Summary: When Axel is brought back to life to be with Roxas, they start searching for their other friends from the Organization. Through much difficulty they eventually achieve this goal, but what happens when the superior comes back mysteriously one day? How will Xemnas cope with having to live among normal people and being social? And will love find this man who seems to have a giant stick up his ass! lol. Yeah, better than it sounds. Eventual XemnasxSephiroth. Other pairings include akuroku, cleon, soriku, zemyx, and marluxiaxsaix.

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own kingdom hearts cuz if I did the organization would totally be a sex club.lol.i'm horrible. :D

Genre: Romance/humor/angst/action/tragedy

Rating: T(possibly M in much later chapters)

Warnings: Shounen-ai/yaoi, language. SLIGHT OC'S IN THIS CHAPTER AS WELL!

Author's Note: So this is chapter ten! Yaaaayyyy!! I would have had it up sooner, but I've been busy with school lately and trying to figure out my schedule for junior year!! So many complications!! But that's beside the point. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!


End of Chapter Nine: The Ghost of You

Xemnas walked across the rubble with hard, cold eyes. The war had come to a complete halt. The enemy soldiers had apparently been overpowered and had either been killed or gone missing. Zack and Xemnas would have been married for two weeks. If the enemy soldiers hadn't found them, they would have survived through the war and would have been living the happy life they always dreamed of. But none of that mattered now. Xemnas had completely blocked Zack out of his mind. A trail of Dusks followed Xemnas through the broken city, glad to have found somebody who wished for a heart as much as they did.


Chapter Ten: Premonitions

The image of Xemnas's figure standing amidst the rubble and looking up at the sky began to fade away as an invisible force began to pull the others back to the present. Their surroundings became pitch black and soon turned back into the room they had been occupying before they jumped into Zexion's book.

Zexion shut his book slowly as his body began to shake somewhat. He looked around to see that everyone was speechless. A dead silence thickly coated the room; no one dared to make a sound.

Sephiroth was the first to challenge the oppressing silence by clearing his throat and standing up. The other's eyes followed him towards the door until a certain blonde questioned his motives.

"Where are you going?" Cloud asked.

"Out." Sephiroth said curtly as he walked out of the door without another word. Cloud moved to follow him, but was stopped briefly after the action was made.

"Let him go Cloud." Leon spoke up suddenly, and when Cloud turned to look at him, repeated, "Just let him go."

Cloud stared at the door and wondered what exactly Sephiroth was planning on doing.

"What…what the hell did we just see?" Axel asked shakily. He was obviously shocked by the past which had just unraveled in front of their very eyes. Everyone was in a similar state, some more upset about what they had witnessed than others. Yuffie, for example, was silently crying while Tifa and Aerith tried to comfort her, while Saix, kept his eyes in his usual hard, unemotional glare as he comforted Marluxia. Saix had a tendency to keep himself guarded, even when it was evident that something was bothering him.

"I'm…not quite sure." Leon said uncertainly as the room collapsed into silence once more. One by one, but more commonly by twos, people started leaving the room quietly, going off to think on their own.


The castle gates were desolate, with the exception of one lone, amber eyed man. As his eyes grazed over the horizon, he pondered the life he used to have.

'Zack…did I really forget you? Or was I just trying to forget?' Xemnas asked himself. It was a question he had pondered many times in the past few hours, although his mind was really too clouded to think clearly. His hand found a sliver chain that was looped around his neck and pulled it off. On the chain was a silver ring with two gems incased, one blue and the other green.

'It's so you'll remember me wherever you go.' Zack's voice rang in Xemnas's ears.

'It doesn't matter if I have this ring or not. I'll always remember you, no matter what happens.' Xemnas remembered that this had been his reply to Zack's statement. Xemnas held back tears that threatened to spill over his tanned cheeks as he recalled all of his memories of Zack and how in love they had been.

'No, I never loved him. I didn't have a heart back then. There's no way I could have possibly been in love when emotions don't exist in Nobodies.' Xemnas thought as he desperately tried to subdue the ache he felt in his heart, still trying to make himself believe that his love for Zack never existed.

'But you two shared so much together. How can you deny that you loved him when it's so obvious that he was the best thing you ever had?' Xemnas's inner voice screamed at him as he shook his head defiantly. He didn't need or want to remember Zack.

"Forgetting your past won't do you any good." A familiar voice said from behind Xemnas. He turned to see Sephiroth landing on the ground as his wings began to recede into his back.

"Though dwelling on the past for too long should be avoided as well." Sephiroth said as he calmly approached Xemnas , his gaze not leaving him for a single second. Xemnas looked away from the beautiful man. Sephiroth stood next to him and neither spoke for several minutes.

"Are you alright?" Sephiroth asked, partly to break the silence, but mostly because he actually cared, even if he was unaware of it.

