A/N: So sorry it took so long to get this out! My co-writer has been busy and this was her chapter, so we both apologize! But anyway, we hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: We do not own Kingdom Hearts, just Lexi and Kurai. =)


"Is my mother alive?"

Lexi froze, hands clasped over her mouth, stunned by her own boldness. Xigbar, towards whom this question had been directed, didn't seem merely as taken aback as the girl herself was. In fact, he answered without so much as a second's hesitation.

"Nope. Sorry kiddo, but that's not changing anytime soon." He replied, sounding more amused than might have been entirely appropriate for the situation. "Watching zombie movies or something?"

Lexi shook her head, still too embarrassed to be properly disappointed. "Of course not, I just… Wanted to make sure." Xigbar. Why had she started with Xigbar? It was all Axel's fault, she should have known better than to take the fire-wielder's advice.

Riku's words had presented a problem. Lexi had accepted that she had no mother and learned to content herself with what she had, rarely paying the woman in the picture on her dresser much attention. Yet now, thanks to a passing comment from the silver-haired boy, she was haunted by the miniscule hope that maybe, just maybe, her mother wasn't really dead. But why would Xemnas lie to her? Asking him wasn't an option, and she might have just left it at that and done her best to forget what Riku had said.

But then Axel had to go and suggest she ask the other members. The founders had been there since she was born, he'd pointed out, if Riku was telling the truth they would know. A great idea in theory, but Lexi hadn't forgotten that nearly all of the Organization XIII hated her, or was at the best indifferent. Yet she hadn't wanted to give up, to let go of this thread of hope now that it had presented itself. So she had gravitated towards the most welcoming of her 5 possibilities, and in her anxiety blurted out her question without a moment's preamble in the middle of the hallway, where anybody might be listening.

At least Saix didn't see that. She thought, feeling miserably foolish. There was another problem- if her father's second-in-command caught her asking around he was bound to tell Xemnas, and Lexi didn't want her father to think she didn't trust him.

"Right. Well, tell that kid to stop telling you crap like this, you'll delude yourself." Xigbar replied cheerfully, giving her no time to respond before vanishing in a quickly made corridor of darkness.

'That kid'? Did Xigbar know about Riku? Lexi felt her heart skip a beat and suddenly found it was difficult to stand upright. But that was ridiculous- he probably was just referring to Axel, or even Roxas. When had she become so paranoid?

"Wow, you look like crap. You know, I'd say you looked like you'd seen a ghost if I didn't know you were searching for one. So what's the big deal?" Kurai's voice, as ever with that subtle tone of mockery, came so suddenly that Lexi nearly jumped, whipping around far more tensely than she normally might have done.

God, she was paranoid. But who could blame her? If Xemnas found out she was asking about her mom she would be in trouble. If anybody found out about Riku, they'd both be in trouble. No wonder she was so uptight. "N-nothing… I um… just startled, that's all."

"By Xigbar?" the dark haired girl raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Girl, unless he starts stripping his clothes in the middle of the hall and singing Lady Gaga nothing that guy does should surprise you anymore. Heck, give him a bit too much tequila…"

"I guess I'm just jumpy then." Lexi replied quickly, certain she didn't want to hear about anything the older man did when he was drunk. "So, um… H-how are you doing? You've been here for awhile now…"

"Eh, it's not too bad. I don't like being Xemnas' little hound dog, but it's way more interesting than those stupid islands." Kurai grinned in a way that made Lexi sure she didn't want to know what made it so interesting to live in the castle. "Anyway, screw that. You're avoiding the subject. You wanna know about your mom, why not just go see if Riku was right?"

"H-how did you-?"

"Axel told me, didn't seem to think it was much of a secret."

"O-oh…" Right. She had told Axel and Roxas as soon as she'd calmed down after talking to Riku, so why not Kurai? After all, they were friends too… but she still wished the red-head hadn't said anything. "Well, I-I just…"

"You scared or something?" The taller girl laughed. Lexi shrugged uncertainly, and slowly a grin broke out across Kurai's face. "You are scared! That's so great! Aren't you going to do anything?"

