A/N: Thank you VidiaPhoenix, Wounded Wing, mysteryreader6626, Anony, and Guest! Your reviews are what kept me going. :) I hope you all find this chapter satisfactory.

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::X::

green-eyed beast

"Nulla does everything I tell it to. It took my last few missions. It say anything to you? Or Xemnas?"

"Not a word. I think it's time we tested her reticence further."

"You know, you're starting to sound like Vexen. It's creepy. I hope this'll be worth it. I hate being near that thing, let alone touching it."

"Just give her this. We'll see how well she can be handled once you leave for Castle Oblivion."

Dexné's silent footfalls gave no testimony to the speed with which she moved.

She picked a dead leaf from her coat, the only proof she'd been out, and tucked it into her pocket where it would likely be forgotten until the time came to restock her hi-potions and elixirs. A time that came about more and more often. An ache spread from her back where she was lambasted by a Heartless.

A clouded mind made for ill-timed evasions.

She went into her room and prepared to write a report. She used a hard-cover book as a surface since she didn't have a desk, and sat with it on her lap. Pen poised above paper, she stopped. A strange sensation came over her, one that made it harder to breathe or think. Searching memories, she labeled the falsified feeling as guilt.

She was going to write yet another report the Superior would never see.

She was being made to act behind his back. And she supposed she should be angry with Axel, or Saïx, or frustrated at herself for, despite knowing their intentions, not being able to do anything about it.

She couldn't make sense of the assignments they gave her. Sometimes she could see the importance of some tasks, other times it seemed she was being sent on wild goose chases.

The mission she just completed, however, was a clearly laid test.

"Here." Axel entrusted her with a small cylindrical container, having caught her early that morning in Shadow's Hall. "Leave it in Twilight Town, in the woods, third tree left of the brick wall near the gate. Let Saïx know you've done it." His palm had pressed to her shoulder blade and sporadic flutters beat wildly in her chest. He leaned in, shifting from the previous business tone to a gentle murmur. "I really appreciate you helping me..."

And just for a moment she almost let herself slip back to simpler times, to close her eyes and believe he was speaking to her as his friend, and not some pawn.

But then she noticed how quick he was to pull away, almost like she was a burning surface he had accidently touched. He was quick to walk away as well, boots marching rapidly.

He couldn't wait to get away from her.

Something inside her chest twisted.

Though she wondered what was inside the container she did not open it, nor did she even shake it to gauge what might be within. She did as told. For him. And for ingrained obedience. She also feared that if she were to tamper with it a trap would spring.

Report folded in pocket, Dexné exited to the halls, on her way to Saïx. She wondered what he did with the papers. Surely he wouldn't risk keeping them. Maybe he burned them.

A shadow flickered in the edge of her vision. Something was following her.

It was the Dusk with the powder-blue markings, the one that seemed abnormally attached to Saïx. Though Dusks hovered after her regularly, something about the way that one was swishing in and out from around corners put Dexné on edge.

The Dusk disappeared before she reached Number VII.

"Well done, Dexné," he said, eyes grazing over the paper before settling on her with an eerie watchfulness. "Go. Attend to your duties. By the way," he called softly, stopping her, "I believe Axel was looking for you."

She nodded, knowing he really meant to say, "Axel has another job for you."

Dexné carried on as if she knew nothing of their plans, as if it was just the methodical duties she always received. She didn't know how long she'd be able to keep it up. If she were questioned by the Superior…

To withhold information was one thing, but to outright lie?

She brought back another item Axel requested, and as he lightly gripped her shoulder, saying, "Good girl," she was reminded of a dog playing fetch with its master.

His smile was becoming more and more disarming. Dexné secretly frowned on her own weakness. She knew, yet still she allowed herself to be deceived.

She felt the weight of his hand on her shoulder, the warmth spreading through even the heavy black coat. He leaned down, mouth close to her ear which was veiled by the black cloth of the hood. "I won't be around for a while," he said. "I can trust you to take care of things while I'm gone, yeah?"

"As you say," was her immediate response, delivered flat and lifeless. She did not question.

He pulled back quickly and presented a reason anyway. "Good. I'll be looking for Naminé—you know, the memory witch that escaped on my watch. Oops." He waved his other hand as if it didn't really matter. "My mess, so I get to clean it."

His grip on her was light...too light. Looking closer from the edge of her black hood, she saw he was tensed...as if ready to spring away from her at a moment's notice.

He did not like touching her. He did not like being near her.

The subtleties of his body language gave him away.

He was playing a part. She had to remember that.

He was not her friend now.

...why did it feel like barbed wire was constricting her chest?

Dexné said nothing. Her thoughts drifted to the little girl in white. He let Naminé go purposely—to ruin Marluxia's plans. And it worked. But Dexné wondered if that was the sole reason. After all, he made no effort to recapture the girl, and Dexné knew his current objective wasn't to find Naminé—it was to find the "chamber" he and Saïx had spoken of.

The witch could distort memories. Was that not a frightening ability that could be used against them if left unchecked?

Blood ran through Dexné's veins at a quicker pace and her stomach clenched. Naminé was a ruse. Dexné didn't know what was in this "chamber" but whatever it was Axel and Saïx hoped to use it against the Superior. The urge to turn around and shout at him boiled up. Why were they trying to subterfuge the very man who headed the cause to get their lost hearts back?

Then his hand ran from her shoulder down to her back and all thought fled her. She could feel him too close, his dark tenor whispering in her ear.

"You've got things covered here, right?"

Dexné nodded mutely.

"That's a good girl."

"How long do we have to keep this up? That thing creeps me out."

"Until we have her under our control. You're leaving soon now anyway. Don't complain."

