AN/ the ch172 tag on my personal tumblr has got a treat for ya!

Chapter 172: Coward

They forced him to the ground, and Vexen yelped as his face hit the cold floor. He squeezed his eyes shut, though that didn't make this any less real.

They've dragged me to see Xemnas… he thought, with dread. This is the Round Room. Where Nothing Gathers. I have not missed it.

"And what, exactly, calls for this?" Xemnas asked.

"We found him snooping around downstairs," L replied. "Thought you might be interested in him. He's from a parallel universe."

"Is he, now?" Xemnas didn't sound convinced. That was good. That could… be good, yes. "And how would you know that?"

"Because he's certainly not a Replica. And since he can't be our Vexen—"

"How do you know I'm not a Replica?" Vexen asked, getting up and dusting himself off, trying to keep his dignity about him. It didn't matter that he was scared to death. He was going to push through it.

This is the exact opposite of where I want to be.

But if I sit here and say nothing, I won't be able to get out of it at all.

"If he is, I don't recognize him," 37 said, quickly. "He looks nothing like any of our Replicas."

Xemnas was silent for a long moment. "Are you saying you're bothering me with nothing more than a Replica?" he asked, finally.

"I swear, he's from a parallel universe!" L said. "Even if he is a Replica."

"Besides," Vexen added, feeling a little defensive. "I wouldn't give us Replicas too little credit, Xeha—" He paused. Cursed under his breath. There went his cover.

Like any of the Replicas in this universe know his name is really Xehanort. And since I can't be a Replica, I'm obviously not from this universe, either… their Vexen is dead.

"Oh, yeah, he's definitely not a Replica!" Xigbar laughed. …Xigbar!? When had he arrive—oh never mind… It wasn't worth it.

"Ah, but, how do you know I'm from a parallel universe?" Vexen asked, quickly. Maybe there was a way out of this. "How do you know I didn't just fake my death?"

"I doubt Master Vexen had the foresight to plan for such a thing…" 37 said, slowly.

"But there are Replicas that are unaccounted for, are there not?" Vexen retorted. "You have no way of knowing."

"No, I think I know a way," Xigbar said. "Tell me, Vexen, what did you tell me after I told you I wanted a clone?"

"I…" Vexen swallowed. "First of all, I w- corrected you that they're Replicas, not clones," he said, slowly, choosing his words carefully. If he slipped up with his words it wouldn't matter if his answer was passable. "Then I asked why, exactly, you wanted one."

"Your exact words were 'One of you is enough Braig. I don't want two of you'."

Vexen raised his eyebrows. Well…. That was true.

"I… could've sworn I asked you why you wanted one first," he said, trying to sound certain.

"Well-" Xigbar began, but then paused. "Shoot. I could've sworn… Ah, but there's no way to be certain who's right, huh?"

Vexen let out a small sigh of relief, and hoped it went unnoticed. He'd stumped Xigbar. Good.

"Vexen," Xemnas said. Vexen shivered. He'd never get used to the way Xehanort said his name. It was like he was nothing all over again. "What were you most angry about, when Radiant Garden succumbed to darkness?"

Vexen's eyes widened. Was Xemnas really giving him such an easy question? He couldn't help but smile, because he knew the answer to this one. It only took one word.

"Ienzo."

"Are you crazy!?" Xigbar snapped, practically leaping out of his chair with his anger. "Any Vexen would've known that!"

Xemnas didn't seem too perturbed.

"What else?" he asked.

Vexen frowned. What else was there? He couldn't remember there being anything else… Nothing that'd stuck with him for the past ten years. Or however long it'd been. Was this a trick question…?

He was silent for a moment, mulling it over. What was the point of trick question? What would it prove? Unless they expected him to come up with something. Something which was wrong. Something that would give him away.

But even if he said there was nothing else, there was a chance he could be wrong…

He bit his lip, but finally decided.

"There is nothing else," he said.

Xemnas's satisfied silence and Xigbar's response of "oh!" followed by a dark chuckle was enough to tip him off that that was the wrong answer. He closed his eyes, started running over his other options. He could fight. He could run.

He had no other option—besides letting himself get captured, like Alpha had discussed.

But Vexen would much prefer not to be forced to work for Xehanort. Xemnas. Whoever.

"Are you saying you don't remember your Replica Program then, Vexen?"

