March 24th - Just a few errors I fixed so I'm re-uploading. Don't bother if you've already read it.

Disclaimer- Does anyone actually read these? They always say the same things. Would anyone who was actually involved in the games production put fanfiction on ffnet I wonder?

Warnings- Naked Roxas's, doubtful Zexion's, and secretive Axel's.

A/N- From this point on note that this story was pre-planned out LONG before the release of 358/2 days so there will be some obvious cannon story errors. Such as the fact Namine and Roxas are good friends throughout the story, Xion is non-existent, Roxas and Zexion know each other quite well, ect. You'll see in a few chapters were the sequence is thrown off a bit. Just deal with it. It's officially AU since 358/2 days. Damn.

Protecting Me

Chapter 19: A Pretty Happy Ending

Morning began in The World That Never Was just like it did any other day. The florescent lights in the halls flipped on illuminating the glossed floors inch by inch to eliminate the eternal darkness that shadowed the inhabitants. The neon of the dead city below shined brightly through the windows reminding them that the lights signified nothing but the facade they lived in. The early birds of the Organization rose at their predictable times just like clockwork. Xemnas was always the first to rise long before everyone else, preparing, planning, and plotting as he did every morning.

Saix was always second. His first and most discernible instinct was to serve his Superior at any cost. He got an almost carnal desire from pleasing this man who had been placed on such a high pedestal. Saixs morning usually consisted of gathering anything his master would need for the day ahead.

Xaldin, Lexaeus, and Vexen all rose at around the same time. Each of them held a separate reason for rising so early, but one unmistakable commonality was that these three men, especially in the morning, let the callousness of their age shine through. Until all three were fully awoken they shook fists at every unwelcome noise and every funny glance.

Xigbar and Zexion always came last of the early risers. Xigbar took great pride in being the first down to the kitchen for the good batch of coffee before it got cold, and Zexion took the quiet monotony of the morning to catch up on his stack of reading material.

Everyone else's wake up call came with the chime of the giant bell on top of the castle, and this morning was no different. The low ring from the bell shook the floors of the castle, sending painful vibrations through the nerves of one Organization member in particular that morning.

Roxas awoke that morning sprawled out on his stomach with his head shoved into his pillow and a steady stream of drool dripping from his mouth. His brain only registered two things upon arousal. First was the splitting headache that pounded so hard against the side of his skull he felt his head was just on the edge of cracking open. Second was the uncomfortable draft that seemed to be circulating the room. Before he even cracked open his first eye he could tell that no matter how similar this morning was to all the others, something was strange about this one.

"Alright, alright…I'm up!" Roxas gave a groan that echoed through his room at the relentless alarm. His stomach gurgled menacingly, warning him that he was in bad condition.

Despite his better instincts, he willed himself to sit up on his elbows to roll over and give a mighty stretch. Delicately, a stuffed figure rolled from a cozy nook in the pillow onto his stomach. Big yellow button eyes stared up into his. His nose scrunched at the horrible smell coming from the tiny doll that he had never seen before. Pinching it between his forefinger and thumb he examined the creature as if it was some infectious disease.

"Axel…" The stuffed animal certainly was not his own, and the only other visitor to his room was Axel. He doubted Axel would own such a thing, which meant the only culprit left was Demyx. He assumed since Demyx might have been worried about him he probably stopped by. He looked around the room slowly; everything was as pristine and clean as it had been left. The chair that Axel had rested in was still pulled up right beside the bed, the blankets Roxas slept on were soaked with a feverish sweat, and a strange, smelly stuffed animal had been propped neatly up on his pillow.

"I really crashed bad last night…"

It was June 13th. The untouched calendar on his wall told him so. It was just one day after he had passed out from eating a bad meal, or perhaps it was stress from a mission. He still was not entirely sure of what ailed him. Then again, in the Organization time spent worrying was time spent not working, and work was top priority. The fact that Roxas was their most prized member put a lot of weight on his shoulders at all times and usually pushed him to work much harder than the others. With that in mind Roxas rolled out of bed, at first ignoring the uncomfortable heave his stomach gave, but an illness could only be ignored for so long. He had only taken two steps away from his bed before he was down on the floor cradling his stomach in his arms. It was then that he noticed what was giving him that 'slightly off' feeling about this morning in particular.

