RE-WRITE 1.0. Chapter 3'll take longer because I didn't get it started while my internet was out.

I restlessly stir the cool air with my wings to coax the candles to burn a little stronger and a little hotter, carefully watching the object of annoyance for a reaction, even though I probably should be focusing that attention on Riku. He wouldn't have a chance if he tried to run, though. There's still that old question about what the hell he was doing down here in the first place which we'll hopefully be able to answer soon, so no one's going to hesitate a moment if he tries to get away. And the queen, Kairi, obviously cares a great deal about him, so he's a great advantage.

One of our other advantages, though, is really getting on my nerves. Even though he's possibly the greatest mind in any of the realms, he certainly has no concept of speed. Pissing him off, however, usually gets him up to a tolerable speed. A little more vigorously, I fan my wings to give the candles spread around the room a little more air and make them grow a good foot tall to get his attention.

Jumping away from the nearest candle as he suddenly takes notice of it, Vexen urns to glare at me with his icy green eyes, looking about like he's going to start twitching or something, and I have to restrain laughter. Ah, if looks could kill. "Stop him, will you?" he snaps before turning back to his table, scattered with loose notes.

Xion glances at her job of carting books back and forth from the shelves and smile with obviously restrained giggle. "Calm down. He'll be done soon."

"Then tell him to hurry up about it," I retort, giving the short girl a wink. Pissing him off pretty much always works.

Fisted hand quivering for only a moment, Vexen whirls at me and a wave of cold raises goosebumps on my arms and chest. "Hurry up?! Have you no respect whatsoever? While you laze about the castle and sleep around, I am working hard every minute!" I stop listening as he keeps going to grin at Xion who's shuddering with her eyes squeezed nearly shut, mouth hidden behind a book. As Vexen continues fuming, he turns back to the desk again, carelessly scattering papers before glaring at one and snatching it up. "You've seen my accomplishments! Is it too much to ask for any respect?" he continues, stepping close enough I can see the ice crystals bristling along his hair and exposed skin. Ooh, I did a good job. Not that hard to do, but it's still enjoyable. "I'm the most intelligent being here, and I merely wish to be treated as such." Ah, there's that ever-charming ego. "Unless you want to become a part of my next experiments."

Whoa, okay, this went faster than I expected.I quickly let the candles return to their natural size. I got forced into one of his experiments once after pissing him off, and I'm not letting that happen again. At least pissing him off did speed him up.

The slightest cold smirk twists his lips, and I have to resist the urge to l set his hair on fire as he turns back towards Riku, lifting the paper in front of his face. Riku, silent as ever, scowls at the floor. After a quiet moment, Vexen looks back up. "Well," he sighs boredly, folding the paper and putting it back on his desk, "with the strain of distance it's under, I'd be surprised if the seraph queen's protective spell lasts another few days."

Riku flinches at that, and his face disappears behind a wall of shimmering hair. I chuckle and take a step towards the seraph. "Well, wonderful. A couple more days, and your mind's an open book." A slight snarl comes from him and he lifts his head to glare daggers at me, making me laugh louder. "Anything else?" I direct at Vexen.

"Tell Larxene to get these questions answered while I'm not busy," he grumbles, turning back to his desk and pulling the papers he scattered back into place.

I bite back a snicker. "Yes, of course." I turn Riku towards the door. Give Larxene the news, then what was I going to do after?

"Oh! Wait!" I pause, and Xion puts the books she was carrying back down on a table and goes over to vexen, twisting her thin fingers around his hand, eyes big and hopeful. "Could I please go with him, Vexen?"

I finally laugh as Vexen visually softens, putting an affectionate hand on top of her head. "Of course." As much as he hates me, he loves her more, and that's hilarious. Anything to keep her happy, no matter what I do. Looks like I can't do whatever it was I was planning on doing. Whatever it was. Whatever. She's always a favourite part-time project of mine.

Giving a smile too honestly sweet to belong to a demon, she jumps into a hover high enough to kiss his cheek. "Thank you!"

He gives her an oddly proud look as she flutters a little to get to my side. I can't help but let out another laugh. "Well, in that case, let's go." Making sure Riku stays a step in front of me, I leave he lab with Xion beside me. I give the girl a smile from the corner of my eye once we're suitably far away. "I haven't seen you around much lately. Daddy keeping you busy?"

She laughs and fans her wings a bit. "He always does. You know he doesn't like me going out too much."

