Dead Inside ch154 (Heckuvalong Raid chapter Thirteen) from Vexen's POV now! I just kept forgetting to upload it...


They were standing outside the computer room, waiting. Axel didn't seem too worried. Vexen found it hard to care too much. He kept glancing over at Riku, trying to place what was going through his mind.

"Whatever act this is, just stop!"

"When have you ever cared about me?"

The words stung. Vexen tried not to dwell on them, tried to tell himself that Riku didn't really mean it, or that they didn't hurt as much as they did, but that was one of those things that had gotten harder since he'd regained his heart.

Besides, he doubted he'd be able to tell himself that Riku didn't really mean it, anyway. Of course Riku meant it. If Riku hadn't meant it—or meant it quite so seriously, or hadn't meant it to be anything more than stinging words—he wouldn't have run.

Riku only ran when he was upset and couldn't handle whatever it was that he was dealing with it.

Which likely means he's hurt… Vexen thought, with a sigh.

Which means… I've hurt him.

He didn't like that thought much either.

But he couldn't deny it as much as he couldn't deny the rest of them.

There wasn't anything in Castle Oblivion back then that didn't hurt Riku. Vexen tried to comfort himself. It wasn't entirely his fault.

It only made him feel worse.

Now's not the time to be thinking about it, though.

We have a battle at hand.

He cast another glance at Riku. Riku was muttering to himself, slightly, probably trying to comfort himself, too.

I hope he listened to what I said, at least. About him not being a failure because he couldn't beat Axel and all.

It was a pity that Vexen had no way of knowing.

"What are we supposed to do about Axel?" Snapdragon asked, voice quiet. Vexen's ears perked up. He knew this was the latter half of the conversation he was hearing, and hoped he hadn't missed anything important.

"Keep stalling him," Amaryllis said.

"You know, Axel-" 7 took a step forward, raising his voice slightly. "You disgust me."

Vexen raised his eyebrows. Well then.

I don't think 7's saying that to just stall…

"Oh I do, do I?" Axel laughed, clearly not fazed. Typical. Insults rarely meant anything to him.

"Yes," 7 continued, firmly. "You had no right to bring Roxas back."

Oh?

Vexen knew that there were some people who believed this—he himself believed it, to an extent—but he hadn't been aware that 7 was one of them. Then again… maybe it wasn't a surprise.

"No one said it couldn't be done," Axel said.

"But just because you can do something doesn't necessarily mean you should," 7 replied. "You can jump off a cliff. Does that mean you should?"

Axel shrugged. "Depends on the circumstances."

And that doesn't surprise me much either.

"That's not the point, Axel. The point is you can't just go bringing Replicas back from the dead willy-nilly."

"And why can't I?"

"Why would you?" 7's voice was cold. Terribly cold. Vexen was surprised that the air hadn't condensed into ice around him, it was so cold. "Why would you, really? It makes their death meaningless. Yes, you may miss them—of course you miss them, if they were dear to you. You may want to bring them back—who wouldn't? You may want, more than anything, just to hold them in your arms again. But that doesn't give you the right to bring them back from the dead."

And then Vexen understood.

7 wasn't talking about Roxas.

He wasn't even talking about Axel.

He was talking about R.

Vexen didn't know R. He hardly knew 7's relationship to her, to be honest. But he knew that R had meant a lot to 7. And he knew that R was now dead.

And maybe he's more hurt than disgusted, Vexen thought. He's hurt, because why is it fair that Axel gets someone he cared about back, when 7 gets nothing?

Hurt is a terrible thing.

Vexen's eyes flickered over to Riku. Everything made a lot of sense.

The doors opened behind Axel, and the first person to step out was…

"Roxas," Vexen breathed.

So they actually did it. Actually rebuilt him. I can't tell if I should be surprised or awed—what can't their Program do!?—or… worried. Disgusted, like 7, maybe? I'm not sure.

Axel turned and grinned at Roxas—another unsurprising thing—and another example of what hurt can do to you, Vexen thought. Axel was hurt about losing Roxas. So he went this far to bring him back.

Snapdragon leapt forward, launching himself at Axel. He seemed awfully eager to fight. Vexen flinched away from him, a bit surprised.

His eyes returned to Roxas. Roxas was inching forward, not looking certain of what he was supposed to do. Vexen had a million speculations as to why, but he ignored them and cast another glance at Riku, wondering how he was reacting to all this.

Riku looked about ready to attack Roxas, to be honest. Vexen wasn't surprised—yet again. Roxas was the easiest target in the room. Of course Riku would go after him, if he was still having confidence issues.

"Hey, hotshot!"

Xigbar.

Where did he come from?

Six bullets—a full clip—were sent at Riku, and he blocked them. Vexen suppressed the urge to rush forward and block the next bullets that came Riku's way. It was unnecessary, anyway. The next clip of bullets was directed at 7.

Vexen turned his attention back to Riku. He grimaced.

Oh, Riku, please don't panic.

