Warnings: The same ones that have been in all of these things.

Pairings: Established Roxas/Namine, Established Sora/Kairi, One-Sided (Though reciprocated hate) Larxene/Naminé, Implied One-Sided (Possibly Non-Consensual) Axel/Saix, innuendo all over the place.

Unravel the Heart

Chapter 4: Countdown

Essence ~ ecnessE

Vexen bustled about busily in his not-so-secret laboratory, deep within the bowels of the Castle That Never Was. Of course, as the castle was floating above a pit of Nothingness, it had not initially had any bowels. Vexen had later added them, because he wanted to say that his lab was in the bowels of the castle, and one needed to have bowels in their castle for that. But I digress.

When the members of the Organization (sans Luxord, as no one had seen neither hide nor hair of him since before this whole fiasco began) returned home to the Castle, Xemnas did not seem any different to them compared to how he was before they left. He was just the same, boring, depressing old Xemnas, moping around the castle, trying to stare at the wall until it surrendered to his will (it did), and sighing a lot.

But Marluxia (who had not returned to the Castle, for fear of making Xemnas suspicious) assured them all that it was all just an act. Xemnas was certainly evil as evil could be, and was just trying to lull them into a false state of security so that he could rape them.

Or so Marluxia said.

After the return trip home, the members all went their separate ways, just as had been planned. Xigbar, Xaldin, and Marluxia had all set off to search the worlds for the fabled Kingdom Cards DiZ had spoken of. Lexaeus had stayed behind at the castle to "Keep Xemnas company", but in reality was watching him very closely. Larxene, Saïx, Axel and Demyx had each set out to exterminate those strange new Heartless that had been appearing all over the worlds, just as hypothesized, each of them accompanied by a light-bearer to exterminate them.

Finally, Zexion had wandered off to attempt to spy on Zero, sending information back to Vexen. As for Vexen, he was, as has been stated, in his lab, in the bowels of the castle, furiously performing any experiments his scientific mind could concoct in an effort to deduce what exactly Zero was.

"I don't understand it! All results, inconclusive. All tests, meaningless! All data, yielding nothing! At this rate, we'll be fighting blind!" Vexen bitched loudly, pounding his fist against the control console of one of his computers. Nearby, several lab-coat-clad Nobodies scurried about, mimicking their master by knocking things over in a fit of bitchy rage. "Would you all stop that!" he screeched, causing the Nobodies to screech as well, but they obeyed and stopped knocking things over.

Vexen brought two fingers to the bridge of his nose, massaging gently in an effort to forget his sorrows. "There must be something. Something crucial I am missing. But what?"

Anxiously, he strode over to a nearby work table, where one of Zexion's pages was laid face-up, waiting to be read. Vexen looked it over, checking to see if there was anything new to be seen, scowling irritably when his search proved fruitless. His fingers quickly shot out to an uncapped pen laying nearby, plucking it up and scribbling a near illegible note onto the page in their impatient irritation. A moment later, the scientist slammed the pen back onto the table as he watched his note disappear into the page, leaving it blank once more, before he turned to return to his computers, prepared to engage in what was probably going to be another fruitless hour of research.

Spider Tower

Zexion sighed in irritation as he fished through his cloak with a look of bitterness on his face. He was currently seated lazily on the branch of a tree, nearly bowed over with time, enjoying the soft rays of sunlight that cascaded easily from the dimming sky above. Really, this island was a lovely place, once you weren't stranded there anymore. Zexion had discovered with notable interest that after the group had managed to escape its shores days beforehand, there seemed to no longer be any traces of that odd block on the Corridors of Darkness.

Zexion had followed the scent of Zero that he had committed to memory, only to find himself back on these shores, which was more or less unsurprising. He had been apprehensive at first, but it was soon noted that the Corridors of Darkness seemed to be functioning here just fine, leading him to wonder at why no one had been able to call upon them before DiZ's timely rescue.

Putting his distrust of DiZ out of mind, he resumed his half-hearted search, finally pulling a crumpled piece of paper from his cloak and furrowing his brow at the sent that covered it all over. For a moment, he considered tossing it aside and ignoring what was surely a cavalcade of bitchery, but decided against it after remembering what his job here was, and carefully uncrumpled the ball. The parchment seemed to magically straighten and unwrinkled itself as he did so, returning to the proper, clean shape of a freshly torn page from Zexion's great book. As predicted, the Cloaked Schemer found a mess of angry chicken scratch littering the page, making all sorts of demands for information and urging him to hurry in his work, yadda yadda, bitch bitch bitch. After he had finished reading it, the ink proceeded to fade away.

Zexion then pulled an elegant feather quill from one of his sleeves and, very neatly, scrawled a response to Vexen, something along the lines of "It takes time, shut up and stop your bitching.", except with a much more sophisticated choice of rhetoric.

