Disclaimer: I suppose I should slip one of these in here huh? Well then, since I do not currently possess the rights to Kingdom Hearts or anything else that might pop up in future writing, I think it can be safely concluded that I own nothing.

Vexen's house looked surprisingly normal-on the outside that is. Demyx was slightly amazed at the contrast between its outward appearance as opposed to the interior. On the outside, Vexen lived in a one story house in a rather clean, friendly neighborhood. He even had a little vegetable garden (no one looked closely enough to realize that the "vegetables" were strangely colored and rather…unique in species). When stopping for directions, he found out Vexen was regarded by the neighbors as a kindly old man who read the newspaper on the porch every afternoon while laughing at the antics of neighborhood children (it should be noted that the person they had in mind was actually a replica created to tend the rest of the garden, besides the vegetables; only the real Vexen could take care of those).

Once Demyx and Zexion, followed by six little ones, stepped foot inside however, everyone but Zexion subconsciously took a tiny step closer together.

Vexen barely had enough furniture to consider the rooms they occupied habitable. The kitchen merely had a fridge, microwave, and oven (with a stove-top). The living room contained only a few crates arranged loosely around a larger, longer crate (presumably a coffee table with chairs). These were the only rooms visible but the boys surmised the rest looked the same.

Roxas, peeking out from where he was hiding behind a rather delighted Axel, spoke. "I knew our school was cheap but is Vexen's salary really that low?"

Cloud, standing in front of Sora and Riku who were huddling close to each other, muttered, "His pay is probably that he can speak honestly when he says he has a legal job." Leon gave a barely noticeable grin at that.

Demyx swallowed a bit nervously. "Hey," he whispered, "I don't know if this is such a good idea. We came in here without knocking and all…"

Zexion rolled his eyes. "Well no matter how much we called or rang the doorbell we didn't get an answer. Professor Vexen is probably just concentrating too hard. We'll have to find him." He began to stride forward until he was unceremoniously yanked back.

Zexion looked back in confusion to see that Demyx had grabbed hold of his arm and didn't seem inclined to let go very soon. "No!" he cried. "Don't go. It's scary here so please don't leave me alone!" Demyx pleaded with his most pathetic look yet.

Cheeks strangely warm, Zexion shook Demyx off and said testily, "Fine. Follow me and we'll all look around together."

They eventually managed to make enough noise with their "looking around" to draw Vexen from his basement. At first paranoid about spies from struggling governments out to steal his research, once Vexen realized it was only a group of his failing students chaperoned by two students actually passing his class (although Demyx didn't actually study; instead, he called what he did "making use of resources", mainly Zexion) he allowed them to follow him downstairs.

Now, Axel didn't go to see a lot of movies but he was still familiar with that classic mad scientist lab (he thought Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde). This is what Vexen's lab looked like except a tiny bit smaller and messy as hell (messier, in fact although nobody knew that).

There were an assortment of different liquids and gases, all doing a variety of things in containers of all shapes known to man (and a few known only to gamers). The only light came from a strong lamp sitting at a desk and illuminating a single bottle. Axel, in all his eagerness, rushed over to it.

"Is this it? Can I drink it? I want to drink it first! Please? Come on, please? I desperately want to drink it right this instant!" And displaying classic Axel behavior, he took a sip without waiting for a reply.

"Ah." Vexen said, "That…wasn't the one you were supposed to drink." The other five children who had been watching the redhead intently for signs of change whipped around.

"What do you mean it isn't the right one? It was the only thing sitting out that looked like you were done with it! How misleading do you want to be?" Roxas exclaimed.

Vexen shrugged. "It's his fault for not listening first."

"Wait," Sora cut in. "If that wasn't the antidote, what was it?"

The three turned back to Axel who was still frozen in place. "Axel…?" Riku ventured.

Spinning around, Axel shouted, "Vexen what the hell did you do to me?" He was grinning like a madman.

"Hmm, it seems that you've drunk my mood reversal medicine. No matter what you're feeling, you'll show the opposite expression." Vexen explained. He grabbed a clipboard and scribbled something down.

"So you mean to say that even though he looks like Roxas just proclaimed his undying love, that actually means he's beyond pissed?" Sora asked.

Roxas flushed wildly. "W-we're not a couple you know!"

"Oh, everyone knows you might as well be!" Sora teased. "No matter how much you fight."

Roxas sighed. He would've tried once again to explain to Sora that his and Axel's fighting was a show of affection but that might've ended up proving a point so he kept quiet.