"I'm fine." Xemnas said. Sephiroth could visibly see the other man tense uncomfortably. Xemnas turned to give Sephiroth a hard stare to confirm that he was indeed, alright, but mako green embers could clearly see a hidden sort of pensiveness behind those amber eyes.


All had gotten very quiet at the house. Everyone seemed to be thinking of Xemnas's past and interpreting it in their own way.

"Why would anyone want to hurt two people that were so in love and so happy together?" Yuffie asked Tifa quietly. She had ceased her crying, but she was still curled up in a ball on her bed.

"I don't know Yuffie. Some people are just cruel I guess." Tifa said solemnly, her back pressed against the wall opposite of the bed.

"It's strange. He used to be so sweet…" Yuffie said in bafflement, not quite understanding how such a transformation had occurred.

"People change after bad things happen to them. It's amazing that Xemnas could even continue living after what he witnessed. Xemnas must have lost pretty much all of who he was that day." Tifa said as she recalled how much Cloud had changed when he had lost his Zack.

"I guess you're right. You would probably know, with everything you and Cloud went through." Yuffie said as she rolled over to face Tifa.

"But Cloud opened up when he found his light."

"You mean when he found Leon?" Yuffie interrupted.

Tifa giggled slightly. "Exactly. Cloud had his light all along, he just couldn't see it until someone came and showed him that it was still there."

"Maybe the same thing could happen with Xemmy." Yuffie said with a giggle, hinting on the obvious attraction between Sephiroth and Xemnas.

Tifa gave a wide grin as she said, "Yeah, maybe, if they can ever admit that they like each other."


Axel had been staring out of the window with a serious look on his face since they had returned to the present. Roxas was starting to get worried.

"Axel?" Roxas whispered uncertainly. Axel turned to face the blonde and could easily detect the worry etched in his face.

"Don't worry Roxy, I'm fine." Axel said as he gave Roxas a small smile in an attempt to relieve the blonde of his worries. Roxas wasn't at all convinced, but thought that it would be best to leave Axel to his own thoughts for the night.


Zexion and Demyx were alone in their room. Demyx was lying in their bed, bandaged up and finally looked as though he were at peace as opposed to in pain as he had been a few hours before. Zexion sat at the desk near the opposite wall with a lamp light on, reading some book to try and distract him from his own thoughts. He assumed that Demyx was asleep, until he heard the blonde stir.

"Told you we had hearts." Demyx whispered weakly. Zexion gave Demy a puzzled look as he faced the bed. The setting sun cast a pink, rosy hue over Demyx's skin, making him a lot more alive than he actually was.

"What are you talking about? Of course we have hearts; we're human now." Zexion said as he walked over to Demyx and sat on the bed.

"I'm talking about when we were Nobodies. I always told everyone that we had hearts, but not one ever believed me. Now I have proof that I was right." Demyx said quietly.

"How do you figure that?" Zexion asked curiously.

"There's no way Xemnas could have been that in love with Zack if he didn't have a heart."

"…I think you might be right, but then, why would he tell us that we didn't have hearts?"

"I think…that he didn't want to believe that we had hearts. That would make it a lot easier for him, wouldn't it? If he denied that we didn't have hearts, then he could have never really loved Zack…it must have been hard…losing someone you love in the way that Xemnas did. I can't even imagine…" Demyx said as his eyes slid shut.

"Demyx?!" Zexion said alarmingly, fearing a split second that Demyx's wound was causing him to fade away.

"I'm alright Zexy, just tired." Demyx murmered through closed eyes.

"…I almost knew what it felt like to see someone I love be killed right before my very eyes today. Never scare me like that again Demy; I can't bare the thought of living without you." Zexion whispered as he lay next to Demyx and carefully wrapped his arms around the blonde's waist, making sure to be gentle with his injuries as he kissed the other's cheek. Demyx murmered something incoherent under his breath as they both drifted off into a soundless sleep.


Sora sat on his bed, deep in thought, when Riku entered the room.

"What are you thinking about?" Riku said as he sat behind Sora to wrap his arms around the smaller one's waist and rest his chin on the top of his head.

"Nothing really." Sora said absentmindedly as he leaned into Riku's embrace.

"Now I'd say that's a white lie." Riku said as he kissed Sora's head. "What's on your mind. You know you can tell me."

"It's just that….I feel like I've done something wrong. All that time I spent fighting Nobodies and I didn't even realize…"

"I'm guessing you're referring to their inability to have hearts?" Riku asked.

"Or is it their capability to have hearts without them being aware of it?" Sora questioned. "The entire time that I was up against them I kept refusing to believe that they could have hearts, but now I'm not so sure. Maybe I was just saying those things to assure myself that I was doing the right thing…"

"Xemnas's past is really bugging you, isn't it?"

"Yeah, a lot actually. The last time I fought against him…I told him that he didn't have a heart…for a split second, I swear he got this really sad look in his eyes. It was heartbreaking. I didn't understand it at the time…but now…" Sora said sadly.