When one goes to touch their stomach one would expect to feel the fabric of whatever was covering said person's abdominal area. Roxas could have sworn he had fallen asleep wearing his mandated Organization jacket, but when Roxas gripped at his stomach the only thing he felt were his fingers on cold flesh. Every inch of clothing he had sworn he was wearing was completely gone! In a panic he reached up to drag a blanket from his bed to cover his bare form.

This particular morning continued its descent downwards as Roxas shakily made his way over to his closet to cover his body with something presentable. The second he opened his overstuffed closet several very tiny shirts and pants spilled from within. Roxas sighed, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead.

"Great, Larxene shrunk some of my clothes… Just what I needed." Pushing past his shrunken clothes he found himself a fully grown Roxas sized shirt and a pair of pants to wear for the day. Once he was dressed he collapsed onto his bed. His skin was flushed, his clothes were shrunk, and with every step the urge to vomit grew stronger.

Next to Roxas, the small heartless doll stared blankly up at the ceiling as it had done all morning. Without thinking Roxas picked the creature up, holding it above his head with both hands under its poorly sewn arms, "I wonder if I told Xemnas my morning royally sucked, would he give me the day off? " With his eyebrows furrowed, Roxas stared at the unblinking figure as if being put into a weird trance. "Why am I talking to you? You can't understand me. I should probably give you back to Demyx…"

It took Roxas a great deal of inner strength to break eye contact with those big hypnotizing yellow buttons, but finally he did and the stuffed animal was shoved into his inside coat pocket.

Just like any other morning, he shoved his feet into his boots by the door and headed down to breakfast.

xXx

"Roxas! Hey! What a site for sore eyes you are!"

Roxas had barely made it ten steps from his room before another set of footsteps caught up to his own. He winced at the voice and the searing pain in his temples that came with it. He turned around meekly, giving a wave out of politeness.

"Hey Demyx."

Quite rudely, in Roxas's opinion, Demyx took hold of Roxas's chin, twisting his face this way and that way as if trying to admire him from all possible angles.

"Wow, you recovered well. Can't even tell!" After a few uncomfortable seconds his chin was released, "I bet once Axel sees you it makes his entire day!"

"Yeah…" And here Roxas was, not knowing that gracing his friend with his presence every day made up the mass of Axel's existence… Go figure. He ruffled the back of his already messy hair anxiously. The bright overhead lights were already burning holes in the back of his retinas and his stomach still burned with an unrelenting acid.

"Look Dem, I'm not feeling so hot so I was hoping to catch Xemnas at breakfast to request the day off-"

"At least spend SOME kind of time with Axel! The guy's been dying to see you!"

Roxas took an awkward step backwards with his hands raised in surrender, almost as if to say 'all right all right!'. Before he could register anything else, Demyx had grabbed him by the forearm and roughly tugged him in the direction of the dining room. Roxas was flung foreword, landing heavily on his right leg. A loud yelp escaped his mouth as the leg buckled under his weight and he fell to the floor clutching his shin in pain.

"Roxas! Crap, I'm so sorry! I forgot all about-"

Demyx's rushed apologies fell onto deaf ears. The keyblade wielder was slowly rolling up the leg of his pants. Pressed against his pale skin were the remains of a long fleshy gash that still looked in the healing process. A shaky finger traced the line that he knew wasn't there when he went to sleep. As his mind was racing with explanations for this overlooked scar he failed to notice the fact that Demyx was by his side trying to help him up. That is, until he was forcefully pulled to his feet.

"I'm so so so so so sorry Roxas! I completely forgot it didn't heal all the way!"

"It's fine it's fine," Roxas hit Demyx away in fear that he'd cause more damage and destruction to anything in his path… like he managed to do most of the time. With Roxas being in a delicate state, and in Demyx's direct path, he wanted to get as far away as possible very quickly, "I'm going to head down to breakfast alone if you don't mind. I have this for you, I thought you would want it back,"

Roxas pulled out the stuffed animal that had been tucked neatly within the pocket of his jacket and thrust it into Demyx's arms. Two bewildered eyes looked back at Roxas as the stuffed animal was, once again, dropped back into his arms.

"It's not mine." Demyx walked past Roxas, patting his shoulder much more delicately this time, "See you at breakfast."

xXx

With a rude awakening and a bizarre hallway run in and a strange inkling that the rest of the day was going to be just as strange, Roxas wasn't surprised at all that the first thing he heard upon entering the dining hall was, "Wow kid, you look horrible!"

