A/N: It appears that I spoke too soon- I got really sick from my two sisters. I cannot believe my last chapter. The ending… it was so perfect! (Still haven't gotten over it. How sad is that?) Okay okay okay, FOCUS! I has a special secret surprise for you guys later! Although I'm sure you readers will hate me by the end of the chapter. This will be a major turning point in our story. I think. Either this or next chapter. You'll just have to wait and see!

Disclaimer: BB, BB, BB, BB, BB, BB, B- Oh, yeah, I don't own Kingdom Hearts. KIRA KILLED BEYOND BIRTHDAY! HE MUST PAY! Did I ever mention that I am in love with a strawberry jam-eating serial killer, a traitor with no heart, an envious (key word right there) homunculus, a money-making glasses-wearing member of a host club, a strict but kind German man that loves dogs and baking sweets, a blonde flirty vampire, and a one-winged impossibly-long katana-wielding man? No? Well, now you do!

Chapter 11 (ARE YOU KIDDING ME! DOUBLE-DIGITS ALREADY?)

For the first time in a long time, I woke up in the morning not feeling dread, fear, sadness, emptiness or anything of the sort. I was the happiest I had been in since I was a Nobody. I smiled and hopped out of the bed, energized and ready for anything. I replayed the night before over and over again in my head. It seemed impossible that Marluxia had kissed me. But I knew that even my imagination couldn't come up with something that felt so real.

In a completely uncharacteristic move, I rummaged through the closet, pulled on a pair of gray skinny-jeans paired with a bright yellow tank-top and matching stiletto heels, and then took the time to brush out my hair, leaving it in waves down my back. I then applied light gray eye-shadow, black mascara, and purple eyeliner, but nothing too dark. Then, without hesitation, I swiped on some light pink lip-gloss and smiled at my reflection, liking the brilliant, cheerful me that I saw. I didn't even start to worry about not having an organization cloak- for just once, I wanted to go around and not have to conceal my face.

Thinking of Marluxia, I walked to the kitchen, knowing that if I was to get there, I would have to pass through the now-crowded dining room. I could just portal there, but today I didn't want to. Plus, I wanted to show everyone that I was okay now. So without a second thought, I stepped through the dining room doors, smiling confidently. The whole room went quiet and everyone stared at me like I was some alien from outer space, which made me giggle and continue to walk to the kitchen. Talk about a dramatic entrance!

When I walked into the kitchen, it also went silent as Daxdy and Axis stopped laughing, Axel's eye's widened, Demyx dropped the open milk carton on the floor, Roxas fell off of the counter that he was sitting on, Zexion almost ripped a page out of his book, and Marluxia just stood there, his hand still on the open refrigerator door, letting out all of the cold air. I started laughing at all of the looks on their faces, and they just continued to stare at me. Finally, after I got in control of my breath, I looked at them happily and asked, "What?"

"Well, other than the fact that you went from being all psycho to super-girly girl, and how you're suddenly happy and smiling a lot is two things," Daxdy said after a couple of seconds, looking me up and down multiple times in disbelief. I grinned and walked over to the pantry, stepping over the fast growing puddle of milk to get to the wonderful package of blueberry pop-tarts waiting for me. I sauntered over to the island and hopped up on it, crossing my legs and tearing open the package of food, which was deafening in the growing silence of the room.

"It's not that drastic of a change, guys. Just roll with it, 'kay? Would you rather me go back to what I was before?" I snuck a look over at Marluxia before adding, "Although, I don't think that's possible by now."

My statement seemed to snap everyone back into reality, and Demyx started to clean up the spilled milk, Zexion stuck a bookmark in his book, Roxas got up off of the floor, Marluxia grabbed fruit from the fridge, and Axel turned to Daxdy and Axis to tell them a corny joke. I smirked and started to methodically eat my pop-tart the way I always did- I picked the crust off of all of the sides and ate it before devouring the flavored inside.

"Why does a seagull fly over the sea?" Axel asked. Daxdy, Axis, and I all shrugged, and Axel grinned. "Because if it flew over the bay it would be called a bagel!"

