Chapter Two:

Slipping in and out of time

"Alex, you're messing with my files again." I looked up from the giant pile of papers with a bright smile.

"Just doing you a favor," I slid the papers into their appropriate slots, closing the cabinet and opening another.

"…what do you want?"

"Nothing," I promised her, all innocence and smiles. I closed the cabinet again, standing up and leaning on top of it, grinning at the young intern. "But you'll owe me a favor later."

"What kind of favor?" Her voice implied that she suspected a trick. She walked around behind the desk and set her briefcase down, watching me suspiciously.

"You could take me out to dinner." I suggested, stepping closer to her and cornering her between my body and her desk. "You know, say, tomorrow night?"

"You're horrible," She laughed. "Alright. Tomorrow night. Now get out of my space—I've got a lot of work to do, and you're supposed to be in the lab."

"This is the main corridor." I waved Raxet through the door. "Follow this hall far enough and you might find the front door." I pointed. "But we're not going that way. Come on."

"I didn't know you liked Chinese food," She was pleased at my choice of restaurant. I felt warmth bubble up inside me hopefully.

"I love it," I told her, pulling her pigtail. "Come on, girl. Everyone loves egg rolls." She jerked her hair out of my hand.

"Don't do that, Alex…come on, or we'll be out forever. You know my dad doesn't like me to stay out late," She started to walk to the front door. I sprinted to beat her, holding it for her. She met my eyes, her own filled with laughter. Was she making fun of me? I didn't really care.

"Why all the flowers?" I hardly heard Raxet's question, and it took forever to process. She repeated herself.

"Oh. Um…Marluxia."

"Who?"

"Mar—oh. The guy that owned the castle before we all moved in. He liked flowers."

She traced a marble rose, engraved into a large pillar. I watched her through the corner of my eye. And I could feel Xigbar studying me.

"I heard you got a promotion." She congratulated me. I had stopped by her desk on my way out of the office.

"Yeah. Who told you?" I was surprised. I'd only just found out about it myself.

"Dyme." My brother. She hadn't looked up yet, her gaze focused on her computer screen. I leaned over the top of it, my braid dangling down and obscuring her view.

"Alex!" She pushed my head back up. "Please—I want to go home tonight, too."

"You work too hard," I complained, leaning on top of the machine. "Harder than you have to."

"I can't help it. Half-doing stuff just isn't like me,"

I smiled and got off her computer, leaning around it to peck her slyly on the cheek. "That's what I love about you,"

"More flowers?"

"I told you. He really liked them. Wait until you see the greenhouse."

"You don't say much, do you?" Raxet looked at Xigbar. He grinned and shrugged roguishly.

"Don't let him fool you," I muttered. "He's downright gabby. Like a schoolgirl,"

Xigbar didn't take the bait, though. What was his sudden silence about?

"Alex!"

"What?"

"Where are all my things?"

"You mean those old photos, nick-knacks and other personal artifacts that served to personalize this area?"

"Yes! The ones that I had on my desk!" She was frantic, pulling drawers open left and right, knocking my feet off the desk. "And what are you doing in my chair?"

"I moved all your stuff for you,"

"Where, Alex? This isn't funny!"

"Didn't you hear? You don't work here anymore." She stopped her searching and stared at me, panic still lacing her eyes. It only lasted until she noticed the laughter in mine.

"What are you talking about, you scoundrel?"

"You've been promoted," I grinned, handing her the envelope. "You work in the Memories Department, now."

"Gee, I wonder who requested that."

I innocently examined the ceiling. "I didn't say a thing, babe. I promise."

"Really? I don't believe you."

"Aren't you happy to be working with me, then?"

"As if I don't see you enough as it is. You practically live at my desk." She was excited about it, though. The dimples in her cheeks gave her away. I felt my own grin widen as she laughed while reading the letter. "Oh, Alex, you're wonderful!"

The sensation of her arms around my neck and the scent of her shampoo as she hugged me tightly was overpowering. I couldn't do anything but laugh when the chair overbalanced and we tumbled to the tiles.

"Gah!" Raxet jumped back as she rounded a corner and was met by a dusk. I swung my chakram at it in a reflexive action. Raxet had flung herself backwards by instinct, and that pushed her into me. I almost lost my balance trying to steady her. When my flaming weapon returned to me, it sliced neatly through her left pigtail, leaving the ends smoldering. She pushed away from me, angrily. I couldn't tell if she was more upset about the fact that she'd been afraid of something I'd easily dispersed, or about her hair.

I felt bad, of course, but the look on her face…

Well, it was brilliant. I began to laugh. Quietly at first, but then she began to try and talk, and all that happened was her mouth moved, rather like a fish gasping for air. It was too perfect.

She glared at me and shut her mouth, pulling her hand back. I saw the slap coming, but I figured I deserved it. I didn't dodge, and her palm landed right on the laceration left by her whip from our earlier spar. That hurt! I felt water welling up in my eyes, but didn't complain. I was still laughing.

I pushed open the door that would lead us back to the main corridor.

She stepped through haughtily. "You realize," She was collected again, calm and angry and chilly all at once. "This means I'll have to cut it."

"Pigtails look stupid anyway," I told her, practically gasping for breath. I could hear Xigbar snort slightly behind me, and when I glanced back he was straightening his face. "You're just askin' for some inconsiderate jerk to come and yank them," I ignored the painful pang of déjà vu, brushing a hand through my hair.

"At least mine used to look like hair, you bastard," ahh…verbal insults. I made a mental note. Raxet communicates through an angry façade. "Yours look like you got drunk and a mad cosmetologist found you and raped you with a flat iron." …point proven. Had that been really necessary? Well, give her props for creativity. I felt a certain fondness for her originality rising up somewhere in my hidden heart.

"Well, anyway," I disregarded her challenge to engage in a contest of insults, "You've seen the whole godforsaken castle," I summoned a darkness door, chuckling as loudly and raucously as I could, feeling her glare long after the darkness closed behind me.

"You cut your hair? Why?"

"To annoy you," She didn't look at me, in that irritating way she had, immersed far too deeply in her work. "Obviously."

"But…I loved your pigtails…"

"They get in the way. They're dangerous in a lab—fire hazard. And besides, they looked stupid. Just asking for an inconsiderate jerk like you to pull them, or dip them in hazardous chemicals, or stick them in his mouth—"

"Hey! I only did that once!" She giggled, setting her test tubes down and wiping at her eyes.

"Oh, Alex, you make me laugh,"

"Well…I guess it doesn't look so bad…" I played with the ends of it. She'd cut it shorter than mine, and the longest bit of it hung almost an inch above her shoulders. She'd used a blue bandanna to hold it back, which made it look almost playful, even though it was obviously a business cut. She really didn't want it in her way here in the lab.

"Really?" She turned around, searching for real approval. I smiled and nodded.

"It's just different. I'm used to it already, though." I brushed a stray strand away from her goggles. "It's beautiful." I waited until she smiled at me, as a sort of permissive sign, before I bent down to kiss her briefly. My break was almost over. I had to get back to my job.

"Raxet…" I muttered to myself, and the darkness around me swallowed the name almost before I finished speaking it. I sighed, bringing my hand to my forehead. I had a headache. "So many memories. This complicates things a lot," I was glad of the darkness around me, eating my admissions. These were thoughts I should never speak aloud, alone or otherwise. "What the hell is Xemnas up to? This…nnn…I have time." I wanted to go to Radiant Gardens. If Raxet was here, I had to know what was happening there. What was going on back home. Raxet…

Raxet…what happened to turn you into this? And where in the connected worlds did you learn to swear like that?