"It wasn't your fault Sora. You did what you had to do. You were simply trying to protect what's important to you. You had no choice but to take them down."

"Did I really? It feels like I did have a choice. I just didn't see it at the time. I could have helped them. There was nothing wrong with what they were trying to achieve, it was just the way they went about doing it. None of them were really bad people, they just had to do bad things to get what they wanted…there could have been another way, and I didn't even stop to think…"

Riku thought for a moment before speaking again. "Well love, there's only one thing I can tell you. You may not have been able to help them then, but, you can certainly help them now."

"How could I possibly help now?" Sora asked as he turned to face Riku.

"I have a feeling that there's danger lurking…and it's planning on making its appearance very soon." Riku said as he laid down and turned his back to Sora. The spiky haired brunette wanted to ask what Riku meant when he said there was "danger lurking", but had a feeling that his silver haired lover wasn't going to say anything else, so he settled for snuggling next to Riku and falling into a deep sleep.


The sun had already set. The night stars twinkled precariously as two silver haired men stared up at them. Xemnas was still sitting in the same spot he had been in for the past few hours, completely unaware that Sephiroth was still standing a few feet away from him. Xemnas shivered as a gust of cold wind flew past him. The temperature in Radiant Garden dropped considerably at nightfall. Sephiroth eyed the man silently as he walked up to him. Xemnas knew nothing of Sephiroth's presence until a coat was placed over his shoulders. Xemnas looked up curiously to see a pair of green eyes staring down at him.

"Come on, we should head back. It's getting late." Sephiroth said as he started to walk away. Xemnas stood up and quickened his normal pace to catch up with the other man. Just as Xemnas started to slow down, Sephiroth stopped walking completely, causing Xemnas to bump right into him. Sephiroth wheeled around to face Xemnas, and for a moment, Xemnas feared that Sephiroth was angry with him, but soon realized that the other man seemed to be pondering something.

"Come here." Sephiroth motioned with his hand for Xemnas to come closer. Xemnas scooted closer, wondering what the other man was doing when a pair of strong arms wrapped around him and pulled him off of the ground. Sephiroth was now carrying Xemnas bridal style.

"W-What are you doing?" Xemnas stuttered as he tried to squirm out of Sephiroth's grip and had to will himself not to blush.

"We'll get home faster if we fly." Sephiroth said as they took to the sky. Even in the dark, Xemnas could swear that Sephiroth's cheeks were stained red.


Cloud and Leon were the only ones that hadn't gone back to their room, but had instead gone into the living room. Cloud looked up at the stars through the window. By the look on his face, Leon could tell that Cloud was upset.

"What's wrong?" Leon asked as he wrapped his arms around Cloud comfortingly. Cloud leaned in and took in Leon's scent as he spoke.

"It's just everything we saw…he reminded me a lot of my Zack." Cloud said quietly. Leon looked down and noticed the picture that Cloud was holding. It was one of Cloud with a dark haired man with violet eyes. The other man was one Leon knew only from photographs, a man that he knew had been Cloud's first and now deceased lover…a man he could not replace in Cloud's heart. Although it was apparent that the blonde, spiky headed teenager in the picture was Cloud, Leon scarcely recognized him. Cloud was not much older in the picture with Zack than he was now, but their maturity levels were dramatically different. In those days, he seemed so naïve and carefree. The present Cloud had no naivety in his entire being and was almost never carefree. Leon remembered how hard it had been to break down Cloud's barriers after he had suffered such a horrible loss, and now he must have felt some sort of connection with Xemnas. They had both loved someone in the same way and had suffered through the same pain with similar lovers. Leon knew that Cloud still thought about Zack, and although he knew it was selfish, he still couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy.

"Don't think about it Cloud. I know you had something special with Zack that no one else could ever give to you, but does the relationship we have mean anything to you? I know I'm nothing like Zack but…" Leon paused and looked at Cloud seriously. "I love you with everything I have and will always love you." Cloud's eyes widened at Leon's apparent jealousy towards his past relationship with Zack. All fell quiet in the room as Leon tried to find something to say.

"Cloud…I'm sorry…it's just-

Cloud silenced Leon with his lips.

"It's okay, I know how you must feel. I've been spending way to much time dwelling on the past. Zack's gone, and I need to come to terms with that." Cloud said as he kissed Leon again. Leon leaned into the kiss and wrapped his arms around Cloud's slim waist.

"No Cloud, that's not right either. I…I don't was you to forget Zack, but I don't want you to dwell on your past for too long. Zack's a part of the reason you're the man you are today. I could never ask you to forget him." Leon said as he moved away from the kiss. He got nervous when Cloud dwelled on something for too long. The blonde had a horrible guilt complex, and Leon didn't like Cloud blaming himself for something that was never his fault to begin with. Leon knew that he tried to blame himself for Zack's death, which only made the facts of his death even worse than they already were.

