Jake Hallows: Yes, there has been a shift in the trauma and how she deals with things. And yeah, there's definitely some manipulation going on, but it's not just manipulation. Something a bit more sinister is happening, as well.

Wings of Avalon: Well, this Xigbar wasn't exactly kind, either. Still nasty, just in a manipulative way this time. I'm glad you're excited!

coolmegan123: I've enjoyed playing with Isa's redemption arc (even though none of y'all thought he'd get one!) and his and Meli's awkward, tentative progress. You're right, we haven't seen any of what happens/happened after he recompleted in canon, and I doubt we will, but he's always been a fav character of mine so I was glad to explore it a little. And yeah, Xiggy (lol) is most definitely doing some psychological trickery...just maybe in a more complex way than anyone has guessed so far. :)

Oh. My. Gosh.

I did so well last week, I got on here and uploaded a new chapter on Wednesday, exactly one week after the last one. Except when I got on today to do another one, I realized that I NEVER AcTUALLY POSTED IT. I prepped it. I posted it on Ao3. But I never posted it on here. Wow. No wonder I never got any reviews.

Okay, so, now you get two chapters. As a treat.

Chapter 28

Perspective – Meli

A full day later, as far as I could tell, and I still hadn't figured out what on earth had happened in that moment with Xigbar. It was repulsive, thinking about the way I had reacted to him, but at the same time even now my core burned with longing. For what, I wasn't sure. Him? I couldn't let myself believe it. But for touch, yes, definitely, more than I had ever wanted to be touched in my life. And for what he was offering me, yes, above everything else.

That was the point in my tornado of thoughts where I would start up arguing with myself – No, Meli, you do not want that, because that means helping him conquer the multiverse or whatever it is he wants to do, but I did, I did, I wanted it, I wanted to be special and show everyone how great I was so badly, and I didn't understand why I wanted it so much because I thought I had moved past that struggle. I thought that Riku and I had reached some sort of understanding before I died that meant I wasn't going to feel like that anymore. But somehow, one little story from Xigbar, a little bit of personal bubble invasion and some sweet words were all it took to turn what had once been burning coals of desire into an inferno.

I was curled up in the corner going through all of this for the fifty-thousandth time when the man himself showed up again. "What did you do to me?" I immediately demanded before he had a chance to speak.

His upper lip curled into a smirk. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yeah right. I think you know exactly what I'm talking about." I scrambled to my feet, feeling vulnerable down on the floor, but pressed my back into the corner. I didn't know what would happen if he got close to me again, and I didn't want to test it. "You made me...feel things. That I didn't want to feel. Wouldn't have normally felt." Real eloquent, Meli. Way to make sure he doesn't think you're crushing on him.

Throwing his head back, he let out a loud laugh. "Sure, kid. You keep telling yourself that if it makes you happy." He sauntered a few steps closer to me, and I tried my best to shrink even further back, despite it being physically impossible. "It won't change the truth. Deep down you already felt that way, already wanted what I offered you. I guess it just took me pointing it out to make you realize it."

No, no, no, don't listen to him, it's not true – but that sensation was already creeping over my mind again, turning my body into a magnet that was being drawn inexplicably toward him and his pretty words. I took an unsteady step forward before I even realized what I was doing.

"I'm right, aren't I?" His voice had gone all soft again.

"M-maybe. I..." No! Stop it! A door slammed shut somewhere in my brain and I stopped in my tracks, wide-eyed, and stumbled back into the wall. What the crap? Is he a hypnotist or something? I couldn't protest aloud, though, not with that feeling of want still hanging so heavy in the air like the humidity on the beach right before a storm. My tongue didn't belong to me at that moment. My body barely belonged to me, was barely allowing me to keep it from diving straight into his arms just for the most fleeting of touches, no matter who it came from.

Xigbar smiled again, something in the expression that might have spoken of surprise. "You're something special, alright. Here." With no further warning, the oppressive atmosphere vanished, as quickly as he turned his back to toss something onto the nearby table. "Your friends are almost here, so I figured you and loverboy should have something to wear that was a little less...bloody. Don't want them worrying, you know."

My mind and body were still trying to catch up with each other, my lungs still trying to make up for their lack of work over the past couple of minutes, so it took his words a moment to register. My friends...our friends. They're almost here. They're coming, and if Saix did his job, they already know what's up and they're gonna get us out of here.

"I'll be back in a few to pick you up, so get to it."

