A/N: So sorry for the long wait! Had to wait for 4thespada-ulquiorra to finish this chapter. She's been really busy and couldn't work on it. Anywhere, hope you guys enjoy!!!

Disclaimer: We do not own Kingdom Hearts or the characters, just Lexi and Kurai.


The dark corridor closed up almost immediately after Lexi and Xigbar had stepped out into the castle, the former with her head bowed nervously. The Freeshooter had brought them to the portion of the hallway just outside of Saix's room, where said man was waiting outside with a terrifying expression. His eyes narrowed when he saw them appear, and Lexi felt her throat closing up with anxiety. He won't hurt me, he won't hurt me... he's not allowed. He won't hurt me. No matter how many times she repeated the mantra in her head it was hard to believe the words with him glaring at her in that way.

"Xigbar, thank you for fetching our little runaway for me." said Saix, never shifting his eyes away from Lexi's. "Go tell Xemnas she has returned, that should calm him down."

That was bad; if Xigbar wasn't there then there was nothing to prevent the Luna Diviner from getting brutal. "Yeesh, he's like a freakin' mother hen." Sighing impatiently, Xigbar turned over his shoulder and cast Lexi a mildly sympathetic look. "See ya later, good luck." He added after a moment's consideration before vanishing down the hall.

"Um... you wished to talk to me, Saix?" Lexi asked in a quiet voice, mentally willing the blue-haired man to stop watching her with such a piercing gaze.

For a minute or two it seemed he wouldn't say anything, but at last he spoke up, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had fallen over them. "Correct. You are aware just how much trouble your little get-away has caused this Organization, aren't you? Specifically your father, and whatever causes him trouble causes me trouble."

Lexi shrunk back nervously at his sharp tone and swallowed once or twice to clear her throat before speaking. "I-I know... It's just, I never get any time to myse-"

"That is not my concern. Whatever the reason, your departure caused a major setback; our entire day was wasted running about organizing a search for you. Not only that, but the brunt of Superior's anger was directed toward me-as if it's my job to keep you from getting in trouble." Saix no longer looked composed, and he had taken a few steps closer to Lexi-who backed up almost involuntarily. "I won't put up with this any longer! You may be Xemnas' daughter, but that does not mean you can do whatever you like! Despite what you may think you are not better than us, and certainly deserving of no special treatment! Your selfi-"

"With all due respect, I have never believed myself better than anyone else in this castle!" Lexi protested quietly, but firmly. "If anything I would prefer I received no special treatment whatsoever, all that's gotten me is alienation and a complete lack of freedom."

Saix cut off any further comments with a warning growl and narrowed his eyes, right hand clenched into a fist. "Silence! I am not interested in excuses, brat. You are not one of us, and don't you dare speak back to me as if you were. I've had enough of catering to you whenever you so much as have a bad day! Your very presence here is a sign of your selfishness- you can't be bothered to do any actual work, instead you sit around and take up our time and space while pretending to assist a goal you don't even have the need to achieve!" For a moment she was tempted to defend herself again, but the look in Saix's eyes discouraged any such actions. "And furthermore," he continued, "I can't even punish you as I would the rest of the members because 'Xemnas' little girl' is too precious to put in danger. You can't even be reprimanded properly lest we injure your fragile ego-"

"That's it. Saix, you're jealous that I have emotion, aren't you?" Almost as soon as she had said it Lexi wished she could take the sentence back. Not only would she be in more trouble now, but there was no way she could manage to get on good terms with No. VII after this.

The man clenched his jaw tight, both hands curled into fists so tight that the material on his gloves stretched unusually. "Don't insinuate anything, you presumptuous little brat. For one thing, I ordered you to be silent! For another, you may be too stupid to realize this, but as you just stated I cannot feel emotion and therefore I cannot become jealous."

"Then why are you angry?" Lexi whispered, taking another step away from the angry man. "If you can get so mad at me over something so trivial then you can most likely get jea-"

"Trivial? You call wasting my time, sitting through a lecture and unnecessary punishment, having to organize a search for some uppity brat and losing Xemnas' trust trivial?" Saix looked positively furious now; and something about him seemed to be turning almost animal. "You've never been through more hardship than a night locked up in your room, you-! Well... want to see something "trivial" do you? A few mild injuries are trivial, and since you think my ordeal was minor, I believe it's only fair you deal with your own!"