"You know what's been bothering me?" Cloud said suddenly, snapping Leon out of his thoughts.

"What would that be?"

"The giant dog we faced earlier had a strange resemblance to the soldiers that attacked Xemnas and Zack. The idea we had earlier about there being some kind of connection…I think we have enough evidence to believe it's true."

"Where are you going with this?" Leon asked, but Cloud never answered. He was distracted by something he saw out of the darkened window.

"They're back." Cloud said amusingly. Leon looked out to see Sephiroth landing firmly on the ground with Xemnas wrapped in his arms bridal style.

Leon chuckled lightly. "Well isn't that cute."

"You must be tired, you never call anything cute, even if it's true." Cloud said jokingly as he watched Sephiroth sit the blushing Xemnas down on the ground.

"You're my only exception to that rule." Leon said in a low, seductive voice as he grabbed Cloud's ass. Cloud squeaked and scrambled away from the touch as Leon laughed at the blonde's skittishness.

"Leon! Stop that!" Cloud said as he swatted Leon's perverted hands away.

"I can't help it darling, you're just so damn adorable." Leon said as he pressed Cloud into the wall, grinding his hips into the smaller man. Cloud gasped as Leon's lips attached themselves to his neck.

"Mmm…Leon…" Cloud moaned as Leon sucked on the sensitive part of his neck. Leon stopped briefly and noticed the red mark he had made on Cloud's neck, smiling deviously at his work. Satisfied with what he had accomplished on Cloud's neck, Leon moved his head slightly to kiss Cloud's pronounce jaw line. Leon's hand moved from Cloud's waist to grab his firm ass. Cloud whimpered and his face began to turn red. Leon looked at Cloud with a gentle smile, his grey eyes twinkling as he moved into the kiss. Both men slowly closed their eyes, their lips almost touching when there was a loud knock on the door a few feet away.

"Can somebody get that?!" Yuffie yelled from her room.

"Damn, both of them must have forgotten their key." Leon growled as he pulled away from Cloud. "Don't worry Yuffie, I've got it!" Leon yelled as he unlocked the door. Sephiroth and Xemnas walked in as if Sephiroth hadn't just carried Xemnas all the way home.

"You two were gone a while. Had fun?" Cloud asked teasingly as he noticed that Xemnas was wearing Sephiroth's coat. He couldn't help but tease the two after they had so rudely interrupted him and Leon in the middle of a private moment.( Which they, ironically, were technically doing in public, since the house was a home to several individuals.)

Both Sephiroth and Xemnas visibly tensed a little, causing Leon and Cloud to smirk.

"What's wrong? You two seem a little tense." Leon said in mock obliviousness. Cloud snorted and immediately shut up when Sephiroth glared at him.

"Nothing happened. I merely went to find out where he was and brought him back." Sephiroth said sharply.

Cloud snorted again. "Yeah, brought him back bridal style." Leon and Cloud made their way back to their room, trying not to laugh under Sephiroth's gaze.

Sephiroth stared the two down until they disappeared on the other side of the hall, where he was sure they would start giggling like two bubbly, girly idiots. Sephiroth tore his gaze away from the hall when he heard someone softly clearing their throat at his side.

"Here's your coat." Xemnas said quietly as he extended his arm towards Sephiroth, his hand clutched loosely around the coat. Sephiroth looked down at the man, noticing that he wouldn't look him in the eyes. Sephiroth could tell that Xemnas was quite embarrassed and wanted to tell him to keep the coat, but he reacted too quickly and snatched the coat out of Xemnas's hand before he could open his mouth. Sephiroth wanted to give the coat back, but he knew it would be odd to have to explain his reasoning. (Although he wasn't quite sure what his reasons were to begin with.) So instead, he walked away without another word. Xemnas stood there dumbly for a moment before retreating to his room as well.

Three weeks later…

Everything had seemed to calm down again, although one could still sense tension between those in the house because of recent events. Everyone had been helping out with rebuilding the part of the town that that monster from a few weeks before had destroyed. Leon and Cloud were currently on their way home, shirts off, sweating quite badly. Off in the distance they could hear a noise that was unfamiliar to Radiant Garden before the giant dog had made its appearance. The ground shook slightly. Leon and Cloud turned to find smoke billowing from the same area that they had just been repairing minutes before.

"You have got to be kidding me." Leon growled while staring at the thickening smoke as it polluted the skies. The usually bright blue heavens had been replaced by a dark, oppressive grey.

"Come on, lets get over there…hopefully it's not what we think it is." Cloud said as they started to run back towards the spot they had been repairing.

Cloud and Leon were surprised to find that no one, or no thing, was anywhere in sight. They peered at their surroundings carefully. Everything was completely desolate. If there were no signs of the previous explosion, Leon and Cloud would have thought they were imagining things.

"What the hell caused this?" Leon asked himself as he walked over to a burning pile of rubble.

