A/N: ...I have lots of smart reviewers. Good work, gumshoes, cause you all guessed the "who." A couple of you even got some of the details right, haha!

XD LIKE I DIDN'T MAKE IT TOTALLY OBVIOUS ANYWAY. XDXDXD

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10. The Motive

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Braig paced back and forth in front of the others. He could sense their excitement, but he took a moment to pull Sora aside and send him to lock the front door. The kid didn't have to be around for this.

"What, Braig?" Ael asked finally.

"Do you know who did it?" Xehanort asked. Braig glanced at him.

"Yeah, I know."

"Then don't beat around the bush!" Ranele snapped. "Tell us!"

Braig forced himself to stop pacing.

"All right. Someone in this room killed Ansem."

"I know what you're thinking. Why? What reason could any of us possibly have to kill him? Well, that's the only thing I don't know, so you'll have to tell me.

"The killer was smart. He knew, naturally, exactly what we'd do to track him down. He'd done this before. He'd been killing psyches and medical doctors for a few years. Yeah, that one. Why? Because they knew something about him that he didn't want anyone else to know. Maybe Ansem knew it too, and Ienzo, and Riku. He had to cover his tracks, and the way he found to do that was to kill again, and again, and again. There could be no evidence. Nothing at all to suggest he did it… even if that meant slaughtering people who were close to him.

"It was someone who got into Ansem's apartment on his own. Someone Ansem would turn his back to. Someone Ansem trusted more than anyone else. Someone who betrayed him.

"My only question now, Xehanort, is why?"

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The reaction was immediate. There was a communal gasp and a mass swiveling in chairs. Some moved hastily away. Riku turned to stare at his brother. Xehanort, for his part, looked just as stunned as everyone else.

"What?" he whispered.

"I think I know exactly what happened that night," Braig said. "You went to Ansem's, as usual. Chatted. Had a drink. A little roll in the hay. Then you left, and waited for a couple more visitors to come and go. Couldn't make it too obvious, could you? You went back just after midnight. He didn't panic when he saw you. The second he had his back turned, you got the rope around his neck. But he wasn't going down without a fight. The glass on the bedside table was shattered in the struggle. you picked up a good-sized bit and stabbed him to death, cutting your hand in the process.

"You cleaned up after yourself and went to the doctor's. He fixed you up and took a blood test, which wasn't in your plan. Easy to fix; you got rid of him before the results came in. But too soon, 'cause it was a crime scene by the time they got there, and we got to them first. Your blood, and Ansem's, and tiny fragments of the glass shard you killed him with.

"So what was it, Xeha? Did he know that you were the one who killed the doctors—the ones who examined you after your kidnapping, and others he referred you to? Was there a spat you overreacted to? Was he seeing someone else?"

Xehanort was shaking his head.

"No, I… I didn't… I would never! I… I couldn't have! Iloved him! How could you—"

"All the evidence points to it," Braig said. "Your DNA was the only stuff in the room. We found your blood on the carpet with Ansem's. Bits of glass were in the blood test. So was Ansem's blood. You were a patient of all of the doctors, medical or otherwise, but the important ones were the psyches."

"This is impossible!" Xehanort cried, standing up. "I didn't! I didn't do any of that! Don't… I didn't! I would have died myself rather than kill him!"

"You told Riku that there are gaps in your memory," said Braig, and Xehanort stared. "And they all lie conveniently around another death, I'll bet. Explain that."

"I… no, I…"

"Do you remember what happened after you left Ansem's for the first time that night? You don't, do you? You don't even remember going home, do you?"

Xehanort was wide-eyed, still shaking his head desperately.

"I didn't kill him!" he cried. "I didn't kill anyone! I loved Ansem! I… I don't…"

He fell suddenly silent. His face changed visibly, the expression sliding from denial to satisfaction in a moment.

"So I killed him," he said. "What now?"

"Now we arrest you," Braig answered. Xehanort laughed.

"You think I'll come quietly?" he asked, grinning.

"You're not the Xehanort I know," Braig said.

"No, he's not," Ienzo said. "I had a suspicion about this. You're split. You were afraid that someone would discover your secret. The psychologists who examined you discovered it first, so you got rid of them. Ansem found out next, and he tried to help you. You killed the doctors he recommended. Finally, you killed him. The other Xehanort tried to tell Riku, so you tried to kill him, too. But why Ansem?"

"Ansem," the Xehanort-who-was-not-quite-Xehanort scoffed. "The avid defender of the city, the knight in shining armor who protected the weak and helpless. Oh, yes, so noble, so good. Then why couldn't he protect me?"

"From Maleficent?"

"You have no idea what they did to me," Xehanort spat.

"Enough to split you in half. All Ansem ever did was love you."

"Love me?" Xehanort laughed. "He never loved me. Onlyhim. The other one. That pathetic weakling doesn't even know that I exist. Don't give him any credit. I was the one who did it. I killed Ansem. And I haven't finished."

Braig saw it coming, but there was nothing he could do. Even as he raised his gun, Xehanort seized Riku and dragged him close, shielding himself and pressing the barrel of his gun to Riku's temple.

"I'm leaving," he said. "Don't try to stop me."

"You know we can't let you get away with this," Ranele snapped, her own gun coming up. Xehanort grinned, and dragged Riku back through the door.

"Come on," Braig said. "Roxas got the door. He's got nowhere to run. Vexen?"

"The lab's locked, he can't go down."

"Lexaeus?"

"The jail's locked, too."

"Can't get out. Only way he can go is up. Luxord, Zexion, Demyx, Vexen, guard the stairwell in case he makes a run for it. The rest of you follow me. I'll go first. We'll fan out on the rooftop. Don't do anything that might put Riku in danger."

"Do you think he'd really do it?"

"He's not the Xehanort we know. Who can tell what he's willing to do?"

Xehanort was waiting at the edge of the roof. The barrel of his gun was nestled securely under Riku's jaw.

"Tell Sora to open the door," he ordered. "And let me pass. Otherwise I'll blow his face off."

"You've got two options," Braig called. "Option one: you let Riku go and drop the gun, and come quietly. Option two: I'll shoot, and you know I won't miss."

"And Riku will be dead before you've finished pulling the trigger. You missed option three: you all put down your guns, and I walk away. I'm taking Riku, as insurance. Besides, I wouldn't leave my beloved little brother."

Braig took a step closer. He saw Riku wince as the gun barrel was shoved harder against his pulse.

"Another step and I jump," Xehanort warned. His heels were just at the roof's edge. "Makes a messy crime scene if the suspect dies, right?"

"Just let him go," Braig said. "Xeha, we can help you."

He took another step. Xehanort's smile was tight.

"That's what he said," he hissed. He aimed at Braig, fired twice, and stepped backwards off the roof.

Dilan saw Braig fall and called, "Marluxia, to him! Lexaeus, an amblulance!"

He ran to the roof's edge and looked down. He could see the still forms lying on the ground two stories down.

"Quickly!"