At first Lexi assumed this meant she would be locked up again, for who knows how long this time, but then she noticed the glint of red in Saix's eyes, the way he was literally baring his teeth at her, the rips in his gloves where his nails dug into them and she thought over his words. "A few mild injuries are trivial." It seemed he meant to hurt her; and if that weren't bad enough she could tell quickly that this was the "berserk" mode Axel told her about, brought on by anger, and he could will it to happen in the moonlight.

Well, that was bad.

Lexi put her hands out at her sides and froze. She couldn't summon her fans; the situation was bad enough, and if she ended up hurting Saix he would just get angrier. Hopefully he would calm down before trying to attack her, and if not then maybe someone else would walk by and get him to stop. "S-Saix, calm down, okay?"

"Shut up, you little bitch." He snarled, causing Lexi to open her eyes wider in surprise. Odd as it seemed, that was the first time anybody had sworn at her so directly-and it was not a good feeling, especially when the words weren't meant as a joke. "You've had this coming for a long time anyway."

He stepped forward again, forcing her back against the wall, and raised his fist as if he meant to strike her. She gulped, prepared to duck and get away from him the moment he moved, but before either of them could do anything a somewhat familiar voice cut them off.

"I'm not exactly sure what's going on here, but I think it's 'bout time ya stopped. Especially if this is some woman-beater thing. If it's you two being all unusual with your romance tastes then take it somewhere else, 'cause this aint exactly a private abode."

Lexi, confused, turned in the direction of the speaker-expecting to see a new member maybe, even one of those kids who had broken into C.O., but instead saw the girl from the other day. Her hair was somewhat tangled and her dressed looked like it could use a trip to the laundromat, her eyes seemed to be silver (which was different than Lexi remembered) and her axe was gone-but she seemed confident enough that she could handle herself, and Lexi, in this situation.

When Kurai caught her looking she smirked and winked, obviously amused. "Heya Cheater, how's it goin'?"

"Um... not as well as I would like, as you can probably see." The white-haired girl replied, glancing between the newcomer and Saix.

Kurai nodded, chuckling to herself. "Yeah, I figured. So, how's about it elf-boy? You gonna back away from the little girl or do you want a fight? Cause trust me, I'm good either way." Silver; that meant metal, which she had learned chose to take over when she was in the mood for a fight.

Unfortunately, the Nobody chose the first option. Looking a little dazed he shook his head once or twice as if to clear it, then turned back to the white-haired girl as if making sure she was unhurt. "Hmph. Report to me in the morning, Lexi, you'll be tracking down Xaldin's target for your next mission."

The man turned on his heel and walked down the hallway towards Kurai, who crossed her arms and returned his angry gaze defiantly. Just try it, blueberry. I'd love an excuse to kick someone's ass right about now, and you're as good as anyone. She thought, a smirk appearing on her lips when the man scoffed once more and strode away.

"Someone's not a morning person." She muttered, watching him go until a quiet *ahem* drew her attention back to the girl, Lexi.

"Um, thank you for that. I don't think he really noticed what he was doing until you came." She said, waving shyly with a look of interest in her eyes.

Kurai shrugged it off, not one for dealing with gratitude and such. "Yeah, looked like he wanted to punch your eye out though. What was all that about?"

"Oh, I caused some trouble earlier... I tried sneaking out yesterday and my father was worried." The younger girl explained, a mild look of frustration passing over her features when she mentioned her father. Chances were the two didn't like each other; that or he liked her too much and kept her on a short leash. "I know I shouldn't have, but-"

"Don't have to explain anything to me. Believe me, I'm the last person you've got to teach about annoying parents and their annoying rules." Kurai waved it off, partially because she didn't want to listen to some story. "And I'll be damned if I don't sneak out of here the second I think they're trying ta keep me locked up. I'll kick that pink-haired freak's ass for bringing me here." She clenched her fists at the thought of that "Marluxia" character and narrowed her eyes, then opened them wide again suddenly. "Which I can do now! Hah, powers are back baby!"

Lexi covered her mouth to keep from laughing at this girl's unusual behavior, though the fact that she probably would hurt Marluxia if she got the chance wasn't all that funny. "Oh, right. I'm sorry about that... I didn't think they would lock you up like that when we brought you back."

"Eh, I've had worse. Heck, the dungeons here are better than the normal rooms Maleficent had when I was working with her way back when, so it's not really a problem." Though I would like to get you back for tripping me up like that. Kurai shook her head quickly to clear thoughts like that, no use getting on the leader's bad side by beating up his daughter on her first day. "So what was he talking about back there? You're tracking some Xaldin guy...?"