Everyone cracked up laughing at the stupid joke, and Marluxia came and leaned against the counter next to me. As Axel was telling yet another corny joke (I swear he must have billions of them), Marluxia leaned in and whispered to me, "Is this something temporary, or are you going to stay like this from now on?"

I looked up at him smiling and whispered back, "Well, I decided that maybe it's time I changed for the better." I then slowly took his hand that was resting on the counter next to my hip and intertwined our fingers, squeezing his hand softly, never looking away from Axel, who was acting out one of Demyx's less… intelligent moments. Marluxia squeezed my hand back and I was so happy at that moment, that I couldn't imagine it ending. Until Saix decided to burst into the kitchen.

I immediately let go of Marluxia's hand, and he jumped away guiltily as Saix barked, "Missions!" before slamming the door and stalking away. Everyone sighed but me, but that was mainly because I wasn't sure what was going on. What did Saix mean by 'missions'? Did we have to go undercover? Was it some kind of Mission: Impossible thing, or…? If I had to dress up in some kind of disguise, I was quitting. There is no way I'm going to do that and look like a total fool in front of complete strangers.

I followed everyone out into the Gray Room, which was pretty much the common room. It had a flat screen TV, couches, armchairs, an X-box, a Wii, a Playstation 2 and 3, a PSP, a game cube, and a huge shelve of DVD's and games for all of the game systems. There wasn't really a way that you could get bored here.

The Superior and Saix, who was holding a clipboard, were standing in the front of the room, and everybody else was lined up with bored faces, some crossing their fingers, looking around, or, in Larxene's case, picking at her nails with one of her kunai and glaring daggers at everyone else.

"You know the drill! No complaining about your mission or who you're paired with!" Saix commanded in his scary Keebler elf way. "Zexion and Lexeaus, you will be going to Monstro and talking to the man there about Heartless activity. Xaldin and Demyx, you will be going to Hollow Bastion. You know what to do. And finally, Larxene and Xelxa, you will be doing reconnaissance in Halloween Town. I want you two to kill every single Heartless on that planet. We need to make sure that the scientist isn't experimenting with them again, and I will find out if you two leave even one Heartless alive. Go."

I bit my bottom lip as everyone who didn't have to do anything sighed when Saix and Xemnas portalled away. I knew that Larxene didn't like me, but this was just absurd! Then again, Demyx was paired with the lance-wielding sadistic chef who loved to chop things to bits. Maybe I had gotten the better deal here. One look at Larxene squelched those thoughts from my mind as she sneered at me. Axel put his hand on my shoulder and gave me a look that said he was going to start to pick out what I wanted my coffin to look like. I shrugged his hand away as I started to get the chills from it being there.

"Okay," Larxene said as she looked me up and down, "Rule 1: no questions. Rule 2: if you have any questions, refer to rule number 1. Rule 3: you will not talk. I don't want to hear you, because if I do, that means you'll most likely die because you're so annoying that I would be driven to insanity and be forced to kill you so I don't commit suicide. Rule 4: stay behind me. I will pulverize anything in my path, and if you happen to be in my way, well, that's your problem, not mine. Any questions?"

I stood there and just stared at her. She had to be kidding me. Apparently not, because she said, "Good. You actually have a brain." She just insulted me three times in less than 45 seconds. This was going to be a long day. I was about to get ready to leave when, for the first time in four days, I realized that I had never gotten my bracelet back. I had dropped it right before Sephiroth kicked me in the head.

"My bracelet. What happened to it?" I asked Axel and Marluxia, since they were the only ones that were there when that had happened. I didn't have any regrets, if I really thought about it. I mean, I probably could've handled the whole situation better, but other than that I wasn't really upset about anything that I had done. Plus, now was the time to make up for it, so the only thing to do was move forward.