Finished with his reply, his fingers moved to crush the page into a small ball once again, stuffing it away so that he could put it out of mind while he returned to focusing on his task. All around him, several more pages floated about, orbiting in an easy fashion with Zexion as their focal point, like several small planets circling a sun. Each of these pages depicted various images – small cameras, one might say – of winding corridors and overlarge grand halls.

After a good few hours of searching and sniffing when he had first arrived, Zexion had managed to locate where Zero seemed to be staying. Some forgotten, underground castle of unknown make or purpose laced with ton after ton of stonework and lined with torches. It was certainly a primitive affair, nothing Zexion would have expected of some notorious villain. After all, Xemnas had built a Castle of immaculate proportions for the Organization, and they were the best villains evar.

Unfortunately, despite successfully finding the man's residence, and spying on him for several days now with his myriad of Paper spies he had managed to sneak into the Castle, there had been next to nothing that was really learned about the man. All he seemed to do was pace about the halls endlessly, muttering under his breath about nothing, and occasionally indulging in a nice sit. Then he would abruptly leave through a corridor, and return some time later. If the schemer had any inkling as to where he was always departing to, he might be better off in the spying department. But for now, it seemed as though nothing was to be gained from simply watching him.

This, of course, was problematic, what with the Bitchy Academic constantly bothering him every hour for more data. Zexion was beginning to wish he had volunteered for field work instead. "It seems there's only one course of action I can take at this point." He murmured to himself. The only things Zero ever seemed to say were unintelligible mutterings – too low and quiet for Zexion to ever understand them. The only thing to do now was to infiltrate the castle himself and spy on Zero directly, perhaps even follow him to wherever he was always running off to.

Collecting his floating page-monitors, he stood and took a languid stretch, preparing for the unsavory task of exerting effort.

Xanatos Speed Chess

"Hurry the fuck up before I slap you."

Naminé rolled her eyes and glared at nothing in particular as she cast a Holy barrage at a mass of black mist that was attempting to reform itself before her. After the flash of devastation, the mist was gone and the girl dropped her rigid posture, closing her tome with a resounding smack before rounding on her partner. "You slap me and I will end you." She threatened.

Larxene just laughed, placing a mocking hand on her hip. "Uh-huh. Yeah. No, no, I believe you, really. Those full pouty lips and adorable blue eyes are the most threatening thing I've ever seen."

Naminé just scoffed and turned away from the woman. "Why the hell did I have to get paired with you of all people?" she asked of either Larxene or perhaps fate. Probably fate.

Larxene shrugged. "Sora was probably too scared of me, Roxas wouldn't work with anyone other than Axel or Saïx, and Kairi wanted to pamper Demyx. So that left you stuck with little ol' me."

"There's nothing little about you. Old, maybe." Naminé retorted with a grin as she made to walk away.

However, one does not insult Larxene like that and get off scott free. Naminé very quickly found that her left arm was severed and laying on the floor next to her, crackling with electricity. Her eyes widened in surprise, and then horrific pain as it all came crashing into her a moment later.

"WHAT THE FUCK YOU WHORE BAG BISCUIT QUEEN!" she shouted loudly, frantically jumping around and howling with uncontained misery at the feelings on her left shoulder stump.

Larxene had already put her knives away, however, and was leaning casually against a nearby wall, glancing over her nails. "That's kinda what ends up happening when you call me old. You're lucky you aren't a guy, or I would have castrated you." As she looked up and stared at Naminé, still jumping around in evident distress, she just sighed and rolled her eyes. "Oh, get a hold of yourself. I know you can fix one severed arm, heathen girl."

Larxene's words seemed to remind Naminé of the black magic she had obtained in some contract with the devil or something (it's never really been made clear where she got that Heathen Tome), and managed to stop her panicked leaping and howling long enough to open the book in her good arm (you know, the one that wasn't cut off) and chant a quick spell. Moments later, her dead, dismembered arm had magically attached itself back onto her amidst some mysterious evil cackling in the distance. It was probably good to ignore that. After all, what was to be afraid of from fine print on a devil contract?

"Ya done? Good. Now come on, we have more of those Heartless to go kill." Larxene ordered, getting up from her lean and walking casually down the streets of Twilight Town, where she and her partner were currently stationed, eliminating those feral Heartless that had been cropping up.

However, Naminé didn't seem quite so prepared to just let Larxene off the hook that easily. She took a rigid stance and opened her tome wide, readying her now-restored arm to cast some evil magic at Larxene. Larxene seemed to sense the impending attack and turned to face her, summoning her knives immediately as she gave Naminé a bemused smile. "Oh? You want to fight me, now?"

"You're the biggest bitch I've ever met. Like, seriously. No one could ever be a bigger bitch than you. Not even bitchy Vexen, with all his incessant bitching, could possibly tip the scales of bitchdom to the point where he outbitched you, for the sheer level of your bitchiness is so intensely bitchy, that if you transformed all that bitchy into a curse word, Satan himself would appear in corporeal form and tell you never to say that word again."

Larxene's face adopted one of mild surprise. Not insult, but maybe a tiny bit of respect. "That was actually a pretty well thought-out run-on insult. Nice work."

