A/N: HI EVERYONE. Been a while, huh? I've missed you all terribly. In honesty this chapter was giving me a lot of trouble which is why it's taken so long, I kind of kept putting it off because I had to re-configure a few things about it and making it work was tricky at first. My spellcheck seems to have stopped working so there's a danger of spelling errors in this chapter and the chapters to come. Also, this chapter features a flashback to the end of Chapter 16 in case you need a reference. Anyway, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all!

Chapter XX: A Sealed Tale Of Truth

Now the smoke has cleared
And the end is near
It was my illusion
Like a broken dreamIwas incomplete
But your love was never the missing piece

"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..."

"Special?" Xirena asked as Saix guided her away from the Gray Area and to the unpopulated region down towards the end of the hall.

"Oh yes, what I have to tell you is very special." Saix assured her sarcastically, "It's about Axel."

Xirena's eyes sparkled when he mentioned Axel, and Saix knew he had her in the palm of his hand now, ready to be built up or torn down. Darker and darker the hallway became as they marched, Saix wanted to be very secure about this and not have any undesirables pick up on their conversation.

–

"I don't know how you're NOT flippin' your lid right now, man!"

Axel and Demyx were hiding in the bushes of a forest clearing, the clip clop of hooves could be heard getting more and more distant from their position.

"I just don't see what was so cool." Axel shrugged. Demyx elbowed him.

"Dude, that pumpkin turned into a carriage! With horses and everything!" Demyx exclaimed.

"Shh!" Axel shushed, "We don't know if anyone is still around."

"Alright alright... Man, I wish I had a Fairy Godmother." Lamented Demyx.

After a moment the two men cautiously stepped out of the bushes, where they had witnessed a girl named Cinderella and her Fairy Godmother prepare for the royal ball. This was inconsequential though.

"What would you even wish for?" Axel snarked.

"Oh I dunno, anything! That's the magic of it!" Demyx laughed, "Surely you have some wishes yourself, eh Axmaster?"

Plenty Axel thought.

"I can picture it perfectly..." Demyx began, throwing his arm around Axel, "Zee, a sunny day at the beach, in a blue bikini, she needs help putting on sunscree-"

"Hey, knock it off!" Axel shouted, roughly shrugging off Demyx's arm, "Don't say... weird stuff like that."

"Just yankin' yer chain buddy, don't flip your lid!" Demyx said, which was about as close to an apology as Axel was gonna get.

Axel groaned. They had stood around for long enough, they knew they had to get on with their mission. Nothing more than mere recon, but work is work. The two of them walked further out into the clearing, where the trees parted and the sky could be seen. The moon smiled down on the earth in a cresent sliver, flanked by the twinkling light of stars.

Axel froze.

"Eh? Something up?" Demyx asked his pal.

"Stars..." Axel murmured. Demyx raised an eyebrow at him, "Stars! There's stars here!"

–

"Where are we going?" Xirena asked, keeping pace with Saix.

"No further, this is fine." He replied, coming to a halt.

It was no secret that Xirena was nervous, she was practically trembling and she had her hands clasped together tensely.

"S-So what do you need to tell me about Axel?" She spoke meekly. Saix turned around sharply and stared down at her.

"You think Axel is your friend, right?" Saix began.

"Umm... yes. Of course he is." A confused Xirena replied.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Number IX." Saix sneered, trying not to smile, "He and I have been friends for a very long time, and he's told me some things."

"T-Things...?"

"Almost every time I saw him, he would tell me how much he hates you and that you're nothing but an annoying bother to him."

"W...What?" Xirena's voice cracked and Saix nodded.

"How does it feel? To be betrayed?" Saix asked with deadly venom in his voice, "He's not your friend, Xirena. He never was. He just pitied you!"

Xirena's breathing began to hasten in pace and her throat grew dry. Saix felt immense satisfaction growing within him – he knew the fool would be easy to convince but he didn't expect it to be THAT easy. He wanted to laugh in her face so badly.

"No... that's not... no..." Xirena's voice was hoarse.

"It's true, you imbecile! Are you blind?" Saix shouted, "Who would want to be friends with an idiot like you? It was all fake, Xirena, all of it."

Xirena's hand flew to cover her mouth to keep a whimper from escaping as tears welled up in her eyes. Her eyes darted back and forth and she began to back away before she turned on her heel and started to run away. Saix watched in satisfaction as the crying girl fled the scene, he hadn't felt such joy in a long time. Xirena escaped to the only place in the castle that could possibly be a safe place – her room. She barged in and Sunny jumped, shocked. Sunny was first happy to see her momma, but quickly noticed something was terribly wrong.

