The Bizarre Room was eerily quiet, and there were no signs of the Drainer anywhere. In fact, Reina didn't see any Heartless at all from where she stood in the center of the room. The whole interior still looked like a room flipped upside down with her walking right-side-up on the ceiling. It was almost enough to make her feel dizzy, but luckily, she was already used to all the oddities of Wonderland's layout. A flipped room was the least of her worries.

"Alright, you big bully," Reina mumbled quietly, Keyblade already in hand. "Come out, come out, wherever you are."

Her green eyes scanned the room so she could further analyze her surroundings. The first thing she noticed was a large, framed canvas lying face up on the floor. It revealed a painting of a beautiful, sunny beach, and it quickly drew the brunette's curious attention. It was one of the biggest canvases she had ever seen, at least twenty-feet in length, and the vivid colors and intricate details of the scenic beach took her breath away. As she leaned over it to get a better view, she could see that there was something unusual about the painting of the beach, too. The waves of the sea were moving in a rhythmic, fluid motion and the faint sound of squawking seagulls even reached her ears. The longer Reina looked at it, the more it felt like she was watching a live video of a beach.

"Is it an enchanted painting?" She asked out loud to no one in particular, almost mesmerized by the beauty of the rolling waves.

This wasn't the ideal time for her to be distracted by one of the enigmatic wonders of this world. Moving paintings could wait. She had far more pressing issues to concern herself with.

Luxord had warned her that the effects of the potion would only last but a few moments, so Reina didn't have time to waste waiting around for her opponent to show itself.

But where was the damn Drainer?! The clock was ticking!

With no choice but to wander around the room, Reina looked up and down, right and left, but still saw no signs of the hideous creature. It wasn't like there were many places for it to hide, either. The Drainer had been the size of a house when she first encountered it, so if it was somewhere around here, she would have seen it by now, right?

An unexpected hand on her shoulder made Reina's soul nearly leave her body. It came for her after all! Swinging her metal weapon around, Reina aimed to cut through her assailant's body using the sharp end of her Keyblade, but a voice halted her movements just before she made a direct hit.

"WOAH! Hang on there, princess! It's just me!"

Reina's eyes opened wide as she saw her partner standing right in front of her. Upon seeing his signature foxlike grin, she breathed a deep sigh of relief. "Jeez, Xigbar! Don't just sneak up on me like that! I could have killed you!"

"Ha! As if," he joked. "You'd have been lucky to knock just the wind outta' me with a clumsy move like that."

She should have been mad over his casual insult, but the sound of his voice was like music to her ears. Even though it had only been a few hours since she had left his side to "bathe" in a pond away from their campsite, enough had happened to make it feel like a century had passed. The sight of his lopsided grin was enough to bring a tidal wave of relief over her, and she couldn't help but smile like a giddy child over having him back at her side.

But…Why was he here?

"Xigbar, how did you—"

Her words were cut short as he stepped forward and reached for her hand. "I don't know why you're back in the Bizarre Room instead of skinny dipping like you said you were, but you can explain on the way, kiddo. We need to get out of here before the Drainer comes!"

"W-Wait! That's the whole point of me being here!" Reina tried to explain as Xigbar began dragging her towards the door. "Luxord gave me a potion that's supposed to amplify my magic! I should be able to cast even Firaga at my current level with the help of the potion, and—"

"Hold up." Xigbar stopped walking so he could turn to face her. "Luxord gave you a potion?"

"Well…He didn't exactly give me a potion. I had to play him for it."

He had to take a quick breath before speaking or else he'd risk shouting at the top of his lungs at her. Even with his volume kept low, there was no hiding the fury in his tone. "You did what?!"

"He showed up after I finished bathing and challenged me to a game. He said if I could beat him at a game, he'd give me the potion so I could defeat the Drainer on my own. It's supposed to be really powerful!"

"Wait…Let me get this straight," Xigbar said while rubbing his temples. "You played a game with Luxord to get a potion, and you won?"

