A/N: Finally, maybe I can bring this story to an end after this chapter. There will be one more chapter after this one, and it will be kind of an epilogue deal, but I'll still call it a chapter anyway. The last chapter will also be shorter in comparison to past chapters, but that depends on if I get over this kind of block or not. Never mind, I'm not sure if anyone is reading this. This chapter is extremely sad, though.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Chapter 26: Gone

For the sake of the plan, Larxene behaved civilly to Marluxia for the next few days and he to her. If Sora was to be captured, they would have to rely on each other. Since they knew each other so unfortunately well, they would have to be resigned to trust. They had to be allies. There was simply no other way out of that, even as their romantic affair fizzled out. However, Larxene would refuse to look at him for minutes on end, and there were more awkward silences than could be counted. But, as Marluxia constantly reassured himself, it was all for the sake of the plan. Romance had been an unnecessary factor that just happened to get in the way for a while. Now that Larxene had learned her lesson about mistreating a valuable pawn, she could readily behave herself.

Secretly, in his own private thoughts, he would have given anything to at least kiss her again, hold her again.

Of course, neither of them could afford to be intimate at the present and especially after the Castle Oblivion mission was complete. For, he knew that since he bestowed upon her an unjustifiable wrong, she would never forgive him. And they never could be together again, no matter how much he desired it. It was merely the repercussions of a painful break-up, as though they were no more than human college classmates. Meantime, Axel proved himself to be an ally for both of them, since all three despised Vexen and looked for an excuse to get rid of him. What had once been a heated love triangle, though, now cooled to a cunning group ever plotting. Larxene even went so far as to decide on trusting Axel, an ex-boyfriend, again. If Marluxia hadn't thought better, he would have assumed she preferred the redhead over him like it had used to be.

But, the lightning elemental would never completely trust Axel—no, far from it. She wanted their relationship to be strictly professional, like with Marluxia, though it did verge on a tentative friendship now. Still, she had a gut instinct that Axel was up to something. She would go to the lengths of presuming he was preparing to turn on her and Marluxia. The few words she spoke to Marluxia, she used to tell him of her suspicions. He agreed with her, and they soon settled to keeping a sharp eye on the potential double agent.

One day, things came to a head.

Vexen, the lying, crackpot old coot, was about to reveal to Sora about "the other side of his memories", referring to Number Thirteen. It could not happen, Marluxia thought determinedly, not as long as he was lord of Castle Oblivion.

"Axel," he ordered lazily, his blue eyes gleaming with delight of the vilest kind. "Kindly rid us of our traitor. Vexen, it seems to me, is about to do something we cannot allow to happen."

Axel smirked. "Really?"

"Yes, and he isn't acting in our best interests any more, wouldn't you say?"

"Definitely...OK, then, I'm on it...boss."

With a rather crafty grin that Larxene noticed disdainfully, the redhead teleported to finish the job of assassinating Vexen.

As soon as he was gone, it was just the two of them. However, she refused to let an awkward silence take place this time and instead turned to Marluxia. Her teal eyes were as cold as ever when she looked at him, though she thought she vaguely regretted something: her anger at him. No matter, she would only share a frosty alliance with him. It was all for the good of the plan after all.

"Marluxia, what are you doing? We're letting Axel get what he wants. He's close with Roxas, and that much is obvious. He's going to trick everyone in this entire Organization and then some by the time he gets done with his own secret mission. I know he's up to something," she told him, but he looked merely bored in response to her theory.

"Congratulations," he replied dully. "You have stated the obvious. Honestly, I would have expected much better from you. But, yes...you're right. See, since Axel has in turn betrayed the Organization by killing one of our own, I will let Sora do the honors and have him kill our pest. Let me do this on my own, Larxene, for you no longer serve any purpose to me."

She glared icily at him. "From the sounds of things, you just don't want to get your hands dirty."

"Subtlety, my dear, for the plan. I suppose you have no assumption as to what the very definition of subtlety is. You certainly lack it."

Instead of shooting back a childish retort his way, Larxene turned her back on him. If only he would let his defenses down for once, just so she could find an excuse to forgive him. Even if what he did was unforgivable, she had already committed the rare act of mercy she was so hard pressed to give to him. However, with his veiled insults, she would not back down until he did. She never went down without a fight. Still, she considered as her fists shook, what was it she was fighting for? She needed a heart, didn't she? He, the gardener of the Organization, should have nothing to do with that goal. It was a good thing, what she was doing, forgetting about him before she forgave. Forgiveness was surrender, and she would only deliver that when he truly earned it.

"Larxene..."

"What?" She turned her head a fraction of an inch.

"I..."