For a moment the white-haired girl was too taken aback to respond, but slowly she managed a nod. "I was going to talk to the founders…"

"Ah, that explains why you were talking to Xigbar. Well, time is money and all that, let's not waste it." Suddenly Kurai had hooked her arm with Lexi's and begun to march her down the hall.

"W-wait, now? I don't think-"

"Why not?

"I-I'm not ready, I have to prepare, I don't-"

"Sheesh, you're asking them where your mom is, not out on a date. You'll do fine." Kurai rolled her eyes and continued her march until she came to the room of their very own Cloaked Schemer. "You may as well start small, right? Well, good luck."

She raised a pale hand and knocked, the sound echoing like a gunshot, three times on the door before turning on her heel and heading down the hall. "W-wait! You're not staying?" Lexi stammered.

"Course not, ain't my mom is it?" The taller girl scoffed as if she couldn't believe her friend's ignorance and continued on her way, not so much as glancing back.

Great, just great. Lexi pondered running away before Zexion could open the door, but even as she began to do so she was frozen by the sound of a door knob turning, and moments later was face-to-face with the youngest founder.

Zexion was the worst person for Kurai to have dragged her to. He was Roxas' age, but he had made it clear that he wasn't looking for friends amongst the younger members. She had tried to approach him once or twice, and each time he merely glared at her until she was so uncomfortable she had to leave. Even to the other founders he was distant and emotionless, and there wasn't a single Nobody in the organization who didn't find him at least a little scary.

"What do you want?" He demanded coldly, and Lexi realized it looked as if she'd just been banging on his door.

"O-oh, that wasn't me, that was…" She glanced down the hallway and gulped; Kurai was long gone. "N-nevermind. I um, I wanted to ask you something. If you don't mind."

He stared at her, saying nothing. After waiting for an answer for a few moments she supposed that was as much consent as she was going to get, and after a few deep breaths she managed to ask him if he knew whether her mom was really alive or not.

To Lexi's surprise he didn't laugh, or roll his eyes, merely studied her for a moment before responding. "I can't help you. Ask Vexen."

"Vexen…?" Lexi was taken aback, not only because the boy had actually responded but because she'd never heard of IV being helpful to anybody but Xemnas, and that was reluctantly.

Zexion nodded briefly. There was a long, excessively awkward silence as she waited once again for him to say anything which ended with him going back into his room and closing the door without another word. Wow, did he make her nervous. She'd even forgotten to thank him, though she had a feeling he wasn't too bothered by that.

"Ask Vexen." Did he know something about her mother that the others didn't know? Zexion might have just been saying he didn't know anything and to ask someone else, it wouldn't have been too odd for his friend's name to pop up. But somehow Lexi knew that wasn't it, knew the Chilly Academic would at least be able to prove her questions were pointless. Even so, she was scared to ask him. Not just because she might get caught or because he was intimidating, but because he might have proof. She didn't want to give up on her mother.

Asking Vexen, then, was out. The other founders wouldn't have much to tell her either, and it would be idiotic to ask anyone else. There was just one option left-

She would look for her mother herself.


Marluxia's room was pretty much bare- all white without even one of the boy's roses in sight. Kurai found it extremely dull, but right now wasn't the time for fussing over his poor decorating skills- they had plotting to do.

"So, its seriously just the two of us? How lame." She scoffed, flopping casually onto his bed and reclining.

He shot her an annoyed glance before sitting across from her in a chair, looking very pointedly at the shoes she was still wearing. "I've been forbidden from talking to Larxene in private situations. You know those sheets are white, correct?"

"Yeah, whatever. So what about the others? There's gotta be someone else, this is just lame." The raven-haired girl complained. "What about Xigbar?"