Reina nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! I did! So I got the potion, drank it, and now I need to fight the Drainer before the effects of the potion wear off!"

Suddenly it all made sense to him. Why it took Reina so long to bathe, why Luxord had showed up with a cryptic warning, and everything else in between.

"Reina, please tell me you're joking. Please tell me you didn't believe him."

It was never a good sign when Xigbar used her first name. He always preferred names like princess, kiddo, or even babe, so there was no denying that he was pissed. Incredibly pissed.

"Um…I mean…Yes?" She finished with a nervous laugh.

Luxord had played both of them for fools, it seemed. The bastard had waited to approach her when she was alone in hopes of tricking her into diving straight into a trap. Did she really think Luxord would lend a hand out of the goodness of his heart?! As if.

As much as Xigbar wanted to chastise her for being downright stupid for falling for Luxord's trick, he couldn't completely fault her, either. He had taken the bait dangling in front of him as well. If she was a complete moron, then he was, too, apparently.

"Look, Reina," Xigbar placed both hands on her shoulders as he stared straight into her eyes. "You didn't win against Luxord. Want to know why? It's because Luxord never loses a game."

"But I—"

He shook his head. "There are no buts with this one. If you won it's because he wanted you to win. He's not called the Gambler of Fate for nothing. The guy's got nothing but infinite luck on his side, and there's a reason why none of the guys back in the Organization ever like having family game nights when Luxord's around."

She bit her lower lip and looked away. "So…What does this mean?"

"It means the asshole tricked you. If you're lucky, then whatever potion he gave you was just a dud. But if it was poison…"

Her cheeks paled. "You don't think he really poisoned me, do you?!"

Xigbar had to pause for a moment and think. Luxord could have easily deceived her by filling the bottle with deadly poison, but would he? He had powers beyond Reina's wildest dreams and could have easily slit her pretty little throat with one of his razor sharp playing cards, or he could have even just smashed her face into a tree hard enough to split her skull in two. Of course, quick, painless kills weren't exactly Luxord's style. If killing her was his true goal, he sure as hell wouldn't have relied on something as boring as poison. No, the nefarious conman would have gone with something far more flashy and thrilling to satisfy his sadistic urges.

"…Xigbar? Please say something…Please say he didn't poison me!" Reina tugged on her partner's sleeve, bringing his attention back to her.

He tried to give her a reassuring pat on her head as his voice returned to its usual light and airy tone. "Nah, I doubt he'd poison a pretty little thing like you. Luxord is a real playboy and really digs the ladies, if you catch my drift. He probably just wanted to toy around with you to annoy you. His flirting tactics are kinda' juvenile, if you ask me, but some chicks go wild for that "cat-and-mouse" game, 'ya know?"

The look of disappointment on her face said enough. She really had believed Luxord was telling the truth and that she'd be a powerful mage after drinking some stupid potion."Why that no good, son of a—" Reina hissed through gritted teeth. "How dare he mess with me like that! Is this all just some kind of joke to him?! Why the hell would he do something like that?! I'm going to make him regret ever stepping foot in Wonderland! Just you wait 'til I get my hands on him!"

Well, if anything good had come of Luxord's silly tricks, it was that Reina was no longer smitten with him. That was one less thing for Xigbar to worry about, but all of this did raise some good questions, though. Just what was Luxord's angle? What did he hope to gain by deceiving Reina with a fake potion and sending her off to the lion's den on her own? It also didn't make sense why he had told Xigbar where she was, unless he wanted to watch them both struggle to the death against a Heartless that was too powerful for them to handle.

For all he knew, this was just Luxord's way of easing his own boredom. To deal the players a new hand when they least expect it to see if they can make it to the other side. If that's the case, then they needed to get the hell out of there before the Drainer appeared. There was still time to get back to their camp and train Reina up a bit more so she could fight the Heartless in top condition, even if that ended up taking days, weeks, or even months to achieve.

All it took was a deep growl from above to let Xigbar know that his new plan was already a failure before he could even put it in motion.