Axel returned at that exact moment when Marluxia, unbeknownst to Larxene, was about to confess he was wrong. Of course, with that infernal redhead around, he could no longer express his deepest apologies. As he put on his smug façade on once again, he congratulated, "Well done, Axel. That traitor needed to be stopped."

"It was nothing, really," Axel responded apathetically, which intrigued Larxene.

"We really didn't think you had it in you to kill another member." She smirked.

He shrugged. "Yeah, well, I had to do what I had to do. Organization orders and all that."

Without speaking further to either of them, Axel abruptly left the room to go on with his own devices. Choosing not to be suspicious at all about this, Marluxia gazed at Larxene steadily. He worried that he might have looked terribly desperate at this point. If she refused to forgive him, then it was all over. He would no longer speak to her again, for she would render him speechless with her icy glares and her sharp words.

His voice barely above a whisper, he told her, "I'm sorry. For everything."

She looked back at him for a few sweet seconds, ones he would treasure forever, for it appeared as though she wryly smiled at him. Had she forgiven him after all? Sadly, Marluxia would never truly find out, because she turned her head away after those seconds. He didn't know why.

"Well...I just wish you could have seen me as more than your pawn in the plan. I really do. Maybe...maybe what you expressed was all just some act I was supposed to buy for the plan to go anywhere. That makes sense. I'm flattered you needed me that much."

Larxene had misunderstood him! He did need her, though it went above and beyond the blasted plot to overtake the Organization. Every time he had spoken with her or laughed with her or kissed her, he felt that much closer to obtaining a heart. If only she could see how much she still meant to him. Though fate might not grant him a heart, she could in a metaphorical sense. Without her, it felt as though he was missing something, as though he was half of a man.

She made him whole.

"Besides," she continued, interrupting his increasingly depressing thoughts. "We need to keep it professional. That's what this experience has taught me. I can't get close to anyone like me who doesn't have a heart. It's senseless. However...I forgive you."

Marluxia had no idea he had been gazing at the marble floor before she told him this. It was the one thing he wanted above everything: her forgiveness. What made this all seem so very bittersweet, though, was she refused to get close with anyone ever again, especially him. She would leave him with his feigned misery (for it could never be genuine) while she frozenly continued on with her non-existent life. Perhaps she was right. Keeping it professional was the only way Nobodies could survive. Without love, without hate, without friendship, being business-like was the neutral core of staying alive even in this non-existent state. There was no bias. And he could tell she had had a lot of time to ponder over that and realize it was the only way. The only way that was balanced.

Politely, Marluxia inclined his head toward her. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Larxene replied rather stiffly and soon took her leave from the computer room.

He noticed right before she left that her eyes looked dead, cold and lifeless to the point that they weren't remotely close to being windows to her soul. They were only mere sight organs that helped her to see peripherally and what was directly in front of her. Even though they were rebelling against him, it honestly seemed as though she had believed Xemnas' words at last. That they were all nothing, and as nothing, they could experience zero emotion. Irony. For so long, she insisted to Marluxia that they could feel and that they didn't need hearts to love. Then, she went ahead and believed the one man whose advice she usually never listened to.

Feeling totally weak and helpless for the first time since he was born into his Nobody life, Marluxia murmured, "But...I love you."

That message fell on deaf ears.

As Sora ascended the floors of Castle Oblivion, the upper floor members knew what to do. Axel had had a turn at fighting the Keyblade Master once before, now it was Larxene who would attempt to kill that naïve boy. She examined her kunai while walking down the corridor, to make sure they were perfectly sharp to do the job. Once she did this, she was completely satisfied with the end results. They could stab and shock him very well indeed. She smirked, though it was as lifeless as ever. For some reason she couldn't figure out (not quite), she sensed that maybe Marluxia had given her life. Without him, she was just a shell, the true definition of a Nobody. But, wasn't that all she was normally? One man couldn't make all the difference in the world in terms of how full of life she was. That was a stupid theory. Thinking about that possibility made her look weak and pitiful. And she had always despised being weak.

No matter, Sora had to be finished. Since almost every member knew that Roxas was connected to Sora, it was only natural that Axel would go easy on the kid. Hmph, the Keyblade Master had no idea how easy he had it up to this point. Sure, he lost his memories, so what? As of this moment, Larxene thought she would give anything to be rid of her memories, more specifically her Somebody's memories. Because when she had been Lenera, Marluxia's Somebody had walked into her life. When they first hated each other, became friends so gradually, and then fell in love...

