Leira spent the rest of the time before six simply staring around her. She tried to make sense of where she was, and especially of the pictures that seemed to tell a story of a happy life before Destiny Islands...a life interrupted. At one point she layed down on her bed, staring blankly up at the ceiling. She was not quite aware the reason when tears formed within her eyes, streaming sideways around her face.

Riku. She mouthed his name noiselessly, wondering if she would ever manage to see him again. While trying to come terms with the fact that she had a life here in the World That Never Was, she could not seem to let her memories of him go. Even if it had been only two weeks, they were the only memories that she had, and she refused to let them go...she refused to let him go.

The only noise in her room was made by the clock above her wall, softly clicking away the minutes and hours since she had last seen Riku. She closed her eyes tight and pictured him, shiny silver hair reflecting the sunlight, aquamarine eyes staring into her own. But that is all it was, a daydream. She could not reach out and touch him, he could not put his arms around her in a hug.

Opening her eyes, she blinked away her tears and sat back up. She gazed at the clock, 5:30, Demyx would be calling upon her in any minute. She looked down at her clothes, they were stained, ripped. She made a bothered face, and looking around her room her eyes fell upon the closet. She wondered...standing and walking to it. It was opened to reveal what she had hoped for, many outfits, clearly in her size.

She shifted through the clothes with her hands, until finally finding a dark blue, casual dress. She changed out of her dirty clothes and into the new dress. Turning to the mirror above the bureau, she could not help but give a small smile. The dress fit her perfectly and brought out the blue in her eyes. Finding a silver hairbrush next to the center picture frame, she took and and brushed out her long hair.

She was brushing her hair, still, when she heard a knock at her door. Demyx had remembered his manners this time, good thing too, she could have been changing.

"Come in," she called, placing her hairbrush back down on her bureau.

Leira looked up as the door opened, revealing who she expected it to be, Demyx. He wore his strange black cloak still, the same that Saix had been wearing. She made a mental note to ask him about that later if the opportunity arose.

"Good evening," she greeted. He smiled, looking at her new outfit with approval. Physical attraction, yes. She was physically attractive, in his opinion.

"You look nice," he responded. Demyx was told that girls liked to be complimented on their looks. Now he was going to do everything by the book. This is a mission he would not fail.

Leira smiled back. "Thanks."

"Shall we go?" Demyx stood to the side of the door, letting her pass in front of him. They walked down the hall together.

"So where are we going?" They continued walking.

"The highest tower, but what exactly this surprise is that Marluxia has planned for us, I have no idea," he responded. "And I'm not sure whether or not to be worried." That was the truth. Marluxia was known be a little...off at times.

Leira giggled at that last part. Demyx did at least have a good sense of humor, in her opinion. The two then turned onto a large flight of stairs, and up a few inclines. This walk was not so easy on the legs of a person. Eventually, however, they passed through a large door and stepped onto the tallest tower of the castle.

Her eyes immediately rose to the giant heart-shaped moon. It seemed so close that she swore she could almost reach out and touch it. It showered all of it's soft white light upon the platform. Looking around now, she noticed that on the platform there was a dinner table set for two. A silver candle was lit and was set on the middle of the table.

Demyx looked almost amused. It was too cliche to be true, a romantic moon and candle-lit dinner for two. Leave it to Marluxia to plan such a thing. Quickly he hurried over to the table and pulled out one of the chairs. He motioned for Leira to sit down. After she did, he carefully pushed it back in. He took the seat across from her.

"I suppose we just wait now for our dinner to be served," Demyx guessed. Leira nodded, but did not respond. She felt rather awkward. Something still seemed off.

"So, how do you like it here so far?" he asked her, attempting at conversation.

"It's different...well, actually it is the complete opposite of Destiny Islands, where I was before. But, I guess it's okay, here. My room is nice. And the moon..." she gazed up at the moon. "...is beautiful."

Demyx had never paid attention to the moon, not into all of that sappy romantic stuff himself, but he pretended to be interested in what she had to say.

"What were the Destiny Islands like?"

"Beautiful. It was practically always sunny, every day, and very warm. The ocean was gigantic, seemingly endless, and there were beaches practically everywhere. There was this beautiful waterfall, and a wonderful park. And then, a magnificent cliff. Riku and I..." she had been talking very quickly, and hardly knew what she was saying as she said it. When she mentioned Riku she finally stopped...it hurt too much.

"Riku? Who was that?"

Tears formed, but Leira choked them back deep within her eyes. "He was...a friend. Nothing more," she lied through her teeth, but sounded more angry than sad.

"I see..."

There was an awkward silence following that. Perhaps it was just a coincidence that during the silence their food was served by none other than a bustling Marluxia. He was quickly there and then gone, not wanting to intrude.

Leira found that she was hardly hungry, even though she had not eaten since lunchtime, which felt to be so far away. However, the plate of food in front of her did look very appetizing, a sort of intricate pasta dish. She picked up her fork and took a small bite.

Demyx took a large bite of his own food, hardly paying much attention to Leira at the time being. He followed the bite of food with a long sip from a glass of ice water. Water always did make him feel better, even more stronger. Then again, that probably was not all that much of a surprise.

The entire eating part of the dinner was actually defined by the silence. Leira glanced over at Demyx a few times, wondering what he could possibly think of her. He also glanced over to her more than once. Only one time did they meet eachother's eyes, during which time they paused but then quickly looked away.

Needless to say, the dinner did not go as well as Marluxia had planned.

o-----------------------------o

A/N: Apparently something is off with this site that email alerts are not working. I thought it was just me at first, because when I added chapters I was not getting an email saying so. I also just realized I got reviews that I was not alerted about (yay for the reviews!) But apparantly the alerts for other people are not working as well. Hopefully by the time I update with this chapter they will be working again.

And no, no love potion. Ha, although I think it would be an amusing sight to see Marluxia breaking into Vexen's lab and blowing it up while trying to concoct one. Oooh, and will Demyx betray the Organization? Hmm...only time will tell.