Before I could even fully think straight, much less come up with a retort, he left me alone again. I glanced at the items he had left behind. Clothes. Right. I was very tempted not to put them on. Just on the off chance that Sora, Kairi, and the others hadn't been alerted, seeing me with a giant bloodstain on my chest was sure to set them on guard. But then I remembered Riku, and the band around his waist, and begrudgingly picked up the clothes with sigh through my teeth.

He had left me with a royal purple tank and a pair of grey shorts. It was unnerving, to say the least, that he not only had noticed the colors I normally wore, but had also figured out my size somehow. Maybe Ava helped him. That was slightly less creepy. Ava... I shut my eyes and sighed. I hope you're okay, wherever he's put you. I'm sorry for getting you into this mess.

"If I find out you're watching me from the darkness, I will murder you," I called out into the seemingly empty room, glaring at the walls for good measure before turning my back and slipping off my jacket. It wasn't like he was going to get much of a show, if he was watching. Discarding the bloody grey dress onto the floor, I pulled the purple tank over my head, then shimmied the grey shorts up over my boots and leggings. If he had thought I was going to wear the tiny things with nothing under them, he was sorely mistaken. The tank top was also way more revealing than I was comfortable with these days, but unfortunately all I could do for that was put the jacket back on. I would just have to get over the fact that some scars were peeking up over the neckline, and strangely enough, it wasn't really bothering me.

Done dressing, I peered down at the outfit. It was...bright, with the combination of the purple shirt and teal leggings. But hey, I was trying to save the multiverse here, not win a fashion show. At least it was comfortable. And the grey of the shorts and black of the jacket, boots, and gauntlets toned down the bold colors...a little.

I was redoing my braid after raking my fingers through my hair in a poor attempt at brushing when Xigbar reappeared. "You know, a shower would have been nice," I started in right away. "My hair is atrocious, and there's dried blood all over my chest and stomach still. I probably reek of it. You think my friends aren't gonna be suspicious of that?"

"I'm sure you'll figure out something to tell them." He crossed his arms, leaving one hand free for waving in emphasis. "After all, I doubt you're a good enough actor to convince them that you're still a Nobody, so you can just tell them the truth – you had to die in order to be recompleted, and you haven't had a chance to clean up yet."

"Let me guess, just don't mention that it was you doing the killing?" I retorted.

He smiled. "See, you're already getting the hang of this. Now there's one more thing we need to do to get you ready, but first..." With a snap of his fingers, a whirl of darkness brought Riku into the room again.

"Grim!" I didn't even wait to see if I had Xigbar's approval. I was free to move, like heck was he keeping me away from my boyfriend again. In an instant I was slamming into his chest, arms as tight around his waist as they could go, face buried into his new white t-shirt. His response was just as quick and just as fervent, one arms encompassing both my shoulders while the other hand buried itself in my hair. I did not care at all that I had just fixed it, I didn't even mind that the pain in my ribs had sharpened from the tightness of his embrace. I was finally being held, by the one person I truly wanted it from. Something inside of me that had been aching ever since the first weird encounter with Xigbar eased, just a little.

"I missed you so much," Riku whispered into the top of my head, sounding like he was moments away from tears.

I drew in a shuddering breath, myself. "I missed you, too." Not for as long as he had, I knew. I couldn't imagine what these last few months had been like for him. If our roles had been reversed...I didn't even want to think about it.

"Alright, alright, break it up." Xigbar reached in, grabbing us both by our shoulders and physically yanking us apart. I almost let out a sob from the loss of contact. I opened my mouth to light into him, instead, but he didn't allow me to speak. "We've got important work to do here, people. The teary reunions are gonna have to wait. That's not what I pulled him in here for, anyway. I need him here so that you'll behave yourself when I do this."

He moved too fast for me to have time to flinch away from him, which was good because I didn't really want Riku to see how much he scared me. With one swift, practiced movement, the cuff on my wrist was gone. I only stared at it in shock for a few seconds before just as swiftly calling my Keyblade, relief flooding my heart as soon as it was in my hand once more.

"Don't test me," Xigbar snapped.

I glanced up to see him pointing the remote straight at Riku, and my stomach twisted itself into a knot at the sight. Pointedly ignoring him, I continued tilting the weapon back and forth, admiring it, as if to prove to him that I wasn't trying to cause trouble. It really was good to see it again. I had had so little time with this particular model that I had pretty much forgotten what it looked like. The silver of the crisscrossing shaft shone in the bright white lights, the blue version of the Kingdom Key's handle and guards reflecting my purple shirt slightly. Memory's Echo, a voice whispered in my mind. Zephyr's bracelet caught my eye as it swung gently from the chain, and I smiled sadly.