"No, not Xaldin-the heartless he's been searching for." Lexi sighed, looking crestfallen for some reason. "It's supposed to be incredibly powerful, and now I have to fight it."

"So? How's that a bad thing? It's just a heartless, kick its ass and move on." The raven-haired girl "suggested", starting to walk down the hallway past Lexi. "You comin'?"

A little confused, she nodded and began to follow the other girl along. "It's not so simple, most of my attacks are dark based, and so is this heartless. My strongest moves will probably be useless."

"Hm, that is a problem. Oh well, just hit it until it drops-that usually works." Kurai grinned, ignoring the strange look she got from the half-Nobody. With a personality like hers you got used to that pretty fast.


"Come on, Lexi, let me help you out!" Axel protested, chasing after his friend as she paced back and forth in the gray room. "There's no way you can fight that thing on your own, screw Saix and his punishments. Xemnas would never let him do this if he knew anyway."

Lexi shook her head, causing her hair to flop around, and turned to face him. "I know that, but I have to show him I don't accept any special treatment, and I can't ask you to come either. Then he'll just start assuming I'm weak."

"But-" The fire sighed, obviously getting frustrated.

"Oh put a sock in it." Kurai snapped, reclining on one of the couches with her legs crossed over the back of the couch, looking up at them from her upside-down position. "She can fight if she wants, it's not like she'll die anyway. If things get bad she can pull off a weird trick like that portal thing you guys do and get out of there in no time flat."

"Yeah, yeah, I get that." He said, shooting her a nasty look which she returned immediately. The two had just met that last night, and already there was some animosity showing between the two. "But I don't think she should let Saix push her around, either. If you listen to him now he might do crap like this behind Xemnas' back again."

"Well..." Lexi considered this, running over possibilities in her head. There weren't many; it seemed like whatever she did would worsen her relationship with Saix even further, and with the way he nearly hurt her last time that was certainly a problem.

"If he tries this again I'll tell him to stop, if he doesn't care-which he probably won't-then I tell Xemnas." Roxas cut in, glancing at the others for approval.

"Sounds good." Agreed Kurai, grinning to herself. "Actually, this is perfect. Once you kill that thing you can rub it in Saix's face for awhile, too."

Lexi smiled slightly; even she would get some satisfaction about proving No. VII wrong. "Well, either way-I have to go soon or he'll get even angrier."

Axel sighed again, glaring in the Luna Diviner's direction before turning back to her. "Fine, fine. Good luck killing your giant monster."

She smiled again, amused by his grumpiness, and waved. "See you guys soon, I hope..." The others waved back, and she vanished through a portal she created.


Xaldin had told her earlier that he had tracked the heartless to some place called "Wonderland", which was where she was headed now. The name implied some interesting things, but the world was nothing like she had expected. Things were stuck to walls, upside down, 2D, the doorknob spoke, the tables were huge and the two bottles on top appeared to cause people to shrink and grow depending on which you drank.

"Um... hello? Is anyone there...? I'm looking for a heartless? It's really big...?" Lexi sighed and shook her head again. There was no real point in calling out, but she had harbored some minor hope that the Invisible would appear if she made some noise. Xaldin had claimed it was a rather violent enemy, but it was either in a different room or she needed a batter plan.

While she was considering this, Lexi caught the sound of something moving very quickly through the air behind her, and out of instinct jumped to her side swiftly, spinning around as soon as she had her footing again. Oops... guess it found me. She though, staring in surprise at the floating opponent before her, and more specifically the giant sword in its hands, which it was already moving to attack with again. Thinking fast, Lexi waited for the move before swinging her fans as if to block, then releasing one so that it flew towards the Invisible while she dove to the ground and rolled forward to avoid being hit.

The heartless flew with surprising speed to the side, dodging the fan entirely, so she used her element to pull it back to her, though the weapon missed hitting her target on its way back as well. She prepared to summon a few weak heartless that she could control to assist her, but the Invisible had different ideas. It swung its sword again, this time launching a shockwave in her direction, which she attempted to block with her fans. Fortunately Lexi avoided damage, though the force did push her back and left her vulnerable to the next attack directed at her. Luckily she was fast on her feet, but even with her quick dodging skills the heartless managed to "clip" her with the sword. The attack had a lot of power behind it and nearly launched her off her feet, as it was she barely managed to roll away before the next attack hit her.