Before the two of them could even react, the Drainer had come out of hiding, eager to extract its revenge. It had appeared out of nowhere, levitating above them before it let out another low, guttural growl.

Was it just Reina's imagination, or did the damn thing look bigger and scarier than her last run-in with it? It had grown a few more long, scaly tails on its backside, and they swayed back and forth in the air in a slow, almost hypnotic manner. It's claws also seemed longer and sharper than before, and black, stormy clouds swirled around it's body as powerful, dark energy radiated from its entire form.

Cold chills ran down Reina's spine as the temperature in the room suddenly dropped upon the emergence of the Heartless. Panic began to settle in Reina's nerves as every muscle in her body grew rigid from fear, and she found it impossible to look away from the empty gaze of the dark, monstrous creature.

"Whatever you do, don't panic." Xigbar advised her, his tone oddly calm.

"What do we do?! Do we try to run?!" The shakiness of her voice proved that she was already doing a terrible job of not panicking.

Reina then felt a gloved hand reach for her own. She looked down to see that Xigbar was lacing his fingers through hers, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

"It's too late to run. Just focus all your energy on launching some fireballs while I come up with a plan," he told her.

"You mean you want me to fight it?! I thought I wasn't ready to fight the Drainer?!"

"Just give it a shot and I'll come up with an escape route!" He let go of her hand so he could nudge her forward. "Come on! You got this!"

Why didn't that sound more reassuring? They had spent the entire day training so she could level up her magic skills and learn a few new techniques, but that didn't mean she was ready to take on a Heartless as powerful as the Drainer. If the Organization XIII members struggled to take it down at full-power, how would a weakling like her fare against it? She had managed to slightly injure it before with her Fire spells, but what if her magic wasn't enough to bring it down? What if she ran out of MP in the middle of the fight and couldn't conjure up any more spells? What if the Drainer managed to touch her and sap all her strength and abilities?

She swallowed nervously, self-doubt seizing control of her thoughts once more. "Xigbar, I don't think I can—"

"Don't think. Just do!"

Reina took a nervous step forward as she craned her head upwards to stare up at the giant Heartless hovering in the air above. Well, if there was one silver lining to this, Reina was at least confident she wouldn't miss hitting her target. The Drainer was massive-easily the size of a house-and would be hard to miss.

The First Key of Radiance was still hanging from the Drainer's neck, glimmering in the soft lighting of the room as if it were trying to draw Reina's attention directly towards it. This time, however, getting the key was the farthest thing from her mind.

'Here goes nothing!' Reina sucked in a deep breath as she held out her Keyblade, aiming the metal tip towards the beast's chest. With her jade eyes sealed shut, Reina envisioned dancing flames in her mind as the heat building inside her traveled towards her fingertips. Once enough fiery energy was channeled into her Keyblade, she released her magic and shot a ball of deadly flames straight at the Drainer's chest.

Her attack caught her opponent off-guard, and the Heartless let out a startled cry as the flames scorched its chest. The Drainer, however, recovered quicker than Reina would have liked as it knocked the ashes away from its flesh before continuing to hover weightlessly in the air, seemingly unphased by her fiery attack.

Well, that sure as hell didn't work.

"Hey, uh, Xigbar? How's that new plan of yours coming along?" Reina asked as she tossed a glance over her shoulder.

"Still working on it, babe."

Not exactly helpful, but there wasn't much she could do about it. While she waited for further instructions from her semi-useless partner, Reina decided to scrounge up another Fire spell to see if maybe she could end up seriously injuring it. This time she aimed at the creature's head, and another scorching ball of fire was sent hurdling towards it. The flames licked at the monster's cheek, but it was just as effective as the last fireball. The Drainer wasn't exactly pleased to have its face singed, but it bounced back quickly and finally retaliated with an attack of its own.

It swatted one of its tails at Reina, but luckily her training with Xigbar had at least counted for something since she put her newly learned Dodge Roll technique to good use! The creature's tail cracked down on the floor where the girl had once been standing, and the blow was powerful enough to crack right through the floor and scatter debris into the air.

