THE HEART YEARNS

This story came to me as I was writing Adventures in Cosplay and while I was listening to my RENT soundtrack. I also blame my sister for making me think about the logical way of doing a particular artwork I have to do for one of her friends preventing me from writing above story.

I own nothing in this story, however I do own a cat that doesn't know she's a cat and meows like a goat. Does that count?

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Zexion grumbled as he made his way to the castle he, and his fellow comrades, once lived and worked in. This was the first time since he lost his heart and became a Nobody, that he had been in Radiant Garden. Xemnas had wanted one of the Organization to find Heartless to experiment on. Everyone else gave a horrible excuse but since Zexion had been late getting to the meeting, he was volunteered. Xemnas had been irked about Zexion going for some reason but let him go anyway.

From reports made by some of the Nobodies they ordered to watch the castle, it seemed a group of people had found Ansem the Wise's old study and computer room. Zexion remembered to make sure to stay away from that area. Luckily, none of them had tried searching the rest of the castle…yet. He had to get in and get out, rounding up any shadow Heartless he could find. The other ones, the artificial ones that had been created were of no use to them as they lacked the actual true essence of a real heart and only had the artificial ones that were given to them. Sure it could fool Kingdom Hearts, but not the research Vexen wanted done.

Zexion sighed as he brushed some cobwebs out of the way and looked down the hallway in a very familiar part of the castle. Something brushed his leg and he looked down. He grabbed the Shadow and threw it in the dark portal he made. So far, he had found about twenty or so Shadows for Vexen. That should be plenty. He looked down the hallway again and decided since he was here, he should at least go look at his old room he had stayed and researched in.

The door creaked as he opened it. He grumbled as he heard the sound. It had been the old library room he made to be his room when they expanded the library to a bigger room for all their research and the door kept constantly squeaking unless he oiled it everyday. Of course if they were still living here, the door wouldn't have done that, but since they weren't… Zexion sighed and decided to let the door slide for one day. He would have to remember to tell Xemnas they really needed to visit this place more often.

Zexion looked around the room, soaking in the familiar sights of the place he occupied for a very short time before becoming what he was today. If he had a heart, he would almost feel homesick. He began walking around the room, checking the shelves of the bookcases to see if he wanted to take any books back that he didn't get copies of. There was a noise behind him and he quickly turned around. He saw nothing but knew there had to have been something in the room to make the noise. He began searching around the area the noise came from and soon came face to face with the source of the noise, another Shadow Heartless for experimentation.

He made a dark portal with one hand and with the other, reached over to grab the Shadow. It looked at him, REALLY looked at him. Zexion gasped as his chest began throbbing. He clutched the area where his heart should have been. The pain was so great, he fell to his knees, still clutching his chest. A small hand touched him and the pain receded. Zexion looked up to meet the eyes of the Shadow again. He grabbed it and was about to throw it in the portal when he hesitated. He couldn't do it. Not this one, anyway. There was something about this Heartless.

He placed the Shadow in the hood of his cloak and left the room. After finding a few more Shadows, he dark portaled out of the castle and back to his room. He was beginning to take his cloak off when he realized the Shadow was still in his hood. He had completely forgotten it was there. The Shadow was asleep so Zexion carefully lifted it up and put it on his bed. He sat down beside it and looked at it. Somehow it seemed…familiar to him. Zexion shook his head. It was probably nothing, he was probably just feeling this way because it had been in his room.

He reached over to grab it to take it to Vexen when the pain in his chest came back. It was worse than before. He cried out, a sob escaping his lips as tears began rolling down his cheeks. What was this feeling? He shakily held out his hand and created a portal. He crawled into it and found himself in the Proof of Existence Room, the room they used to teleport to Xemnas' chamber and their own respective battle rooms created to their advantage. He staggered to his portal and had just stepped in it, when the Shadow, the same Shadow he had brought back, leapt on him.

