A/N: Hugely important chapter right here. We're nearing a reunion...Anyway...I don't know when the next chapter will be up. I'm still uber busy, but I'll try for within the next two weeks or so. WARNING: MAJOR ANGST AHEAD. I got depressed just writing this chapter. Have something fluffy lined up to read after this or something. You'll need it. This is an Interlude chapter because the focus is beginning to split. It's still mainly on Namine but...well...you'll see. I'd say enjoy, but it's really angsty...not my best work perhaps...I plead stress.

Disclaimer: this is me, not owning.

Much Ado About Nothing

Catalyst: Interlude

"And though I know the world of real emotion has surrounded me, I won't give in to it," Naminé's light soprano carried the lyrics through the woods as she pushed open the gates to the mansion, a feat that cannot properly be appreciated if it is neglected to mention that she did so while juggling the box containing her wedding dress, along with several other large shopping bags (Olette was a guru when it came to bargain hunting) and her blue ipod (Riku's present to her for her 'birthday'. DiZ hadn't been quite sure how to respond when they'd asked to install iTunes on his supercomputer). She was caught up in the motion of the music, scarcely aware of what she was doing; belting the song at the top of her non-existent lungs as she made her way towards the mansion's door. She had decided to walk home rather than portal, since she didn't get out much as it was. "And now, I know that forward is the only way my heart can go. I hear your voice calling out to me, 'You'll never be alone.' " Naminé pushed open the heavy front door, still not paying attention, still singing as she entered the hall. "What can I do for you? What-" (AN 1)

"Well you can start by not sneaking out, for one thing!" Naminé gasped and promptly pressed pause on her ipod, plummeting back to reality in the process. Diz, looking disgruntled, and Riku were standing before her. Naminé at first felt fear at being discovered, followed by justified indignation. And why shouldn't she go out?

"I didn't sneak out," she stated, firmly yet quietly.

Diz's eyes narrowed. "You were not given permission to leave. That constitutes sneaking out."

Naminé glared. "Who says I need permission? You're not the boss of me."

Diz laughed cruelly. "You think so? I provide you with a place to live and work. I have assisted you in Sora's recovery-"

It was Naminé's turn to laugh. "No you haven't!" she spat out, fury swelling up within her. "If anything you've made it more difficult! Fixing Sora's memory used to feel like a duty, now it's just a painful chore! And with you hanging over my shoulder, I can't concentrate, and I've' been making more mistakes! And that means it takes even longer because I have to go back and fix them!" Diz frowned at the insolent youngster. Heaven help Kairi's parents! "If you wanted to actually help," Naminé continued, glaring, "You could do any number of the things I've suggested. Like bringing Kairi here, for example! The physical proximity of her heart to Sora's would do wonders for them both!"

"This is irrelevant to your sneaking out." Diz stated, trying to hide both his frustration, and his inability to respond to Naminé's accusation. "You have work to do. You can't go running off like this!"

Naminé glared. "I'll do what I want when I want. You can throw me out if you want to, but you'll have to throw Sora out with me. I might as well take him back to the Organization." Diz and Riku both turned to stare at her in horrified incredulity. Naminé smirked cynically. "What? I've been with the bad guys and the good guys, and as far as I can tell there isn't much difference."

"You'll do no such thing!" Diz commanded. "You're getting out of control! This rebellious behavior must stop! If you want to keep what few privileges I will allow you after this escapade, I would suggest you begin acting in a bit more submissive manner!"

Riku began to be afraid. Naminé was looking angrier than he'd ever seen her. Her normally placid face was contorted with anger. "No!" She yelled. "I'll do what I want, when I want! And who exactly is going to stop me? I'm too valuable to you, admit it! I'm not as oblivious as you think," she paused and smirked, "Ansem."

The orange eye widening was all it took to assure Naminé of her current domination. "Or did you think I didn't know that either?"

Riku had turned to stare, slack jawed, at Diz, who was staring at Naminé for the first time with fear in his heart. What else did the child know? "What?"

"I'll wipe it from his memory later, maybe," Naminé said nonchalantly, gesturing at Riku.

"You are a heartless witch. Your primary duty is to fix the catastrophe you have caused. I will not permit you to waste time." Diz stated, his voice shaking slightly.

Naminé glared up at him. "I'd love to see you try."

"Naminé, stop it!" Naminé and Diz turned to Riku, who until then had remained mostly silent.

"What?" she asked, softly; breathlessly.

"Naminé, he's right," Riku said firmly. "Your job is to fix Sora. You shouldn't be running off like this."

The blonde stared. Was he really doing this? "I wasn't running off! I was going out! You know, something normal teenagers get to do!"

Riku frowned. "You're not a normal teenager."

Naminé's eyes stung with the hot angry tears quickly welling up. "All the more reason I should get to try to be normal every once in a while!" The molten salt streamed down her face. "You didn't seem to care much about my abnormality the other day!"

