Chapter 28

Neox ran down the hallway with a yellow book held tightly in his hand, then stopped in front of his best friends door breathing deeply. "Calixa!" he screamed, banging on the hard wood. "Let me in! Hurry!"

The door opened after a moment revealing a baffled carrot haired girl, "What is it?" she asked.

The boy promptly pushed her aside and rushed in, "Close the door! Hurry," or ordered hysterically.

She quickly closed the door once he was inside, "Has someone died!" she asked excitedly nothing interesting ever seemed to have been happening lately.

"No but-" he was interrupted by a loud banging on the door.

Calixa's head shot in the direction, "Who is it?" she called.

"OPEN THIS DOOR!" came an all too familiar sadistic female blonde's voice.

What did you do? She mouthed to Neox who only whimpered in response, "Go away Larxene, I didn't do anything!" Calixa yelled.

"I want that little twerp, and I know he's in there! Now open up!" Larxene screeched.

"If you're talking about Neox then he's not in here," Calixa called back while mouthing and motioning for Neox to hide under the bed. He immediately complied as Larxene began ramming the door. "Just a minute!" she called while throwing a few blankets under the bed to cover him.

Larxene finally bust the door opened, just as she threw the final blanket underneath and stood up strait again. She could only hope that Larxene didn't see her throwing stuff under the bed. "All right where is he!" Larxene asked looking around.

Her entrance made Calixa recoiled backwards unwillingly. "I told you that he's not here!" she said.

"He always come and hides in here," Larxene replied while opening the closet and rummaging through it.

Neox listened with fear in his empty chest. He held his breath while silently spreading the blankets over himself. Once Larxene deemed that the closet was empty she got on her hands and knees and looked under the bed. Seconds that felt like centuries passed then Larxene stood up, and grabbed Calixa by the collar. "Where is he?" He has my diary and I can smell the perfume I put on it!"

"How can you tell with all my other fragrant's in this room?"

Larxene squeezed the younger girls arms tightly, causing her to yelp in pain "I can make you tell me if you prefer?" the blonde threatened with a sadistic grin.

"Ok, ok, he ran down the hallway."

Larxene smirked evilly then threw Calixa to the ground before running out and down the hall, "Ow," Calixa groaned while slowly getting to her feet.

"Is she gone?" Neox's muffled voice came from under the bed.

"Yes... she's gone," Calixa replied wincing slightly from the older woman's rough treatment.

Neox pushed his way out from under the bed and stretched his cramped muscles, "You ok?" he asked noticing her wince.

"Just bruised I think," she then glared at him slightly, "You totally owe me one."

"Definitely," he replied with a grateful smile and took a book from in his coat.

"Ok so what's so sacred of Larxene's that you risked your life and mine to keep?" she asked twisting her body around in a stretch while groaning.

"Her diary," he replied, with a smirk.

"Oh my god," Calixa instantly straitened and looked at him. He had never seen her look so excited, "Lets see if she's really in love with Axel."

"Yeah! Great idea!" he said and started skimming through it.

"Or ye coods giva back afair ye gie 'urt," a heavy Scottish voice said from the door.

Neox sighed in annoyance, and Calixa made a growling noise in her throat. They both turned to look at the most un-liked member of the organization Bàli, who was leaning on the doorframe. "What do you want?" Calixa asked coldly, and glared at her.

"Jist thot ye like ta nae ;at Larxene's creatin absolute mayhem tryin tae fin 'er diary," she replied.

"Why don't you mind your own business," Neox shot at her.

There was a sudden cry from down the hall and Xero came running by with his hair defying gravity the way it would from electrical shocks. "Hoy mates' what's got Larxene in a not-so-bonza mood?" he asked.

Bàli glared at him, "Go awa ye kangaroo lova," she hissed, making the Aussie smirk and ruffle her hair. ""How dare ye touch me with ye durty Australian ands," the girl sounded deeply offended then stomped off in a huff.

There was a short silence, before the two younger nobody's turned there attention back to Larxene's diary, "Oh is that what she's after," Xero's said but neither seemed to be paying attention and didn't respond to him. "Hoy heads up mates."

Suddenly Larxene came by and saw them reading her diary, "I knew it was you...!" Both of there heads looked up in fear at the sound of her voice. She stepped inside then slammed the door shut.

A few hours later Neox and Calixa were sitting in her room, with singed hair and various body parts wrapped in bandages. "Hey it was worth it," Calixa said trying to find the bright side.

"How?" Neox asked with a groan, "We didn't find out if she loves Axel or not."

"We still had fun," Calixa shrugged.