"…Thanks." Roxas found himself muttering when Xigbar breezed by to toss his hair further out of place then it already was. The dining hall was already packed by the time he showed up. Demyx had beaten him down and was already stuffing pancakes into his already packed cheeks much like a chipmunk. Reluctantly, Roxas sat down in his seat next to him. Right in between Demyx and Axel's empty seat today.

"Where's Axel?"

"Donno, 'e hasn' shown up ye'. Migh' skip bre'fast. Though' he'd wanna see you, bu' guess not." Demyx muttered through a stuffed mouth.

"Great…"

"Nice day, isn't it Roxas?"

The keyblade wielder whipped his head in the direction of the voice. Leaning across the table Larxene sat with her head propped up by her delicately folded hands. To one side of her Marluxia's sat, his cheeky grin was almost as full as the pouch of munny he tossed in the air, to the other side Luxord picked listlessly at his food but with no desire to eat. Roxas didn't want to respond, he wanted to keep his teeth tightly clenched together and mutter insults under his breath for reasons he didn't fully understand. She never spoke to Roxas unless absolutely forced to. To her, Roxas was nothing but a child, someone who The Organization had to waste their time babysitting in shifts.

"I guess… Can I help you?" Roxas tried to not lace sarcasm or bitterness into his words.

"Don't worry, you already have," Marluxia spoke up this time as he reached for a plate of eggs. "We just wanted to give our thanks."

At this, Roxas's anger turned to confusion. "Uh… You're welcome?"

Once Roxas was both confused and angry, it seemed to be enough for Marluxia and Larxene, the two of them put their heads together closely as they had been doing when Roxas first entered the dining hall. They seemed almost to be laughing at a private joke that only the two of them shared.

"What's up with them?" Roxas clenched his fist, shoving Demyx roughly out of his stupor

"Oh them," Demyx had finally swallowed the overwhelming amount of food in his mouth and waved a nonchalant hand in their direction, "they've been acting really strange lately. Been spending a creepy amount of time together as well." For a moment it seemed like Demyx was concentrating very hard as he furrowed his brow, "I think they're plotting something… Course what else is new."

Marluxia's suave smile lingered with Roxas a moment longer before he pushed his full plate towards the center of the table with a sigh. Demyx motioned to his food, looking mildly concerned.

"You all right?"

"I'll eat later I guess. I really should find Xemnas and request a day off before I get assigned a mission." Roxas stood up shakily on his feet just as he had done before. Something about the looks on both Larxene and Marluxia's faces made his stomach do uncomfortable back flips. To be honest, seeing Xemnas could have waited until after breakfast but he couldn't stand one more second of those sadistic smirks.

xXx

It was still early and acid was building up in the airways of Roxas's throat, his stomach lurching as he careened dizzily through the barren halls. All he wanted to do was find Xemnas as quickly as he could and crawl back into the sweet sanctuary of bed where he belonged. Roxas's eyes were set on the ground as he kept track of his careful steps down the hall. One foot in front of the other, careful and precise until his lithe form collided with another straight ahead of him.

"Your state is quite pitiful Number Thirteen."

Roxas took a step back and gazed up at Saix, standing before him as powerful and intimidating as he had ever remembered him to be.

Roxas pursed his lips together, swallowing the bile that was building in his throat as he straightened up. "Sorry," He raked a hand through his hair, "I was coming to ask about my mission for today. I wanted to know if-"

"Xemnas orders you to rest and recuperate for the day." Saix's face was as cold as stone. "It looks quite necessary in my opinion."

Roxas heaved a sigh of relief and wiped a bead of sweat off his brow. His stomach gurgled, reminding him of breakfast and the unsettling grin Marluxia had given him. He also remembered the seat next to his that was empty for breakfast and Axel who had been missing since he woke up.

"Hey, you haven't seen Axel today have you?"

Saix gave him a blank stare before he gazed off into the far corner of the grey room they had stopped in. Standing there with his back pressed against the glass wall of the massive room, arms folded and head down against his chest, was Axel.

"I shouldn't have to be your eyes." Saix said as he left Roxas to sit down and do his paperwork.

Almost as if he was just invited into the conversation, Axel's head snapped up to lock eyes with Roxas. The blond could have sworn for a second he saw a look of surprise sweep over Axel's face, but if that moment even existed at all it was gone as fast as it came. His red headed friend was just as cool and collected as ever, seemingly paying no attention to anything else going on around him save for his own business.

