HIIIIII! I'm back! Well, I'm hoping that the last chapter was good. Now to see what the heck is happening now.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I have the DS games and (finally!) the PSP game with a PSP, but that's about it. I do own Nixa/Nia and Max.

Chapter 10

Zexion stood there, contemplating. He wondered what had made that particular memory to come up for no apparent reason. Was it because of the recent incident with Nixa and Riku? He didn't know.

But, he was starting to wonder what was going on with Nixa now. She was almost caught by Riku again, which made him think that she had another episode.

This isn't supposed to happen! Oh, why did this happen?

He couldn't get the memory out of his head now.

Oh, what do I do? What do I do? What do I dooooo?

Now she moved to a different floor, but he could smell Sora's scent where she was as well. He knew Marluxia was up to something. Knowing Nixa, she would probably do something to gain unwanted attention from him. If it came to that, what should he do?

…..

"WOW! The tenth floor…..We've gotten up pretty high." Sora, Donald, and Goofy were walking up the stairs to the tenth floor at this time.

"And that must mean we've lost ten whole floors' worth of our memories."

Jiminy turned to face Sora on his shoulder.

"Sora, it's still not too late. Don't you think we should turn back?"

Sora looked down as he climbed the last couple of steps.

"Can't do it…..because…..that would break – "

"WAAK!"

Sora looked up as he reached the top step to see what was wrong. In the middle of the room was a big, ferocious-looking wolf who was growling at them while a black-cloaked woman was getting up.

Sora summoned his Keyblade, recognizing the woman as one of them.

Nixa was a bit disoriented when she tried to get up, but she stopped herself at a sitting position when she sensed that she and Max weren't alone.

"Who's there?"

"Don't give us any of that! You're one of them!"

"You work with Axel and Larxene!"

Oh crap. She recognized the voices. They were Sora's friends. And now that a bit of the disorientation was wearing off, she could sense Sora running up to join them.

"Where's Riku? And where are you keeping Namine?"

Nixa stared in their direction. Then she started to attempt to stand. Max stood by her side in case she needed some support.

"What makes you think I know anything? And what makes you arrive to the conclusion that I work with those you ran into?"

She could feel one of Sora's friends getting agitated.

"You're wearing the same clothes as them! That's how we know!"

Nixa frowned. Yeah, she was given a set of clothes on her first day, but how the heck was she supposed to know that everyone wore the same thing?

"I am? No one told me that before."

The agitated one was getting more agitated (she was pretty sure he could use a chill pill once in a while).

"Don't give us any of that! Don't pretend that you can't see!"

She glared at this friend. Max growled at him as well. Just because he could use magic didn't mean that he still wouldn't attack the duck.

"Who's pretending?"

"Wait there a minute, you're actually blind?" This response came from the other friend. This one wasn't as strung-up as the other.

"Yep. Been blind for a while now."

She could sense shock coming from them, and then sympathy coming from Sora.

Then, she heard something bouncing around. She kept turning her head towards the sound, only for it to appear on the other side.

Sora watched as Jiminy bounced around in front of her. She kept turning her head towards the sound, but her eyes didn't follow him.

After a moment, she detected a small heart coming from the source of the bouncing. She was able to follow his path then.

"Who's bouncing around?"

Jiminy jumped back onto Sora's shoulder.

"Yep, she is indeed blind. But, how were you able to follow me towards the end?"

She waited a moment before answering. For some reason, she seemed a bit unsteady on her feet.

"Because I can sense your heart."

This struck Sora as odd.

"Huh?"

Donald shook his head.

"Hey! What are we doing standing around here for?"

Sora then remembered what he wanted to get out of the woman.

"Right. Now tell me, where's Namine?"

Nixa gave him her best poker face.

"Namine? What do you want with her?"

This wasn't how she wanted to go about things, but since she got caught, she might as well ask.

"Don't change the subject! You're going to tell me where she is! And where Riku is too!"

Nixa sighed.

"Sorry, but you're going to have to beat the answers out of me."

Sora tensed as he heard that, but was confused when she didn't call out her weapon.

"…..That's want you expect me to say, isn't it? Well, I hate to break it to you, but I'm not here for a fight."