"I guess…"

"…You know I bet it was Bàli that told Larxene we had the diary," Neox commented bitterly after a moment of silence.

Calixa slowly turned over on the bed, being carful of her injuries, "I don't know, it's never actually been proven that she rats on everyone."

"Because she denies it, come on Cali. How else to you explain they way she always predicts what will happen."

"I sometimes wonder if she really does have an element and is just keeping it from us. I mean didn't you say that she cast a spell on Larxene once, who the hell can do that?"

"It was some sort of Scottish spell that she learned before she became a Nobody, trust me if she had an element then we'd have figured it out knowing us. Maybe her element is being an uptight stick in the mud. She really needs to loosen up," Neox shifted positions to be able to look at her, and noticed that she was smiling. "What's with you?"

"Speaking of loosening up what if we could get her to loosen up?"

"Yeah, and we should start with that accent of hers," the boy joked.

"No I'm serious, she needs a role model and who do you think she needs to be more like?"

Neox thought about it for a few moments, and the only person he could think of that was easy going was, "… I don't know, Xero?"

"Exactly... getting my drift?"

The child thought it over for a moment before looking at her in surprise, "You can't be for real?"

"I totally am," she smirked knowingly.

The boy sighed, "How exactly are we going to do that? They hate each other."

"Correction, she hates him, but we can change that."

"how?"

"Just trust me."

"Last time you said that, we were stuck in the medical center for over a week…"

Some time later, Neox was sitting cross-legged on the ground watching Calixa write something on a note, "All right done," Calixa said proudly and handed him the piece of paper.

"Cali the possibility of this ludicrous plan working are-" he started to say but was cut off and they both froze as they heard a familiar Scottish accent approaching the door. But when the voice passed by they both relaxed and Calixa turned back to Neox, "You were saying."

"Never mind," he replied standing. "So let me see if I got this right, we give each of them a note."

"Saying to meet at the same place because they have something they want to say," Calixa continued for him. "Then whenever they meet they-" she suddenly trailed off not sure what to say next.

"Then they meet at the place specified by the note where we set up a dinner for them," Neox concluded.

"Exactly," the girl replied as if she was the one that said it, "Then their sure to fall in love. It's full proof?"

Neox just shook his head then took the note from her. "This goes to Xero right?" he asked.

"Yes, do you have Bàli's note ready?"

"A fool thought of it so I'm not entirely sure," he teased smirking.

Calixa smacked him playfully, "Ok I'll give yours to Bàli and you give mine to Xero."

"Aye, aye captain misfit," he replied with a solute then walked out the door, with Calixa following close behind.

Neox and Calixa were setting up the dinner they had planned, or at least Neox was setting the table while Calixa was cooking dinner, "Don't forget that you're not allowed to light matches, so I'll light the candles," Calixa told him from over her shoulder.

"Okay," he replied, knowing his age kept him from doing certain things

After the preparations were made, all that was needed were the lovebirds, "Come on lets hide," Calixa announced excitedly then grabbed Neox's hand and dragged him over to a hiding spot.

"I still don't know about this," he complained, still sounding having doubts about the whole thing.

"Shut up and be quiet," Calixa hissed as she saw Xero enter, Bàli came in not longer after that not looking very happy.

This worried the two younger members; it was hard enough to understand these two already. "All right, dis betta be good," Bàli said glaring at the Aussie.

"Excuse me?" Xero asked, confused at what she meant.

Oh no Calixa could already tell that this was already over. They were going to find out. "Cali," Neox whispered to the red head. "Let's get out of here."

"Yeah I think your right," she agreed, and the two quickly stood up and started to sneak out. Unfortunately while they were heading out, Calixa tripped over her own feet and hit the way ground hard. "Ouch!" she cried out as her knee smashed against the tile.

Neox turned around and grabbed her, quickly going back into the hiding spot. Fortunately the other too didn't seem to even notice, Bàli looking about ready to murder Xero, "Sae if ye didne write th' note 'en fa did?" She was getting harder to understand and what was bad because the more angry she got the harder it was to understand her.

It took a good minute before Xero was able to work out what she just said. Just being able to understand her when she too heavy on the accent was a pretty big deal, since Xero was able too they two younger nobodies knew that it was destiny for them to be together. The Australian shrugged, "I don't know, but we might as well commend their efforts," he said pointing to the food on the table.

"I'll be deid afair Ah ever eat a scran wi' ye," she shot then left the room muttering in Gaelic. Xero just shrugged and left the other way.

Neox glared at Calixa, "Great plan Cali."