Love. She once refused to believe in it back then, when she was just Lenera, a young girl with father problems and social problems in general. Well, these so-called problems seemed trifle compared to the ones she faced now. Without the prospect of friends or a lover after this battle, what was the point of resuming this worthless life? It all lead back to her wanting a heart, but was it honestly worth this? Xemnas lied to them, obviously. He would probably try to get to Kingdom Hearts first and leave the rest of them behind. A tyrant would do such a thing in his position. And that was what she saw him as: a ruthless, cruel tyrant who only pretended to care about his followers. She doubted the plot she created with Marluxia would work. It was destined to fail, because all Nobodies were destined to fade back into darkness. It would be fate that would win out at the end of the day. So simple to realize that undeniable fact.

Once she thought over this, she recognized the situation she was facing right now—preparing to fight. She knew she could very well die during this battle. And did it matter if she died or miraculously lived?

Honestly...no. No, it wouldn't matter, because it would be Marluxia's turn at fighting the boy if she failed. If she succeeded, then the plan would actually come into play. They would have Sora as a puppet. Larxene shook her head at the thought, which was becoming more and more ludicrous as she reached the end of the corridor to turn off at the right. That Keyblade was that puny brat's for a reason. If they did turn him into a puppet, he would find some way to squirm out of that situation and kill both her and Marluxia with the Keyblade. Any angle she looked at the overall plot, she assumed it would crumble, bringing along with it her death and Marluxia's. Despite outside appearances, Larxene wasn't an idiot. However, she would hate dying at the hands of a twelve-year-old boy. He was twelve, right? No...no, if Roxas looked fourteen or so, that was probably his age.

She stopped at the entrance of the computer room, where Marluxia leaned against a wall, thinking as craftily as ever, no doubt. Almost on impulse, she entered and noticed him look up to gaze at her. Those sapphire eyes she had always found so pretty...looked dead and frozen. Had she done this to him with her words? She immediately dismissed the possibility as she slowly walked over toward him. Why did she get the notion this would be the last time they ever spoke?

Ignoring her complicated questions, Larxene told him, "I'm ready. That kid will soon be ours in a matter of minutes."

Surprisingly, she didn't bring about a smirk from that comment. "Very well, you must do what you have to do. The sooner we have him in our possession, the better our chances against Xemnas."

"Marluxia..."

"What?" he whispered, his blue eyes gradually...softening.

"If I don't come back—"

His voice down to a dangerous half-snarl, he commanded, "Don't say that."

"Just..."

Just what? Just forget about her perhaps? Or just remember her for what she was?

In a very exhausted sigh, she murmured, "Never mind."

Once again, she abandoned the room without heeding to Marluxia's pleas to come back.

He was haunted, absolutely haunted by what he saw take place on the computer screen. She was collapsing, screaming savagely, and then...dying. Darkness coursed out of her chest and her arms while she desperately gasped out her last words. None of them formed a proper sentence, and she soon vanished out of the camera's sight, out of his sight, forever.

"Damn it!" Marluxia shouted bitterly, pounding his fist against the screen that soon shattered into a thousand pieces. He lost her. She would never know how much he loved her, how much he cared. Without a last caress or a kiss or anything of that nature, she disappeared from him just like that. He couldn't even hold her during her final breaths. For some reason, despite being what he was, Marluxia felt the loss tremendously. Too agonizing was his grief. If anything, he refused to continue with his plot. He wanted it to end, for he didn't care about it any more. Not if his one true love had had to die in the process. Shortly after, he lifted his face from his arms, his blue eyes blazing with hate-filled murder. He would kill him. He would kill that merciless bastard who took his Larxene away from him. And no one was going to stand in the way of that.

That idiotic Axel had dared to interfere with his plans, but at least Sora had gotten him out of the way, too. Good. That was one death he would not miss for an instant. As he steered his creature back and forth the platform where just he and the Keyblade Master fought, he was in high spirits. However, these spirits weren't light-hearted in nature but with a devious, malicious intent. Finally, he could face off against this murderer to bring him down, to bring him to justice. He would avenge Larxene's death and perhaps continue with the plan. Soon, he would rule the Organization, because he realized she would have wanted him to. Unfortunately, these thoughts prevented him to think rationally during a time of battle, so that Sora's Keyblade impaled his chest. He found he didn't much care.

"Larxene," he whispered in his final breath. "I'm coming."

A/N: Sorry if this chapter was a little choppy to you. For some reason, I thought this chapter out in movie scenes. Plus, there's way too much that happens in the Castle Oblivion arc overall. It's all extremely complex. I thought you guys would be more concerned with what happens to just strictly Larxene and Marluxia. I hope you liked it, guys.

I'm not really expecting any reviews, but I thank those of you who read it despite my lousy updating. I apologize for the updating or lack thereof. Sigh, wasn't this chapter sad?