Ooooo only two more chapters from the end! I hope you're all just as excited as I am! You'll LOVE this one!

I do not own Kingdom Hearts, but Im sure you all know that by now.

PLUM WINGS & A MIDNIGHT DIRGE - LOVE

When I woke up Zexion was already awake, and he had been dressed and ready for the day for a long time.

"What time is it...?"

"A little past noon," He was sitting at my desk, looking down at something. I couldnt see what it was, though. I yawned and sat up, still really, really tired. I think I fell asleep for a few minutes like that, actually...

"Hey, Zexion?"

"Hm?"

"Did we, uh..."

"Yes," He sighed. "We did." I had been looking at him, well, the back of his head, anyway, and I looked away. I sighed, but didnt really have anything to say, afterwards.

"Zexion..." I tried to say something, but I just, had nothing in me. "I..."

"We either do something about what happened," He said, standing up, and walking toward my door and leaning on the wall next to it. "Or, we pretend like nothing had gone on at all." He didnt look at me when he spoke. His eyes were pointed at the floor, I didnt even get so much as a glance. But I had been watching every move he made. I felt like I needed to, because if he wasnt going to look at me, someone had to at least look at the other. I took that into my hands. But, that was the only thing I took into my hands at the time...

"Well," I started. "I...I think we should do something," He said nothing. I sighed and then said something else to back myself up. "I mean, I dont think we should really...like, forget about it..."

"And, why is that?"

"Because I...I love you, and you-"

"Yes, I love you, as well, but Demyx..." He closed his eyes, and he sighed again, crossing his arms. "What on earth would we do about it?"

"Whaddya mean? We can, like, you know...officially get together, and then go from there, just like everyone else."

"Yeah, that would work, if we were like everyone else. At least eighty percent of couples are...a man and a woman. How are we, teenagers, supposed to go along with this sort of thing? Being a man and another man?"

"Well..." I threw the blankets off of me, and slowly came to my feet. "We can officially get together and go from there." Now, he looked at me, but with question.

"Did you not hear me?"

"No, I heard what you said," I said with confidence. "And why can't we just do it? And not care what other people think about it? You've always put off others opinions about everything we do, about everything you do, so why can't you deal with the thoughts of other people and go with the person you say you love?"

"I am afraid," He answered after a pause. His tone had changed, he was still speaking with feeling but, without it, at the same time. He looked away from me, and was looking straight ahead.

"Afraid of what?"

"What will...become of us," There was a pause before he answered any of my questions, no matter what the question was. It was...really weird.

"And what do you mean by that? We'll be fine!"

"You dont know that for a fact,"

"Neither do you!" He took a breath, but said nothing. I felt the sensation of my confidence rising, and I went on. "Tell me why you can't just go with what your heart says, for once, instead of using your head to feel? After all these years, it's hard to think that you still don't have any hint of visible emotion. Not once have you ever used your emotions to decide! You always think about everything..." I sat down, going from mild rage to being passive. "And you even had to think about loving me, why you loved me, what the reasons were behind loving me...not even the most powerful emotion could break your wall..." We stood in a silence for a long time. He didnt move, and I didnt either. Then, he spoke with that boring and lively tone.

"It is out of fear, that I cannot let my...emotions, pass me without thinking about it, first. Yes, even love was subject to it...and I don't know why everything is like that. I have always grown up using my mind, never my emotion. But, I can assure you, that the love I have for you...is like nothing I have ever felt before. I...am unable...to explain it...Love...is a mysterious thing..." I listened to everything he said like it was dire for me to hear it, and after he was finished, his normality seemed to come back, and he looked at me with...the weirdest look. He...there was blankness but adoration. I can't tell you what it was.

"Are you sure? That's your answer? That you really do love me, even through your mind's thinking?"

"Yes, Demyx, I do." His voice was normal again. I don't know what had just happened with his tone before, but I pushed it away from my main thoughts and walked up to him.