"Thanks."

"So, are we gonna fight or something?"

"I would like to, yes."

However, just as the two blond rivals were about to attack one another, a resounding roar filled the air, and their attention was drawn to the rather large and imposing figure of one of the Heartless they had been tasked with exterminating. Except unlike the groups they had been dealing with over the course of the last several days, this particular creature was enormous.

"Oh, hey, look at that. That's got to be almost as large as the clock tower, huh?"

"Hm. Maybe. Not sure." Naminé replied thoughtfully, whipping out her sketch pad (which she actually kept inside her Heathen Tome) and quickly making a rough drawing of what she could see of the monster before tucking it away. "So I guess we should probably engage it in some epic battle, right?"

"That seems like the sort of thing one might do in this situation. We can fight later. Or just have sex. Your call."

"I'm not having sex with you."

"Your loss."

NeEdLeSs ClIfFhAnGeR

Marluxia stood on an unknown hilltop, in an unknown place, trying to look very mysterious as a well-timed wind blew past him, billowing his hair and causing a really cool, dramatic effect as the camera zoomed in on his face, looking very serious. He was obviously being Marluxious right now. In his hand, nestled gently between his thumb and two foremost fingers, he stared at the Kingdom Card DiZ had offered them, the one identified as the Number 00. Surely, that had to be significant, considering that they were dealing with a man named Zero, but Vexen had, for whatever reason, opted not to pry his nosy little face into it yet.

"Why…" he asked the empty air, staring at the card and pondering his own existence, or non-existence, if you choose to see it that way. "I was a dead man. This Zero… he is an enemy, surely, and yet he resurrected me. He clearly has something in mind for me… but what?" Marluxious lamented his lack of understanding for this convoluted situation he was in, quickly losing track of established facts and canon. "Well know this, Zero. I am not merely some tool for your schemes. I'll ascertain the truth of your purposes, and with my own hands will I bring you retribution."

Finishing his solemn vow to himself, he turned his gaze skyward, just as another convenient wind blew dramatically past him, a dancing spiral of flower petals swirling hither and thither about him and careening into the air in a brilliant, multi-colored whorl, the camera panning to follow their waltz skyward.

"Okay! That's fantastic, Leroy!" Marluxia shouted happily, turning to face the screen. The camera then stopped recording as several members of a film crew began bustling about the set, some stopping to check on Marluxia's makeup, others checking the lighting.

A man wearing a shirt that read "Director" approached him, a pair of headphones thrown over his neck. "You sure? Because we've got enough reel for another take."

"No, no, it's fine honey. Fabulous, even." Marluxia assured him, grinning widely. "Thanks Leroy, you guys are like, the best~!"

Leroy smiled. "Marluxia, baby, you know you always got yo personal film crew to handle yo business." He laughed, pulling the feminine manwoman into a hug.

Marluxia playfully smacked his shoulder, giggling like a schoolgirl. "Oh, stop! So, how much do I owe you for this one?"

Leroy shook his head and smiled. "It's on me, Flower Power. My resurrection gift to you. Good to see you back on yo feet, ya know, after the whole you dying thing."

"Yeah, yeah, that Xemnas is a total betch."

"I'll bet! So if that'll be all, me and the crew are gonna head out. We'll edit the footage and send it to ya later, eh?"

"You got it, Leroy! Oh hey, do you think you'll be important to the story later?"

"Eh, maybe. But I'ma be honest, I'm probably just a minor throwaway character, ya know? Probably gonna go out in some blaze of glory that helps you's guys in some way while simultaneously killing me and the entire film crew off, possibly with the result of you swearing revenge for our lost lives, capiche?"

"Oh, yeah, totally, I totally get you."

"Alright, later baby!"

And with that, Leroy and his film crew left, satisfied at having captured Marluxia's dramatic moment on film, and left the Graceful Assassin to once again ponder to himself.

"Oh, shet. I should like, be looking for the cards and stuff." Marluxia 'tsk'd himself as he shook his head, removing one of his gloves and applying some nail polish he pulled from no discernable location. "I just get so scatter-brained sometimes…"

A moment of polish application later, Marluxia had once again become Marluxious, and was prepared to end this little filler segment and resume his search for more Kingdom Cards.

Keep It Goin'

Xigbar had his hands rather full at the moment. Full of guns. Because he was shooting things. Namely, the things he was shooting were little green fish people with harpoons and magical powers, which were surrounding him in swarms, bearing their tiny little teeth and chucking harpoons as if they thought he was some gigantic white whale. Or Cher.

He avoided these harpoons by virtue of his teleporting about the area, but it was beginning to get annoying, dealing with these creatures. Thanks to Vexen's witchcraft, or magic, or voodoo, or whatever (he called it 'Science'), the academic had been able to craft a loose sort of radar, which could track down Kingdom Cards based on the signature of the one they had already obtained. The whole thing reminded Xigbar of this anime he had seen once, about a dragon and a bunch of people with ridiculous hair.