"He would shoot you for asking then report me to Xemnas."

"Axel?"

"He's the one who caught us last time."

"Demyx? Bet I could scare him into it."

"You're hardly a bigger threat than Xemnas is."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, mansex is scary." Kurai rolled her eyes, unbothered by the comment. "You guys are all so damn obedient, you need a nice touch of rebellion."

"Oh?" Marluxia said, raising an eyebrow. "And what makes you such a rebel then?"

Finally he'd asked. She grinned her usual lion's grin, looking as if she was remembering a particularly successful hunt. "Easy. Those keyblade brats all think that when I went to work for Maleficent last year it's because I was possessed by the darkness or whatever, like Riku was. They all think I was let go of its control when they got rid of Ansem, but I just switched sides when mine lost. That jackass Cloud's the only one who figured it out." She purred, amused as ever by the remembered idiocy of her companions.

The pink haired boy seemed mildly taken aback, probably because he'd had no idea she'd turned against her friends in the first place, but he recovered easily enough. "Speaking of Cloud, I've been wondering- what makes you so afraid of him?"

Kurai froze, her cocky grin replaced with a wary glare. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I could tell you were scared of Cloud, I was curious why." He explained cautiously, apparently surprised by her venomous reaction.

"I'm not afraid of Cloud!" She shouted, sitting up straight and looking so furiously at the taller boy that he took a wary step backwards. "What the hell's wrong with you?"

"Calm down." He snapped, bemused. "I'm not insulting you, I just wish to know why-"

"I'm not!" Kurai was breathing hard, surprised by her own anger. She wasn't scared of Cloud, no way in hell. "I didn't run away from that prick, I took us out of there because I wanted to piss off Saix, that's it."

"And fighting Cloud wouldn't have prevented you from doing that." Marluxia pointed out. He was right, of course, and that only made her heart beat faster with panic- he was lying, that's it.

"I didn't want to waste my time!" She protested, gulping almost audibly in the midst of breathing so quick it was almost hyperventilation. "Y-you don't know what you're talking about!"

"Calm down." He demanded, looking absolutely bewildered. "What is wrong with you? Do I need to get Vexen in here?"

Perhaps if she hadn't been so anxious Kurai would have recognized the strangeness of Marluxia offering to call the Organization's improvised doctor for her- that sort of gesture wasn't a common one for the pink-haired man. "I'm freaking fine, you idiot! You're just lying!"

"Lying? How am I lying? I just asked you what Cloud did to make you afraid of him."

"Well I'm not okay? I'm not!" Kurai practically screamed, her throat sore from the effort of it. Perhaps he saw it was best not to say anything, for Marluxia didn't respond beyond taking another step away from the enraged girl. That only made her angrier- why wasn't he answering? Did he think she was lying? "I'm not afraid of him, goddamn it!"

And she rushed from the room, leaving a very perplexed Nobody behind her.


Lexi wasn't coming.

Riku had realized, and expected, this for quite some time-but even so he waited over two hours at the usual spot for the silver-haired girl to appear. At that point he was about to stand to leave, feeling like a fool for upsetting her like he had, when a dark corridor appeared not ten feet away. He turned eagerly, expecting to see Lexi, but instead summoned his keyblade and took on a battle stance when he caught sight of a Nobody with a much larger figure than hers.

"Calm down, keyblade brat." The figure drawled, flipping back his hood to reveal a brilliant mess of pink hair. "I'm not here for a fight."

"Marluxia." Riku growled, remaining as he was. "Then what do you want?"

The taller man didn't seem at all bothered to have a dangerous weapon pointed at him, in fact he seemed too preoccupied to even notice. Was it Riku's imagination or was he actually… nervous? "I need to talk to you."

"What could you possibly have to talk to me about?"

"Woman trouble."

