Chapter 86: pLaying with fate

"We Rewrite her to kill him," Saix finished.

37 swallowed the rest of what he was going to say. He regarded Saix for a moment in stunned silence, unsure of… quite what he was supposed to think.

That idea was… well, slightly obvious.

Not terribly bad.

And-

"That is cruel!" L exclaimed. She sounded just as shocked as he felt. "Why didn't I think of that!"

37 chuckled slightly.

Of course she was annoyed about that.

"Not a bad idea, sir," he told Saix.

"Not bad?" L interrupted. "It's perfect! Have you seen the way he acts around her? He wouldn't fight back! He'd just sit there and let her kill him! Perfect! And you know what makes it even more perfect?" She paused for a second, probably just for dramatic effect. "We still have access to Riku's memories! We can figure out what'd hurt him the most, and then turn her into- wait! Where'd they go!"

37 frowned.

"Where'd what go?" he hissed.

"His memories!" she replied, rather frantic. "They're not there anymore!"

37 rolled his eyes. "He probably deleted them," he said calmly. "You did mention them to him, remember?"

"Well, yeah," L admitted. "But I didn't think he'd be coherent enough to understand me…"

37 smiled slightly, imaging the rather dejected look that was most likely on her face at the moment.

"37," Saix said, breaking his thoughts. "You aren't ignoring me, are you?"

"No, sir," 37 replied, quickly. "Sorry. I told L that she could bother me if there was an emergency, and with Larxene Replicas an 'emergency' happens almost every ten seconds. It won't happen again. Right?"

He directed this last part at L.

"Right. Of course," she replied, roughly.

37 frowned. She wasn't usually so rough. Nor did she agree to anything so quickly.

He hadn't… offended her… had he?

He thought about asking her about it, and then realized that that would be a bad idea. Saix was already suspicious enough. He couldn't risk making things worse.

I'll have to apologize later, he concluded.

Saix rolled his eyes.

"You're suggesting we focus on capturing Namine instead of trying to retrieve the Program, then?" he asked. He either hadn't seen through 37's excuse and was content with it as an explanation or didn't see the point of trying to press the issue.

37 nodded.

"They definitely won't be expecting it," he said. "And h-" He paused, remembering what Saix had said earlier about the word "hope." He swallowed, and then said instead: "That should be enough to give us the upper-hand."

"Do you think that will be enough to stop Riku?"

37 shrugged. "If not, I'm sure it can't be too hard to distract him long enough to grab her. The main problem we ran into earlier was being in a corridor-proof area. And that shouldn't-"

L swore, rather suddenly and loudly in his ear. 37 winced.

"Must you?" he asked, annoyed. "And this better be an-"

"His memories aren't the only thing that's missing. All the data's gone," was her response.

He paled.

"What!"

"He must've deleted everything while he was at it," L said with a groan. "Because we have nothing!"

"It's not just my computer, is it?" 37 asked, a tad desperate. "It was having issues earlier."

"I had someone else check already. It's not just your computer."

37 swore.

"Is there a problem, 37?" Saix said, sounding actually a bit amused by this.

"They- They've wiped the database," 37 replied. He almost didn't want to admit it, as if that would change the fact that it had happened.

Saix's amusement quickly fell into a glare.

"Couldn't that have been avoided?" he demanded.

37 grimaced.

"Not really, sir," he muttered. "We can't lock them out of the database. It wasn't designed that way. I- I mean, I suppose if Riku hadn't-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence!" L warned. "That would make it seem like it's my fault!"

37 slowly closed his mouth.

"If Riku hadn't what?" Saix pressed.

"If…" 37 began, slowly. He sighed. "If I hadn't mentioned the Database to him, he- he may not have thought of doing this. Since no one- it couldn't have been anyone else. No Replica actually thinks of deleting the database. I- I didn't even consider it to be an issue, otherwise I would've taken the time to make sure they couldn't-"

"Well it's a bit late for that now, isn't it?" Saix snapped, bitterly.

"Sorry, sir," 37 whispered, turning away.

Saix sighed.

"Will there be any problems with Rewriting Namine?"