"I don't understand…I thought we were going to have to face another giant dog." Cloud said as he examined the pile of rubble as well.

"Thank God we don't. I don't think I could handle another one of those." Leon said. As Cloud and Leon began to discuss a logical explanation for the explosion, they made one of the biggest mistakes possible. They let their guard down, giving the beasts that were lurking in the shadows plenty of time to size up their prey. They didn't even hear the predatory growl as one of the beasts leapt out of the shadows.

"Cloud, look out!" Leon yelled as he pushed Cloud out of the way. A dog-like creature sunk its fangs into Leon's arm. Leon winced as he animal snarled at him through its full mouth.

Leon immediately saw the resemblance to the giant white dog in the eyes of the one he was facing now. The dog was the color of pure darkness, with the same color eyes as the giant white dog. As Leon glared into piercing scarlet eyes, he knew he would have to do something quickly if he wanted to salvage his arm. Leon pulled out his Gunblade and struck the beast down by stabbing it in the gut. The dog yelped and slackened its jaw. The demonic looking dog took a few steps back as it released Leon's arm. Leon staggered back as well as he clutched his bleeding arm. Leon glared at the beast as its growl became deeper and more intimidating.

"This one's a lot smaller than the other one. Should be easy enough to take out." Cloud said as he pulled his Buster sword out of its sheath without any hesitation. He was angry now. No one got away with hurting Leon.

As Cloud went to finish off the beastly looking dog, he found out that his assumptions about there only being one dog were incorrect. Cloud had almost struck a killing blow to the demonic dog when they were suddenly enclosed by a tall ring of fire.

"What the fuck is this?!" Leon screamed as he stepped back in order to get as far away as he from the flames as he could.

"I'm not sure, but it looks like we've got more company." Cloud said as dozens of demonic dogs leapt from the flames. Their crimson eyes sparkled devilishly as they circled the two tasty looking men in front of them, providing no room for escape as they did so. Cloud and Leon were now back to back, just like they had been when they had faced a swarm of Heartless and Nobodies that had invaded and nearly destroyed Radiant Garden.

"Well this situation feels rather familiar, minus the flames and rabid mutts." Leon said as he smirked at the pack of demonic dogs who were steadily closing in on them.

"Think we can take all of them down Squall?" Cloud asked. He could practically feel the smirk on Leon's face growing.

"How many times have I told you not to call me Squall in public?" Leon asked, completely disregarding Cloud's question.

"Didn't realize it counted when we were facing our enemies, and I'll take that as a yes." Cloud said as he ran to attack the beasts.

"It always counts." Leon muttered as he struck one of the snarling dogs.

Thirty minutes later…

Cloud and Leon were completely worn out, despite the fact that they hadn't been fighting long. They had once again underestimated their opponents. These dogs were faster and much more powerful than the giant dog, meaning that they were capable of causing more damage. Cloud was cut from the dog's fangs and claws in several places. Leon could barely hold his Gunblade anymore, the puncture wounds in his arm starting to affect him greatly.

"Shit…what is it with these things? They just won't die!" Cloud said as he slashed another demonic dog across the chest. The beast only gave him a fang-filled smirk as it stood back up as if it had never been struck down to begin with.

"We're in trouble Cloud. I don't think we can handle many more of these on our own." Leon grumbled as he desperately tried to kill one of the dogs. His attempts were all in vain. The crimson-eyed beast just stood back up effortlessly. There was no way they could escape. The deranged dogs were surrounding them again, their numbers barely dwindled from what they originally were. There was also the matter of the flames. They had only risen higher, causing immense heat waves to roll onto Cloud and Leon's sweat and ash covered faces.

As the dogs were about to move in for a finishing blow, they heard one of the dog's yelp loudly. The red-eyed dogs, as well as Cloud and Leon, looked around in confusion, wondering where the noise had come from. None of the dogs were visibly showing signs of being in pain, so the yelp seemed enigmatic.

As they continued to gaze onward, Cloud and Leon swore that they could see a human and a dog-like shadow leaping through the fire.

"The hell?" Cloud asked as he watched the mysterious shadows move around one another in an almost dance-like state. Cloud soon found out what was lurking in the bright embers, seeing as it practically came bounding towards them.

The mysterious being that had been in the fire was no other than Axel. He was carrying something fuzzy looking under his arm.

The fuzzy looking object was one of the demonic dogs, completely and utterly dead. It's scarlet eyes had faded into a dull, deep grey. It looked as though it must have been unnerved by the manner it had been killed in.

"What the hell took you guys so long?" Leon shouted to Axel, seemingly in a much better mood now that he knew help would arise.

"Sorry, we got a little held up by-

"Dance water dance!!" Demyx shouted as he played a rapid string of notes on his sitar, which was followed by a huge waterfall that appeared out of thin air. Axel's sentence was cut off when the waterfall not only extinguished the ring of fire, but also soaked the demonic dogs, and unfortunately, Axel.