"You done yet?"

Returning my attention to Xigbar, I held his gaze defiantly as I dismissed the weapon, then immediately brought up my left hand and summoned a spell to it. The way his eyes flicked to my palm gave me a fleeting sense of pride. I was gonna pretend that I was actually making him a little nervous, not that he was just checking to make sure he didn't need to zap my boyfriend. Fortunately for him – and for Riku, I supposed – it was just Cure. Still staring him down, I pressed it into my chest, waiting for the pain to be completely gone before I let the spell dissipate.

He quirked an eyebrow. "Feel better now?"

"Yeah, in fact, I do." I crossed my arms. "But somehow I doubt how I feel is much of a concern for you, otherwise you wouldn't be holding us captive and threatening to torture us."

Chuckling, he reached out to rap his knuckles on the top of my head, and I slapped him away. "I always knew you were a smart one. Got more important things to worry about than your feelings."

"Like destroying every universe?" Riku broke in.

"You say destroying, I say...remaking." Without putting away the remote, he leaned over and released an identical cuff from Riku's wrist. He stuck both cuffs into a pocket in his coat, but kept the remote in his hand, flipping it round and round as if to keep our attention on it. "Alright, let's go over this again real quick, just to be clear. You do what you're told, and nobody gets hurt. If any of your little friends start getting funny ideas in their heads about not following along, you convince them otherwise. My name stays out of this until I decide to make myself known."

Halting the movement of his hands, he took a moment to look each of us in the eye. "Let's be honest. If you go against any of that, it's not gonna stop what's about to happen. As if. I don't just have a Plan B, I have a Plan M, but people die in Plan M, and we don't want that. So just be a good little boy and girl, and cooperate with Plan A, and then life will be much easier for all of us. Particularly you." This last add on was accompanied by one last wave of the remote in Riku's direction.

The next thing I knew, we were being transported into a huge, open room with a cathedral ceiling and towering doors and windows. It, too, was mostly white, from the marble floors to the walls and the ceiling far above, but was accented in shimmering gold. I was reminded a bit of the room where Sora and the others had found Ven, though this room was much simpler. Craning my head to the left, I looked out one of the windows to see the lightest blue ocean I had ever encountered, with a pyramid-like island full of stark white buildings in the distance. More than one, actually, I realized as I followed Xigbar a few steps forward. There seemed to be another stack of buildings every mile or so in every direction. Whatever this world was, it was not one I had been to before.

Xigbar snapped his fingers, and another whorl of smoke brought a vaguely familiar figure to the room. They were dressed in long, pink and white robes, with a pink hood over their head. Large, pointed ears stuck up out of the hood, and a mask resembling a fox covered most of their face. It took me a moment to realize that I had seen the mask in my dream about Ava.

A hand slipped into mine, and I snapped my attention back to the right to find Riku had taken advantage of Xigbar's distraction to slide in close to me. Our eyes met, and I could see the fear in his despite him trying to hide it. I could almost hear his thoughts saying, I don't know how we're going to get out of this. It would have been so much easier to make some sort of plan if we had known what the heck was actually going on. We had the ability to use our Keyblades, so could we just jump Xigbar as soon as we had the chance? Would all of his many backup plans be able to continue without him there? Or would his 'friends' just carry on in his stead?

Speaking of friends, the doors began opening at that moment, letting his and ours inside. I gave Riku a small smile and his hand a tight squeeze that I hope conveyed confidence before I turned to face them, noticing that Xigbar had conveniently vanished. Honestly I had kinda hoped that they would come in with Keyblades blazing, already having taken care of the other doppelgangers, but maybe they had decided to confirm what was happening for themselves first.

"Meli, Riku!" Kairi smiled broadly and practically skipped over to us, and my heart momentarily forgot to keep beating. That did not look like an act. Nor did it look like someone who had been informed that their friends were being held captive and the multiverse was about to be destroyed. "Hey, we missed you guys! Would have been nice for you to tell us you were going on some rescue mission before you just disappeared on us."

I stared dumbly, trying and failing to come up with a response. All I could really think was, Saix! Why did I ever trust you?

A/N: All the cookies for any Leverage fans out there who catch the reference in this chapter!