Realizing that she would have been splattered like a bug on a windshield had she not dodged its attack was sobering enough in itself. She had been one measly smack away from death and she had nothing to show for it. Her Fire magic wasn't doing any damage, the "potion" Luxord gave her was nothing more than ordinary fruit punch, and there was no way an inexperienced fighter like her could stand a chance against a Heartless as powerful as the Drainer.

Fate chose the wrong hero for this story. There was no way a useless girl like her would ever be able to save the world from eternal Darkness!

"Wake up, princess! I've got a plan!" Xigbar snapped her from her thoughts as he grabbed her wrist. "I hope you like swimming."

Reina released a deep breath she had been holding back. "Oh, thank god! For a second there, I thought we were toast—wait. Swimming?"

Xigbar was too busy dragging her away from the fight to answer her. At first, Reina wasn't sure where he was going. The exit to the Bizarre Room was in the opposite direction, and she had a hunch they wouldn't even be able to make it out of there without the Drainer smashing them to bits with its tails.

His destination wasn't the exit, though-it was the painting of the beach still lying on the floor.

"GERONIMOOOOOOOOO!" Xigbar shouted as he took a running leap towards the canvas, dragging the extremely confused brunette along with him. The pair fell right through the surface of the canvas, disappearing into a mysterious, hidden portal.

Reina wasn't sure how to process what was happening. One minute she was running behind Xigbar in a desperate attempt to flee the Drainer, and the next, they were falling down from the sky? She caught a quick glimpse of the bright, yellow sun and the blueness of the summer sky before she suddenly heard a loud splash. The drop was over in a single heartbeat, and she was soon completely submerged in freezing cold water.

Her hair whipped all around her face as she tried to open her eyes, only to immediately shut them as salty water burned her sensitive eyeballs. All she could do was kick her legs and stretch out her arms in a desperate attempt to find the surface, but a strong grip on her elbow helped guide her upwards.

When she finally reached the surface, she threw back in her head and inhaled a sharp breath of fresh air. Although they still stung, she opened her eyes and blinked away the pain until she saw that she was bobbing up and down with the gentle waves of the sea.

"What the—" Reina tried to speak, but there was too much sea water burning her lungs, and all she could manage was a strained, wet cough.

Xigbar's voice ran out from beside her as he floated in the water beside her. "You alright there, princess?" Some of his hair had slipped out from his pony tail as black and silver strands fell in front of his face.

Reina quickly nodded as she waded over until she was close enough to grab onto his arm. The heaviness of their clothes made it difficult for them to keep their heads above the surface, but once Xigbar confirmed she was at least somewhat okay, he can began to lead the way towards the shore.

Luckily, it didn't take them but a few minutes until their feet reached the sand below them. They hadn't been that far out to sea and the shoreline had only been a minute's swim away. Reina's boots sank into the sand as she trudged through the water until she was finally free of the water's hold.

"Where…" She panted heavily as she fell to her knees down on the soft, white sand. "Where the hell are we?" Lifting her head to look around, Reina nearly gasped as she took in her new scenery. They were no longer inside the Bizarre Room. Instead, they had found themselves standing on a beautiful, tranquil beach.

"I told you I'd find us an escape plan, didn't I?" He told her as he ran a hand through his damp hair to push any stray strands away from his eyes.

They were both soaked from head to toe, and Xigbar was quick to shed himself of his long, black trenchcoat. He tossed carelessly it on the ground before discarding the blank tanktop he sported underneath it. Reina caught a quick glimpse of his bare torso before quickly directing her gaze back to the vast sea before them. The last thing she remembered before they took a dip in the ocean was Xigbar making a grand leap through the air. "So what happened? Did we jump into a hole or something that led to a beach?"

"I didn't jump in a hole," he explained. "I jumped into a painting."