Roxas gave him a tired smile as he pulled the ragged stuffed animal he carried from the inside of his robes.

For a moment Axel's body felt both tense and weak at the same time. Had Roxas remembered? Was he coming to thank him? To yell at him for not watching after Sora? For giving back the stuffed animal that Roxas had given to him?

"Morning," Roxas stopped right in front of him, electric blue eyes wide and beaming up at Axel just as they always had. His smile grew wider before he held the stuffed animal out to Axel. "I think this belongs to you. I didn't really need it, thank you though."

And with that simple exchange, Axel's jaw dropped, but just slightly before he caught himself, disguising his slip-up as words simply getting caught in his throat. Instead he took the stuffed animal in his hands, gazing at it for a second before muttering a 'thanks'.

Axel gave Roxas a quick look over. He looked, for lack of better words, absolutely dreadful. He was pale, feverish, and his injured leg looked like it was about to buckle under his weight.

"You look like a train hit you." Axel said before he could even stop himself.

"Wow Axel," Roxas rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, "you really know how to make someone's morning lovely."

Axel brushed the back of his neck with his hand, " I didn't mean it like- what I meant to say was, you should probably take it easy today."

The blonde huffed, his arms still tight around his body as he glared up at Axel. The room was silent, save for Saix scratching notes onto his clipboard. Any moment now everyone else would either be heading to their prearranged missions or going to Saix to find out their duties for the day. Axel pushed himself away from the glass window he had been leaning against.

"I'm going to go find out what I have scheduled and get a head start. You take it easy today."

For a moment Roxas stood there feebly watching Axel leave; Then his hand shot out, grabbing Axel's before he could get too far, "Wait. After I get some more sleep, we can meet for ice cream on the clock tower today." He said it as more of a statement than a question, trying to leave Axel no other choice.

Axel pulled his hand away, shaking his head without a glance backwards, "I have extra missions, and I'll be way to tired to make it to the clock tower."

At this, Roxas was slightly taken back. Never had Axel rejected spending time with him before. There had been times where Axel was so overloaded with work that Roxas never expected him to show up, but he always came without fail.

"I guess I can always have ice cream by myself…" Roxas laced his voice with irresistible disappointment before his lower lip jutted out in a pout as Axel once again began to walk away.

When even that didn't stop Axel, Roxas once again caught hold of Axel's hand and dragged him a few paces backwards.

"What Roxas!"

"What's wrong with you?"

The force of Roxas's tug managed to spin Axel around so that they were face to face. At first Roxas's expression was stern and unrelenting. They stood facing each other, eyes locked in a fierce staring competition for what seemed like a couple minutes before a smiled began to creep its way onto Roxas's face.

"You look like a train hit you."

"I got some bad news this morning." Axel shook his head at the joke and Roxas could have sworn he saw him shoot a glare in Saix's direction. He couldn't be sure though, it was so fast it seemed as if it didn't happen.

"Bad news?" Roxas's eyes opened wide, "What? What's the news?"

"I can't tell you about it. Not yet." Axel crossed his arms, breaking the eye contact that him and Roxas had been holding, "I really have to go get started on these missions Roxas."

This time Roxas didn't make any moves to pull him back. He knew something was bothering Axel. He thought that out of everyone, Axel would at least have told him what this 'bad news' was. Of course Roxas noticed the second Axel opened his mouth that morning that he was not acting himself. It was a rare moment when Roxas entered a room that Axel wouldn't rush to his side in a second usually his calm, cool, sarcastic self. There were never any secrets between the two of them and now apparently secrets were being kept from him. Roxas hadn't even noticed that his fist were clenched so hard that his knuckles were turning white until he found himself yelling across the space between him and Axel-

"I'm already having a weird morning, why are you making it worse?"

Axel was mere inches from the couch that Saix had set up on before he quickly rushed back to Roxas, filling the space so the other in the room would hear no more. He pinned Roxas between himself and the glass window. Roxas let out a gasp of surprise at how fast he found himself cornered with the palms of his hands pressed hard against the freezing glass.

"Do you remember anything? Anything at all?"

Roxas stared wide-eyed with his eyebrows knit together at Axel as if he was half out of his mind. What exactly was he supposed to be remembering? By the way Axel put it, it sounded as if it should have been obvious. When nothing came to his mind, he slowly said "…no."