Lexi took a deep breath, trying to lower her adrenaline level so she could think up a battle strategy as she ducked and dodged her way around the room, narrowly missing attacks. Once or twice she attempted to strike back, but her fans were too slow and as far as she could see her shadow attacks did almost nothing to weaken the Invisible.

The heartless launched a shockwave again, and this time she dove out of the way rather than block, though the slick floor unbalanced her, and she was left completely open to a follow-up attack. Once again the thing swung its sword, and despite her best efforts Lexi was thrown back into the wall, a stinging pain radiating from her stomach.

Some good did come of the attack, however, and she noticed that her fans had fallen on the ground near the Invisible when it struck her. The heartless flew at her again, so she took advantage of its distraction and controlled the fans so that they flew at her enemy, slashing its back diagonally. The heartless staggered, though it didn't turn around as if expecting another opponent, and by the time Lexi had composed herself it was after her again.

This is hopeless... if it were any other kind of heartless I could defeat it easily, but in this situation... She thought, desperately ducking and dodging. The further things got the worst they seemed, and she was about to open a portal to escape when the Invisible was suddenly knocked to the floor, struck hard by an incredibly dark sword.

"Wh-what?" Lexi looked around, expecting someone from Wonderland may have heard the battle. It didn't seem to be the case, for instead Riku came up behind her, the sword that had attacked the heartless in hand.

He smiled at her, the same secretive smile as the one from back in the alley, and offered her a hand. "Thought I'd see you again. You're not hurt, are you?"

"Not really... Riku, where did you-?" She began, taking his hand gratefully, but he cut her off.

"Later. For now let's focus on keeping you alive while we kill this thing." The silver-haired boy had taken a battle stance, somewhat protectively Lexi noticed, next to her. "I just wish I'd come sooner, you look hurt."

Confused, but happy, Lexi shook her head. "N-no, it's fine." With a small smile she got into a stance of her own. Just having you here is enough, like a mysterious guardian angel.


"No excuses, No. VII!" Xemnas' voice was incredibly loud when he was angry, and some of the members literally winced when he shouted in the large "throne" room they all apparently met in. "It is not your duty to punish my daughter! Your choice was incredibly foolish, do you know what could happen to her out there?!"

Kurai whistled under her breath, grinning broadly as she looked up (only the members were on chairs, she had to stand on the ground far below) and saw Saix's look of frustration. "Sir, I had to do something, and she seemed a logical choice to take down the target!" The blue-haired man was protesting.

But Xemnas wouldn't hear excuses. "Why? Because the elemental powers of the two conflict and you were hoping my daughter would get herself killed?" He accused, orange eyes flashing dangerously. "I want you to go and fetch her immediately, Saix, and-"

Whatever he had planned to say was cut off by the sound of Kurai loudly clearing her throat, distracting them from the argument. "Hey there, how's it goin'? Now, if you're done with your big angry man power-trip, how about you think for a moment. Saix here'll probably end up hurting your daughter more than helping if you send him, especially after he's being scolded again," Saix opened his mouth to protest, but the tall girl continued on before he got the chance, "so he's most definitely a bad idea."

"Saix is one of my more powerful members, and no matter what you seem to believe he would do I know my daughter would be safe should he protect her." The leader snapped coldly, glaring with intense dislike at his former prisoner who had, in his opinion, gotten far too comfortable far too quickly.

Kurai shrugged and waved off the words. "Yeah, whatever you say "Superior". How about this, you give me back my axe and I go help 'er out." A few of the members scoffed at this, and someone even shouted a protest at the thought of her getting a weapon back so soon, but she ignored them. "Hey, you should be interested in how tough your little weapon is anyway, if I'm fighting for you you gotta let me fight. Besides, I'm strong, and I can release hearts from things like this." Seeing Xemnas wasn't going to protest again, the girl continued eagerly, unaware that Lexi's savior had already reached her. "How's that sound to you? I go save your daughter and you let me out on a longer leash. Come on, I'll be your loyal little mutt if ya want. Need me to bark or somethin'?"

The tall man watched her for a moment, considering. He must have seen something he liked behind her fiery eyes and confident stance, because he eventually nodded and turned to Marluxia. "No. XI, return the axe to this girl." The pink haired man nodded reluctantly and vanished, probably to find Kurai's axe, while Xemnas turned back to her with something close to hope in his eyes. "Protect my daughter, girl, and I'll remove your collar."

Kurai grinned, deciphering the metaphor quickly, eyes flashing silver once more. "You got yourself a deal, big guy."


A/N: Well thats it for now!! Please review and let us know what you think!!!^_^