"Yeah! We had to fight a whole bunch of these stupid mutts on the way over here! They're all over the place! They keep going around eating people and destroying the place like it's their territory!" Demyx said as he came rushing toward Leon and Cloud. "But don't worry, after we finish off these guys, everything should be fine!" Demyx said with a wide grin, completely oblivious to the growl coming in Axel's direction.

"Demyx! You idiot!" Axel snarled as he turned towards the boy with the faux hawk.

"Hehehe…sorry Ax!" Demyx said apologetically.

"You little-

"Demyx! Don't you dare push yourself any more than you already have! You're still recovering, remember!" Zexion said as he ran up to Demyx.

"Sorry, can't hear you Zexy, too busy fighting rabid doggies!" Demyx yelled as he ran in the opposite direction.

On the other side of the battlefield, Xemnas stood all alone. Everyone else had gone into battle, except for him. He stared at the beast with his wide, amber eyes.

'I know all of you somehow…' Xemnas thought as he clutched his chest, that odd pang that he had felt with the arrival of the giant dog returning, only this time, it was even worse.

'Why do I feel this way?!' Xemnas mentally screamed. He soon got his answer. Out of the corner of his eyes, Xemnas could see a figure looming over him that looked as though it were holding a sword.

"Damn it! Why won't these things just die already?!" Roxas yelled as he struck another beast harshly. As he continued to fight, he saw Axel out of the corner of his eye.

"Axel? What are you doing?" Roxas asked as he looked at the red head peculiarly. Axel was using a bit of fire that Demyx had failed to extinguish to dry himself and his clothes off. He was currently shirtless, waving the material over the fire in means of drying it.

"Sorry Roxy. I'd help you, but you know I'm useless when I'm wet." Axel said as he grinned at Roxas and continued to absentmindedly shake his shirt over the fire. One of the dogs saw their opportunity to catch easy prey, seeing as how Roxas was quite smaller than some of the others and had let his guard down, and started running towards him.

"Watch out Roxy!" Axel said as he threw his shirt to the ground and charged towards the dog. Just as the beast was about to clamp down on Roxas's leg, Axel kicked the dog in the side harshly. The demonic animal appeared to be much weaker than the other dogs, seeing as how it yelped quite loudly and ran away with its tail between its legs.

"Ha! Stupid mutt!" Axel said as he grinned triumphantly.

"Um…Axel?"

"Yes Roxy baby?"

"Your shirts on fire."

"What?!" Axel yelled as he looked over at the small fire. His previously abandoned shirt was casually lying in the spot he'd left it, burning away into useless ashes. Axel ran over to the shirt, desperately trying to put the flames out. When he finally got the flames out, the shirt was only half of what it used to be. The shirt was charred almost to the sleeves, rendering it useless.

"Damn, lost another one." Axel said.

"Idiot…" Roxas muttered before going back into battle, leaving Axel to solve his shirt issues on his own.

As Xemnas turned to face the mysterious shadow, he was met with sharp fangs, dark long hair, and blood red eyes.

"You…" Xemnas whispered, his pupils dilating at the sight of the man who had almost successfully killed him in what felt like many years ago, the awful creature that was responsible for killing Zack. The man, if you could even call him that, chuckled wickedly as he gave that sinister grin that Xemnas had had nightmares about for so long.

"I should have finished you off a long time ago." The man said deeply, his red eyes gleaming as he went in for the killing blow. Xemnas knew what was coming next, but he was so terrified that he couldn't will his body to move…unable to scream for help…just the way it had been the day Zack had died. As the sword was about to come down on him, he never would have guessed that someone would come and save him.

Just before the sword struck, Sephiroth quickly grabbed Xemnas and carried him to safety. Sephiroth was holding the other bridal style again, and though he would never admit it, was reluctant to let him go.

"What were you thinking? Why wouldn't you move? I know you're perfectly capable of defending yourself." Sephiroth said as he put Xemnas down and looked at him sternly. Sephiroth's exacting exterior softened when he saw Xemnas's terrified amber eyes.

"Xemnas?" Sephiroth questioned softly as he put his hands on Xemnas's shoulders and squeezed them gently.

"That man…he's…" Xemnas stuttered quietly. Sephiroth could feel the smaller man shaking underneath the pressure applied by his large, but slender hands.

"That man? What about him?" Sephiroth asked. Regrettably, Xemnas wasn't the one to answer him.

"Now that's a shame. You saw me not all that long ago and you don't even remember who I am?" A deep male voice resonated. Everyone stopped what they were doing as they looked at the frightening man. The crimson-eyed dogs seemed to be waiting for the man to give them some sort of command.

The man said nothing but, instead, snapped his fingers in an authoritative manner. The dogs seemed to nod their heads at him slowly as they started to fade away. In a matter of moments, it felt as though the demonic dogs had never been there to begin with. That is, if you disregarded the blood, gore, fire, and rubble that was scattered everywhere.