Axel shook his head, finally backing away from Roxas to relieve the tension between them. He left Roxas standing there, dazed and confused as he made his way to Saix with a quicker strut this time. The look on Roxas's face was one of utter disbelief. He was beginning to wonder if Axel really was going out of his mind.

"Why can't you just give me a straight answer Axel! What am I supposed to remember? What bad news!"

This time Axel didn't turn around, he didn't head back to Roxas. He had already sat down beside Saix and was talking in a low, hurried whisper to his superior. They both bowed their head towards Roxas when he yelled, but on the whole ignored him

"Fine!" Roxas finally yelled, giving the wall beside him a mighty kick with his bad leg. He soon regretted his actions as his leg began to throb with unspeakable pain, "I'm going back to my room!"

Axel kept his mouth tightly clenched until Roxas had fully limped far enough from the room that he wouldn't hear Axel's fist slam on the table across from him.

"He is a child. He doesn't need to know Axel."

In response, Saix got a stone cold glare from Axel. Easily enough he shrugged it off, "You know as well as I do that this is necessary. We keep things from Roxas for a reason. He'll only get in the way."

xXx

The walk back to his room was a lot longer than the walk down. Even more then being long, it was a lonely walk down a desolate starch white hall. Mostly a walk filled with too much time to think and short spurts of anger. Whatever axel was holding from him, the fact that secrets were being kept from him, he was as far from okay with it as he could be. Roxas clenched his fist letting his knuckles turn pale white before he turned and kicked the nearest wall. Like a domino effect, somewhere down the long hallway there was a crash that sounded like something toppled over followed by a sharp gasp.

"Damn it!" Roxas hopped on his good leg for a moment, cradling his aching foot before he went limping off towards the huge double doors of the library where he heard the crash.

The library was a place Roxas didn't visit all too often. His job didn't include research and he wasn't much of a pleasure reader. The whirl of the double doors sliding back sounded foreign to him, he was sure that the other times he had been there they had not been that loud, or maybe it was because everything else was deathly quiet that he was noticing it for the first time. He stepped into this massive room where rows of bookcases seemed to be fading back into infinity.

"Hello?" His voice bounced off the high ceilings and echoed throughout the massive room as he tried to locate the source of what had fallen.

"Roxas?"

The voice that called back was unmistakably Zexion's. Behind the bookshelf right beside the door to the library it looked like Zexion had just stood from the floor, as he was brushing himself off and standing over a pile of books that looked like they had fallen.

"Yeah it's me," He poked his head meekly around the corner to see Zexion begin to pile the books back up. "are you all right?"

"Fine," He called over his shoulder. "I shouldn't have attempted to get a book from the top shelf without a stool with my... less than impressive stature."

Roxas's vexed expression shifted slowly into a grin as he went to help Zexion pick up the mess on the floor, "Can't say much for my height either. What were you trying to get?"

"There was a certain book I'd be interested in rereading, though it seems someone has misplaced it. It could take a while for me to find it at this rate."

Roxas merely nodded, handing Zexion books from the floor for him to stack back on the shelf.

The library gave off a very serene feel. It was never fully populated, extremely quiet, had plenty of tiny nooks to hide in, and always had a soft breeze sweeping through the rows of bookcases. He felt a little at peace in the library, even if it wasn't a place he normally went to find calm and relaxation. It certainly was a place where people would vacate to get their mind off of things. Then there was Zexion who wasn't much of a small talker and rarely caused conflict... And heck, for once that morning he was feeling as if he wasn't being examined under a microscope or treated differently. Roxas reached up and tugged the end of Zexion's sleeve, his face twisted with desperation.

"Hey, if you don't mind could I possibly stay in here with you for a bit? I've been having a weird morning. I'll be quiet I promise."

Zexion shrugged before he took the last book from Roxas's hand and stacked it on the appropriate shelf. Before Roxas could say anything else Zexion was moving to the next section of the library. The slate haired teens fingers danced along the bindings of each book. It almost seemed like he was searching for a pulse, a certain rhythm specific to the one book he craved. It was as if Roxas wasn't even there at all.

It only took seven rows of endless searching before Roxas picked his eyes up off the floor and let them wander over the beat up bindings of the nonfiction novels. It was then that he wondered what book Zexion was even looking for; he never did say. Roxas's eyes could have glazed over the book in question fifty times and he wouldn't have even known.