Riku was tempted to laugh- a Nobody was having girl trouble, and coming to him of all people for advice. Then he realized the other man was serious, and prepared to tell him to back off before he earned a sword to the face. And then he remembered that this man had known Lexi far longer than he had.

"…Fine. Sit down, on your hands. I don't want you summoning that scythe." Riku ordered, waiting until Marluxia had done so-with a look of great amusement- before sitting himself. "What is it?"

"Kurai." He sighed with exasperation. "That woman is absolutely ridiculous. You've known her longer."

Oh, wow. "Then we're in the same position. You can tell me about Lexi."

"If you help me."

"Deal. Now, start talking."

Marluxia shrugged, then gave Riku a quick summary of yesterday's events. "And then there's the fact that she acts like she despises my very existence one moment, and then acts like best friends the next."

Perhaps it was merely how bizarre the situation was, but Riku couldn't help laughing out loud, earning a glare from the other boy. "None of this should surprise you by now. Kurai is… cruel. Even to us, her friends, she can be absolutely horrid. She has very harsh ways of showing affection, and I've never seen an ounce of open kindness from her."

"Wonderful." Marluxia muttered with a frustrated curse. "Then how does one tell how she actually feels?"

"You don't. Of course, once she decides for herself she'll tell you." Riku assured, remembering a very awkward moment during which Kurai had marched straight up to Kairi and told her that she had recently decided that she hated her, then proceeded to list the reasons why.

"Woman are ridiculous."

"No, just the one you're after."

Marluxia raised an eyebrow at the comment, but rather than protest he smiled slyly. "I very well might be, I haven't decided yet. You've already got hold of Lexi, though, what problem could you possibly have?"

"One, I do not "have hold" of her." Riku snapped, sighing with frustration as the man merely shrugged in reply. "Two, I've upset her. I saw a picture of her mother, and I told her I'd seen her at Radiant Gardens. She owns a shop there."

"And Xemnas' little princess thought you were lying." The pink haired man grinned, apparently amused by this. "Well, she's a very sensitive girl. She probably thought you were trying to make fun of her."

"I know that." Riku retorted. "What I want to know is… Around me she's one of the nicest girl's I've ever met, but it's not hard to tell she's shy. How is she at your castle? She doesn't talk about her life there, I have no idea if anything's wrong with her or…"

Marluxia studied him for a moment, responding only when Riku began to glare impatiently. "Well, have you told her anything about you?"

"Well, no… I can't."

"Then I shouldn't say anything about her."

"But-"

"I didn't say I wouldn't, just that I shouldn't." He added before the silver-haired boy could protest anymore. "I could hardly care less about her privacy. None of us do- she's very poorly received. Axel and Roxas, now Kurai I suppose, are the only ones who will talk to her as a friend. Some of the members see her as a threat because she is Xemnas' daughter, others simply hate her for her, as you put it, "niceness". Plus she isn't a true Nobody-she's an outcast."

"Goddamn it." Riku growled and stood up, clenching his keyblade as if wishing one of Lexi's tormenters was there for him to use it on. "If anyone of them hurt her I swear I'll kill them."

"Relax, she's under the superior's protection." Marluxia replied calmly, looking at the younger boy with a sort of intrigue. "Why so worked up?"

"Because I want to protect her." Snapped Riku, brandishing Way of the Dawn as if blaming the pink-haired Nobody for his allies' behavior.

"Now why would you want to do that?"

"I care about her, and if you care about someone you don't let anyone else hurt them. Or get away with having had hurt them." He added, making a mental note to do some serious damage to the next Organization member he came across.

Surprisingly, Marluxia seemed taken aback by this. He was silent for awhile with an unusually thoughtful expression, and Riku was too busy fuming to initiate a conversation so not a word passed between them for quite some time. Then, "Why is Kurai afraid of Cloud?"

Riku stopped his pacing, turning to look at the Nobody and seeing, much to his surprise, an expression similar to what his own had been moments ago. "…You're pretty perceptive. Not many people could pick that up."