"My—" Vexen began, but stuttered. His… Replica Program? Surely they weren't referring to… the current one. Had there been one back in Radiant Garden, here? How successful had it been? Regardless, that explained a lot of things, especially how advanced this Program was.

Because the Vexen here already knew what he was doing…

Yes, it made perfect sense. He'd attributed the success of this Program to the advanced technology, but the fact that, apparently, the Vexen here had worked on more than one Program would explain a lot too.

It would actually explain quite a bit, now that he was thinking about it.

"Yup, that definitely isn't our Vexen," Xigbar said, satisfied. "He'd have talked our ears off by now about the fact if we'd just warned him—"

"I told you he was from a parallel universe," L muttered.

Vexen swallowed. Right. There was time to mull this over later. Right now he needed to figure out how he was getting out of this.

Ah… couldn't he just open a dark corridor—

"I don't think so!" L snapped, grabbing him by the arm. He looked over at her, exasperated. How had she even known that he was planning to open a dark corridor? Or did he really just radiate "I'm going to run now" vibes?

No, now was not the time to be worrying about it.

He summoned his shield and pulled away from L, knocking her back for extra measure. She shrieked and, predictably, threw a blast of lightning at him. He deflected it without a problem.

He didn't, however, deflect the icicle that hit his back. Not that that mattered. He stood still for a second, trying to figure out of that had really just happened. Then he laughed.

"Did you really just shoot my own element at me, expecting it to hurt me?" he asked 37 in disbelief.

37 frowned. Apparently he hadn't thought of that. Which was odd. Vexen could've sworn he'd at least programmed his Replicas to be smarter than that. And he could've sworn that the Vexen here had programmed his Replicas to be smarter, too.

Maybe there really was something wrong with 37's programming…

"Nice one, dumbbrain!" L spat, summoning her knives. Thankfully, Vexen was able to block those when she chucked them in his direction.

"Do you want me to do something?" Xigbar asked.

"Not yet…" Xemnas said, slowly.

Vexen cast a curious glance up at him. Why wasn't he sending Xigbar down here? Did he actually trust 37 and L to be able to handle it? Though, Vexen admitted, fighting Larxenes was always a pain, and having 37 around wasn't helping matters. He was faring alright, but he wasn't sure how long he could last.

Vexen knew exactly what he needed to do.

He formed a dark corridor around himself before L could get any closer to him. He stumbled out into Castle Oblivion, making sure to shut the dark corridor as soon as possible.

"Vexen! You're back!" Alpha exclaimed, sounding a mix of surprised and happy.

Vexen just nodded, a little shaken. "Here." He dug the external out of his pocket and tossed it to Alpha, before sitting down on the ground, banishing his shield. "By the way… Xemnas knows I'm here and I wouldn't be surprised if he'll send Xigbar to capture me in about ten minutes. Or seconds."

Alpha chuckled a little. "Vexen, I'm sure you're alright, at least for now."

"You underestimate Xemnas's desire and Xigbar's abilities."

"If it's really a problem," Alpha sighed. "Then just go back to the other universe. Nothing's stopping you, I suppose. And what are the chances of them finding you there?"

"Uhm…" Vexen shrugged. He had no clue. But if Xemnas was really determined to find him… "I- I think I'll stay," he panted, feeling exhausted now that the adrenaline had left him. "At least until Riku gets back."

"Your decision," Alpha said, shrugging. "Ah, by any chance, do you remember what the password for the Deactivating portion of the Program is?"

Vexen shook his head. "I only got one look at it, and have since forgotten it in all the excitement. I'm sorry."

"That's fine," Alpha assured him. "We've now made it so they can't create or edit Replicas. And we can. Plus—" he held up the external "—they don't have the database anymore, either. I say the mission was successful."

"That makes one of us…" Vexen muttered.

xxx

"You idiots!" Xigbar shouted, once the obviously-not-from-this-universe Vexen had left. Why had Xemnas trusted those two lousy Replicas to deal with it?

"Oh great, look what you let happen!" the Larxene—L, was she? Or P maybe? Somewhere in that portion of the alphabet—screamed, rounding on the Vexen. 37. Xigbar remembered him. "You let him slip away!"

She looked about ready to smack him, and he flinched, as if expecting her to.

