I'm sorry for the long wait! Life has been really crazy and I haven't found any time to just sit down and right, so I did that at one this morning. Now here we have another chapter!

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, faved, or alerted!

Disclaimer: I do not own or profit from Square Enix, Kingdom Hearts, Disney, or the Twilight Zone. All rights go to the owners. Do not sue.


*~Hidden Schemes*~

What happened in the last chapter:

"Okay, listen up!" Saix roared while handing everyone a list, his movements quick and determined, a man on a mission. It was made up of... party necessities?

"Jules, call every boy you know. Marluxia, Larxene has an old French maid's costume from last Halloween. Luxord, I have an old suit that might fit you tucked away for undercover missions. Axel, how many fireworks can you get on a short notice? That was a needless question. Just get them. And Larxene, how many restaurants cater to this world? We require cakes!"

Everybody stared at him, mouths agape.

"What the hell happened to you?" Axel asked finally.


Saїx glared at the redhead heavily, his lips drawn into a grim line. "As absurd and irresponsible as this may be, I cannot stand by and allow Juliet to take such a blow to her pride. Granted, it might do her some good to be knocked down a peg—" at this, I simmered, "—but it also might be a good thing for the Organization as a whole. As 'evil' as people believe we are, perhaps allowing Juliet to throw this extravaganza will convince skeptics that we are not all business and we welcome anyone to have a good time within our boundaries."

His reasoning made sense to me, or at least it made more sense than allowing me to throw a big ass party just for the sake of showing someone up. Leave it to Saїx to turn something selfish into something for the greater good of our 'family.'

Taking a heavy breath, the second in command asked, "Are we having the most epic party of the century or not?"

Again, everyone stood stock still. It wasn't every day you heard Mr. Calm, Cool, and Collected say the word epic. In fact, it was kind of... frightening.

Did I miss something? Had I walked into the Twilight Zone? Who was this man in front of me, and where could I find the mothership to get a refund?

I guess that his reasoning had won out, that or my friends were just as terrified and ready to get out there as I was, because suddenly everyone scrambled in different directions as if they had been practicing for this moment.

"Really now?" Marluxia cried in his deep, manly voice. "You dare to put me in a French Maid Costume? I will not be so degraded as to do such a humiliating thing! I may have pink hair and a flower fetish, but I most certainly am not a femme fatale!"

Saїx rolled his eyes, opening his mouth to reply, but Luxord cut him off. "A butler, chap? This is bloody racist! It's because I'm British that you're making me be the butler, isn't it?" Saїx sighed, and I could tell he was physically restraining himself from pinching the bridge of his nose. I stifled my laughter at how the Luxord's cheeks had puffed with air and his face and turned red.

"Marluxia, please. You're the only one of us males who could pass for a female. Just a bit of makeup and no one will ever know the difference. And Luxord, this is certainly not about culture. You are the gentleman of the Organization. You are the only one agreeable enough to pass for a good-natured butler. Now please, just go with it!"

There was a tense pause. Marluxia hesitated, still wearing an expression of disgust, and Luxord released the air in his cheeks with a breathy sigh. My shoulders trembled with suppressed laughter.

Thinking it was about time to step in, I urged, "Come on, guys! Imagine Lexeaus in a maid's costume or Xigbar as a butler — can you even fathom that catastrophe!?"

They shivered, no doubt at the rather disturbing mental image. Turning to Saїx, Luxord relented, albeit unwillingly. Marluxia took a little more coaxing, but the Luna Diviner promised him a new greenhouse, and he was suddenly all too eager to please. Figured.

I grinned at Saїx as he let out the breath he'd been holding, his shoulders slumping. He'd definitely gone through quite a bit of lobbying today, from Xemnas and the party to Marluxia and Luxord as help. The weariness was beginning to show.

Larxene returned from wherever she'd run off to, and immediately Saїx straightened up and demanded, "No I was not slouching!"