Oh, yes, there's a big, ugly real world out there. I chuckle while Riku unhesitatingly goes down the stairs to the dungeons. I almost miss when he was first captured and actually tried running off from time to time. Gave me a little more of something to do. "You've only existed—what?—a little over a year now. I'm sure he'll lighten up eventually." That'd be great. For all the twisted little somewhat sentient beings Vexen's created, she's the only one who actually looks and can think like a real demon. Who knows what secrets are hidden in her beyond her grasp because Vexen keeps her so secluded? She could turn into something pretty great, despite her unceasingly kind nature, if Vexen let others at her more often.

When we reach the cells, Riku silently goes in and sits down, expression as hateful and sullen as he's resumed being since the only time I've heard his voice. I lock the door and turn to Xion. "Well, Xion, what'd you like to do now? Take a walk outside?" Which is always code for "ask me any questions Daddy won't answer." Larxene can wait for the news on Riku.

Though her eyes were locked on Riku 'til I spoke, she turns and nods, smiling as per usual. Nodding once back, I lead the way down the hall of cells, away from the stairs. Though most of the cells are empty right now, one or two grumble as we pass until, in the second to last one, right on cue, its occupant lets out a high-pitched shriek and throws itself at the bars, long, broken-nailed hands straining towards us, well out of reach. Letting out a loud squeak of surprise, Xion jumps back, but I don't stop to wait for her to catch up.

When she does, she practically glues herself to my side and keeps looking back, though her eyes are lit with an excited sort of sparkle. "What was that?" she hisses.

She must've never been around one of those. Lucky her. "A starved vampire." Lucky me, I'm usually the one ho deals with such local menaces. At least I got help with this one, so damage was minimal.

A cute, confused frown turns down her mouth. "A vampire? Are you sure? Zexion's a vampire, right? He's nothing like that thing."

I raise an eyebrow at her. Does she really not know about this? "'Course he's a vampire."

Xion stops walking to stare back where we emerged. "Well, then, what was wrong with that one?"

Wow. Has Vexen really not taught her this stuff? He really is sheltering her to an insane point, I mean this is the basics of life itself. Big, ugly real world and all. Wouldn't want her to get mixed up in such things. Well, I would. "That's what happens when a vampire resists its nature, sweetie." She raises an eyebrow at the teasing endearment, as usual, but I push on. "Any of us could go downhill like that if we're not careful."

"Nature? So that vampire…didn't drink blood?"

I smirk and nod. There's those brains. "Good guess. We've had him locked up doe about two weeks now, but we're guessing he stopped about a month before that. Or couldn't for whatever reason. Maybe his mouth or teeth were damaged, I don't know. I'm not getting close enough to check it out." She's still not going anywhere, so I lean back against a nearby rock. "Most of us don't turn out as bad as vampires, though, just degenerate physically or go out dramatically all at once. They slowly lose their mind and will attack anything until their bodies kind of give out on them." At least they can't feel anything when they shriek their last breaths. Neither of my options are as nice and easy. Not that I'm planning on letting either of them happen anytime soon.

Her eyes widen. "That's terrible!" She looks off into the distance for a moment, and her eyes glint with amusement when they turn back to me. "Well, unless I'm wrong, I think I understand you a little better now."

I have to laugh at that. "I doubt you're wrong, so, yeah, maybe you'll remember the burden I have to bear in the future when you turn a corner without thinking." I cross my arms and raise an eyebrow with mock sternness.

Though her cheeks flush a delicate, mortified pink, she laughs, covering her face with her hands. "I'll keep that in mind." Laughter quieting, she thoughtfully presses her finger against her bottom lip. "I'll have to ask Vexen if I have anything like that to worry about. I don't want to accidentally die."

What the hell kind of thing is that to say? "Yeah, none of us do, sweetie."

Eyebrows creasing, she briefly sticks her tongue out at me then resumes walking, forcing me to get off the rock. With a vaguely smug expression at getting me to move, her hands clasp lightly behind her back, "You know, it's funny how little anyone knows about seraphs," she states casually, immediately losing any smugness. "Even Vexen doesn't know more than what little's been recorded."

"Yeah, they're good at keeping their secrets."

"But you've spent more time than anyone with Riku, right?" Immediately, she gets that expectant, big-eyed look, and I snicker. She's so predictable.

"Probably. Doesn't mean we're friends or anything."

Her face falls a little. "But, if he's talked to anyone, it's got to be you, right?"

I raise an eyebrow. "Once, yeah, but he didn't really grant any insights into anything." I shrug. "This is going to be the last seraph we're going to get anything out of. Until we get into his mind, at any rate, and I'm going to be the last one to find out what they get from that."