"It wasn't entirely…" he began, but never finished. "We can go after him!" he said, turning his attention to Xemnas. "I'm sure it won't be—"

"No," Xemnas interrupted. "I will send someone else. Xigbar?"

Xigbar rolled his eyes. "I don't wanna go!" he protested. He had more important things to do than track down this Vexen. He… had things. To do. He couldn't name any of them off the top of his head but he had things he needed to do. "Send Flamesilocks!"

"You mean Axel?" L spat, but 37 shushed her very quickly.

"Fine," Xemnas said. "Go fetch him for me, will you? And maybe bring Roxas, too. I think it's time to give him a… special mission."

Xigbar raised his eyebrows, curious and not quite trusting the small smile on Xemnas's face. That either meant bad things or incredibly good things. Or both at the same time.

Well, there was nothing to do but find out.

xxx

"Is Riku going to stay in bed all day again?" Yuffie asked, as she started rummaging around the fridge for lunch food.

"Give him a break," Aerith said. "He had a rough day yesterday. And even if he hadn't, he's allowed stay in his room all day if he wants to."

"If he sleeps through a round of Heartless-"

"He won't."

Yuffie sighed and closed the fridge. "What do I want to eat?" she asked, turning to Aerith.

Aerith shrugged. "Why would I have any idea?"

Yuffie sighed, but shrugged, too. "You plan on making lunch for Leon and Cid?" she asked, after a moment.

"Not… until they get back," Aerith replied. There was no telling how soon they'd be back from fixing up the town. They usually stopped back for lunch, but they'd only left an hour ago, so the chances of them being back for lunch soon were unlikely.

Yuffie sighed again, and opened the fridge for a second time. Aerith returned her attention back to the book she was reading.

THUD!

Aerith looked up, jumping slightly. Yuffie closed the fridge, eyes wide. Aerith slowly frowned. That sounded like it came from… upstairs? She marked her book and got up. Yuffie was already taking the stairs two at a time.

"Riku's collapsed again!" Yuffie shouted, sounding a little panicked.

Aerith jumped the last three steps and hurried to Riku's room.

Riku was on the floor, curled up with his knees to his chest and his arms covering his head. His face was scrunched with some unpleasant emotion, his eyes squeezed shut. Aerith slowly knelt down next to him, wondering what, exactly, she should do.

"Uhm," Yuffie said, clearly uncomfortable and at as much of a loss as Aerith was.

"Go get my med-kit," Aerith said, after a moment. "I… might need it."

Yuffie nodded and was off.

Aerith let out a long breath.

She tried not to eye the bruises on his arms and his perpetually bloody lip. She knew where they came from—because she'd caught him doing it once—and that made them all the harder to bear. (Why would anyone want to hurt themselves?) But she couldn't do anything about these things. Not now. So instead she turned to the things she could try and help, in this moment.

"Riku?" she asked, gently, hoping to wake him.

He didn't respond. She reached out to feel his forehead, but the moment her fingers touched his skin, he grabbed her by the wrist and twisted her arm away from him.

"Don't. Touch. Me."

The malice in his voice was clear, though he hadn't otherwise moved. Aerith stayed very still, trying to calm her breathing. Overreacting would do her no good. Being scared would do her no good. She wouldn't normally believe Riku'd hurt her—or anyone he knew personally without having been provoked—but the malice in his voice and the grip he had on her was making her suddenly think otherwise.

It's a defensive reaction, she told herself. That's all. He's not going to hurt you.

"Okay," she said. "I won't. You can let go of me, Riku." She swallowed, and then added. "I'm not going to hurt you."

For a second she was sure it hadn't worked, but then his grip loosened and his arm fell to his side.

"I'm sorry…" he mumbled, slowly clutching his head again. "Namine… I can't… wh-what good am I if I can't protect you?"

Aerith stared at him, not quite sure what to say. If she should say anything.

"Is he okay?" Yuffie asked, coming in the room and handing Aerith the med-kit.

"Uhm… I don't…" Aerith sighed. She had no clue. He clearly hadn't collapsed for medical reasons. And even then, she wasn't sure how she'd deal with it when he was so resistant to being touched right now. "I don't know," she said.

"Should I go?"

"I don't think it matters."

"Okay."

Yuffie slipped out anyway, though, and Aerith moved so she was sitting in a more comfortable position. There was nothing she could think of doing but sitting here and waiting for him to… recover.