Note from magik: Oh hey look! Another chapter! I'm not even going to waste time apologizing for the wait... all I seem to do is homework. Moving on! Enjoy the chapter!

During the time in which it took for him to finish organizing his notes, Vexen told Ienzo all he could about what was going on in the other universe—everything from the Organization (which he surprisingly knew little about) to Riku's relationship with Namine (which he didn't go into detail on, for fear of boring Ienzo). In return, Ienzo explained a bit about what was going on in this universe, though it wasn't much. However, Vexen did learn that Kairi and Namine (along with Sora and Roxas) no longer shared a body—though this was something he was already aware of, for the most part. 42 had been working on a way to separate them, and given the way time flowed, it seemed very unlikely that they had yet to be separated. Vexen had asked purely for clarification's sake.

"So what happened to everyone else from the Organization?" Vexen asked, now, as he settled back into his seat on the couch.

"Xehanort's dead, as you know," Ienzo said. "And Xigbar… I actually think he's still alive." He made a face. "Xaldin's gone…" Ienzo paused, and was silent for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was quiet. "Lexaeus is… he's gone…"

"Xehanort?" Vexen asked, his voice just as quiet.

The name alone asked a million questions.

Ienzo merely nodded in response, a bit stiffly.

Vexen closed his eyes for a brief second. Oh Lexaeus…

"Saix is dead," Ienzo continued. "Axel survived. No surprise there." He chuckled slightly, though it was hollow. "Demyx… started a band and is traveling the Worlds. If I'm correct… Luxord is his manager."

Vexen raised his eyebrows at that. Though, this news was as little of a surprise as Axel being alive was. He couldn't help but wonder if trusting Luxord with munny was a good idea, though… He'd blow it on gambling—then again, knowing Luxord, he'd probably gain more munny gambling than he would lose.

Ienzo was still talking: "I have reason to believe Marluxia and Larxene are still alive, though I haven't seen either—" he paused. "Are you all right?" he asked, frowning at Vexen.

Vexen was shaking. At the mention of Larxene, it was like his stomach was turned inside-out. "She's still alive?" he asked, voice cracking slightly. He'd been dreading that news, though he hadn't realized it until now. Terror was clawing at his chest; not because of her, but because of what she might do to—

Was that anger he was feeling, along with the terror?

"Larxene?" Ienzo spoke slowly, concerned. "She came back like the rest of us, and—what is wrong?"

Vexen slowly gripped the arm of the couch, trying to steady himself. It didn't do much good. "I'm… angry," he said. "It's been a while since I've felt anger. I've felt frustration, yes, and annoyance, certainly. Anger is like a mix between the two, but much, much stronger."

"You're analyzing your emotions, Vexen," Ienzo stated, plainly.

"Yes, I- I just…" he faltered. "I don't want to admit I'm angry at her," he said, finally, voice quiet.

"Why not?" Ienzo was surprisingly calm. Well, not surprisingly. This was just like him. Completely calm; a perfect contrast to the turmoil currently raging in Vexen's heart. "It's Larxene. You've never liked her."

"But this—" Vexen swallowed. "This is a different kind of anger. I'm… scared, along with the anger."

Ienzo raised his eyebrows. "Scared of her?"

"Of course not!" Vexen snapped. He turned away. "I'm scared- scared of what she might do to—" He caught himself, shaking his head.

"To your Riku?" Ienzo finished.

"You know?"

"I was there…"

"Right." Vexen had grown so used to him and Riku being the only two who knew of such things that he'd forgotten. He sighed, and then frowned. The air around him was… cold. He grimaced, knowing very well that was his own fault, and started focusing on getting himself calmed down.

"Vexen?" Ienzo said.

"I know. I'm working on it…"

Emotions are such funny things, he thought to himself with a nervous laugh. One mention of Larxene, and I suddenly can't control myself.

"And the couch?" Ienzo asked.

Vexen cringed and slowly moved his hand away from the couch. After a second he glanced down, though he had a feeling he knew what he would find there. Sure enough, the arm of couch was coated with a thin layer of ice.

"I'll… do something about it before it melts," he assured Ienzo, rubbing his head.

"Has this really got you that worked up?" Ienzo seemed slightly amused by all this.

Vexen ignored the amusement. "I just…" he said, sighing. "I don't want her to—" No. It was more than that. He tensed, hands clenching into fists. "I'd do anything to make sure she does not touch him, does not harm him, does not go anywhere near him again!"

The anger that caused the outburst quickly faded and was replaced by embarrassment. Vexen buried his face in his hands, kneading his forehead. What was with him, lately? First he was throwing himself in front of Joseph; now he was making hasty declarations about wanting to keep Riku safe.