Riku looked away. "That's not the point. Listen to Diz…you're supposed to stay here…"

Naminé glared. "I hate you." Riku turned to look at her, his slight frown indicative of the furrowed brows hidden by the blindfold. Naminé turned to Diz. "One: I'll do what I want and you can't stop me. Two: as soon as I get Sora finished, I'm going to introduce you to him. That way, I can wipe your memory clean. And I mean completely clean. Every precious memory gone." She turned back to Riku. "Do you remember the first time you met Kairi?" Riku suddenly frowned, and Naminé grinned maliciously. "That's right. You don't. And you never will again."

She gathered up her bags and headed up the stairs to her room, wiping Riku's memory of her mention of Ansem as she went.

XIII

Meanwhile

"Hey, Axel, where's Roxas?" Axel paused in the hallway to let Xigbar catch up with him.

"Dude, I don't know what that kid does anymore."

The tragedy of the truth in that statement was too overwhelming to think about. Perhaps telling Roxas that Naminé was dead wasn't for the best after all. Since hearing the news Roxas had changed dramatically. For weeks he'd been completely silent; following orders without so much as a word. Whenever anyone tried to talk to him, he'd shrug it off and walk away. There had been no consoling him, no helping him.

Once the moping had ended the trouble had started. Roxas was getting older and more defiant. The rebellious teenage attitude Xemnas had thought was absent in Roxas had started up in full force. He would argue about the missions he was sent on. He would leave sporadically. There would be hours some nights where no one knew where he was. Finally they'd managed to worm it out of him that he'd been in Twilight Town a lot. Axel had tried taking him to some of the parties in Twilight Town after Naminé 'died' to get his mind off of everything, and it had backfired magnificently. The kid knew more about the underground party scene in that town than Vexen knew about chemistry.

"He with some girl?"

"Probably."

"…How far is he going with these girls?"

"It's Roxas. He's rebellious but he's not stupid."

Since losing Naminé, Roxas had come to bury his troubles in the cherry red lips of whatever beautiful airhead would have him. Naminé had always made him feel real; made him feel alive. That was what he'd been looking for whenever he obliged whatever tramp had been flirting with him at a party; to feel alive. It didn't take long for him to realize what a flawed plan it was, but he kept trying anyway. He'd almost started to delight in breaking their hearts after having given them a couple dances and kisses, then disappearing into the crowd and out of their lives, not even capable of remembering their names by the time he got back to the castle. Xemnas was well aware of Roxas's frequent outings, but the child had to be kept content enough not to leave the Organization, so the boy was left well enough alone. As long as Roxas wasn't getting drunk, getting high, or getting laid, Xemnas really didn't care what he was up to. They had plenty of other problems with Roxas to deal with otherwise. (AN 2)

It was a little past midnight when Axel finally found Roxas, who was just returning. Axel raised an eyebrow as he watched Roxas wipe a smudge of red lipstick away from his ear. "There you are." He greeted, trying to smile.

Roxas merely grunted. "So do you know this one's name?"

"Lindi." (AN 3)

"You've seen her before."

"She's actually somewhat intelligent. And a really good kisser. She's been on a mission to get me to come home with her for a while now. The more I tell her I'm not interested the harder she tries. She's a bit odd actually. But what can I say? She puts up with me." Axel couldn't help but feel sad at how un-Roxas all of this was.

"This isn't like you."

"What isn't?"

Axel put a hand on the young nobody's shoulder. "All of this. Everything you've been doing for the past couple of months. It isn't like you. What would Naminé say if she knew what you were doing?" Roxas stopped and spun on his heel, glaring up at Axel.

"Don't ever mention her like that!" he growled.

Axel's eyes narrowed. "She'd hate what you're doing. She'd say it wasn't like you either."

"Shut up."

"I'm sure she'd want you to move on, but you casually dating all of these girls isn't what she would have wanted!"

"I said shut up."

"It's not going to bring her back, you know."

"I said SHUT UP!" Roxas yelled that time, glaring sadly up at his best friend, the beginnings of tears evident in the corners of his eyes. "Just…just shut up!"

Axel simply watched him for a moment, not sure how to respond. "You know Naminé wouldn't-"

"Would you stop mentioning Naminé?" Roxas shrugged the hand off his shoulder. "I know, okay?! I know she'd hate this! I know she'd be mad! I don't know what else to do, okay!"

Axel stared. "Then let me help-"

Roxas laughed cynically. "You? Some help you were when Naminé and I were caught together! You even helped Marluxia find us!"

Axel glared. "Hey, if I'd tried to back you up I'd have gotten myself killed! And I didn't rat you out! No one knew where you were! It was by chance that Marluxia and I ended up looking for you together!" (AN 4)

"Sure you did," the younger said sarcastically.