In any case, he and Xaldin had followed a signal to this god-forsaken, nearly-abandoned world that was covered in water. And lurking beneath the water's surface were a myriad of horrible sea creatures, the like of which were often described in science fiction novels, as well as these short, green, fish people, who were now attacking the duo in evident defense. After all, according to the radar, a Kingdom Card was just nearby, and probably inside the glowing, green underwater fortress that the fish people had started pouring out from.

Nearby, Xaldin parried several of the spear blows, surrounded in a spherical wall of air that kept him dry, as well as breathing. Xigbar preferred to just alter the space around him so that he could move freely and have oxygen readily available. "Man, these things seem endless." He complained as he sniped off a good six more of them. "How are we supposed to get at the card if they won't all just die already?"

Xaldin grunted. "We could just press past them, but it may be a tad reckless to leave them alive and behind us."

"Well, how about this, then." Xigbar suggested, cocking a smirk as he joined his guns together, firing several large arrows through a throng of the creatures. "Why don't I just go on ahead past this bunch, and you just watch my back? I can probably get in and out quick enough like that."

Xaldin nodded as several of his dreadlocks brandished an assortment of bladed weaponry they had inexplicably acquired. "That seems like a splendid idea."

Needing no further encouragement, Xigbar proceeded to perform a series of short-distance warps, drawing ever closer to the structure up ahead and passing the army of sea people. Xaldin complimented his unexpected evasive maneuver with a flurry of dance-like movements, capitalizing on his adversaries' confusion by directing his long and short weapons in a concerto of deadly spirals, bifurcating several of the masses of sea men (you may giggle now) and maiming a raft more.

Xigbar found himself within the entryway to the structure soon enough, where more fish men were on their way to provide backup. "Man, these things must multiply like rabbits if they're still coming." he sighed to himself, firing into their numbers casually as he paced down the hallway. "Oh well. I can cut them off here. You buckos are in my territory now." he talked aloud, not knowing or caring if any of them could even understand him, as he rained death upon their numbers, twisting hallways and repositioning corridors to further disorient them. "Now, where are you guys keeping that card…?"

Outside, Xaldin had found that Xigbar was no longer within his line of sight. Lovely. So long as there's no fear of splashing an ally with friendly fire… His lances were called back from their current tasks of skewering enemies, positioning themselves beneath Xaldin while his dreadlocks simultaneously tossed their assortment of knives and other such objects. Xaldin smiled as he realized that their numbers were finally starting to thin, no doubt as a result of Xigbar now being inside. The lancer moved forward, riding upon his lances as if they were some sort of glorified skateboard. The weapons started linking themselves to one another, taking a snake-like shape as the foremost group arranged themselves into a head of sorts, a large ball of air taking shape in the mouth.

"Wear the face of despair." Xaldin instructed of his foes, a satisfied smile on his face as the ball of wind exploded outward into a huge tornado, mingling with the water of the surrounding ocean as it drew its unfortunate victims in like a projectile whirlpool, sweeping the area to ensure that none were left behind. Xaldin allowed his raging underwater storm to linger for a while before finally releasing it, beholding with a satisfied smirk as the now lifeless bodies of his foes were scattered about to the water, floating silently.

To be honest, he and Xigbar were the invaders here. The creatures had every right to attack them. And what's worse, the Nobodies had come to not only invade, but steal. And now they were murdering them in mass numbers. Any way you looked at it, Xaldin and Xigbar were being kinda evil.

But hey, what Sora didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

Inside the undersea structure, Xigbar had finished killing off a large number of what was apparently more guards, not able to comprehend that he was already inside in their haste to defend their home. Their numbers finally seemed to stop pouring in after a while, and the Freeshooter released a sigh of relief that he could finally take a breather. Reaching into one of his pockets, he pulled out the card-shaped radar that Vexen had whipped up, noting that it indicated a signal that was rather nearby, although apparently with several physical obstructions blocking the otherwise straightforward path. Xigbar guessed they must be walls.

Not wanting to waste his time navigating hallways, the man simply shrugged his shoulders, tucked the radar away, and focused on the wall in front of him, visualizing all the walls that would lay beyond it, and after this brief moment of focus, the walls were warped about, bent away through spatial manipulation, until Xigbar had a nice, round tunnel to traverse through. With his good eye, he could see a faint glimmer at the end of that tunnel, and chuckled at the idea that these fish men may be seeing the same thing, in a different respect.

It didn't take him long to get through his self-made tunnel, and he soon stood in a large room of octagonal shape. Just ahead of him was a large, transparent, glowing yellow wall. In fact, several of them were present, arranged in a similar octagonal shape around what appeared to be some sort of pedestal. Xigbar couldn't quite make it out, but he didn't have to guess regarding what the pedestal must have contained. Catching his attention secondly was another fish person – one that appeared significantly more demure in comparison to the ones Xigbar had been killing. Its fins were even arranged in a sort of skirt-like fashion, and its head was rather elongated. He guessed it must be female.