The red head looked at the boy and gave him a hard flick on the forehead, causing him to yelp, "Fine, from now on you think of the plans, I'm going on strike." She then crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. Neox sighed and helped her to her feet then walked to her back to her room to think of a plan.

Later on Calixa was sitting on her bed with an ice pack placed on her swollen knee that she got from Vexen, "I'm going to be limping for a week," she complained.

"That's your fault," Neox said unsympathetically, who was lying on his tummy next to her on the bed. "I told you that it wouldn't work didn't I?"

The girl glared at him, "Want me to leave you to do it all by yourself?" she asked.

"No…" he sat up and looked at her. "Maybe we should just tell them our thoughts on it."

Calixa scoffed, "Oh yeah that's an idea. 'Hey guys we were just thinking that you too looking like a cute couple' uh huh I can just see it."

"It's worth a shot, unless you have a better idea."

"If we do that and it doesn't work then there's no chance of them ever getting together, because then they'll suspect anything else we try."

"So that was ya little plan, was it mates," a familiar voice said from the doorway

Both cringed at the sound of Xero's voice, "H-hi xero…" Neox greeted with a stutter, and Calixa smiled innocently at him.

Xero smirked as he walked in, "Hehe, how much of that did you hear?" the red head asked with a nervous laugh.

"I heard enough Sheila." Xero replied, closing the door behind him. "Can't say that I blame you though, Bàli is pretty tidy especially with that accent."

The two younger members stared at him in astonishment, they couldn't believe that he would actually agree with them, and Calixa glared at Neox when he smiled smugly at her, "Though she does hate me," Xero continued.

"But maybe we could change that!" Neox suggested, jumping to his feet.

"How the hell do we do that?" Calixa asked shifting the ice pack on her knee, "It's like in her culture or something."

"Well I don't know anything about Scottish culture," Neox said.

"Well it's got to have something to do with that, she's hated you ever since you arrived," Calixa pointed out referring to Xero.

The older male thought for awhile, "Maybe she had a bad experience with my kind?"

"It's an idea, but we don't know a thing about her past, other then she's from Scotland," Calixa pointed out.

"Exactly! So what do we do?" Neox asked.

"I don't know," Calixa shrugged. "I guess first we should find out why she hates him so much."

"Then figure out how to make her stop," Xero finished.

"So where do we start?" Neox asked.

Xero shrugged, "Aren't you the smartest one of us? Figure it out." There was a short silence before he continued. "Who was the one that found her in Scotland?"

Neox and Calixa smirked knowingly, "Roxas and Axel!" they both said.

Axel Roxas and Xion were kind of a trio, either they were all together on the station tower in Twilight Town, or in one of there rooms. Occasionally Axel was seen with Saïx, but when you were looking for either of them the best place to look was there favorite ice cream spot.

Neox opened the portal and stepped through, Xero and Calixa followed. As they thought all three of them were sitting on the edge eating sea salt ice-cream and talking over there missions. "You should have seen that sand storm in Agrabah," Roxas was saying when they arrived.

Instinctively Xero said, "I didn't do it mates."

All three of them looked up so see who came into there conversation, "Hey what brings you three here?" Xion asked smiling at them.

"We where just wondering, if you could tell us what Bàli's life was like when you found her?" Neox asked careful of how he worded it.

"Yeah, pretty curious mates," Xero added

Xion looked at the boys curiously; obviously she didn't even know what happened. Axel and Roxas both suddenly looked uncomfortable, "Um well... its like we said before, we went to Scotland found her and came back," Roxas explained, "That's all we know."

"Oh really?" Neox walked over to Roxas, knowing that wasn't the whole story. He always overheard Zexion talking about how they refused to give details about the mission to even the Superior. What were they hiding?

Neox walked over to where Roxas was sitting and give him his famous confession stare. The stare that got any guilty person to confess anything, didn't always work but it was hard to resist. Roxas looked at Axel in alarm looking for help. Axel saw that Roxas was about to cave and say something he's regret so he came to the blonde's rescue, "Why do you guys want to know anyway? You've never asked before, and I thought you hated that girl?"

This startled Neox and made him break the gaze, "Ah…" Calixa luckily came in.

"We're just kinda curious as to why she hates Xero so much. I mean she's not exactly fond of anyone in the organization, but she downright hates him?"

"Yeah, so why is that Roxas?" Neox continued, returning his gaze to Roxas.

"Look we don't know anything ok, now take your business elsewhere," Axel came in and saved the blonde again.

Neox glared at him, "Why don't you shut up number eight?"

"Look we know you're not telling the whole story. Now tell us," Calixa said.

Axel stood and crossed his arms, "I said no, now leave!" he shouted at them.