Xigbar isn't too much of a threat. He's a distraction more than anything. At least, he will be, right now, as they try and get Roxas away.

Vexen shook his head.

You need to stop worrying so much about Riku. It's not like he's going to get himself killed—not without you noticing, anyway—and there are other reasons why you're here.

He started to turn his attention over to Alpha, to see what they were doing, but something stopped him. 26 was staring at him. He looked… skeptical. Vexen's eyes first narrowed, wondering what this was about, but then his eyes widened, as he realized just where he was and who was looking at him and who else was in this room.

Oh no.

Here I was, saying that I didn't want the Organization finding out who I am.

And I willingly put myself in the same room as Xemnas.

Vexen quickly turned to 7. "How well can 26 tell Vexen Replicas apart?" he asked.

7 frowned slightly. "Fairly well, I suppose. Why?"

Vexen swallowed. "Well, what do you think the chances are of him realizing I'm none of your Vexen Replicas?"

7's eyes widened, catching on. "Amaryllis—" he began.

He didn't need to.

The Lexaeus Replica that was with them rushed forward and attacked 26, effectively distracting him from Vexen. Vexen wondered if he'd done so just to distract 26, but then saw Alpha over by 26. It'd most likely been part of Alpha's plan.

It was good timing, though.

Vexen let out a sigh of relief.

Though, how did Alpha get there so fast? Wasn't he just—

Vexen turned to where Alpha had just been, and watched as the Alpha who was standing there disappeared. He chuckled slightly. Alpha'd set up an illusion of himself so that no one would notice him sneaking across the room.

"Vexen," 7 said. "Do you think you could try and help me deflect Xigbar's bullets? It's not like we're doing anything else, and it would help everyone else if his bullets weren't hitting them."

Vexen nodded, readying his shield. "Sure thing."

Of course, it wasn't like blocking Xigbar's bullets was easy. Xigbar never seemed to stay focused on a single target and constantly warped about the room, also making it hard to figure out where the bullets were coming from in the first place.

He only managed to block ten or so rounds (a few of which he was certain were meant for him to begin with). He kept Alpha from being shot once, Riku from being shot three times, and managed to block a few bullets that were heading in 7's direction. 7 had been blocking bullets intended for Snapdragon at the time, so he wasn't quite prepared to block bullets that were coming at him from a completely different direction, as Xigbar had warped in between the two sets of bullets.

To Vexen's dismay, he ended up missing the brief fight Roxas and Riku had. By the time 7 notified him of it, Axel was already leading Roxas off. Vexen was focusing on what was happening between Alpha and 26, which was why he missed it.

Alpha had finally resorted to restraining 26 and digging through his pockets, and Vexen watched with mild interest. Of course, digging through someone else's pockets wasn't entirely dignified—and he could only imagine now 26 felt—but it was a necessary measure, was it not?

Except…

"Then who does!?"

26 didn't have the external.

Vexen let out a long breath. Alpha was very unhappy. He was ranting about how he couldn't understand how this had happened, snapping at every suggestion that Amaryllis or Thistle gave, fuming with every comment 26 made.

Hearing footsteps, Vexen turned to see Riku heading this direction, looking confused and curious.

"26 didn't have the external," Vexen explained for him.

"Then who does?" Riku asked.

"I'm not sure," Vexen said.

Of course, I have a few guesses as to might have it. Axel doesn't have it, as Alpha said. Axel can't have it. But there are still three other people. I doubt they would've trusted Roxas with it, and I don't see Xemnas doing any of the work, which leaves…

"Looking for this?"

Xigbar.

Vexen located Xigbar, and saw that he was holding the external, grinning widely. It was just a game to him. It was always a game to him.

Which was why he warped out of the way constantly, avoiding Amaryllis and Thistle, the Lexaeus Replica, and Riku, all before they could attack him or even get their hands close to the external. Which was why he was now hanging over Alpha's head, dangling the external in front of his face and daring Alpha to try and grab it.

Alpha didn't take the bait, though.

It was another thing that didn't surprise Vexen.

Braig used to pull these stunts all the time, back before we were the Organization, and I wouldn't be surprised if he did so here. Yes, Alpha is just a Replica of Zexion, but I'm sure there are traces of memories inside of him.

He would know as well as Zexion that it's pointless to give into Braig's teasing.

"I could do this all day," Xigbar called, now on the other side of the room, external safe in his hand.

"Xigbar," Xemnas said, sternly.

Oh dear… Vexen thought, but a smile played on his lips.

"Or we could leave now," Xigbar sighed, dramatically rolling his eyes. "Doesn't matter to me." He warped away, done with his games, now that Xemnas had called him out.

Speaking of…

Vexen turned to Xemnas (as he was sure everyone else did) to see what he would do.

Xemnas merely looked around the room once, eyes last settling on Riku.

"Pitiful," he said, before vanishing.

~then I had a bit here at the end but I decided I didn't want to post it. So... I'm not posting it!