'Maybe the book Zexion's looking for is a favorite of his...' Roxas let his mind wander for a moment. Of course if this was the case the book would probably have a worn down binding from over use. He let his eyes shuffle across the bindings to look for the one in the worst condition. Roxas thought it would have been easy to pick out one worn down book but once he took notice a lot of the books looked pretty worn down, like the Cloaked Schemer had already sucked the life out of all of them.

Roxas let out an audible sigh before his eyes shifted down to the ground again. It was no use. The bitter morning was still heavy on his mind. The only thing still lingering in his thoughts was the torn look on Axel's face when he had to bite his tongue and hide something from his best friend. To be honest Roxas didn't blame him if he couldn't tell. He just hated the unknown.

"Is there a problem Thirteen?"

Roxas jumped, surprised that after so long Zexion had finally spoken to him. Apparently he hadn't kept his anger to himself as well as he thought he had. He bit his lip, unsure of what he should tell the other boy... or for that matter, if the other boy would even care at all. He didn't want to be a bother to Zexion, but,

"It's just how strange everything has been since I woke up!" Roxas twisted his jacket between his hands rather furiously. "I feel like I'm forgetting something. Something important and I just can't figure out what it is. No one will tell me anything and not even Axel will give me a straight answer and it's pissing me off!" He threw his hand in the air and rested against a bookcase near where Zexion settled to search through more shelves.

'So much for staying quiet.' Zexion thought to himself.

It was as if he hadn't said anything to the slate haired teen at all. He was too busy hoisting himself up to see what was on the top shelf of the bookcase. He scaled four shelves, pulling himself up to the top shelf, chin-up style, with amazing strength. The shelf under the weight of Zexion's arms wobbled dangerously, letting Roxas know that the last crash probably was the first failed attempt at this stunt and not his pathetic kick in the hall.

Roxas heard Zexion heave a unsatisfied sigh before he lowered himself carefully back down to the ground and took off for another aisle of books.

"I've been doing extended research on a particular emotion lately-"

"What?" Roxas jogged to keep up with Zexion, thinking he had been ignored when Zexion didn't answer right away. Zexion didn't wait for Roxas to keep up or listen more closely.

"Particularly those feelings of Intimacy, attachment, endearment, lust, yearning, infatuation-"

"Why? Aren't those emotions we can't feel? I don't get it..."

"Me neither..." Zexion seemed to mumble that part to himself just below a whisper before picking some books off the shelves and plopping them into Roxas's unready arms, "Here, make yourself useful."

Roxas drew himself up to full height, lips pursed and books held firmly in his arms, now angry that he was being used as Zexion's pack mule, "Zexion, I don't really under-"

"And neither do I." Zexion interrupted, staring unblinking straight into Roxas's eyes. His face showed a strange unrelenting resolve that Roxas swore he had never seen before, "Not all knowledge is going to be written down in a book for you to leisure through and gather information as you feel comfortable. Sometimes that doesn't suffice and it becomes necessary for you to go out and search for the answers yourself. There are some things that you cannot read in books. There are some things that you need to figure out on your own."

Roxas blinked several times. He had never spent a whole lot of time around Zexion but he was pretty sure that this wasn't the norm for him. When Zexion finally stopped giving him an intimidating glare was when he slowly he took a step backwards, catching the words that seemed to escape him a minute ago.

"I-uh-I'm not much of a researcher. Maybe if I was a scientist like you, but-"

"I don't even think the smartest man on Earth would know the answers to problems such as these."

"What?" Roxas had to do a double take, clean out his ears, make sure he heard right, SOMETHING. Roxas was stunned for a minute. Never before had he heard Zexion question his own intelligence. Never before had the Cloaked Schemer willingly admitted that he didn't know the answer to a problem. This, this one single incident, was what let Roxas knew that the strangeness of the morning was still in full swing.

"Zexion, did you hit your head or something? I've never heard you doubt yourself before."

"Come," Once the pile of books stacked in Roxas's arms climbed so high that they obstructed his vision, Zexion motioned for him to follow him to the very back of the library where a table sat against the very back wall. There sat the cozy little nook that Zexion knew so well, for he had spent so many days confined to the back of the library to do research. He relieved Roxas of the pile in his arms, taking them and sitting down at one end of a table to settle down.

