A/N: Hey! Sorry it's been a while, but you guys know how I am with updating. Sometimes fast, sometimes medium pace, sometimes slooooooow and I apologize for the slow times. Anyway, just as an aside, that Timberlake song 'Can't Stop The Feeling' reminds me of Axel's feelings for Zee and for once it's not an angsty sad song (I have so many of those)! But don't tell Zee, she hates Justin Timberlake because she thinks he broke Britney's heart. Well, here's the new chapter, hope you enjoy! Please consider liking my facebook fanpage that's linked in my profile.

Chapter XIX: Lavender Dreams

If you could only see the beast you've made of me
I held it in but now it seems you've set it running free
Screaming in the dark, I howl when we're apart
drag my teeth across your chest to taste your beating heart

"So she has seen Castle Oblivion."

"That is correct, sir."

Much as they did the very first time she arrived, Xemnas and Saix stood over a seemingly sleeping Xirena. Axel had managed to cleverly stash away Sunny before any hooplah started, having moved her temporarily to Demyx's room. The red head, however, was nowhere to be seen now. The girl's face would twitch here and there while she slept, perhaps indicative of being in a dream state.

"...No matter." Xemnas said after a long pause.

"But sir?" Saix asked in astonishment, having so hoped to hear something more vicious from his leader. In his mind it had been an act of huge transgression against the Organization and deserved something harsh.

"I said no matter." Xemnas repeated, "No damage has been done to it, all she will get is a light reprimanding for disobedience in the Round Room."

–

"What am I doing out in the city?"

Xirena was wandering around The World That Never Was, right in front of Memory's Skyscraper, which dwarfed the other still impressive structures. She ponderingly pressed her index finger to her pink lips as she looked around, sensing that not all was as it seems in the city. The last thing she remembered was passing out in Castle Oblivion, so why on earth would she be in the middle of the city? She didn't even remember waking up for that matter.

"Oh well," She shrugged, "Guess I should head hom-"

Pop!

In front of her appeared a brightly colored animal, but not exactly a normal one in regards to anatomy either. It looked like something you'd see in Wonderland or the like – it was rather rotund and mainly blue with a dopey look on it's face. Then next to it popped in two more mysterious creatures, these ones looking like bunnies with a wild yellow and green coloration. Zee's arm dropped back down as she tilted her head at the beings. She felt no fear as the creatures gave off an aura of happiness and peace, nothing malevolent at all.

"Wha?" She asked.

Those are Dream Eaters. a voice in her head answered.

"Dream Eaters? What are those?"

They eat nightmares, they're friendly.

"Oh ok." Zee responded, then pressed on, "Do you know where I am?"

You're in the Dreamscape. Your world isn't slumbering but your power over dreams constructed a familiar Dreamscape for you to run away to while you sleep. Like a safe haven for you.

"That doesn't make a whole lot of sense but if you say so." Xirena shrugged.

Behind her popped up even more Dream Eaters in an assortment of animal types: frogs, giraffes, snails... It was a wondrous sight to behold. Xirena knelt down to one of the bunny Dream Eaters and pet it on the head, with the bunny pressing up into her hand to show it was enjoying the head rubs. Zee giggled, these things were just too cute.

"I gotta show Axel this place!" She exclaimed.

You can't. This space is just for you so you can rest.

"Oh ok..." Xirena said, disappointed. Her spirits sank a bit, but it was hard to be sulky when such cute animals were pouncing all around you.

Stay here as long as you want, but remember, you have to wake up sometime. You can't run away forever.

Xirena nodded, but had no intention of 'waking up' just yet. It was nice in this Dreamscape, she quite liked it, it's quietness and peace was a surprisingly comforting thing. However, something about this place seemed exceptionally lonely – perhaps knowing that none of it was real gave off that impression. The voice in her head didn't even alarm her one bit. Most people would check themselves in with a doctor if they were hearing voices, but Zee just wrote it off as dream magic. She was far too busy interacting with her new Dream Eater friends to care. However, one thing she didn't notice was that the voice in her head was that of her own...

–

"If Xemnas said to let it go then just let it go, man."

Saix stood now in Axel's room, where the red head was casually lounging in his bed, hoping that if he ignored him that Saix would go away eventually.

"What happened was completely out of line." Said said calmly, but with rage ready to be unleashed at any given moment, "I'll speak with Xemnas again, and tell him that she actually tried to escape the Organization."

"What?!" Axel shot up, "Hey, Saix, that's no joke. You'll get her killed."

Saix remained cold and silent as desperation appeared in Axel's emerald eyes.

"I'll tell him that you revealed it to me in secret, hoping I wouldn't pass it on. Maybe you'll get some sort of commendation, hm?"