Waves crashed along the shore in front of her, and the sun gleamed brightly overhead, casting a beautiful glow atop the sea's surface. On either side of them were endless stretches of sand reaching farther than the horizon, and Reina had to rub her eyes to ensure she wasn't hallucinating all of this.

"Wonderland is a fascinating world, isn't it?" Xigbar said as he proceeded to kick off his boots so he could bury his toes in the softness of the sand. As much as he would have liked to rid himself of his drenched pants, he had a feeling that wouldn't go over so well. "Animals talk, flowers sing, rooms are flipped upside down depending on which way you enter into them, and, of course, paintings come to life."

Paintings come to life? Well, that didn't make a lot of sense! Not that upside-down rooms made much sense, either, but this was definitely some next-level craziness!

Her perplexed expression was an obvious sign that he needed to elaborate more. "Let's see…What's the best way to explain this?" He mumbled to himself as he rubbed the back of his neck. "This entire world exists outside the realm of normal possibilities. So paintings can become rooms, and you step into them like portals. I hear the same things happen with mirrors here, too. You can enter into completely different dimensions if you step into a mirror, so it's best to be careful when wandering aimlessly through Wonderland."

"Best be careful, you say?" Reina rolled her eyes. "Cannonballing into a portal seems pretty reckless if you ask me!"

"Luckily for you, I did my research before ever stepping foot in Wonderland," Xigbar reached forward to pat the top of her head, a gesture that Reina was finding to be highly annoying the more he did it. "One aspect of our job in the Organization is to explore different worlds for "recon missions" so we have a better understanding of what goes on in the universe. We hadn't really explored Wonderland in great depth just yet, but I had been here once or twice before on my travels and managed to take some notes."

"So you knew we'd be safe if we jumped into a painting?" She asked after knocking his hand away.

"Bingo!" He gave her a thumbs up. "You're catching on quickly! If you jump into a painting, it'll only take you to what was painted on the canvas. In this case, we landed right on this pretty beach."

While the scenery was indeed beautiful—not to mention a lot safer than being next to the Drainer- there was something eerie and unsettling about it. There seemed to be no end to the beach, as if it just continued on forever. She couldn't see anything beyond the horizon—just endless sand and sea.

Reina bent down to scoop some sand in her hands, allowing it to flow through the cracks of her fingers as she squeezed it in her palm. "Remarkable! Everything feels so real… I can't believe we're just in a painting. But still…Doesn't it seem a little too convenient that this particular painting of a beach was just lying on the floor in the Bizarre Room? I don't think it was there the first time we met the Drainer."

Xigbar shrugged his shoulders. "Best to not overthink it, kiddo, or else you might go mad, too."

He definitely had a point with that one. "So what do we do now? How do we get back to the Bizarre Room?"

"The same way we came in." Xigbar pointed upwards. Above them was a beautiful, clear sky without a cloud in sight. Seagulls were flying overhead, cawing as they soared through the air. Xigbar, however, wasn't pointing at the birds. There was something else up there, something unusual just hanging in the sky above.

"Is that a window?!" Reina looked at Xigbar who simply nodded in response.

There was no mistaking it—there was indeed a window just floating in the sky. It looked big enough for a person to step through, and if she squinted hard enough, she could almost see the scenery of the Bizarre Room on the other side of the window.

"That's our portal back to the Bizarre Room?" Reina asked.

"Yep."

Her chest started to tighten. "And that's the only way out of this place?"

"Yep."

The longer she looked upwards, the more her neck started to ache. "It's really, really high up. So to get out of here, we have to somehow reach that window?"

"Also yep."

Turning back to face Xigbar, Reina's lips curved upwards into a shaky smile. "So, um, Xigbar…You do have a solid plan for how we can get out of here, right? I mean, from the looks of it, if we can't jump or fly upwards, there's no way out of this place. But you have a plan. I know you have a plan."

She paused, waiting for an affirmation. More than anything, she wanted to hear another "yep" come out of his mouth.

But it never did. The older man just stood there beside her with one golden eye studying the portal above them.