Instead, he wandered over to a table after spotting another bottle not connected to anything. "Hey!" he called. "Is this the real antidote?"

Vexen barely looked up, just shrugged and said, "Try eating it to find out."

Roxas opened the bottle and found some tiny pills inside. Eyeing them mistrustfully, he cautiously took one out and told Cloud to swallow it. Cloud rolled his eyes but took the pill, just because Roxas was his favorite metaphorical (or, he hoped metaphorical) little brother. (For those wondering, this was in comparison to Sora who was a bit too energetic for Cloud to deal with all the time).

A few seconds later, Cloud was practically bouncing off the walls, to the amazement of everyone. "It was supposed to be an anti-motivational pill." Vexen observed in confusion.

"Well, you know Cloud." Riku told him. "He was probably so apathetic that it had the opposite effect." The small scientist just nodded and scribbled more on the clipboard.

Cloud, in all his new found hyperness, managed to knock a few bottles over, including one with a dark liquid. Sora picked it up and unscrewed the cap. Riku, who noticed this immediately started to worry. "Sora! Don't drink that! Who knows what kind of weird stuff it'll do to you." he warned in worried tones. Sora, ignoring this, drunk the whole thing. "Sora!" Riku called in dismay, rushing over.

Sora grinned brightly and hurried to reassure his friend. "Don't worry Riku! It's just coffee."

Riku paused. "Coffee?"

"Yup!"

"I give up Vexen. Your lab is too weird. Who the hell keeps coffee in a container like that? Just tell us where the real cure is." he sighed.

Vexen immediately went over to where Demyx was standing next to a cabinet and started rummaging through it. As he searched, Demyx spoke up. "Come to think of it, why do you have all these weird medicines in the first place?" he asked, his curiosity temporarily overcoming his fear of the teacher.

Vexen grinned, almost making Demyx regret the question. "It bothers me but my childish self couldn't stop thinking of all these ideas for medicines that could be used to prank people. In order to keep myself from getting totally distracted by thoughts like that, I just put together the medicine so I could keep concentrating on finding a cure."

"Oh…I see." Demyx didn't really see.

Meanwhile, there was a certain slate haired teen that had been silent for the majority of this time. He was on the other side of the room, and was currently caught up in some confusing thoughts.

From the start of this whole incident, Zexion had wanted nothing more than for Vexen to find a way to fix Axel and Riku's mistake so that he could return to doing what he wanted. It wasn't that he disliked spending time with his friends. It was just that he was used to having at least a little alone time. But it turned out that babysitting the six children with Demyx (who could probably truthfully be called his best friend no matter what others thought) hadn't been as bad as he'd been expecting. He might've even ended up having fun at some point or another, although his usual attitude kept him from showing it.

This could possibly have been the reason that right now he was experiencing the feelings of a parent suddenly realizing that their little boy was all grown up and heading off to the adult world. It was a strange mix of melancholy and surrealism and Zexion found it totally ridiculous.

Just because he had enjoyed the past two days (had it really only been two days?), didn't mean that he should be getting sentimental. He'd still be able to see his friends. He'd still spend time with Demyx. It just wouldn't be as some dysfunctional family anymore.

…oh crap. Had he just compared those idiots to family? Obviously there was something wrong with him. Hopefully, it was the chemical fumes from Vexen's experiments.

(Note: it wasn't).

The cheering was what drew Zexion from his thoughts. He looked over to see…a fully grown Axel, Roxas, Sora, and Riku rushing over to him. Cloud and Leon, both also back to normal, were breaking character and smiling and even laughing a bit in the background.

"We're back to normal!" Sora shouted.

Roxas laughed and jumped around a bit with Axel. Demyx dodged around them and went up to Zexion. "It's great isn't it?" he asked.

Zexion nodded, and smiled. "Yeah." he agreed. After all, he was fine with thinking of them as family as long as they stayed out of his house. It was more fun with them around anyway.

AN: I am so sorry about how long it took me to post this! I've actually had it ready and typed up for a few weeks now but the site wouldn't let me access my stories to post a new chapter...but it works now! So. Wow. They're finally back to normal. But it's not the last chapter yet! I still have one more to go. Hopefully, you all read it. Here, I'll even tell you the name of it in advance: On Childish Antics and Romance. Look forward to it. (I sound confident, but don't be fooled). Anyway, thanks bunches for reading all you kind people. Reviews are the best and I get so happy when I recieve them. This also counts for favorites and alerts! Thanks for all the ones I've gotten up until now. Well, see you!