"Who the hell?" Sephiroth questioned as he turned to look at the demon of a man.

After taking a long look into those crimson eyes, Sephiroth knew exactly who the man was.

"No…but how…" Sephiroth whispered, realizing that the man was back for a reason, and it had to be because he was still out to kill Xemnas.

"You honestly couldn't have believed that I wouldn't come back, did you Xemnas? After all, I said I would stop at nothing to see you dead, and I still hold true to my word." The man growled.

"Why are you here?! What reasons do you have for wanting to kill Xemnas?!" Sora yelled at the demonic man.

The man laughed iniquitously as his mind revolved around Sora's question. "Figures. You spent all of that time in the past and you still can't figure out my reasons. I guess you'll have to-

"Wait! What do you mean by 'all of that time they spent in the past?'" Xemnas asked.

"They didn't tell you? Your friends got a little nosey a few weeks ago and took a little trip into your past. You can blame the little one with purple hair for providing a way to get there. The other's were simply curious." The man said purposefully. He knew what kind of reaction it would trigger within Xemnas.

"What?!" Xemnas asked as he turned to face Sephiroth accusingly.

"Xemnas…" Sephiroth said quietly. Xemnas looked around to see that everyone held the same guilty expression. Sephiroth's hand suddenly started to reach out towards him, trying to provide some comfort, if it was even possible to do so. Xemnas slapped the hand away grudgingly as he glared at Sephiroth.

"I have to go." Xemnas said harshly as he stormed off. Sephiroth moved to follow him, but someone's hand firmly kept him in place as it landed on his shoulder. Sephiroth turned to see that the hand belonged to Cloud.

"Just let him go. He's probably better off alone for now anyway." Cloud said as he softly looked towards the direction that Xemnas had run off in.

"He might try to run away this time." Sephiroth said calmly, as if he didn't care whether or not the man ever came back. He did care, he cared a lot, but his pride kept him from admitting it.

"There's no way he could get out of Radiant Garden unless he had a gummi ship. Cid's the only one who owns any gummi ships around here, and I don't think he'd surrender one of them to Xemnas without a fight." Cloud said with a slight smirk as his eyes averted to the dark haired, red eyed man.

"Well that wasn't any fun. I was hoping he'd get angrier than that." The man said in disappointment.

"Will you just get on with it!" Axel yelled impatiently. He hated it when villains boasted. The red eyed man just smirked at him.

"There won't be any need for me to continue here. After all, I have a feeling we'll be seeing each other again very soon." The man gave another fang-filled, devilish smile as he disappeared into a series of dark tendrils. There were no traces left of him once he had vanished.

"Damn, so what are we supposed to do now?" Sora asked through clenched teeth as he glared at the spot where the demonic creature had been standing.

"I'm going to go find him." Sephiroth said as he shoved Cloud's hand away. "It shouldn't be too difficult to do so from the sky." Sephiroth exposed his wings and flew off before anyone could say another word.

"Should we let him go?" Leon asked Cloud as he watched Sephiroth's shape get smaller and smaller.

"Yeah, let him go. He cares a lot more about Xemnas than he likes to let on." Cloud said as he smiled slightly. Although he knew things were about to get arduous, at least there was a chance that something beautiful would emerge from those times.


Sephiroth effortlessly glided though the air as he continued to search for Xemnas. He had been up in the air for a while now and hadn't seen a single trace of the other man.

'He's getting good at hiding when he doesn't want to be found.' Sephiroth stated obviously.

'Then why don't you just stop looking for him. You keep saying he's of no importance to you, yet you still follow him around as if he can't take care of himself.'

'He isn't important to me in the least bit…but…he could be a danger to Radiant Garden in his state of mind.'

'Since when have you cared about Radiant Garden? And I think we both know that Xemnas isn't going to try and destroy anything by now. Admit it, you've taken a liking to him.'

'No, I haven't. He's merely and acquaintance.'

'An acquaintance you wish to be friends with. Or maybe you wish to be much more than that…'

'Shut up! You know nothing you raving lunatic!!'

'I'm a raving lunatic? I'm not the one sitting here talking to myself, now am I?'

This statement made Sephiroth realize that both him and his subconscious must have been going crazy, because technically, they were both talking to themselves. After all, Sephiroth and his subconscious were undoubtedly the same person. Yet one might have been a bit smarter and insightful than the other…

Before Sephiroth could continue his little inner rant, he saw a glint of silver hair on the ground below him. He knew that that hair could only belong to one other person besides himself of Riku as he landed on the ground taciturnly.

"What do you want?" Xemnas asked bitterly. Sephiroth was at first surprised that Xemnas had actually heard him, but he also knew that the man had probably sharpened his habitual senses incredibly after the day's attack.