Xirena ran over to her bed and threw herself down, face first, where she unleashed her loud cries into her pillow. Sunny dodged out of the way just in time and hopped off the bed. The girl's body was being rocked with sobs as what Saix told her sank deeper and deeper into her psyche. She raised her head out of her pillow to take in a breath of air.

"Sunny... He was lying to me, he was lying this whole time..." Xirena whimpered in despair, "Axel lied to me!"

She sobbed again and shoved her face back into her pillow so her wails and screams were muffled. Images of various things they'd done together flashed through her mind like a painful montage – sitting together making wishes, dancing in the Void of Reverie, him showing her how to use chopsticks... Every little detail of their friendship was now reduced to nothing but a falsehood. The sensitive and naïve Xirena couldn't even for a second believe that Saix could've been the one lying to her, so much so that it didn't even come close to crossing her mind. Saix, effectively her boss, was the word of God.

–

Axel returned to the castle with Demyx, both of them looking satisfied.

"Go get em, tiger." Demyx said to Axel encouragingly.

"Yeah, wish me luck." Axel replied shakily.

"We're all rootin' for ya, dude!" Demyx called as Axel began to walk away down the hall.

Axel went over in his mind on how he'd get Xirena to The Castle of Dreams to show her a diamond sky. Waiting for them to potentially get sent there together for work wasn't an option, he had to find a way to whisk her away there in their precious free time. Axel stopped in front of her door, clearing his throat before giving it a knock. He waited. And waited. For nothing.

That's weird, she should be back by now... He thought.

Even if it wasn't totally moral, he gave the doorknob a twist – it was locked.

"Now I'm getting worried..." He commented.

–

"Shh!"

Axel was shocked. Before him stood a flustered looking Xirena, with her index finger pressed firmly up against her pink lips. SHE was the one that shh'd him?! No way! Now Axel was the confused one, dropping his head to the side and narrowing his eyes curiously. For her to be so forward, something indeed must have been wrong.

"Sorry, Zee." He apologized, quieting down, "What's going on?"

"It's something important. Super important." She insisted, beckoning for him to lean down, since she couldn't get at his ear to whisper on just her toes alone.

Xirena rose to her toes and Axel bent down a bit, giving her prime 'whispering position access.' Zee's lips twitched, and then murmured something into Axel's curious ear...

"I think I love you."

Axel was taken aback by what she said, so much so that he literally had to take a few steps back. He choked on air and felt sweat bead up on his forehead. He quickly looked around before opening up his door and rushing Xirena inside. After quickly shutting the door he spun around to face the girl, who looked like a deer caught in headlights.

"Zee you can't just be going and saying weird stuff like that." Axel said.

"But with everything you said about love and everything... it makes sense, doesn't it?"

"Well I mean, yeah, but..." He choked, "We're Nobodies! We're not supposed to feel anything."

"But I do, I swear I do..." Xirena replied in a pleading tone, "But what... about you?"

"M-Me?" Axel stuttered stupidly, "I... Well... See the thing is..."

For some reason Axel couldn't just reply with the truth, as if telling the truth was a dangerous thing. But what danger could there possibly be in it? What harm could be done?

"I can't say I don't feel something or other about you but it's complicated because we're not supposed to feel anything at all, y'know?" He explained.

However, this was dancing around the fact of the matter. As he stammered like an idiot, Zee just stared, her expression growing sadder and sadder as he avoided saying anything straightforward. Axel looked over to Xirena, who was red faced and nearly in tears. That was his breaking point – the red head jumped forward and embraced Xirena, tighter than he had ever hugged her before.

"I love you too." He murmured.

A sharp inhale rumbled through Xirena's body followed by a shivering exhale. The tears that were welling up in her eyes had no choice but to fall now, one from each eye. Axel pulled away and noticed her tears, so he promptly raised his hand to her face and wiped them away.

"S-Sorry." She whispered.

"No need to be sorry." Axel said soothingly, "But now... what do we do? We can't pursue anything here in the Organization."

"Well..." Xirena began sheepishly, "What if we left?"

"What?! No, we can't do that!"

"But what if we did?" Xirena spoke with authority for a change, "You said you'd find and protect me if I ever got lost, we can run away and protect each other. We could be happy."

The idea, however dangerous it might be, grew more appealing to Axel by the second. Stay here in the Organization, living a life of pale monotony, or escape their sull fate together and find a place in the world together. Axel had a tough choice to make, one he needed more time to think about. For now, this would remain their secret, not even to be spoken about in private. Keeping Zee safe was his top priority.