"Oh." Sighing, she stops and looks back. "No one's going to tell me any of that stuff, you know,"

I sigh and stop as well, putting my hand on my hip. Yeah, I know that. "No one's going to tell me, either, at least until they decide to make it my business, so I don't know why you're so disappointed. It's not like they're going to give you all that much say on anything anyway,"

She shrugs, expression suddenly stony. One of her elongated ears twitches once, and she turns to me. "Do you hear that?" she whispers.

"What?"

She hesitates. "I think it's…fighting. Inside."

Oh. This sounds fun. Chakrams in hand, I whirl back around and run back to the door, leaving Xion.

Inside, the vampire's screeching and clambering at the bars again, this time towards a mass of brilliantly white feathers coming down the stairs at the far end of the hall. I stop to watch as the fully-armoured angel points a keyblade at the cell holding Riku, and, in a flash of light, it eases open. Riku immediately rushed out of the cell, saying something I can't hear over the screaming, then he looks over towards me. I smirk as the colour drains from his face and he shouts, "Run!" The helmeted angel turns to me as well and his mouth, his only visible feature, falls open before he shoves Riku ahead of him back up the stairs, and I run after them.

Oh, how cute. A little rescue.

For a while, I can only hear them clattering along ahead of but, but, when I catch sight of them after careening around a corner, the angel's given Riku that wing-shaped keyblade of his. Thy pick up speed as they notice me catching up, and I have to release a short laugh. I don't care enough to stop them right now. No, this is far too fun. Larxene can shock me all she wants later if I lose them. But I'm not letting that happen.

When a door to outside is in sight, a keyblade easily opens it, and I guess they've gone far enough. Right outside, probably as close to the palace as it can be, a light portal waits for them. Yep, far enough. As long as I stop one of them, that's all I care. Summoning fire around a chakram, I throw it, spinning, towards the fleeing seraphs. Just as I step outside as well, it strikes the angel, knocking him forwards, though it bounces off a plate of armour, so there's no real damage. When he lands face-first, keyblade falling from his hand, he starts scrambling to all fours, yelling, "Keep running!" Hurrying, I close the distance and pounce, forcing him back on his face, remaining chakram piercing the ground next to his helmet so one point pis down his shoulder, my knees on either side of him. He grunts at the impact, then falls still, and I've caught an angel.

I look up from my feathery captive in time to see Riku falter and look back, expression frustrated and helpless, before he steps into the light portal which disappears a second later.

After another tense second of heavy breathing from both me and the angel beneath me, I relax against his soft, unarmoured rear and push some stray hair off my face. "Well, then. That was fun." And I caught an angel!

As I speak, he lets out a growl and glares at me from under his helmet, battering me with soft, slightly singed wings. "Get off me!"

Easily blocking his wings with my own, I chuckle. "We get a spirited one this time, huh?" Wait a minute… The keyblade, his voice, that fiery temper… Still protecting myself from his flailing wings, I lean over and yank off his helmet, revealing a scruffy mess of golden blond. A grin bursts across my face. "Hey! We meet again!" He growls and writhes and I laugh. "That's not very polite. Care to give me a name? My name's Axel. Got it memorized?" How lucky am I?

"Get off!" he snaps, turning his head to glare it me with prettily sparkling blue eyes.

I teasingly play with his hair. "Don't be so cruel, Blondie."

He glowers, going red, from under the hair that falls into his eyes and snarls, lashing out at my hand with his free one. "Let me up!"

"But why?" I teasingly dance my fingers across the back of his neck, and he satisfyingly shivers and turns away. Yeah, I somehow doubt he's the one that opened that portal, doesn't have the feeling of a spellcaster, not one that strong, but he's still not going anywhere until he's secure in the palace, just in case.

"Axel!" With a frown, I look back at Larxene's swift approach. Took her long enough. "What happened?" she snaps, the sheer layers of her dress flaring flame-like around her.

I chuckle and turn back to the blond angel beneath me. "I was having fun, that's what."

Stopping beside us, Larxene looks scathingly down at him. "That's the angel that got in?" Her expression quickly transforms into one of glee. "His pure little mind may be immune to us, but an angel may be a much more valuable hostage." She laughs. "Wonderful. Axel, bring him inside." Carefully, I get off him, pinning his wrists behind him and pulling him to his feet. Larxene smirks and thoughtfully plucks a small feather from his wing. "Welcome to Infernum, angel."

As she strides back towards the palace, I grin and lean in so my mouth is next to his face. He inhales sharply and goes rigid as I breathe softly against his ear. "Welcome to Infernum, Blondie," I purr, pushing him after Larxene, his face a bright red. Oh, lucky me. I can't wait to see where this leads.