Reina climbed to her feet and dusted off the remnants of sand that clung to her knees. "You do have a plan, right?"

He continued to ignore her and stare at the portal. A few more seconds passed by until the brunette's patience could no longer tolerate this bullshit.

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, XIGBAR, PLEASE TELL ME YOU HAVE A PLAN!" She finally snapped, shouting right in his ear.

Watching her get worked up over every little thing was becoming one of Xigbar's new hobbies, and he couldn't stop himself from grinning.

"Just relax, babe. You worry too much!" He let out a lazy yawn before stretching his arms over his head.

"I think I worry just the right amount!" She took her frustrations out on a particular pile of sand by kicking it roughly. "You didn't even think this whole thing through, did you?!"

Xigbar sighed. "I got us away from the Drainer, didn't I? We'd both be dead if we stuck around long enough."

"Because jumping into a painting with no way out is better?!" Reina wanted to rip her hair out over how calm and carefree he was being over the whole ordeal. Did he not realize the predicament they were in?! They were stuck. On a beach. In a painting. With no way out. They might as well have been stuck on a deserted island in the middle of the sea without a boat to take them home! At least on a deserted island, they would have had coconut trees or maybe even fresh spring water to live off of. However, the beach they were on didn't have anything but sand. They were going to starve to death if they didn't die of dehydration first!

Reina looked even more panicked now than when she stood in front of the Drainer, and Xigbar hoped she wouldn't start hyperventilating from the stress of the situation. "Look, it's going to be fine. I promise," he tried to assure her. It was a shame he was the world's worst at comforting frantic women.

"How do you know that?!" The young woman cried out. "Because nothing about this situation sounds like it's going to be fine!"

Xigbar took a seat on the floor near the shoreline, not caring if he got sand all over his pants or not. His long legs were stretched out comfortably in front of him as he inhaled a deep breath of the fresh, salty air. His relaxed attitude was clearly getting under the girl's skin, but it wouldn't be fun if he quit the charade now.

"Well, princess," he shrugged, "I just have a feeling that everything will work itself out one way or another. Call it intuition or just a gut feeling, but something tells me we'll be out of here soon. We just need to catch our breaths, enjoy some fun under the sun, and wait for a miracle to present itself."

"Wait for a miracle?" She repeated. "You're kidding, right?!" She hadn't known Xigbar very long, but that really didn't sound like something he would say. Did he swallow too much sea water? Or maybe he finally lost all his marbles and discarded all remnants of his sanity after being stuck in Wonderland for far too long?

Glaring at the back of his head, she waited for another snarky response from the Freeshooter, but he remained silent as he kept his attention focused on the rolling waves.

"I don't believe this. I just don't believe this!" Reina threw her arms up in frustration as she paced around in circles behind him. "We're trapped here, and you think sitting around doing nothing is a good idea?! You think help is just going to materialize in front of us?!"

"Maybe," was all he replied with. "Like I said, you worry too much. Why don't you just a seat next to me and—"

"And what?!" She finished for him. "We'll be magically saved?! You're insane! This is all your fault, Xigbar! You sentenced us to death! We're going to die out here, and—"

It was now his turn to interrupt her. "This is all my fault?!" He craned his neck so he could look at her. "In case you've forgotten, princess, we are only in this mess because of you."

Reina's jaw hung open, surprised by his audacity to pin the blame on her. Before she could retort back, he held up a finger.

"First, you refused to listen to me during our first battle with the Drainer. I told you to stand down, and you continued trying to fight the damn thing, leading me to get hit by the asshole's tails and having all my power drained." He held up a second finger as he continued down the list. "Second fuck-up was because of Luxord. I had devised a plan to get out of the mess you so kindly created for us by offering to train you so you'd be strong enough to fight the Drainer yourself. But then you ran off and decided to fall for Luxord's dumb trick without even consulting me about it first."

Her jaw snapped shut as she realized she had no rebuttal for anything he had claimed so far.

