Bluh. My contentment with this one fluctuates violently.

This was intended to be a sort of an alternate version of what Lexy and Zexy were up to during The Storm, pt. 2.

"Zexion?"

The Nobody in question snapped out of his trance. "Yes, Lexaeus?"

"Are you alright? You've been staring at that knife for a while, now…"

Zexion looked back at the large kitchen knife and away again. "Ye- yes, I'm fine."

He jumped about a foot in the air when Lexaeus put a hand on his shoulder. "Perhaps I should chop the vegetables," he said, guiding Zexion over to the arrangement of spices.

Zexion took a deep breath. "Yes, that seems smart," he said.

Lexaeus took to slicing for the mushrooms for the recipe while Zexion rolled chicken bits in flour and spice for seasoning. It wasn't that he minded cooking. No, it was certain… kitchen implements.

"Might I ask what the problem was?" Lexaeus inquired after a moment.

The sound of the bowl shifting in the countertop ceased.

"Don't tell the Nymph," Zexion said.

"I never would."

Zexion teetered on the edge of speech for a moment, starting and stopping then starting again. "I… I don't like knives. I never have. It's been a phobia of mine since I was small. I cannot," his fists clenched so hard the knuckles of his bare hands turned white, "take them near my face, or my eyes."

For a moment, the only sound in the kitchen was Zexion getting his suddenly frantic breathing under control, like acknowledging his reactions had dug up old memories and he needed a moment to bury them again.

Lexaeus did not pursue the subject. Whoever or whatever had attacked Zexion, bringing it up would only cause him undue distress.

Suddenly, there was a faint pop, and then blackness.

There was silence for a while. Lexaeus sighed faintly – it had been a while since the last incident, but that did not stop it from being extremely irritating. The procedure of "drop everything and report to the Round Room to see who was messing with the wiring this time" had interrupted one too many a recipe.

Zexion broke it as his breathing sped up again, as classic sign of distress. If he had had a heart, Lexaeus would've been able to hear his pulse send vibrations through the floor.

"Lexaeus," Zexion said, tone clipped and voice wavering ever so slightly, "put the knife down." When he heard the soft clater of the knife on the countertop, he moved slowly towards the door, feeling his way.

"Come on, it's procedure," he said, pausing for just a moment when his shoulder brushed against Lexaeus's arm.

He lingered for a moment – but only a moment – and went out into the hall without another word. Lexaeus stayed behind him, keeping a silent, if unseeing, vigil.

There was a level of caution as Lexaeus and Zexion felt their way through the darkened halls. As he had since Zexion was a child, Lexaeus took it upon himself to watch the boy. Zexion was more open, and at least appeared to be a little happier in his presence. Now, Lexaeus was watching the dark, straining to see any overt signs of Zexion's latest anxiety. When he was stressed, his illusionary power went out of control, and that could be a danger to the both of them.

Suddenly, Zexion was clinging to Lexaeus with a terrified howl.

"Zexion?"

"Don't let her near me," he shrieked.

Lexaeus put an arm around Zexion, like a parent comforting a child after a nightmare. Only this time, the nightmare had taken a life of its own.

"Relax. They were sealed long ago under the castle, and they can't get out now."

Zexion's breathing was heavy. Lexaeus traced up his arm and found one of the boy's hands covering his hidden eye.

Lexaeus looked up and shot a warning glance into the dark. A violet eye shone back at them, its pupil slitted like a cat's. The demoness of Zexion's past.

"Zexion, it isn't real. Focus your mind."

They kept moving straight toward the apparition. Zexion nearly froze with horror when they passed by it, his one hand still over his eye as if to protect it. Really though, there was nothing to be done. The wound had long since been done by the time Ienzo first came to Radiant Garden, with the one empty socket and the old scars.

It had made Aleaus's stomach churn just thinking about what had happened, and even now he had a desire to destroy whoever would do that to so small a child.

But the thing they walked by now was just an illusion, and the real monster had to be sealed away for Zexion's sake.

And, just a bit, for its own sake. A dark of pure darkness was as dangerous to itself as it was to others.