She looked up from where she was standing, rather calmly, and stared at Xigbar, her small black eyes never breaking contact with the gunman's single yellow one.

"Why have you come here?"

Xigbar was startled to hear the voice, but only momentarily. Zexion had mentioned this sort of thing to him before – telepathic communication. Apparently there were a lot of strange creatures out there who could utilize it to communicate where communication was normally not possible. Like now, for example.

Xigbar stared back at her for a moment before simply shrugging. "I need what you've got there," he explained, pointing behind the walls, which he assumed to be a barrier. "But your guys tried to rough me up about it. Wasn't about to just let 'em."

The fish woman was quiet for a moment, as if trying to absorb the short amount that Xigbar had said, before nodding. "This is our home, and you, an invader. It was only natural for us to react offensively. Furthermore, the item kept within these barriers is sacred to us."

Xigbar sighed, shouldering one of his guns as he rested his other gun-bearing hand against his hip. So it was one of these types of things. Figures. "Look, little lady. It doesn't matter to me what that thing means to you. We gotta have it, see? Because if we don't, you can bet that someone else is gonna be along for it instead. And if this guy gets it, something a lot worse than what has happened here already is liable to happen in the future. You got that?"

Again there was a pause. Perhaps she needed time to arrange what he had said into something she could understand, who knew? But after a moment, her small eyes seemed to change somewhat as her shoulders slackened. "I won't stop you. I couldn't even if I wanted to. But I'll warn you now, it's meaningless to try and take it." She looked up then, turning behind her to gaze upon the barrier. "This place is not where those with hearts of darkness may enter. If your heart possesses even a speck of the darkness… this barrier will not yield to you. Nothing you do will change that."

Xigbar chuckled dryly to himself. How ironic this was. Shaking his head, he didn't bother responding this time as he loped forward, walking right into the barrier without hesitation. As expected, he passed easily through, finding himself on the other end without incident. As he had presumed, the pedestal before him had a small, golden object laying flat down against it. A heart was engraved into it, and as he plucked the item up to view the other side, he could see the same design that decorated the previous card the Organization had obtained, except that this one bore the number "08".

Turning around, he could see the fish girl standing on the opposite side of the barrier, her black eyes wide enough that Xigbar could recognize that they were, in fact, wide, rather than small. She must have been surprised. He stepped back through the barrier and proceeded toward the exit that he had made, when a screech filled the air. Spinning on his heel, he saw the girl running at him, a spear brandished in one hand as she made to stab him with it, a look of desperation (or what Xigbar likened to desperation) present on her features.

Thinking on reaction, the gunner swiftly brought up one of his weapons and pulled the trigger, firing an arrow into the girl's head. The screech died down and she fell back, limp, onto the floor. Xigbar shook his head again, closing his eye. "I try to make it my policy not to kill women or children who don't know how to fight." he muttered, walking over to her and looking upon her now lifeless body. "You shouldn't have snuck up on me, sweet cheeks. I'd feel worse about it, but really…" he held up the card he had just obtained in one hand, releasing a light, bitter laugh. "But I ain't got a heart to feel with."

Tucking the gold object away, he turned to leave. It was time he and Xaldin got out of this place.

Naïveté

Vexen grinned in what was surely a pedophilic manner as his eyes swiftly scanned his computers and his fingers drummed away at his keyboards. Yes, yes, yes…! This was a breakthrough, an amazing find, just what he had been looking for!

Zexion had managed to infiltrate the area where Zero was supposedly lurking, using his abilities to hide himself and discreetly follow Zero about. He had then returned his findings to Vexen, such as snippets of monologue, actions, trips, and even a few DNA samples! He had given Vexen precisely what he needed, and through careful analyzation, the Chilly Academic was literally keystrokes away from determining what sort of entity Zero was, and possibly would gain an understanding of what he was after.

A few moments passed, and Vexen seemed to be momentarily stunned at the conclusive results he was seeing before him. "Truly? He was… of course, of course! That makes perfect sense! And that would explain why he needs the cards! Haha! After all, what can such a piteous thing such as he do otherwise?"

"Having fun?"

Vexen's laughs of self-praise and his revelry in his own genius came to a sudden halt at the sound of the voice that echoed through his laboratory. Slowly, he turned to face the intruder, whom he already knew to be. He would not forget that voice. "And what, pray tell, are you doing here?"

The thin – almost emaciated – man did not seem fazed, or bothered at all. He simply regarded Vexen with a lazy lean and that typical smirk he had already come to be known for. His curtain of dark brown hair fell into its typical place, just over his right eye as he seemed to size up the academic. "You and Zexion are both rather brilliant men, did you know that? Between the two of you, you've managed to learn quite a bit from just a little. But you both have your faults, hm? You, for example, are easily blinded by your pride and pre-set ideals. Not to mention you're stubborn and inflexible, and fail to believe someone else could possibly operate on your level."