She was finally able to stand straight on her feet now.

"Fact is, I'm not even here for you, so don't flatter yourself."

"Huh?"

He was confused. She could feel that.

"Well, what are you here for?" Goofy seemed to be the only one truly curious about that at the time.

"What I'm here for is my business. Besides, I still don't know what your business with Namine is."

Sora let out a growl.

"I'm here to rescue her! I have a promise I have to keep!"

Promise? What promise could he have made with a Nobody?

"Well, while I don't know about any promises you may or may not have made, I do know that that tough front that I'm sure you're trying to put up now isn't going to work on me."

Sora was surprised. What was she talking about?

"You are actually confused as to what is going on. You are angry and frustrated because you are not getting any straight answers to your questions. You are worried about your friends and Namine. You are also desperate to save her."

It was silent for a moment. Everyone was confused. No one knew how to address this. When Sora opened his mouth to say something, she spoke again.

"And no, I'm not a mind reader. If I was, you could have probably tricked me if you tried hard enough to think of yourself as tough, as someone who refused to let their confusion show. But, I'm not. What I read was your heart, and the heart never lies."

She was starting to feel better now. She should be able to leave soon. She looked towards Max to let him know to get ready to go soon.

"Wait a minute!"

Nixa turned her attention to the smallest person in the room, who was very close to Sora.

"If you can read hearts, can you read the memories that the heart holds?"

She looked towards him with wide eyes. She had never been asked that before. She had tried something like that before, but nobody had ever bothered to ask her if she could do it.

"…I have done something like that before, but only once or twice. And it's mainly the memories that the heart holds dear to it, so it's not like I can get a person's life story or anything. Why do you ask?"

"Well, as you already know, we've been losing our memories as we go up each floor."

No, she didn't know that, but, from the sound of it, everybody else knew that if he assumed that she knew as well.

"Not only that, but Sora has been gaining memories of Namine as we go up as well."

Something told her that Sora's memories of Namine and Namine's ability to create fake memories was hardly a coincidence. What person has memories of a Nobody? Just what was Marluxia up to…?

"So I was wondering if you can see what memories we still have."

She stared at them. Just what were they expecting?

"What would be the point in me doing this? Can you not summon the memories yourselves?"

"Well, can you do it, or can't you?" Sora was getting impatient with her.

There was a moment of silence. Then, she sighed.

"Fine, but I can only do it for one person. I'm not feeling all that well, as you could tell earlier."

"How could you tell that we could tell?" Goofy still didn't get it.

"Your hearts can't lie, remember?"

"Oh yeah…."

"I say you read Sora's heart, then." Jiminy piped up.

"I agree." Donald had no problem with that arrangement.

Goofy nodded his agreement as well.

"Well, it's agreed then. So, are you gonna read my memories or not?"

Nixa pinched the bridge of her nose. Then, she shook her head and smirked.

"You actually are just like him. Although, that's really no surprise…."

"What are you talking about?"

She shook her head.

"It's nothing….now, about those memories of yours…"

…

"So what's going on, Vexen? Your Riku was supposed to counter Sora. What's he waiting for? Where is he?"

Vexen was getting mad.

"He's hiding somewhere to lure Sora deeper into the castle, right? I suppose we should just leave it at that, you know."

"A-ha! Oh, I see now! I would never have guessed that. So sorry, Vexen."

"Silence!"

Yep, he was mad now. Axel couldn't help but wish that Nixa was there right now. She would have had fun doing this as well. She probably would have said something to make him add an "I KILL YOU!" in that response.

Larxene, however, wasn't surprised by his predictable reaction.

"Predictable response. Forget it. Men without hearts are so boring."

"You're one to talk. As if you have such a heart to speak of yourself."

"That's enough."

Of course, here came the reason that made Axel glad that Nixa wasn't in the room now. She was a lot safer being far away from this situation.

"Marluxia!"

Marluxia flipped his hood back, making a couple of petals float through the air as he did so. Axel couldn't help but think that Marluxia would have done well as a girl. Of course, that thought made him remember the Grim Reaper comment Nixa once made. Now he had to focus on keeping a straight face.