"Roxas…" Axel shook his head. "This is ridiculous. Naminé wouldn't want you falling apart like this; you need to-"

"Stop mentioning Naminé!" Roxas yelled again, this time in strangled desperation rather than frustration. "Just stop…" Roxas leaned against the wall, then slid down it to rest on the floor as he completely broke down. "…I still miss her…" he wiped desperately at his eyes, trying to uphold his last façade of strength. "I miss her so much…" Axel was at a loss. This outpouring of emotion…maybe Roxas really did have a heart.

He sat down beside Roxas and placed a hand on his shoulder. Roxas turned his tearstained face up to stare brokenly at Axel. "I'm sure she also would have given you another chance."

And for ever so brief a moment the real Roxas, the one they had all come to love and tolerate, smiled.

XIII

Riku took a deep breath and knocked on Naminé's door.

Silence.

He knocked again.

"What?" Harsh; I'm in trouble.

Riku opened the door and was blown away. Even with his blindfold he could tell that Naminé was standing before him in a…well…a wedding dress. She looked incredible. She was only fifteen, right? Well, physically fifteen; that's how old Kairi would be. Right? Yeah, because he, Riku would be sixteen and Sora and Kairi were a year younger so she would be technically fifteen…because boy, did she look older. For the most part Riku's view of her was through the full length mirror she was standing before.

She was looking sadly into her reflection, smoothing down the dress she'd never wear down the aisle. "Roxas gave this to me. I mentioned once that I'd probably never get to wear one…and he bought me this. He had it custom made and everything. I was getting it altered today."

Riku grunted. "That's right; you hate it when I talk about Roxas." Riku walked closer, and attempted to wrap his arms around her. "Don't you dare touch me."

Her distant attitude took him by surprise. "Why not?"

"Because you don't care a thing for me."

Riku frowned. "That's not true!"

"Then why is it you'll kiss me but you won't stand up for me?" Naminé still hadn't turned from the mirror. Her tone was calm, but there was a certain coldness pervading the atmosphere.

"Naminé…" Riku's number one mistake was playing it off as something casual by merely using that tone.

"Roxas would have stood up for me."

"And you bring up Roxas…"

Naminé turned to glare. "Yes I'm bringing up Roxas! I know he loved me. He would have stood up for me! In fact, when we snuck out once and then got caught, he did stand up for me! He fought for me! He attacked Marluxia for hurting me! He protected me! He cared for me! And what do you do? You try to get me to talk and get over Roxas and Sora and draw you pictures and be the girl you wish loved you instead of Sora!"

"THIS ISN'T ABOUT KAIRI!" Riku shouted.

"I don't even have to mention her name and you know what I mean! You still love her, not me!"

"That's not true!"

"Then why wouldn't you defend me?!"

Riku was silent. They stood, staring at each other, emotions running high and tempers running higher.

"I need someone who loves me enough to defend me."

"I do love you…"

"You love Kairi."

"I love you."

"I love Roxas."

XIII

AN 1: "Real Emotion" As has been stuck in my head since coming across the FMV for the intro of Final Fantasy X-2.

AN 2: You have no idea how much revision this section has been under. The whole scenario wasn't in my original plot. I thought of it a while back, and have debated to what degree I would include it. I've considered throwing it out completely; I've considered majorly playing it up and giving a major dark twist to the story by making Roxas a total playboy and then including a scenario in which he actually has to admit this to Namine, and her reaction to him being so ridiculously unlike himself. In the end, I went with something somewhere in the middle. The overall plot won't change dramatically from this. All that really changes is that next chapter(more likely the chapter after that) will have some more material than I originally planned.

AN 3: Lindi may very well show up soon. She would have had a much larger role in the darker version of this scenario. In case she doesn't show up, picture a super skinny girl with a fake tan, a lot of make up that is totally uneeded, because she'd probably be much prettier if she took it off, with wavy-ish hair that is pretty long, side swept bangs, bleach blonde hair with dark brown roots clearly visible, brown eyes, and who, for all her obvious fakeness in appearence, has a smile that seems to communicate she's got some depth to her. By the way, I haven't the slightest clue where her name comes from. I just thought of it, and it seemed to fit. Think Linda except ending in that 'eee' sound.

AN 4: See, Axel didn't rat Rox and Nam out. He didn't know. Some of you had mentioned it in your reviews, so now you know.

Well, hope y'all enjoyed the angst as much as angst can be enjoyed. Lovin' the support! Drop a review, and I'll try and get back to you, but if I don't I eventually will most likely. I'm forcing myself on a bit of hiatus during the school week and during the next couple of days so I can force myself to get school work done. I've got a major paper due tuesday, and my art porfolio is nowhere near as done as it needs to be this point. 5 concentration and 4 breadth, and still no artist statement...phew...I've got a lot to do. That's two more for my concentration and three more bredth. Getting add. I'm sleepy. We did Field Day today for some of the intercity elementary schools, and those little kids wore me out! It was a blast, but seriously, they've got more energy than we do!