"Be quiet!" Vexen snapped at him, signaling several of his Nobody servants to surround the intruder. "You have quite the gall coming here, into unfamiliar territory, and thinking you can possibly leave unscathed, you petty husk. You are less of a nothing than even we nothings are."

Zero seemed to completely ignore him, however, resuming his monologue as though nothing had happened. "And Zexion, my, what a worthy adversary he could be. But he is plagued by a rather bad habit – he becomes far too short-sighted once he's calculated a victory. He dropped his guard far too easily back when he battled Riku in Castle Oblivion, simply because he outright assumed he had won without waiting for the final result. And today, he dropped his guard far too quickly as well. Just as he was departing, he didn't do the most… admirable job of cleaning up after himself, as he must have assumed I was about to leave. I did have a Corridor open, ready for transport you see, but just before I was prepared to depart, I happened to catch a certain whiff. Yes, Zexion must have assumed I'd be gone when he made his exit. So he didn't think I'd notice he was there. But what he seems to have forgotten, or perhaps he was woefully uninformed by his own comrades, is that I can perform the same things he can."

The man finished his speech with a leer at Vexen. The scientists eyes widened in realization as he spun around to face Zero once again, barely summoning his shield in time to block an incoming assault from the man's Keyblade. Behind the struggling duo, the Zero that had been speaking to Vexen vanished without a trace.

"An illusion…" Vexen grunted, trying to break contact with his aggressor.

"Indeed. I can use them just as well as he can, and as such, can recognize them just as easily when they aren't properly cleaned up. That's how I knew he had been spying on me. And that's also how I knew…" he summoned another blade in his free hand, swinging it horizontally. "That he would have sent his information to you."

Vexen pressed forward on his shield, releasing it and letting it float independently as he leaped backward, avoiding the incoming second swing. His shield then pulled back from the contact, floating warily in front of him as he regained his footing. Behind him, his Nobodies were regrouping, their lab coats billowing with prepared ice spells. "It changes nothing! I know what you are, and soon the others will too. You cannot win, you pathetic little disease. Soon you will be scattered back to where you belong."

"Or so you would think. But alas, Zexion is not the sort of mind you are. He won't deduce the same conclusion as you did, even though he has the information. As such, as long as I dispose of you," he smirked, noting the slight look of fear on Vexen's face. "I really have nothing to worry about. I can handle Zexion later, in due time. But for now, think to yourself; you all could barely handle me fighting as a group before. What chance do you think you stand fighting me alone, Four?"

The Academic Nobodies fired their spells then, intent on freezing the man where he stood, but the spells only made contact with a wall of flame, which began to advance toward the group. Behind the wall, Zero only laughed as he leaned forward on one of his Keyblades, resting his chin upon it, while his other hand raised his second blade and pointed it at Vexen's myriad computers. Before the scientist could react to stop him, a blast of electricity was fired through the blade, making contact with the group of machinery and causing a large explosion. The wall of flames also consumed nearby desks and paper items, including the enchanted page Zexion had sent Vexen, detailing the information he had obtained.

"That should handle all the records of what you've found out. So now that just leaves you." Zero stated, standing up straight and preparing both his blades for battle.

Vexen was livid with fury at the destruction his lab was enduring, the data loss he had just suffered, everything he had poured his knowledge over… gritting his teeth, his eyes wide, he waved a hand in a large, arcing motion, causing several augers of ice to appear where the flames stood, stifling them instantly. He then snapped his fingers, shattering the augers and sending several chunks toward Zero while simultaneously releasing several showers of icicles as well.

Zero swung his blades about, coated in flames, to intercept and render the projectiles useless, but was not quite prepared for the surprising physical attack which struck him. Vexen had rushed forward in an uncharacteristically savage move, brandishing his shield and bludgeoning Zero soundly with it. The dual-wielder sustained several blows to his body before opening his arms wide and allowing the next attack to hit, watching pleasantly as it passed right through him, just as several previous attacks had.

Vexen growled under his breath as his shield made contact with the hard ground, the clang resounding about the room. Looking up, he could see Zero preparing to swing down upon him, but the scientist quickly raised his free palm and released a gust of icy wind, freezing the man's arms in mid swing just long enough for Vexen to move away, before the flimsy ice quickly shattered.

Zero made a show of casually dusting off the ice on his coat, as if it were snow from some gentle storm. "So Vexen, you want to try and get physical?" he asked. "Well I'm sorry, but I don't swing that way. Flattered, though." He added, laughing at the increased amount of visible anger adorning the Bitchy Academic's face. "But as for physical combat… allow me to demonstrate how it is truly done." A slightly maniacal tone took Zero's voice at this, as the hair on his head began to rise. "Did you know, Vexen… that it is a full moon tonight?"

Vexen balked in surprise as understanding hit him all too late. Surrounded in an impressive aura, his Keyblades flaring out to twice their original size, a Moon-charged Zero rushed toward him faster than he was quite prepared for. And as he raised his shield up in a last-minute act of defense, he was not at all surprised to find that, without any energy placed into the shield (the scientist was far too surprised to have made a conscious effort at it), it easily shattered beneath the oppressive force of Zero's swing.