"So, you don't care about anything other people have to say?"

"I do not, although, I will...more than likely be awkward about it for a time." I laughed a little bit.

"Well, at least you told the truth," I gave him a hug, and it took him a minute to do the same, but only with one arm. I didnt care, though. He had admitted he loved me, and he knew I loved him. "So, it's official, then?" I looked up at him, smiling. He gave me the same emotionless look as always, closed his eyes, and then nodded. I couldn't help it when my smile got bigger, and I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. I felt a little embarrassed about it, but it was something I would have to get used to, after all.

My parents came back around four, five days after that. And when they saw that Zexion was with me, it was like I could see a giant boulder being lifted from their backs. They were just as worried about him as his own parents had been, but now that he was back and I was happy, my parents had canceled whatever therapy sessions I had, because they must have known I was happy again. But, the happiness didnt last as long as I hoped it would.

Zexion went home that night, partially because he wasnt fond of parents, and his usually left him alone, which he said was "the ideal situation," or something. And almost right after he was gone, my parents called my name from right outside my door, and came inside while I was sitting at my desk, doodling.

"Demyx, we have news for you," My mother said. She sounded happy about it, but whenever someone told me about "news," I always had a bad feeling, no matter if the news was good or bad. I turned around to see her, trying to hide the fact that I was worried about what she was going to say. She took a breath and continued with a smile. "While your father and I were away, we stopped by a nice city, Radiant Garden, for a special job interview for your father, and, well, he got the job!" She was still smiling, but I only looked at her without any sort of response popping into my head.

"What...?" I nearly whispered. And then she said it, the statement, the one, single statement that I did not want to hear.

"He got promoted and now his workplace is in Radiant Garden! We already looked at a nice house out there, and it's in the nicest neighborhood, and oh, Demyx, you'll love it..." After that, my mind when almost blank. I wasnt thinking, or feeling. I knew that I was panicking and fearful at the same time, but I had no words. "So, what do you think?" She asked. I had been looking at the floor, but now my eyes found their way to her face. She was happy, but I could see in her eyes that she was concerned about what I was going to say. So, I came out and said it.

"I'm not going," I said, turning around and facing my desk again. There was a short silence before she said anything.

"Of course you are, we're going as a family. Your dad starts in two months, which means we have to start packing-"

"I said I'm not going." Now she was mad, I felt it emanating from her, even from behind me.

"Demyx, stop that. You are coming, and there is nothing you can do to convince me otherwise."

"Oh, I bet there is," I snapped. Now, I was mad. I was angry, worried, and upset all at once. There is no word for that emotion. "There are several things I can do to stay here. I can go down in that ravine again, and destroy the way I go down so no one can follow me. I could run away, I've already got an old plan of mine worked out, or, I could just refuse altogether."

"Don't you talk to me like that, Demyx. I am your mother, I can tell you what to do, and you listen to it!" She was yelling now, but I didnt back off.

"I don't have to listen, I won't listen! I am tired of always being told around by everybody! I'm one year shy of being able to legally leave this place and live on my own, I am damn well old enough to make decisions for myself!"

"Not a decision like this, you're not, now stop talking back to me or you're in for it, you hear me!"

"I don't care!"

"Demyx, stop it!"

"No, I won't let you take me away from him again just because it's convenient for you!" She stopped yelling, visibly searching for something to say back to me. I didnt take any moment to pause, I just let the words out as they came. "No thanks to any of you, he had to climb the cliff, the side of a stupid cliff with a broken arm, a broken arm, because no one else even tried to go after him, and I was the only one who cared about him! I risked my life for him more than once, and I saved him from dying, me, I did. And now that he's alive, healthy, and happy, now that we're finally together after everything else was against us...you're trying to tear us apart, and I won't stand for it," I hated being so sensitive and emotional, I could feel the desire to cry welling up inside me. I tried to hold back the tears, but my eyes watered anyway. "I, I love him, he's my best friend, my only friend, my brother...and, and even more than that, and I won't have you take me away for some stupid job that doesnt even concern me," And with that, I walked right out of my room and out the front door, saying nothing else to them. I went right to Zexion's across the street, hoping I tore my mom to pieces.