There was a brilliant flash of light as Zexion screamed. Every inch of his body was wracked with pain. The proofs were made specifically for each member and only they could enter their portal. Any foreign matter entering with them would either be eliminated or….

Zexion fell to the ground with a thud. His whole body was in pain. He looked around for the Heartless but soon realized it was gone. It must had been destroyed. Zexion groaned and picked himself up off the ground. He had wanted to go see Xemnas to see why he was hurting, but now, all he was feeling was tired. And he actually felt better. A lot better. Zexion portaled back to his room and fell on the bed, instantly falling asleep.

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Zexion felt like he was being suffocated. There was tight constricting things all around him, cutting off his air to his lungs. With one final gasp, he woke up and tore his cloak off, feeling the pressure subside. He took a few deep breaths. "What a nightmare." Slowly, he rolled off the bed. His body didn't seem to want to work. He staggered to his bathroom and turned on the light. He went to the medicine cabinet to grab his aspirin, he was getting a headache and looked in the mirror. Staring back at him was Saix. Zexion gasped and jumped back, only to hit the wall behind him and fall down.

Jumping back up, he looked in the mirror again. He realized it wasn't Saix staring back at him, but his own face, now looking very much older and hair rivaling that of said member. Zexion blinked a few times, looking down at his body and how much bigger it got. Zexion sighed as he calmly walked out of the bathroom, covered his body in a sheet, walked out of his room through the door and bounded for Vexen's lab, screaming said member's name.

Zexion pounded on the door, hoping Vexen could hear him. When Vexen got into his experimenting mood, the castle could have been on fire and it wouldn't faze him. After what seemed like forever, Zexion heard the familiar clicking of locks, meaning Vexen did in fact hear him and what unlocking the two dozen locks he installed on the door. At last, the last one clicked and the door opened. A very irritated and sleepy looking Chilly Academic emerged.

"What the hell do you want at THIS time of night, Saix?" Vexen grumbled, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. "Um, Vexen… First of all I'm not Saix and second, I need your help." It took Vexen a couple of seconds to register the sentence. Vexen's eyes grew wide as he stared at Zexion. "Zexion? Is that…you?" he finally asked. Zexion nodded as he pushed his way in. "Yes it's me and I would like you to be the only person who knows this right now." He closed the door once they were in and began locking the door back up.

Vexen was fully awake now. He began examining Zexion as he was latching the door. "How did this happen? We can't age, or at least the original six can't. It's been about ten years since we became Nobodies. YOU were stuck inside a teenage body, but now you're…older. How? How did you do this?" Zexion sighed as he sat down on one of the experimentation tables. "It started when I had that mission collecting Shadows for you. I found one in my old room and couldn't send it to you for some reason. I took it back to my room. A couple of times while it was near me, I was getting sharp pains where my heart should be. I was going to see Xemnas about it but as I stepped in my portal in the Proof of Existence, it jumped in with me. My body was engulfed in pain and the Shadow disappeared. I got up, went back to my room and fell asleep. When I woke up, I looked like this and that's when I decided to see you to see if you can figure out what happened."

Vexen sighed. "Take off the sheet and lay on the table." Zexion laid on the table as Vexen began gathering a few things. "Okay, the pain you said was coming from your chest where your heart's supposed to be right?" Zexion nodded as Vexen pressed down on the area…and gasped. "Uh, Zexion…you don't feel any…different…do you?" Vexen quivered. "No…well…I did feel a little better after the Shadow disappeared and when I woke up, my body didn't want to work. I had to force myself up. Why?" "Feel your chest." Zexion put his hand over his chest. His eyes grew wide as he looked up at Vexen, confusion sprawled on his face. "Vexen…what…but…I…it's…"

Vexen smiled meekly. "Yes, it seems…you got your heart back."

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Yes there will be more to this story. Don't know when, since I'm busy making A.I.C. but it will still be more. I'm still getting into the aspect of writing more than one chapter stories so bear with me on that as well.

So with all due respect, review.