The Keyblade crushed through the Frozen Pride, destroying it as if it were a block of ice, and continued its downward warpath, wrapped in a furious glow as it cleaved into Vexen's body. The light ripped into the Nobody's flesh, exposing no blood or innards, but simply an empty chasm. Vexen's body was ripped asunder, and as he began to fade almost instantly, all that was exposed of his insides was an abyss of nothingness, which the darkness greedily swallowed up.

Just before the last of the scientist's thoughts were taken by the darkness, one notion remained clear in his mind.

Fucking Axel…

Transience

Lexaeus did not know what to make of what he was now seeing. It was all quite a bit to take in at once. The laboratory was in ruins – all around, objects were on fire, or buzzing with stray electricity, or wrecked beyond recognition, with busted walls and destroyed furniture littering the place. It was also crawling with the Heartless. Among their number was a particularly large one, of the same variety that had been plaguing them for days. He watched in morbid fascination as it looked up at him from its current task, chewing on one of Vexen's Academic Nobodies, slowly, gnashing the slowly-fading body with pearly white fangs that stood out against its vascular, black-colored body.

After staring at Lexaeus for a moment, it ceased its chewing and proceeded to swallow the remainder of the Nobody, turning its full attention on the orange-haired man with its glowing, beady eyes and a long, salivating tongue.

Loss

Larxene leaned against the brick wall of a nearby building, in the midst of an alleyway, breathing heavily. Much of her robe was ripped and torn all over, and she had several scrapes and cuts lining her body. Naminé stood nearby, taking deep breaths as well as she clutched her Heathen Tome, her dress also ripped a tad, but not to such a degree as Larxene's.

"Tough little bastards." Larxene commented. "Still didn't stand a chance though."

"Don't be stupid." Naminé reprimanded her, glaring. "We barely got out of that one alive. We could have killed them a little more efficiently if you didn't keep destroying them when I'm not around to exterminate them before they can reform!"

"When I see an enemy, I kill it. It's not my job to make sure you get rid of them."

"But you still need me! And if I don't hit them with the light when they're vulnerable, they'll keep coming back and this sort of thing will keep happening!"

"Would you stop your complaining? We won, god." Larxene was not in the mood for Naminé's lectures; in fact, had she not been a tad worn out from the battle with that giant Heartless, which ended up being a battle with tons of them, she would have stabbed Naminé for her words.

"We won, barely!" Naminé corrected. "But still…" she trailed off, staring at her feet. It wasn't just that Larxene was irresponsible at handling them. They seemed to be getting… stronger. Harder to kill. More deadly. Smarter, even.

However, before she could voice that concern, Larxene had shoved her head into a nearby blender. Because no matter whom you are or where you are, a blender is surely always within short reach.

"Hate to interrupt this little catfight, ladies," came the voice of a rather cocky gunman. "But it's meeting time."

Looking up from her current endeavor in tormenting Naminé, Larxene stared at Xigbar's sudden appearance in the alleyway with a look that clearly said 'Leave me the fuck alone, I'm about to knock this girl unconscious and then rape her maybe.'

Xigbar ignored this look, and returned it with one that said 'As if.'

Some time later, a small group had been assembled in front of the Clock Tower, comprised of the groups who had been sent to dispatch Heartless (Roxas had immediately started doting over Naminé and protecting her from Larxene and her evil, rapey ways), as well as Xigbar, Xaldin, and Lexaeus.

"Well, to start things off, we could not locate Marluxia, and Zexion sent word that he is unable to attend." Xaldin explained, looking rather solemn (although still garbed in Pimp Attire none the less).

Lexaeus mimicked Xaldin's appearance with his tone of voice. "And Vexen cannot be with us because he is no longer with us." This seemed to silence the group. Lexaeus continued. "I arrived at his lab to check on his progress, only to find it destroyed and thrashed, and crawling with Heartless, including one of that variety we've been dealing with. I had to fight it off before fleeing – I could not dispatch it on my own. I warned Xemnas, in an effort to appear loyal of course, but he seemed untroubled, and did not join me in departing. He said he would handle the issue."

"Yep. After that, Lex here tried to get in touch with Vexen, but no go. Zexion says he hasn't heard jack from him either. He even said that the page he left with Vexen for communication was all burned up. So, we can only assume the worst." Xigbar finished the explanation, not looking especially bothered, but definitely not happy.

"So Vexen's… gone?" Demyx asked hesitantly. He frowned, looking uncomfortable by the subject. "W… wait. Couldn't we revive him? At that place? Just like Marluxia."

Saïx shook his head. "Impossible. The temple was destroyed, if I recall correctly. We would also need to have possession of Vexen's Soul Card in order to accomplish such a thing, were the temple still in working order." His icy calm seemed unbreakable, completely undisturbed by this news.