The Nobody didn't respond other than to nod smugly as if to say "I know I'm awesome, now get on with it". Riku sighed and sat down once more, amused to see that Marluxia had not only remained sitting but had actually sat on his hands as requested. "When Kurai and I betrayed Sora only Cloud refused to believe it when we came back. He knew about what the darkness could do to you and forgave me easily enough, but he hated Kurai because he could always tell she wanted to go back- she wanted more power. So Kurai hated him, said he was an over-reacting goody-two-shoes. She's not the most reasonable person. Then Cloud did something that shook her so badly she couldn't so much as talk to him for weeks."

Marluxia was no longer looking indignant on Kurai's behalf, instead intrigued and a little over-eager. "Which was?"

Riku hesitated. He was sure this man couldn't be trusted, but then again neither could Kurai- though that didn't change the fact that the girl had been one of his best friends through a very rough part of both their lives. Though it seemed the Graceful Assassin was, in some odd way, concerned about her, Riku didn't doubt he was asking partially for selfish reasons. Still, he had told him about Lexi…

"Tell me you'll protect her. Keep all your freak friends away from Lexi unless they're going to be civil, and tell me if they're not. Either I'll go in there and make them regret it or you can do it for me." He demanded.

"Hmph, smart kid." Marluxia shrugged, nodding. "Fine, fine, you've got a deal. Now out with it. What did Cloud do?"

Riku smiled grimly, noting once more the greedy curiosity etched into the pink-haired man's face before replying. "He saved her life."


Radiant Gardens had never looked so imposing as it did that night. Lexi found she could hardly even look at the place, flinching at sudden sounds and cringing away from approaching passerby, hoping and dreading that she may see her mother's face amongst them. Riku had told her where her mother's shop supposedly was, and she knew she could find it if she went quickly.

But she couldn't bring herself to walk.

The idea of dragging her feet forward and figuring out, once and for all, whether the silver-haired boy was lying or not seemed as daunting a task as any she had ever completed. Lexi was sure she looked pathetic, hesitating with each step so that she moved at barely a snail's pace, but she was too miserable to care.

She was just debating the possibility of going back when a corridor appeared beside her, causing her to flinch so violently she almost fell over. But no, wait…. This wasn't like the ones Nobodies made- this was larger, more violent, and attracting much more attention from quite a few panicking citizens.

Out of the whirlwind passage stepped none other than Kurai, her eyes a swirl of colors that altered so often Lexi could hardly tell what they were at any time. The girl was clearly pre-occupied by something, but she caught sight of her younger friend right away.

"You're gonna be in big trouble if anyone but me sees you're gone." She pointed out boredly. "Love to see what Saix'd do. What the hell're you doing here anyway?"

"I-I'm going to… I wanted to see if Riku…" Lexi stammered, cut off almost immediately.

"Right, mommy issues. Whatever. I was going to hunt down a certain flower-boy, but… No, guess I'll just go with you." Kurai decided, brushing a disheveled strand of black hair aside and smirking as if this news should have the white-haired girl jumping for joy.

"Wait, why…?"

"Not to see her or anything, God you're such a dork. You look like you're 'bout to pass out, probably couldn't find a brick wall." She pointed out brightly, the insult built by the ridiculous amount of brick walls present in Radiant Gardens. "Look, you were freaked out 'bout askin' around too, right? Well I'm here to give ya a boost's all."

Lexi wanted to refuse, to insist they go back to the castle or to protest that she had merely been there to visit Riku. But she saw that, in some twisted way, Kurai was being friendly- and in truth she didn't think she could face the trip to that shop alone.

"A-all right, thank you." She whispered at last.

Kurai grinned like a cat that had cornered a mouse, which was extremely unsettling considering the situation. "No problem. What're friends for, eh?"


A/N: Well that's it for now! We hope you liked it, and I promise I'll try to get my chapter out soon! Please review and let us know what you think!