The two youngest members glared before complying by creating a portal and leaving single file. Xero followed as well. As soon as Neox got through, he kicked a chair into the wall, "Damn that pyro, who does he think he is!" he fumed and stomped off somewhere, darkness pouring out of him

"Hey Neox calm down, all right," Calixa jogged to catch up with him. "Why are you so upset about it anyway, it's not like you care about Bàli or anything?" Calixa asked.

"Well it was a bonza burl mates, guess we can't win then all," Xero replied then left.

The next morning came fast. Most members were at the table eating, except Calixa Larxene and Bàli were on laundry duty in the basement. "Tell me again why are we doing the laundry while everyone else is eating breakfast?" Larxene asked.

Calixa decided not to answer and risk getting hurt while Bàli answered, not realizing the risk, "Meebe cuz of what ye did yesterda."

Larxene glared at her and grabbed her by the collar ready to do her in. The Scottish girl cowered in fear. The blonde was about ten seconds from throwing her head first into the trashcan when something caught her eye. Upstairs in the dinning room where everyone else in the organization was eating breakfast, shrieks of terror were suddenly heard. Everyone at the table looked at each other, and suddenly, Larxene Calixa and Bàli burst in screaming. "What's wrong?" Roxas asked the question they all wanted to ask.

"There's a snake in the basement!" Larxene cried out looking shocked. Calixa looked terrified, and Bàli was the only one that was still shaking in her boots.

"That's what all the screaming is about?" Axel asked as if he thought they were joking.

"Number 18 please go extract the reptile," Xemnas ordered pointing at Xero.

He left the room, and after a few tense minutes he came back with nothing in his hands, "Um… sir we have a problem," he announced.

"Which is?" Axel asked.

"The snakes not there."

Bàli shrieked and jumped up on a chair, "Wat! Where tis it?"

"Relax," Roxas told her, "It will turn up eventually then we'll get rid up it."

The girl whimpered pathetically, and Xero stepped forward reaching an offering hand, "Its bonza Bàli I'll take you back to your room." He said kindly.

"Like I needa ya help," she shot at him then teleported out of the room.

Later on that day Bàli teleported into the kitchen, she had wanted to avoid going anywhere but her room until the snake was caught. But she was just so thirsty, she was about to faint from dehydration if she didn't drink water. So all she had to do was go in grab some water then teleport back to her room. She stuck her head into the kitchen and looked around before cautiously stepping inside.

She quickly ran over to the kitchen sink grabbed a cup and started poring filtered tap water into it. The snake must have been hanging from a pot above the sink or something because she suddenly felt something cold and scaly land on her head and shoulders.

The sound of a ring wraith fell from her lips, while she grabbed the snake and flung it to the floor. The reptile hissed in anger then started slithering away. Bàli started rubbing her skin and shivering at the fact that she touched a snake, following by more screaming and backing up against the counter. Xero must have been the closest person to the kitchen by the way he burst into the room, "Right man, what's going on in here," he asked to no one in particular.

The girl was just two busy screaming to notice him, and it didn't take the Aussie long to notice what was scaring the living daylights out of her. He decided that something needed to be done quickly when he noticed all the color drain from her face. He bent down picked up the snake by his tail and then grabbed his head so it wouldn't bite. The snaked hissed and wiggled wildly in his hands. Xero wasted no time in opening a portal to the outback and throwing it through, then tuned back to the hysterical girl.

Bàli had stopped screaming when Xero had the snake in his hands, but she was still hyperventilating even after he threw it into the portal. He took a step toward her, "It's alright Sheila just calm down. It's gone," he soothed carefully stroking her back. If he ever tried to pull this move in any other circumstances would have landed him a slap in the face but the girl was to upset to really care right then so he got away with it.

"Aye de killer snake, it tried tae kill me!" Bàli screamed loudly with tears leaking from her eyes.

Xero pulled her into a light embrace, again under any other circumstances would be deadly for him but he still got away with it. "Just calm down, I got rid of it. It will never bother you again.

After several minutes she finally calmed down, and noticed that she was being hugged by Xero, the person she hated. She looked up and gave him a mild glare that barely held its one for 5 seconds before he it died, "Thanks…" she said in a small meek voice.

"No problem love, say ya looking a little stressed. Why don't I bye ya some ice-cream," the boy offered.

Bàli thought for a moment before nodding her head, "Ok… but dis doesn't mean I like ye now. It means I willa tolerate ye." Xero smiled at hearing her say that. Maybe there was hope in them.

Here's chapter 28, and we're now starting to run out of finished chapters