to give up on him, then at least talk to him one more time. It's not fair if a friendship ends without closure even if he did hurt you."

Naminé looked out to the sea. It seemed so beautiful and free. She wished sbe could be like that, but now she just felt like she had a ball and chain tethered to her leg.

She sighed. "Maybe you're right," she murmured. She could be free and escape if she simply closed it off with Ven. It hurt her heart just thinking about it, but she knew it was the only way.

Ven woke with Naminé imprinted in his mind, but when he opened his eyes she was gone. He gazed about the unfamiliar room where he was. Everything was white; the walls, the curtains, the furnishings, everything. There was no sign of her, no hint that she had been there at all, yet it felt like she was everything. It was her color.

Then it all rushed back to him. He was in her house. Ven covered his face with his hands. What had he done? It was all so screwed up. Ven's body began convulsing. He wanted to throw up.

He couldn't do it, not this time. Ven clutched his head as the scene replayed in his mind.

"I realize you have fulfilled your punishment, XIII with the girl. However you and I both know that you still have not completely a more proper punishment. I think it would be appropriate if you took it upon to complete the mission we have discussed."

He could see his grin behind the darkness of his hood. It sickened him.

"Haven't we paid enough? Why do you punish me for my father?" he pleaded.

The man laughed menacingly. "If you would prefer I could assign another member to do the job and then kill your father instead. Number VIII would do it willingly, but I know how cleanly you perform on these missions."

"He screwed up, OK? Can't you just accept that?" he shouted.

The man grew silent and the atmosphere grew thick. "In the Organization we do not accept mistakes on any level, and we most certainly do not tolerate those who are weak. If you want out, then you will have to pay the exit fee with your life," The man placed a gripping hand on his shoulder. "This is your chance for redemption, XIII. You and your father's lives are on the line. Either seize it or you will have to pay the consequences."

Ven shuddered at the memory. Why did he have to pay? He cursed his father for dragging him into the Organization since his birth. It wasn't fair. But he was still his father. Ven's forehead creased in frustration, trying to balance out the conflicting factors in his head.

Ven inhaled until his lungs felt like bursting. He had no choice. He had to do it, so he would just have to suck it up like last time.

Ven sat up, realizing he was still in his clothes. His hands fumbled inside his jacket at the hidden pocket that he kept his gun in. Just then the door opened and Ven pulled out his hand quickly as Ansem stepped in.

"I knew that you would be awake this morning," He said as he walked over to him. He carefully sat down at the end of the bed and gave him a scrutinizing look. "As soon as I saw you I instantly recognized you." He suddenly said.

Ven put up a blank face. "Excuse me, sir?"

Ansem's eyes narrowed. "You know what I'm talking about. You two used to be the closest of friends. But I believe back then you had a different name, am I correct?"

Ven was cornered and his eyes widened, and he grew tense. "You know, it's hard to forget a little blonde boy with hair like yours." Ansem said gently.

Ven gulped, lowering his head. "I assumed she did not remember me."

Ansem solemnly shook his head. "You were right, she didn't. After her mother passed, Naminé was quite traumatized. I supposed she spent all her time desperately trying to remember her instead of the little boy she had known in Radiant Garden,"

Ansem leaned closer, putting a kind hand on Ven's. "Listen, we all make bad choices in life. When I saw you, I knew you were the same nice boy from before. Of course you had grown up and changed; everybody does. But I also knew you meant her no harm," Ven met the man's lighter eyes. "She cares for you deeply. If she didn't then you wouldn't be here, I would guess. Do you care for her, Roxas?"

Ven distinctly noticed how he used his name from when he and Naminé had been childhood friends. He swallowed hard before answering. "I have always cared for Naminé," he said. His hands wrung together roughly. "I never meant to hurt her. I never…"

Ansem moved his hand to the boy's shoulder. "I know. I know you didn't mean to."

Ansme rose and turned to exit the room when he heard the downstairs door open and voices. Ven's eyes widened for a second before he squeeze them shut. Suck it up, Roxas.

"Don't…move." Ansem stopped in his tracks when he heard the boy's steely voice. He put his hands up when he heard the sound of a gun's guard clicking off. Slowly he pivoted around to face Ven who was standing with a gun aimed at his head with a dead-serious look frozen on his face.

Ansem watched the boy's, who was trying to keep his expression tight, void of the conflicting emotions lying just below the surface.

"You don't have to do this, son," said Ansem coolly. "You're just a boy. You don't deserve to murder." But Ven was shaking although eh kept an expert poker face.

"You think I don't deserve to murder? I've been trained for this since I was just a child. I've committed so many sins that I'm already in hell. You don't understand. No one does," Ven's voice was beginning to falter, but he tried to keep it low and serious. "I have to do this." he proclaimed.

Ansem heard the sound of footsteps running up the stairs. Just as Naminé entered the room Ven moved the gun, so it was directed at her.

"Ven!" she gasped, she too raising her hands from her side.

"Don't move." He said through gritted teeth.

Just then Lea stepped out from behind Naminé. "Roxas…"

Ven restrained himself from biting his lip. The weary skin around his blue eyes tightened in concentration as the protruding vein in his temple beganto pulse.

"Don't try to stop me, Axel. You know I have to do this." Ven said, barely managing to keep his voice level.

"Why must you do this, son? You know you always have a choice." Ansem said carefully.

Ven's mouth curled into a snarl. "No, you don't understand. I don't have a fucking choice. I have to kill you because…because if I don't they'll kill my father," Tears were welling up in Ven's eyes but he ignored them. "They'll kill me too," Ven gasped for a breath. "I didn't want this. I never meant to hurt anyone, but they'll kill me if I try to leave."

Naminé clasped her hands over her mouth, her eyes watery and afraid.

"I could…" Ven shook his head. "You're right. I do have another choice." Ven shifted the gun so its tip was at his head.

"No!" screamed Naminé, wanting to run towards him, but her father held her back. She didn't know why she had reacted so, when he had hurt her so much. But so badly did she want to protect him. She didn't want him to die.

"I agree with the girl, man. I won't let you do that," There was another click before Lea had his own gun pointed at Ven, directed at his chest. "Kill shot, you know that. I taught you everything you know. Listen, if you kill him and I shoot you, you'll have accomplished your mission and your dad will be spared. Easy, huh? Plus, if you try to run out later on I'll have saved them the bullet," Lea was calm and a smirk tugged at the corner of his lips as Ven's gun rotated back to Ansem. "It's a better option than the second. I was placed as the alternate if you were not fit to complete the mission, and it looks that way. But then you would probably be killed if you came back having not completed the mission like you were supposed to. Anyways, if I kill you, I promise to make it a lot less painful than the Organization will."

"Lea, you can't kill him. He's your friend." Begged Naminé.

Lea glanced at the girl. "I know he is, but this is a matter of internal affairs within the Organization. Trust me, I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I killed him right here and now."

Naminé gazed at Ven, tears dropping onto her cheeks. "Ven, don't tell me you want to die now. Don't," Naminé choked on her tears and she moved her hands so they were placed over her heart. "I…I love you, Ven. Don't do this."

Something wavered deep in Ven's eyes. He opened his lips as if he was going to say something but nothing came out. He blinked before he finally spoke.

"Axel, I do actually mind if you killed me now," Ven looked longingly over to Naminé. "I love Naminé, I really do. It's just that…I've hurt her too much to go on. I can't take this anymore." He shut his eyes and inhaled deeply.

The sound of a gunshot rang through the house followed by Naminé's screams. Then all fell silent.


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