All was silent, as no one really knew what to say. Well, other than Larxene, who had wandered off to sit on the steps of the Clock Tower Station, watching some show on a miniature, portable TV she had somehow procured. "Ha! Stupid fat kid." She laughed, munching on some CHICKUN as she watched.

"…Right. Well, on the plus side," Xigbar went ahead, breaking the silence. "Xaldin and I managed to track down one of the Kingdom Cards. It's the Number 08. I'm gonna go ahead and hold onto it, for now, till we figure out what we're gonna do with them. So counting that 00 one, we've got twelve more still out there."

"How's Xemnas been?" Demyx asked abruptly, looking to Lexaeus.

"No change. He's been his typical self. The only odd behavior was his lack of concern regarding the Heartless in the castle. But then, he may not be aware of how powerful it is."

"Seriously, what are those things?" Axel asked, scratching his head. "They aren't like any other Heartless I've ever seen. And it seems like the more of 'em we kill, the harder they get to kill."

"That's what I was thinking!" Naminé chimed in. "They're getting more powerful! And smarter, and more resilient."

"It's no problem once we get them to dissipate into darkness," Roxas added. "A blast of light will still get rid of them no problem after that. It's just that it's taking longer and getting more harrowing to actually get them to do that."

"More unsettling still," Lexaeus spoke up. "The one I found in Vexen's lab… it was eating one of his Nobodies. Chewing it up, and then swallowing it. And when it looked upon me, I had the uncanny notion that it was planning to make a meal of me as well."

"One of them ate one of my clones back on the island." Larxene called from her seat on the steps, still mostly engrossed in her TV. "Oh, fuck that bitch."

"I can't tell if she's mad at a character or is watching a porno…" Sora muttered.

"Aaaanyway," Xigbar 'tsk'd Larxene and Sora and continued. "We need to get a hold of Zexion. He's got the ins with DiZ, who can probably help us figure some of this stuff out. We've still got a lot on our plate."

"Oh, I'll say."

The group was collectively on guard almost immediately. With impeccable timing as always, Zero had appeared, standing on the landing on top of the steps, just above where Larxene was sitting, paying absolutely no attention.

Zero reached into his sleeve, casually producing a black card in his hand, a picture of The Chilly Academic very clear on its front. "But at the very least, you don't need to worry about his incessant bitching anymore."

"You son of a-" Roxas muttered, calling two Keyblades to him and twirling them dangerously.

"I wouldn't do that, Roxas. Fighting me by himself is exactly what got Vexen killed. Besides, with everything going on at this moment, I should honestly be the least of your concerns. After all, isn't there a certain Superior you should all be paying careful attention to? You never know what he's doing when he isn't being watched." The Enigma remarked, chuckling darkly. "He is quite on to you all, though, rest assured. You give him far too little credit. Oh, and by the way, I wouldn't count on getting much help from DiZ. That old-timer is long gone. But his equipment has been very helpful to me. Which reminds me, are you all enjoying playing with the Soul Snatchers?"

Shock was the most obvious collective feature one could see throughout the group as Zero had been speaking. But before any of them could speak, Zero had continued. "The darkness looms ever closer on the horizon. If I were you, I would look into getting that handled… Well, it's been a fun one-sided chat, but I am a busy man, with things to do and cards to find. Ta~"

And with no more words, he was gone, departed through a corridor of Darkness. Larxene had not noticed a thing.

Many thoughts whirled about everyone else's heads, but no one knew quite where to begin. That is, not until Naminé suddenly gasped as if a sudden spasm had overtook her, before uttering two words. "Castle Oblivion."

Oblivion

"It's almost pitiful how easily they play into your hands."

"Almost? It's entirely too pitiful. I expected more of a challenge from these people. But then, I suppose they are dealing with me, after all."

"Don't grow too arrogant, now. It shall be your downfall if you let it consume you." DiZ spoke solemnly to his partner as he observed the actions of the Organization on a small monitor screen.

"I would warn you to take the same caution." Zero retorted. "In any case, it's all in knowing how to play the game. I've arranged things in a manner such that anything I say can stir them into action, which will inevitably be the action I wish for them to take. Not a single wild card has been played thus far, and the game is rather dull. But I've little cause for worry…" he added as an afterthought, smiling as he thought of another skilled strategist of mental games. "I expect quite a few wild ones to be thrown onto the table soon enough. And then we'll see where this game takes us."

DiZ gave a small grunt of amusement. "Will you still be placing all your chips on the table?"

"High risk, high return. Is there any better way to play?"

"And should you lose your gamble?"

"I can always have a do-over. After all, I'm a bit of a cheater."

The two shared a quiet laugh for a moment, before Zero placed a curled finger against his chin as his face adopted an amused and yet pensive state. "And this all reminds me… We'll need to be finding Luxord, soon enough."

DiZ turned away from the monitors and let his gaze wander to a large chunk of crystal which lay within close reach on a small table. As his eye swept over the glistening, jagged object, he murmured a small agreement. "Yes. Luxord…"

Zero glanced at the crystal. He smiled.