"Um, it's in my room," Marluxia said quietly, blushing slightly. I smiled and made a portal there, taking his hand and walking through, closing the portal behind me so no one could follow in behind us. I wanted a private moment with him before I had to leave. That and I hadn't seen him since last night. After we had kissed, Marluxia had stayed in my room and sat with me, just talking about nothing. I enjoyed spending time with him, but now I wasn't sure where to go next. Were we together now, or…?

I let go of Marly's hand and sat down on the bed, watching him go to his nightstand and fetch my silver bracelet from the drawer. He walked over to the bed and kneeled in front of me as if he was going to propose, smiling conspiratorially as he took my hand and slipped the bracelet on it. He then stood and held out his hand for me, and instead of taking it and standing up like he wanted me to, I grabbed it and pulled him down on the bed next to me.

"Hey!" he cried out, obviously startled. I laughed and hugged him tightly around the waist, scooting closer to him. In a way, I was asking for forgiveness. I just wanted one moment alone with him before heading out to a new and unknown world. Marluxia hugged me back and pulled me into his lap, holding me close and sighing contentedly. I pulled away slightly and pecked him on the cheek before hopping off of him and pulling him through a portal by his cloak sleeve.

"Took you long enough," the blonde menace sneered as she scowled at me. I wondered what made her hate me so much. I had never really done anything to her, so I didn't know what her problem was, but I decided to just ignore it for now.

"Well I'm sorry, Larxene, but it seems that I had misplaced Xelxa's bracelet and had to search for it." For some reason, I loved that Marluxia had used sarcasm with Larxene and said sorry, even though everyone could tell he didn't mean it. From the way she looked at him after he said that, it was clear that she wasn't going to hurt him like she usually would do to anyone else. Instead, she just looked at me like I was the most disgusting thing she had ever seen.

"Well," Axis said, clapping my back, "good luck." I could hear the implied you're gonna need it tacked on at the end. Axel smiled at me, Zexion nodded at me, Daxdy was staring off into space, and Marluxia gave me a hug that lasted longer than a normal hug that your friends gave you, but short enough that nobody would really notice that it was longer than it really needed to be. Without another word, Larxene turned around into a portal and walked through so fast that I half-ran through, afraid that she was going to leave without me.

I have to say that Halloween Town is probably the awesomest place I have ever seen. In a way, it was very familiar. I could've sworn I had been there before, but I knew for a fact that I had never been here as a Nobody. I knew where everything was- town hall, the scientist's lab, the cemetery. I couldn't figure it out. There was no way that I could've known where everything was without having been there before.

At the entrance to the world, it had a plaque with the world's history on it. Apparently, at one time, the only people that lived there were ghosts, witches, and other fictional characters that you would think would never exist. Then, 20 years ago, they started building houses, and normal humans moved there. Soon, schools were built, and now there was a secluded place for the suburbs where normal people could live and go to school. It also included places where Heartless activity was highest and advised people not to go there because recently, a resident of Halloween Town was killed in Twilight Town by Heartless. I was about to read the name when Larxene started walking quickly toward the cemetery.

The whole time Larxene and I were there, I stayed behind her. We always hid whenever we saw anyone for precautionary reasons, but I had no idea what the reasons were. We weren't attacked by Heartless until we got to the cemetery, and even then, they were pretty easy to knock out with a scythe. We were just killing the last of the shadowy enemies when a man and woman entered the cemetery gates. I turned to look at them and froze.

I was standing like that when Larxene pulled me roughly behind a large mausoleum. But the damage was done. I knew who those people were. The man was tall with a long goatee and hair that was salt and peppered. The woman was just a bit shorter than the man with curly light orange hair that you could tell was natural. They were my parents. Or at least, the man was. The woman was my stepmom.

Larxene was glaring at me like I was insane, but I ignored her, paying rapt attention to the two adults. I just couldn't believe it. This whole time, I had never even thought about my family, or the fact that I even had any family. And now that I realized that, I wanted to speak to them, let them know that I wasn't dead. I was still alive and well.