"You know," he continued, "I could have told you his potion was bullshit. It was never going to give you godlike strength. He just wanted to see if you would take the bait and fall into his trap, and you did."

Reina stepped forward until she towered over him as he continued to recline on the sandy ground. This was the first time she had seen what his body looked like underneath his jacket. He was more toned than she gave him credit for, and the fine lines of his taut muscles were enough to make her forget how to breathe. His muscles were nice to look at, but there was something else she noticed, too. All across the tanned planes of his abdominal muscles were light pink scars. He had multiple slash marks all along his torso, and even his arms had their fair share of faded gashes, too.

Where did all those scars come form? Did he get them from fighting Heartless? A lot of them looked really old, making her wonder just how long he had been in the business of Heartless slaying.

"My eye is up here, princess," Xigbar grinned as he caught onto her blatant ogling.

Reina's cheeks darkened in embarrassment as she folded her arms over her chest and looked away. "I wasn't ogling!" She sneered back. "I'm just dizzy from nearly drowning!"

"You didn't even come close to drowning," he reminded her. "The shore was only a few feet away!"

"That's besides the point!" She grumbled, ready to change the subject before she embarrassed herself any further. "In any case, what I want to know is why you even bothered to follow me back to the Bizarre Room after everything! I mean, yeah, you're right—I did fall for his trick. If I got killed by the Drainer back there, it would have been my own fault for thoughtlessly charging into battle. But you could have just let the Drainer get me. You could have just stayed behind."

No, he couldn't have. Did she really think he'd let her foolishly die after everything they've gone through these past two days? Then again, from her perspective, everything he had done up to that point just didn't make any sense. As far as she knew, the two of them were strangers and had never met in the past. No stranger would risk their neck for another stranger like he was doing for her.

She had no idea that they had crossed paths before. She had no idea that he had once been her loyal bodyguard, her friend, her savior, and eventually her lover. Most importantly, however, she had no idea about his betrayal and the oath she made to slaughter him on the spot should they ever meet again.

If everything worked out the way he planned, she would never know about any of their history after Namine's handiwork. The Memory Witch could erase an entire lifetime's worth of memories from any individual and replace them with false ones, and her victim wouldn't know any different. Reina was no exception. She would never remember their conversations in the gardens, the kisses they shared in secret behind the castle walls, or the pain he caused her after Xehanort's siege.

"I hate it when you get all quiet," Reina grumbled as she placed both hands on her hips. "Just answer my question! Why did you come after me?! If you knew all of this was my fault, you should have just left me there!"

Xigbar's whole body shook with laughter as he finally decided on a simple answer that would just have to suffice. "Ha! Who knows? Maybe I'm just a damn fool."

"Tch, I could have told you that!" Finally giving in, Reina took a seat beside him on the sand. Despite being under the sun, the sand felt nice and cool against her legs as she stretched them out. "But I guess I'm a fool, too… Because you're right. This is all my fault."

It sounded like she was finally calming down. Good! While her outbursts were cute, they did little to help their situation. Now that she wasn't screaming in his ear, they could have a friendly, civilized conversation like adults.

Well, as "adult-like" as the Freeshooter could be in times like this.

"So are you done with your schoolgirl crush now that you know Luxord's a dick?" Xigbar glanced at her out of the corner of his good eye.

Reina snorted at his question. "Puh-lease! I never had a crush on him to begin with!"

"Oh yeah?" Xigbar raised a brow. "You could've fooled me. As soon as you made eye contact with him, you suddenly forgot how to speak."

"Just because I thought he was attractive doesn't mean I was enamored with him!" She tried to defend herself as her cheeks turned pinker and pinker.

"So you admit that you were attracted to him?"

Reina shoved him hard with her elbow. "Don't tell me you're jealous, Xig!"

When he didn't immediately shoot back with another snide remark, Reina began to wonder if maybe he was, in fact, jealous over the fact Reina had once been captivated by Luxord's charm. He was soon elbowing her back as he uttered his favorite catchphrase.

"As if."