"Take your commendations and shove em up your-"

"Now, now..." Spoke Saix, "No need to be that way, Axel."

"Come on!" Axel shouted, rising up from his bed and striding over to Saix, practically getting nose to nose with him, "She was just scared and confused, there's no reason to take the situation to such an extreme! Even if you tried to pull that 'run away from the Organization' bit, she came back, didn't she?"

"Yes, but it could be viewed that returning was against her will since she was unconscious."

Axel turned away and let out a loud grunt of anxiety and rage, his hands brutally clenching into fists.

"What do you hope to gain out of this, Saix?" Axel sneered, then added in a hushed voice, "I'm still in with you."

A lie. Again.

Saix raised an eyebrow thoughtfully, pretending to believe in Axel.

"I suppose it is a little over the top to put a member's life on the line... We do need all the man power we can get if we want to achieve our goals." Saix spoke.

"Yeah." Axel responded, internally sighing with relief, "See? You're a reasonable guy. She's a harmless bonehead but that doesn't deserve a death sentence."

"Quite so." Saix said dryly, "But if it happens again, perhaps next time I won't be as forgiving."

A rap tap tap suddenly came knocking on Axel's door, causing Saix to grimace. If anything was his cue for him to leave, this was surely it. Saix went to the door and opened it up, seeing Demyx and Rex standing there.

"Oh hey, Saix!" Demyx pleasantly greeted.

"Get out of the way." Saix grunted as he pushed passed the two.

"You have a good day too!"

Rex shook his head and rolled his eyes, then locked eyes with Axel and beckoned him with one of his hands. Axel was visibly confused, but approached the two anyway.

"We're gonna..." Demyx said, but then continued in a whisper, "Go see Zee and bring Sunny too. Come with!"

"Yeah, of course." Axel agreed, seeing Sunny poke her nose out of Demyx's hood to confirm her presence, as if Axel doubted it at all, "Let's go."

–

Sunny sprang out from Demyx's hood and landed with a soft thump on Xirena's bed. The slumbering dancer didn't react though, as she was still deeply embedded in her Dreamscape. The three stood over her in the same way Saix and Xemnas had done earlier. Axel's mouth was dry, unsure what to say, if anything at all.

"Do you think she's dreaming?" Demyx wondered, looking up to Axel.

"Dunno... Maybe." Axel shrugged, but he was suddenly grabbed and yanked down by Demyx.

"Look!" He pointed excitedly at Xirena's face, "She smiled!"

It was small but Demyx was right, Xirena had smiled in her sleep after Axel had spoken.

"It's totally because she heard your voice!" Demyx insisted, yanking on Axel's arm, "Or maybe she's dreaming OF you!"

"Oh come on now, don't be silly..." Axel dismissed, pulling himself away from Demyx's grip, "Why would she be dreaming of me?"

"Because she LIKES you, ding dong!" Demyx exclaimed, "And you LIKE her too!"

"Typical man." Rex sighed, "I guess Nobody men are just as bad as human men."

Sunny poked Xirena's cheek with her nose, causing her head to roll to the side a bit.

"Don't bother her like that, Sunny." Axel scolded. Sunny looked up to him and snorted in disdain.

"Hmm..."

"Eh?" A noise from all three of the men.

As if she were Sleeping Beauty herself, Xirena's eyes opened up slowly, her vision bleary. Sunny oinked happily and wagged her coiled tail, prancing back and forth next to Zee's face.

"Nice!" Demyx said, "Morning, sleepyhead!"

"Ohh my head is all woozy..." Xirena murmured as she carefully sat up, propping herself up by her arms, "How did I get back here?"

"Axel brought you home, duh. What did you think?" Rex remarked.

"I dunno..." Zee replied sheepishly.

"Shut up, Rex." Axel sneered, "What matters is that you're awake now, Zee. You're gonna be fine, Xemnas has no plans to severely punish you."

Demyx glanced back and forth between Zee and Axel, his mind working like cogs in a well oiled machine. He ribbed Rex.

"Say uh, why don't we go get Sunny's stuff and bring it back in here?" Demyx suggested, "With the two of us it'll only take one trip!"

"Ugh. Yeah, sure. Whatever."

"We'll see you two in a bit!" Demyx said, grabbing Rex by the arm and dragging him away, successfully getting Zee and Axel alone together.

Xirena shook her head like she was trying to shake off the wooziness she felt, but it wasn't doing her much good, if anything it made the disorientation worse. With a heavy sigh, Axel sat himself down at the edge of her bed with his head hung. He gave himself a slow head shake before lifting it to meet Zee's gaze.

"Don't you ever, ever do that again." He said sternly. Xirena was shocked by his tone, letting out a tiny whimper. Axel continued, "What you did was wrong and you could have gotten us both in major trouble. Got it memorized?"