"For you to come back home where you belong." Sephiroth said simply as he approached the very stoic man. Xemnas laughed with a fair amount of acidity in his voice.

"Home?! Where I belong?! I haven't belonged anywhere since I was in my teens, so don't try to tell me I belong here because I never will!" Xemnas said spitefully.

"Where you belonged…you mean the place you used to live with Zack, don't you?" Sephiroth said a bit more gently this time. Xemnas turned around and sharply hit Sephiroth across the face. Sephiroth could have dodged the hit, or even countered it with a much more powerful blow, but he allowed the other to hit him for reasons he didn't quite understand.

"Don't you dare bring him into this! How can you possibly think you have any right to talk about him?! You may have seen my past, but you never truly knew Zack and you'll never fully understand what I went through! I knew all of you had been acting peculiar lately, but I couldn't figure out why. But I understand perfectly now! Is that why you were treating my so kindly that night you found me at the Castle Gates!? Because you felt sorry for me?! Or do you pity me because of what happened during my teenage years?! Well you don't need to sympathize with me Sephiroth, I'm perfectly capable of-

Xemnas was cut off as the breath was knocked out of him by the impact of being slammed into the rocks beside him. Xemnas winced and clenched his teeth as he looked up to see a pair of mako green eyes glaring at him.

"Don't think for a damn minute that I pity you now or will ever pity you! I've never spent any time feeling sorry for anyone and you're no exception! What purpose would it serve for me to feel any sympathy for you?! You may have had it rough once, but so have plenty of others! So get over yourself and realize that we only want to help you!" Sephiroth yelled, his fists clenched tightly around the fabric of Xemnas's shirt and his face extremely close to the others. Xemnas's breath hitched as he realized their closeness. Even though Sephiroth was angry with him, his intensity and beauty still radiated off of him in waves. Deep down, Xemnas wished that they could be that close when Sephiroth wasn't thoroughly pissed at him. Xemnas's wide amber eyes stared into Sephiroth's mako green ones as he nodded slowly to show that he understood. Sephiroth let Xemnas free as they both let out a breath neither had realized they were holding. An awkward silence stretched between the two for far too long until Sephiroth cleared his throat.

"So…what do you want to do about this…situation…" Sephiroth asked uncertainly. Xemnas remained silent as if he was trying to think of the proper thing to do.

"Do you think we should wait for him to come back?" Sephiroth offered.

"No." Xemnas was quick to say. " He wants me to come find him."

"But we have no leads, how do you suppose we do that?"

"I know it sounds crazy…but…for some reason, I feel like we need to go through the land past the Castle Gates…"

"Are you sure?"

"You'll just have to trust me…something's been leading me in that direction for a while now…"

"We'll have to discuss this with the other's and-

"I have no intentions of getting help from you or any of the others. I've always fought my own battles and I don't plan on changing that now." Xemnas interrupted.

"What?!" Sephiroth said exasperatingly.

"I don't need your help. I've never needed anyone's help…" Xemnas trailed off quietly.

"Well, then this will be something new for you. You can't do this on your own; you know very well that you can't pull this off by yourself. There are too many of them and only one of you." Sephiroth said. Xemnas thought this over in his head. He hated the thought of not being in control of the situation, especially when it concerned his problems, but he knew that what Sephiroth was saying was true. There was no way he could handle something like this on his own. He knew he would have to do something he had promised himself he wouldn't ever do again the day Zack died: depend on and trust other people.

"So, why don't we go home and discuss this with the others." Sephiroth said pressingly, his hand reaching for Xemnas, but stopped himself, realizing that it wasn't his place to touch Xemnas intimately, and attentively grabbed his wrist instead. Xemnas blushed at the small contact, but felt compelled to take it further.

"I won't consider Radiant Garden my home…but….alright…I'll go with you." Xemnas said as he made Sephiroth release his wrist so that he could squeeze his hand reassuringly. Sephiroth turned red at the touch, but nodded anyway, secretly disappointed when Xemnas let go of his hand. Although their relationship seemed to be going nowhere, Sephiroth couldn't help but wonder what the times ahead of them would bring.

READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTE PEOPLE!!


Author's Note: Wow, Microsoft Word tried to convert Sephiroth's name to Spirit. lmao! Anyway, yay!! It's the end of another chapter!! Please leave reviews!! I need your feedback!! Just to let you guys know, I've now applied to be a beta reader, so go check it out and if you have a story that fits my expectations, send it to me and let me see what I can do. Also, I have three one-shots up if any of you are interested. One of they is an akuroku, one is a Cleon, and the other is a Zemyx. Read and review if you are interested. And also, some people have claimed they have left reviews for me for chapter nine, but I have not received them. I received reviews from the following:

kryspi1

Billie the fourth sage

ramen-is-my-goddess

And that is all. If you left a review and I didn't get, please tell me about it. Try sending it through a message. Maybe that'll work. Anyway, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!