The couple walked over to a freshly dug grave, and I knew that the coffin that was buried six feet underground was empty. They had never found my body, because I was not dead. I was about to jump up and say something when Larxene grabbed my bare upper arm and dug her nails into my skin, causing me to look at her. She then quickly pulled me through a portal and into the Gray Room, where Axel, Zexion, Daxdy, and Axis had never left.

"ARE YOU IDIOTIC?" Larxene screeched and pushed me into the wall. "YOU ALMOST BLEW OUR COVER! DO YOU WANT TO BE EXPOSED TO THOSE MORONIC HUMANS?"

Everybody in the room looked up, startled by our presence because they hadn't seen us come in. By now I was close to tears, and I swiped at my eyes angrily, knowing that if I cried, it would show how pathetic I was. But I also knew that I wasn't just going to go unheard.

"You don't understand! Those were my parents! Do you want them to go on thinking that I'm dead and never get over it when really I'm breathing and definitely not buried under six feet of dirt?"

Larxene summoned a knife and swung at me with it, but I caught her wrist and stared into her eyes, glaring. By now, Larxene had attracted the attention of Demyx and Roxas, who were in the dining room until they came to see what was going on. I pushed Larxene away and she stumbled back, dropping her kunai on the carpet. Zexion and Axel jumped up and ran in between us, trying to keep us apart so we wouldn't try to kill each other.

"What's going on?" Zexion asked calmly, staring into my eyes.

"We were in Halloween Town, and we were about to leave when I saw my dad and stepmom. I wanted to say something, let them know that I was okay, when Larxene portalled here and started yelling at me," I replied in a shaky voice, trying to stop tears from falling down my cheeks.

"YES, BECAUSE-"

"Shut up, Larxene," Axel said, glaring at her. Everybody except for Zexion was looking in between me and Larxene, except for Zexion, who was just looking at me.

"Look," Zexion said, "what do you think would happen if someone you loved died and somebody who looked different appeared a couple of weeks later, claiming that they were the person who died. Would you believe them?"

I shook my head.

"Exactly," Zexion continued. "They wouldn't believe you. And if they did, do you know what would happen to us- the organization? We'd be used as test subjects. Experiments. Including you. Do you want that? For any of us?"

I shook my head, my eyes still full of tears. I had never thought of that, and I realized that no matter how much I wanted to talk to them, I had to stay away for my own good. For the sake of me and everyone else. I could feel myself starting to cry, and I pushed past Zexion and ran out of the room. I could hear Larxene and Axel yelling at each other, but I kept going. I knew that it wasn't possible, but for a moment, I had believed that I could go back home. I wouldn't be so alone.

I collided with a warm body and fell flat on the floor. The person stumbled back a bit but stopped and looked down at me. I just stood up and kept running, but the person grabbed my shoulder in a vice of steel, forcing me to stop and spinning me around to face them. I quickly wiped at my eyes and looked up to face Saix. He looked utterly confused, but his face turned to shock and anger in a matter of seconds.

"What is going on here, XV?" he demanded. I started to get the chills up and down my spine, and I knew that if this continued it would start to tingle and push me to the edge, so I gripped Saix's hand and pushed it away.

"None of your business, VII. Now if you excuse me, I have things I need to be doing," I said curtly and turned around, portalling away before he could stop me again. Because, to be honest, anywhere was better than here.

End of Chapter 11

Are you proud of me? I FINALLY updated! I've been getting better, so yay! *sighs* I love Marluxia :D He is my very first anime crush, so it's only fair that he'd be my favorite guy. It's a tie between him, Aidou from Vampire Knight, Germany from Axis Powers Hetalia, and Beyond Birthday from Death Note. WHOO! So many handsome men! All of them are too old for me, but WHO CARES? Not me :) ~~~ I think I'm gonna bomb a town! (Get down!) Don't you nevah, evah, pull my lever 'cause I EXPLODE! And my nine is easy to load. I gotta thank God, 'cause he gave me the strength to rock HARD! Knock you out, mama said knock you out! ~~~ Mama Said Knock You Out by LL Cool J (I cannot BELIEVE that I like his music!)