"Y-Yeah." Xirena stuttered, holding back a wave of stunned sadness, "I'm... I'm really sorry Axel."

Xirena looked away, feeling her eyes well with tears and nose grow stuffy. Zee really didn't want to cry, one because she knew by now that it was abnormal for Nobodies to cry, and two... she didn't want to do it in front of Axel. Yet she couldn't help it, she ended up sniffling loudly as she couldn't hold it back for long. When he heard her sniffle Axel lunged forward as if it were his instinct to do so and embraced Xirena tightly. Now Xirena had the despair shocked right back out of her as she felt the warmth of his arms around her.

"I don't mean to sound... well, mean." He said quietly in her ear, "I was just concerned."

Axel felt her nodding her head, knowing that she indeed understood the gravity of the situation. He made sure to hold her tight and long because he'd rather get shot in the foot than see the poor girl cry. Once her sharp sniffling stopped, he pulled away. Her eyes were a bit puffy and her nose was reddened, but she didn't full-on shed any tears. In fact, she was smiling again now.

"I got it." She said with a giggle, "I won't run away like that again."

"Good." Replied a relieved Axel, "Now, we gotta figure out how to celebrate you waking up!"

"Celebrate!" Xirena echoed enthusiastically, throwing her arms into the air.

"Hmm..." Axel wondered, "If I recall correctly you liked that Chinese food I got for us way back when... I'll see what Rex and Demyx want and we can all eat together in here."

"That sounds cool!" Xirena agreed. She thought back to that night when they had the dinner together, just one of the many things Axel had exposed her to, "That sure was a long time ago, wasn't it?"

"It sure was." Axel replied, "Still feels like just yesterday, though. Time flies, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess it does."

Silence fell and the pair stared into each others eyes yet again, as they often found themselves doing, communicating in an unspoken language. Axel felt a compulsion within him like he'd experienced before, again, from a night a long time ago. What he didn't know was that Xirena was pondering the same thing he was if you can believe it. Maybe it was the stress of it all making her emotional but she knew one thing for sure – she wanted to kiss Axel. Both of them started to slowly move closer together, nerves wracking at Axel. Time had grown painfully slow. Sunny looked away. Eyes began to close.

"WE'RE BACK!"

The two abruptly parted and Xirena covered her face which immediately turned red. Axel cursed internally as he turned and saw Demyx and Rex rush back in with Sunny's things.

"Oh I'm so happy." Axel said through gritted teeth, his words dripped with sarcasm.

"Yeah, totes didn't take THAT long." Demyx stated the obvious and plopping a box onto the floor while Rex placed another next to it, "So what's the plan now dude and dudette?"

"We were thinking about China food." Xirena answered, lowering her hands, "For all four of us."

"Yeah, just tell me what you all want and I'll pick it up. It's on me." Axel said, his inner fury beginning to calm.

"Really, Axmaster? Aw, you're the MAN!" Demyx exclaimed, slapping his buddy on the back with great enthusiasm. Axel surely would have a bruise from that one.

"In the meantime we can set up all of Sunny's things again." Said Xirena, looking to all her friends individually.

"Uhh... Yeah I guess." Rex reluctantly agreed. There was no good excuse for him to bail on his friend after the traumatic experience she had, and he secretly liked it anyway. The four of them quickly made a list of all the food to get, which made Axel's wallet hurt, but if there was any time to splurge it was now.

"Right. I'll head out." Axel said shortly, rising from his position on the bed and scuttling his way over to the door. He looked over his shoulder and gave his pals a quick wave good-bye before departing.

Xirena's head was still reeling from that almost-kiss. She wasn't quite sure what came over her to compel her to do that, but for once she and Axel were for SURE on the same wavelength with their feelings for each other. It had been Demyx's plan to leave the pair alone for a while to get some brief time together, but he didn't imagine he'd burst in and ruin such a moment. Sunny, however, was quite relieved. It would be totally weird to watch her momma kiss someone, especially someone that the pig so frequently butted heads with.

–

Xirena had a spring in her step from the previous night. It was great fun sharing the Chinese food with her friends, even though Axel had to show her how to use chop sticks again.

"See ya, Sunny! You stay home today, ok?" Xirena commanded and Sunny nodded obediently.

Xirena smiled and waved at her beloved pig before opening her door and quickly scooting out. It seemed Axel was already gone, but that didn't dampen her spirits a bit because she knew she'd see him later.

"Number IX." Came a cold but familiar voice.

"Oh!" Xirena jumped, "Hi Saix!"

"May I speak with you a moment before I give you your mission?" Saix asked darkly as he emerged from the shadows.

"Yeah, sure!" The happy Zee said, not picking up on his sinister tone.

"I have something special to tell you..."