Zexion was in his room, putting away some of his things. This was one of the few occasions that he looked at me with surprise.

"What are you doing here?" He asked as if I was going to be in trouble. Which, realistically, I probably was.

"My parents told me some news," I said, really not wanting to talk about the whole thing. But now that I had caught Zexion's attention, I couldnt just stop telling him about it.

"News," He repeated.

"They told me that my dad was promoted, his new job is in Radiant Garden..." I stopped, and looked at my best friend, my brother and now, the love of my life. "And because of that, they plan to move out there, to Radiant Garden..." I sat down heavily on Zexion's bed, staring into nothing. He sat down next to me.

"Did you say anything?"

"Of course I did," I replied. "I told them that I wasn't going to let them tear the two of us apart, no matter what they try to do. Because, it's like everything has been against us being together even as friends. School, nature, now my parents...hell, even fate has a problem with us..." I had a laugh in my voice, the kind of laugh you only have when you're down in the dumps about something and you find something amusing, even if it's just fake amuse.

"Demyx," I glanced up at him from the corner of my eye. "What are you planning on doing?" I shrugged after a second or two, shaking my head.

"I have no idea," I sighed. "But Im not going to let them do this,"

"Did you say anything about the current status of our relationship?"

"What? Oh, that. Well, I didnt say anything straight-forward, I kind of mentioned it in a very 'round-about-way," He sighed, now, and then rose from his seat.

"What are we going to do?" He said it out loud, but it seemed like he was talking mostly to himself, so I made no effort to answer, not for a long time.

"We, I have two months," I finally said. "Two months until my dad's new job becomes final and he starts working in Radiant Garden. If...if we can find jobs, even just odd jobs to get us some munny, we could go off together..." It was a spur-of-the-moment thought, but it was at least something to get us thinking. I didnt mind the idea of Zexion and me running off together and living where we wanted to, it couldnt be that hard with the two of us. But, it wasn't only my decision.

"You mean so we can run away?" He said, translating it into a way that made it sound almost like a bad idea. But, I nodded anyway.

"Yeah..." Zexion didnt say anything after that for a long time. Then, there was a knock at the front door. Zexion looked outside, it was my parents. My mom looked pretty mad, he said. "I don't care, they're going to have to drag me out of here unless you and I've got some sort of plan." That was the only way I could have influenced him to agree to something, because if he loved me he probably wouldnt want me to be in any sort of mishap or in pain. For once, I was using my head.

"Tomorrow, then," He started, right when Zexion's parents had greeted mine. I could hear their voices, and my parents were asking where I was. My heart started beating faster, worried that they were going to interrupt Zexion in the middle of what he was saying and pull me away. I begged fate for him to hurry up. "We will go out and search for employment. We will wake early, and we will make a real effort. Something like this can't be done in a few weeks, we are going to need every penny we get." And just then, my parents opened the door, my dad standing behind my mom, clearly not wanting to get involved. My dad was very passive, and didnt like anger. It was a wonder he and my mom got along well enough to make a baby.

"Home. Now." Was all my mom said, and then she walked away. My dad rolled his eyes at her, and urged me (peacefully) to come along. I stood up and quickly whispered to Zexion.

"Tomorrow, all day?" He nodded. "And we'll go before they try to move me?" He nodded once more. My mom called my name from far off, and she was really, really angry. Zexion made a shooing gesture, and I waved goodbye to him, leaving his house happy and with a mission. But I was really in for all of the talking back I did to my mom. Mostly, I ignored what she had to say. I had important things to do, and just to humor her, I asked for a few boxes and packed the stuff I didn't need.