She blinked, one thin eyebrow arching. She gave him a questioning, pointed look and a barely contained smirk. "Never said you were..." Her smirk widened as she winked at me, enjoying teasing him. I grinned back at her. Saїx was the most uptight person I'd ever met, so poking fun at him was always an enjoyable pastime, especially when my partner in crime was Larxene.

"Ahem! Well, then! There must be something you need, number XII. That would be?" Saїx continued, ignoring our snorts of amusement at his expense. I didn't doubt for one minute that he'd be giving me a stern talking to later about heckling my elders. I just hoped he wouldn't pull Vexen into it.

"That would be munny, and lots of it!" Larxene answered with a dangerous glint in her eye and an evil grin. Wide eyed, Saїx seemed at a loss for words. I almost pitied him. He probably hadn't thought to run figures on how much all of this would cost until the blonde brought it up.

"Now, now, my little lightning bug," Axel interjected, coming to Saїx's rescue. How he managed to manifest out of thin air when we needed him (and without a Dark Corridor, at that), I'd never know. He toyed with her gravity defying bangs, "You know the Superior gives us limited funds, and he certainly isn't going to fund a party you put together. The dollar signs will reach seven figures for sure!"

Larxene sighed, leaning into him with a relatively blasé look on her face. "Then what do you suppose we do? We need the munny, pyro."

"And where are we supposed to get it?" I asked Saїx, crossing my arms. All of this was turning out to be a really big pain in the patooty. Maybe this would be a good lesson about keeping my mouth shut in the future.

Hah. Like I was going to learn from my mistakes!

Saїx sighed, looking a little ashamed of himself. "Well, you know how close you and Aqua are, and Terra happens to be very rich since the death of Eraqus; he left him quite a bit of munny in his will — before Terra killed him, of course. I hate to do it, but, I'm sure Aqua could get us the munny if we needed it."

And here I was thinking the Organization XIII wasn't still evil. They were positively sinful.

Larxene's smile was twisted. "Oh, yes, I'm sure Aqua would love to help! Now let's go, we have a party to plan!" Larxene scampered off, her nails biting into Axel's wrist as he was dragged behind her. He turned to Saїx mouthing the words, 'help me, she's crazy,' as he left.

The Luna Diviner shook his head and glanced down at his clipboard. The thoughts running through his head were likely the same ones I was thinking. This plan could prove dangerous if Xemnas caught us. Saїx risked everything by taking this chance. Xemnas could take away his position, or even turn him into a dusk.

As much as I gave him a hard time and he nagged at me about misbehavior, the guy really was great to me. So, just this once, I figured giving him a hug might not kill me. I ran to him and squeezed his waist as tightly as possible.

"Why are you doing this, Saï?" I asked. All of this was crazy, even I knew that. So I couldn't understand why he would put his neck out there for me and this ludicrous plan.

Saїx leaned down and kissed my forehead, his soft blue locks brushing my cheek in a ticklish sort of way. "Because I love you like a daughter. You've never had parents, friends, or really anyone there for you, Juliet. You've never even been able to have a 'normal' life of a teenager because you've always been trying to just survive. This is the least I can do for you."

So maybe they weren't completely evil.


Unfortunately, my grand party planning hadn't gotten me out of my studies. Vexen and Saїx adamantly refused to let me help with the details during the time that I was supposed to be learning. Supposed being the operative word there.

Being the youngest in the group, Vexen demanded that I attend his regimented classes daily. And since he'd raised Zexion from the time he'd been a little boy, he continued to force him to attend class with me, much to the schemer's chagrin.

And then there was Demyx who attended class with us just because Saїx would rather stick him in what might've been remedial than have him wandering about aimlessly through the corridors.

Vexen stood at the front of his lab, rambling on about powers and roots and bases as Zexion and I snickered behind his back at my scribbles of him. If he actually thought we were paying attention, he was more naïve than I first believed.

