Hey guys, sorry it's been awhile. School started, you know. Less time for everything. But anyway, here's the next chapter. Know what's weird? My friend Lauren knows more about this story than I do. AND I'M WRITING IT. Seriously. Thanks, Lauren. Lol.

Oh, and thanks to Blastbone and RockOnRose, who actually reviewed when I asked everyone to. The rest of you, get with the program. SLACKERS.

I don't own any of these characters, much to my disappointment. Enjoy.

Axel beat Bruixe to Demyx's room the next morning. She trudged in still half-asleep, collapsing on Demyx's couch without a word.

"Where's Roxas?" the Nocturne wondered.

"Who knows?" Axel replied smoothly. "Probably overslept."

He didn't even blink, Bruixe noticed. Then again, he had convinced five people that he wouldn't betray them. Five people who were now dead. They might actually pull this off. Bruixe closed her eyes and laid her head against the armrest, laying sideways. Axel took the seat at the other end of the couch, absently drumming long fingers against the toe of her boot.

"You're awfully quiet this morning, Miss Bruixe," Demyx observed. Bruixe cracked open an eye to glare at him. The Waterboy was smirking. "Long night?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Instead of answering, Bruixe seized the nearest object and flung it at Demyx's head. Only after it had left her hand that it was probably dangerous to be throwing around things that heavy. It struck him full force across the face; a trickle of blood dripped from his nose.

"Bruixe!" he sputtered. "That was a Stratocaster! It's worth more than my life!"

Not exactly the 'you-could-have-killed-me' that she was expecting.

Axel eyed the guitar. "How'd you even work up the strength to throw that?"

"Hell, fury, woman scorned," Bruixe mumbled. "Besides, Demyx doesn't play guitar. He plays sitar."

Demyx muttered something about the munny he'd spent on 'that gem of musicality.' "Would it be too much to ask to go just one day without a near-death experience?"

"You could try keeping your mouth shut," Bruixe suggested.

"Where's Roxas, anyway?" Demyx wondered again, bending to check his beloved guitar.

"Give him a bit to wake up," Axel told him. "He's a growing boy. Needs his beauty sleep."

They lounged around for another hour, Bruixe keeping pretty quiet. It was easier to say nothing than to risk someone seeing through a lie, despite constant 'just-act-natural-you-idiot' looks from Axel.

"Axel, go check on Roxas," Demyx ordered finally.

The pyromaniac raised his eyebrows. "I don't take orders from you, number 9," he reminded the Nocturne.

"Fine," Demyx sighed. "Bruixe. Go."

"Not a chance," she shot back. "What if he's naked or something? Like some people I know."

Demyx ignored this. "I see how it is," he muttered, flouncing huffily out of the room.

"Could you be more obvious?" Axel demanded once Demyx was gone. "You may as well put up a big neon sign saying 'I'm hiding something.'"

"We can't all be backstabbing traitorous double-agents," Bruixe replied nastily. "I'm good at some things. Spying, yes. Eavesdropping, sure. Beating people up, hell yeah. Lying? Not so much."

"What, like you've never lied?" he said sarcastically.

"Not often,' she told him. "Where I come from people don't like me, truthful or not. Being honest is just easier. No fake stories to keep straight."

"Great," Axel muttered. "We're keeping a secret we could be executed for, and one of us has no poker face."

Demyx burst back into the room. "Roxas is gone!" he shouted.

Axel's mouth fell open, the classic picture of surprise. Bruixe mirrored his expression as best as she could. Learn from the best, she thought grimly.

"WHAT?" Xemnas exploded.

The three of them quailed beneath his furious glare. This, at least, Bruixe didn't have to fake.

Demyx quickly related his story – he'd gone to wake up Roxas, and there was no Roxas to wake up.

"SAIX!" the Superior boomed when Demyx had finished.

Bruixe remembered what Axel had told her – Saix was Xemnas's thug. The one who took care of 'dirty laundry', to put it bluntly.

"Yes?" the Diviner replied smoothly, appearing at Xemnas's side.

"Double the patrols in the Dark City," Xemnas orderd. "Check the movement of the Samurai-type Nobodies. Send out every member we have. I want him found."

"Of course," Saix agreed. "And if we do find him? Shall we kill him?"

Bruixe shuddered involuntarily. Axel stepped on her foot.

"Just find him,' Xemnas commanded. "And inform me immediately. Don't let on that we know where he is."

Saix nodded and vanished. Xemnas glared at the remaining three. "What are you waiting for?" he demanded. "You heard me. Find him."

Bruixe and Demyx ended up stationed together in Twilight Town, though she fervently hoped Roxas would have enough sense not to show his face here.

"Bruixe?" Demyx asked as they searched a back alley.

"Yeah?" she replied absently.

"Why don't you trust me?"

She stopped dead in her tracks, turning to look at him. His expression was heartbreaking – or would have been, if she'd had a heart. "I do trust you, Waterboy," she said uncomfortably.

"Then why didn't you tell me Roxas was gone?" he asked, hurt.

Bruixe squirmed. "You knew?"

He nodded glumly. "It was all over your face this morning. I didn't know what was wrong, but then…"

She sagged against a wall, running a hand through her thick black hair. "Sorry," she said quietly.

"Why wouldn't he tell me?" Demyx wanted to know. "Why you?"

"I don't think he meant to tell me," Bruixe said honestly. "Or even Axel. I think he meant to leave in secret. Not because he didn't trust us. Because he was trying to protect us. I was only there because… well, because I couldn't sleep," she admitted.

Demyx nodded reluctantly. "I still wish you would've told me."

"I'm sorry," she whispered again, and she meant it.

"What'll we do? If we find him, I mean," he wondered.

"We're gonna let him go," she said firmly. "Pretend like we never saw him."

"Can't believe this," Demyx muttered. "You think he's okay?"

"I hope so," Bruixe told him. "I hope so."