37 shook his head. "Not any major problems. I remember enough of the basic protocol that we can still Rewrite her. It might… take more time, though."

"Then you might want to get started on that now," Saix said. "Then you can just apply the coding to her as soon as we have her captured."

37 nodded.

"Of course, sir."

Saix turned and walked away.

"That took more effort than I thought it would…" 37 sighed, watching him go. After a moment, he turned around and started back towards his office. "Oh well, it could've been worse."

"Did you just… take the blame for me?" L asked, slowly. She sounded very unsure, and rather surprised.

"Saix wanted an answer," he replied with a shrug (even though he knew that shrugging was really pointless). "A wrong answer is much better than no answer at all."

She sighed.

37 thought about saying more, but then paused. Maybe she had more to say…

"I can't believe Riku actually thought of wiping the database," she muttered, bitterly. "I mean, seriously! Who actually thinks of things like that!"

37 grimaced. That was not what he had been hoping she'd say.

"Now we know why the Repair Program wasn't working," he sighed.

Which might just be why Riku went through with it, actually…

He's…

A genius.

The thought was bitter. He didn't quite want to admit that.

"It's fine," L assured him. "I'll just down a potion, like I said I would."

"There's an elixir in the top drawer of my desk if you want it."

There was silence for a moment, and then-

"Thank you," she whispered.

37 smiled. He had a pretty good feeling that she wasn't thanking him for the elixir.

"Sure thing," he said, as if it were nothing.

"No, really, you didn't have to-" she trailed off, as if she wasn't quite sure where she had wanted to go with that sentence.

Actually, it sounded more like she didn't want to be saying it at all.

He sighed and shook his head slightly.

How typical.

He started to say something in response to that, but he got only about the first syllable out before someone bumped into him on their way past.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" he snapped, turning to see who it was. His eyes narrowed with anger. It was Axel.

Of course.

"Me?" Axel asked over his shoulder. "You're the one too busy talking to that Larxene Replica to pay attention to where you're going!" He turned to 37 then, eyebrows raised. "Don't you think you're spending too much time with her?"

37 frowned. Axel sounded too amused for his liking.

"What's it to you?" he replied, trying to sound as if he wasn't bothered.

"Just saying," Axel said with a shrug, walking past 37 again. "You might want to be careful what other people think, though." He turned back around to face 37, a glint in his eyes. "I've heard rumors that you two have been plotting something."

"Like what?"

Axel made an 'I-don't-know' gesture. "They were only rumors," he admitted. "But…"

He made to walk past 37 again, but stopped next to him, so that they were standing shoulder to shoulder.

"I'll warn you, though," he said, very quietly. "As soon as you make him angry, he won't stop until he's destroyed everything in his path."

37 glanced over at him, and then grimaced. He couldn't quite read Axel's facial expression at the moment.

"If you are plotting something," Axel continued, not dropping a beat. "And if it in any way defies the Organization, both of you will be marked as traitors. Traitors are eliminated, no matter how high a status they hold."

He started walking.

"And, my luck," he said with a bitter laugh. "I'll be the one sent to eliminate you."

He paused and threw a look back at 37.

"You better hope I have the heart to be kind to you."

37 grimaced, not liking how he had emphasized the word "heart".

"Because if I don't-" Axel almost laughed here, and began walking again. "You can just expect me to just drop you two off in Castle Oblivion and let Riku take care of you. He won't hesitate to eliminate you."

And before 37 could say anymore, Axel was gone.

Axel allowed himself a smirk once he was far enough away from 37 for said smirk to be noticed. The smirk, however, quickly became a grin as he ran his fingers over the key again.

Can't believe he didn't notice me snag this!

Either I scared him enough, or he really WAS paying too much attention to that Larxene Replica.

He grimaced then.

He didn't quite like that thought.

He quickly pocketed the key before anyone noticed he had it.

Saix is going to have a fun time figuring THIS one out, he laughed to himself. He paused and clutched his chest.

Am I… enjoying this?

I'm enjoying this!

He grimaced, not quite sure what he was supposed to make of the emotion that he was currently feeling even though he shouldn't be able to feel it.

He decided he would just ignore it.

He had other things to do.