"Sit," Zexion commanded of Roxas.

At this point very unsure of anything at all, Roxas fell into the chair at the opposite end of the table.

"I'm sorry if I offended you, I just- I mean, I've just never heard you so unsure before."

Roxas noticed a smirk creep onto Zexion's face, "Let me let you in on a little secret Roxas." Zexion leaned in a little closer, to which Roxas edged back in his chair a bit. " Intellect, wit, knowledge, whatever you call it, is a very important thing without which man wouldn't even exist, but there is one more thing man cannot live without. If this thing didn't exist, man would have died."

Zexion slipped a book from the pile. With the book in hand he stood, circled the table and leaned down close to Roxas. The blond has shimmied himself as far back in his chair as he could, pressing hard into the wooden support bars.

"The one other thing that man cannot live without is each other. Remember this." Zexion looked deathly serious as he stared Roxas straight in the eye. "Without a neighbor, man would have been lonely. Without friendship, man would have given up hope. Without a lover, man wouldn't have been able to continue on. Take this Organization for example. Xemnas didn't do this alone for he would have failed without followers. Or even better, you and Axel. You both possess no heart, yet you cling to each other. You have a physical need for each other that goes beyond the limitations of a beating heart. Do you understand?"

"I- Well, a little... I suppose."

Roxas had to be honest, he still really didn't understand anything Zexion was going on about. Studies of emotions he's never experienced? physical need? In his head it just wasn't adding up. All he could fully grasp from the conversation was that he liked being close to Axel. He could never connect an emotion to it, for he didn't know exactly what having emotions felt like. To be perfectly honest he didn't even know what physical desires felt like. If it meant being close to Axel than sure, he guessed he had a physical desire for Axel. He wished that someone would explain things in a way he understood that morning. Either way he wanted to get off the subject. He dropped his shoulders and let his body relax into the chair, giving Zexion a much softer look.

"Zexion... you don't seem okay today."

A smile spread across Zexion's face as he reached up and ruffled Roxas's hair. He was starting to think for a second there that his toddler counterpart was actually more intelligent than the real thing, "So you're a smart kid after all."

At this point Roxas was more confused than ever. Was Zexion confirming that he was indeed not all right?

Before Roxas had a chance to ask the question burning on the edge of his tongue, the cloaked schemer had reached his hand in his jacket and pulled out a folded piece of construction paper which he thrust into Roxas's hand. The paper unfurled easily in his hands.

Two cloaked black figures were scribbled crudely in the center of the page; One with flaming red hair jutting out in every direction and another with hair tousled as if not brushed for a couple of days. Roxas immediately recognized the first one as his best friend Axel; tall and lanky with an angular face. The second figure was the one that confused him the most. It was definitely him but he was knee height with Axel, clutching his hand desperately. His eyebrows furrowed before he tilted his head up to make eye contact with Zexion again.

"If you feel like there is a gap in what you remember I believe you should speak with someone who deals with the workings of memories." Putting a hand on Roxas's shoulder, Zexion pulled himself off of his knees, "I should be going now, I need to get my day started."

"Namine..." Roxas folded the paper and stuffed it in his own pocket. He stood up with the boy that was barely taller than him and began to follow him to the front of the library to leave. He notice how light he felt the second his feet held up his weight. His foot still had a slight throb to it, but his stomach seemed like it was trying to settle. Perhaps walking through the library for a while was just what his body needed,

"Thank you for everything Zex-"

Another book was dropped into Roxas's arms just as they both passed through the threshold into the hallway. The keyblade wielder blinked, eyes settled on the title of the thin hardcover; Romeo and Juliet.

"I think you'll like it."

His fingers traced along the badly beat up binding. Much worse than all the others, this one even had a tear that made the cover very flimsy. This was definitely the book that Zexion was so hell bent on finding before. There was no synopsis in the front cover or scrawled across the back like there usually was. It was just a book full of poetic words.

"Does it have a good ending?" Roxas found himself talking to the back of Zexion's head seeing as the schemer was already halfway down the hall. Just as he was about to turn the corner he paused and smirked.

"It has a pretty happy ending."

A/N- Yup, okay. Why does everything Zexion related intrigue me? I just love him. God... okay. Well after playing 358/2 days I really loved how naive Roxas was. I tried to add some of his naivety while still keeping him true to his KH2 Persona. Probably failed. OH WELL.