"X is under the square root and does not have a superscript, therefore it is raised to an understood first power, making it simply the square root of X. So, if you have the fourth root of X cubed, and you put X in its rational form, making it have a fraction as an exponent, what is on the top?"

"Your mom," I blurted out, not thinking again. A less than stifled guffaw came from beside me as Demyx grinned and Zexion smirked.

"No, no, no! You will respect your elders!" Vexen commanded with a flustered tone. "Why, in my day, if we had talked like that we would have been punished severely with span—"

"Yeah…" I drawled in a bored voice, "I wouldn't finish that sentence. One might consider it sexual harassment."

Gasping as if scandalized, number IV brushed down his cloak and slammed his piece of chalk down with a resonating bang. "I will be talking to Saїx about this disrespect, young lady!"

"You do that," I muttered under my breath as I added devil horns and a forked tail to his image on my notebook.

Somehow I managed to remain awake and sane through the rest of lessons, but when lunch came, I flew out of that room so fast that Ventus would have been impressed with my speed. I ran to the mess hall, all the while searching for my phone.

"Suppers!" a chirpy voice answered after I'd dialed the number I wanted.

"Hey, Yuffie! What are you up to?" She and I had had a few run ins every now and then, and she was just crazy enough for us to get along perfectly.

A sigh came from the other end of the phone, and I knew I probably shouldn't have asked. "Still can't find him?"

"No," Yuffie answered forlornly. "I just don't know how we lost them all! And he— he was right behind us, you know? It's been like ten years at least, and I haven't had any sign of them or him! I just… maybe it's time to give up."

"No," I stated firmly. "Don't. The only thing you have now is hope, and if you give up on him, then you're practically declaring him dead. What about how much love you feel for him?"

Silence followed for a few minutes and then, "You're right! I can't give up, I love him too much to. And Cid… He never gave up looking for Shera."

I smiled. "That's right, Yuffs! He's still out there in one of those worlds. Just because yours was destroyed by the Darkness doesn't mean he isn't on another one. You said you remember everyone getting out, right?"

"Yeah," she answered. "But it's so weird. We got here ten years ago, and I'm still nineteen. We're all still the same age. I just don't understand."

Their case certainly was weird. All of the people who escaped Gaia — Cloud, Aerith, Tifa, Cid, and everyone else — had simply stopped aging. Merlin thought it was because they weren't supposed to exist anywhere but on their own planet. But the heartless changed everything, destroying their home and forcing them to relocate.

"Oh, the others have been nagging me about getting you to visit. They want to meet my mysterious friend who's a bad influence!" Yuffie continued, clearly trying to change the subject. Although I'd met Yuffie, I never had actually seen any of her friends from her original world. I'd always wanted to, though.

"Me!?" I gasped in mock horror. "You're the bad influence! And tell them that as soon as I can, I'll meet your group in Radiant Garden. It's kind of crazy over here. Speaking of which, how do you feel about attending a party?"

"Ooh, I love parties!" she returned excitedly.

"Good. I'll call you with the details. Bye, Yuffs!"

"Bye"

I ended the call and got up to find food. As I wandered into the kitchen, I bumped into Saїx. He handed me a sandwich, grapes, and a glass of water and then sat me down at one of the tables in the mess hall. Here came the―

"What did you learn today, Juliet?"

I knew him so well.

Shrugging, I tried to think. What had I learned today? Did I ever learn? Oh, that's right!

Grinning, I pulled the crust off my bread and answered slyly, "That the fourth root of X cubed is equal to Vexen's conception."

The second in command frowned.


So not much happened, but I'm setting the stage for what's to come. Any guesses on Juliet's past? What about Yuffie? Who is she looking for so desperately?

I'll give you a hint. Just look at what the majority of stories are XD

I also experimented with first person in Juliet's POV instead of third person. Which one do you like better?

Thank you for reading! Please review and tell me what you thought!