"Vexen," Ienzo said. He was still perfectly calm. "He's in another universe. What are the chances of her finding him?"

Vexen sighed. "Slim," he replied, slowly.

"And the chances of her even caring enough to go looking for him?"

"Highly unlikely."

"See? There is nothing to worry about."

Vexen took a deep breath, and nodded. Ienzo was right. Riku was safe. He took a few more calming breaths, then placed his hand back on the arm of the couch, pulling the ice beneath his fingertips back into himself.

"I'm sorry," he told Ienzo. "I've been acting—"

"Like you always have," Ienzo interrupted. "There's no apology needed." He chuckled slightly. "Are you done panicking, then?"

Vexen found himself smiling, too. "For now," he replied.

Ienzo was about to say something more, but a large clunk resounded from downstairs. There was a brief pause, and then several more clunks followed. Vexen raised his eyebrows. It sounded like a stack of books just fell over.

"Pi?" Ienzo called, warily.

"Aw nuts!" someone who was certainly not Pi whined. Vexen groaned.

"Joseph."

Ienzo was already on his way down the stairs. Vexen paused only to shove the binder with his notes in it into his pocket, grateful that the pockets of Organization Cloaks were practically endless.

Downstairs they found Joseph and Pi arguing about the correct way to put the books where they belonged. Joseph swore he remembered how they went before he'd knocked them down, but given Pi's protests, he obviously didn't.

"What are you doing here?" Vexen asked, frowning at Joseph.

Joseph glanced over at him, misjudging where he was placing the book in doing so. He ended up dropping the book, which fell to the floor with another clunk. Pi cringed and quickly picked up the dropped book, before shooing Joseph away and restacking the books himself.

"I came to make sure things were going alright!" Joseph told Vexen, grinning.

"Weren't you in trouble?"

Joseph's grin faltered. "Well, uh… As long as I go home in the next few minutes, 29 shouldn't notice I'm gone." He shrugged. "I mean, three minutes here is about a minute there so… unless 29 decides to come check on me, like, now… Which he shouldn't! He just left."

"Right." Vexen made a mental note to tell 29, when he did find out (because he would find out), that he had played no part in this. "Is Toby here?"

Joseph shook his head. "He was still napping, and there wasn't enough time to wake him up if I wanted to leave before 29 noticed."

Good, Vexen supposed. That was one less child to deal with. Now he just had to deal with Joseph.

"Well," he said, slowly. "Everything's fine, so shouldn't you be heading back?"

"Not immediately," Joseph replied. "Given the time difference, I could spend at least five minutes here before it became an issue." He frowned, then started drawing with his finger in the air—it appeared he was working out a division problem. "Yeah, five minutes at least, and a good fifteen minutes before I'm stretching it." He seemed proud of himself.

"Regardless, Joseph, shouldn't you leave now?" Vexen asked, trying to reason with the boy. "So that you definitely don't get in trouble."

Joseph stared. "I just explained that all. 29 won't notice I'm gone. Did you miss that?"

"I think," Ienzo said. "What Vexen was trying to say, is that you should go home just to be safe. On the off chance that 29 does come to check on you, and finds you missing."

"But that'd take all the fun out of it!"

Vexen and Ienzo exchanged glances.

Vexen sighed and slowly made his way over to Joseph. Maybe he should come at this from a different angle. "Ienzo and I were talking," he said in a hushed voice.

"I'm not stopping you!" Joseph replied, his voice equally as hushed. "You can get back to that—don't mind me!"

Vexen grimaced. Or that could not work. "It's just, it's not like you absolutely need to be here," he tried.

"Well… no, but… hey!" Joseph lit up all of a sudden. "Maybe I could help! Explain things! I'm sure Ienzo wants to know everything about what's going on in our universe."

"I've already explained everything," Vexen said.

To his surprise, Joseph's response was shock, and not disappointment or a more likely reaction. "You have?" Joseph asked. "Have you seriously been here that long?"

"What… are you talking about?"

"Oh," Joseph laughed slightly. "Well, it's just that everything going on in our universe is all… complicated. Ridiculously complicated. Like, if someone turned it into a book, I bet it'd be as big as this one." He pulled a fairly large book off the closest shelf, nodding certainly. He flipped through its pages and said: "Five hundred pages. Or longer." He nodded again and put the book back. "There's no way you could've explained all of it!"

Vexen stared, dumbfounded.

"I… got the most important bits," he said.

"Well-" Joseph began, but then paused, his eyes firmly fixed on something behind Vexen. "Ienzo?" he called, sounding as if he was suppressing some emotion. "There are supposed to be Heartless here that look like that, right?"