Marluxia didn't look like he was in the mood to be reminded of that.

"Vexen, the simple fact is that your project was a failure. You'd best not disappoint us again."

Of course, Vexen didn't take to that comment well.

"Disappoint YOU? You go too far! In this Organization, you're No. 11! I'm No. 4 and I will not have you – "

In the next second, Vexen found himself staring at the business end of a scythe.

"I've been entrusted this castle and Namine by our leader. Defying me will be seen as treason against the Organization."

"'Traitors are eliminated.' I believe that's what the rules say."

"Who need a half-baked good-for-nothing, anyway?"

"Ng…." Vexen was definitely not pleased by Axel and Larxene's lack of support for him.

"Vexen, you cannot win against Sora."

Vexen smirked.

"Pity to be so ignorant. As you're only able to see the surface of things. I should not expect you to appreciate my true might."

"Oh?" Marluxia made his scythe disappear into a bunch of flower petals.

"Then let us watch as you prove it."

"What?"

Marluxia turned his back to Vexen.

"None of us wish to be suspicious of a comrade."

"Your insincerity is comforting," Vexen said sarcastically as he left.

This made Axel wonder what Marluxia was thinking.

"You give a challenge like that to Vexen and he'll seriously want to eliminate Sora."

"That would be an unfortunate denouement."

Axel watched as Marluxia walked over towards Namine and put a hand on her shoulder.

"What to do? Your hero is soon to be wiped from existence. But I believe there is a certain promise that he made you. Isn't that right, Namine?"

"….Yes." Namine really didn't want to keep deceiving Sora like this.

As he walked away from Namine, he turned his attention to Axel.

"By the way, I believe your friend is in danger of becoming a traitor as well."

Axel's head snapped up. What was he talking about? Please tell him that he wasn't talking about Nixa.

"It seems that Nixa had another attack while in one of the basement levels. She managed to leave before Riku reached her, but…."

At this, he turned towards the crystal ball and showed what was going on now.

"She has let herself get caught by Sora. Now, we all know that she has been given orders not to interfere."

Axel watched as Nixa got up only to stand on unsteady feet. Damn it. He told her not to get anywhere near this. What was she doing there? And in that condition, no less.

He was thinking of what to do. If Marluxia sent him to get her, there was a chance it was on the order to eliminate her. What should he do? There had to be a way to get her out of there without Marluxia getting her.

…

"Hmmmmmm….."

"Well?"

Nixa was starting to feel tired. Reading hearts normally didn't take a whole lot of energy. But, delving deep into them in search of something specific did for some reason. Although, just searching for memories probably wasn't really specific. It still took some energy out of her, and she was still recovering.

It didn't really help that there seemed to be some kind of problem with the memories in his heart.

"Gaaah, that's my limit for now." She had to stop. She was starting to feel unsteady again. Max stood closer to her to lend her some support, which she gladly accepted.

"Well?"

"To be honest, I can't tell what it is you're supposed to be remembering. Or if you're even remembering anything correctly for that matter. Your heart right now is just a jumbled mess and I don't have the energy right now to sort it."

Sora seemed confused about something.

"Correctly? How can I remember something the wrong way?"

She sighed.

"That really is a matter of perspective. Some people tend to remember something one way while others would remember it another. But that's not really what your problem is. Your problem is that there is something jacked up in there!"

This didn't help Sora's confusion. She had a feeling that this was Namine's doing, but she was sure that, if Axel was watching right now, she would get an earful as it was already.

"How can something be messed up? Can't you fix it?"

This kid just didn't know when to give up. That would probably help him in the long run, but it wasn't helping either of them now.

"That's not exactly how I do things. Or, at least, I've never done it before. But, you're out of luck. I'm too tired."

"Uh, you've been tired since before we got here. Exactly what happened to make you so tired?"

She stared at the one who was apparently called "Goofy". Why ask someone who was apparently the enemy that?

However, she didn't have a chance to respond to that as a portal had opened right next to her and Max.

Cliffhanger!...sort of. Cookies for those of you who caught the Jeff Dunham reference!

Well, as usual, reviews are what help move the story along. See ya next time!