The red-haired man sighed. "No, sir. Yes, sir. Whatever you say, sir."

"It won't be long. She's doing well. I'll take over command of her."

"The sooner the better."

Axel went to see them before he left.

Dexné snuck up to the clock tower, watched from the shadows. The setting sun shone brightly, casting their forms with a warm glow. She, in the dark and cool shade, became entranced by it, by lambent gold and burning red. Their voices swirled in the empty pockets of her mind.

"Are the kids here on summer vacation already? …Nah, can't be. It's much too early."

Roxas looked to Axel, his golden hair waving in the breeze. "Summer vacation? What's that?"

Axel sighed wistfully. "It's a dream come true, that's what—where they get a whole month off."

She listened with the vigilance of an owl, watched with the sharp eyes of a hawk. Words exchanged between friends. Exchanges that made Dexné see just how warm Axel's eyes could be…and how cold they were to her in comparison. Full realization of how she was being played hit her. Her chest tightened, and air was harder to obtain. His eyes, when on her, still held daggers. Behind the pleasant tone and pleasant smile was deceit. And to think, she could have almost allowed herself to believe it was turning real, that perhaps he really did see her as an ally and not a tool.

Seeing him smile with Roxas, however, quickly dislodged that scant hope.

"Most kids spend the time just goofing around with their friends. They save the homework till the end then help each other finish it."

"That sounds fun, I guess."

"Hanging around friends is fun. I'd forgotten that since becoming a Nobody."

A deep, simmering feeling settled in Dexné's gut, like she had been forced to swallow a hot coal. She wondered what else he had forgotten, and if she was included in that forlorn group—that baggage.

Xion showed up soon after. And Axel spoke to the faceless puppet just as affectionately as he did to Roxas. A replica, nothing more than a doll and completely expendable to everyone else, but to him was called friend.

A baseless puppet was worth more to him than she.

Her chest tightened further, and the coal threatened to burn a hole through her belly.

Back at the castle, she marched down abandoned halls, thoughts tearing up whirlwinds that soon morphed into dark tornadoes, restless and consuming.

The confines of her room incited no rest. She kept walking, going from one end of the square space to the other, touching the wall, then rushing to the other side to do the same. Back and forth, back and forth. She intended it as a distraction, but the gears in her head only spun faster.

"They're sending me out on recon for a few days," he'd said.

"Where?" Roxas asked.

Dexné could still see Axel's playful grin in her mind's eye, could still see the finger he held up to his lips. "Can't tell."

"But…" Xion's voice wavered uncertainly. "I thought we were friends."

A grin, a flash of white teeth. "Hey I'm not about to tell you all my dark secrets. Got it memorized?"

"Dark secrets?" Roxas turned, sharing a glance with the hooded replica.

Axel chuckled disarmingly. "I'm kidding. I just have to keep my mouth shut about it or Saïx will get on my case. Try not to bungle everything while I'm gone."

Surprisingly Xion, a quiet doll whenever Dexné passed by in the Grey Area, was the one to verbalize offense. "Hey! We can handle ourselves just fine."

Axel laughed, clear and strong. The laughs of the other two soon joined in.

Dexné trembled as she recalled the sounds. Their laughter mocked her, their smiles scorned her.

The joy they shared was out of her reach. Whether it was fake or not no longer seemed to matter.

Dexné had found a scrap of solace where she never expected it: Saïx.

"You're letting yourself get too close to them," he chastised when Axel returned.

Emerald eyes became hard as the green stone. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say."

A sharp frown marred the Diviner's face, golden glare acidic with distaste. "…You know, you've changed."

Saïx's admonishment of Axel placated her slightly, but simultaneously caused apprehension. Dexné agreed with the blue-haired man, and though she had stood in shadows she imagined herself standing with him, in comradery, but the redhead's dismissive response had her wringing her hands and biting her lip.

Don't leave us behind, Dexné silently pleaded as she currently swished from wall to wall. Don't forget about us!

Faster, faster, until her walk became a run. Wall to wall. She puffed, blood drumming, cogs of her mind spinning out of control.

Choke them.

She wanted to choke the brats, to wrap her chains around their necks and—

Dexné fell to the floor, in-between the walls, grasping her head. Stop, stop! something shrieked. Then more gently, wearily: Please, just…stop.

It was her own voice, echoing somewhere deep within. She'd heard it once before.

Dexné didn't hate. Not people. But there was a time she came very close. And the reason for it was never fully understood. She remembered how it disturbed her so, remembered how she tried to escape from it. But no matter how she shoved the crooked, smothering feelings away they rebounded, latching on.

Everything had been fine. It was just her, Lea, and Isa. Inch by inch she was coming from her shell, pulled by the red star and the blue moon. She was able to talk, she was able to laugh—things the shadowed hull never allowed before.

Then that girl came into the picture, and the progress Dexné made was reduced to nothing.

She was beautiful, that much Dexné remembered instantly, though the full visage of her was covered by black mist. The black screen would not dissipate, and it was as if her mind did not want to recollect that time.

But Dexné clawed out at it, and, steadily, shards of memory were revealed and reluctantly slid into place.

"Where is he?" Dexné pondered, waiting by the usual school exit.

Isa checked his watch. "Let's go. He knows where to find us."

"Do you think something has happened?" She thought of Zane.

There was a knowing light in Isa's eyes. "He's fine. He probably got caught up in something else."

Isa carried on normally, but Dexné hesitated at the change. She scanned the hall, hoping to see Lea come running around the corner any second. When he didn't, she hurried to catch up with Isa.

At the stone wall, Dexné waited still. She should be used to waiting; it was all she seemed to do. But the heaviness it laid could not be easily brushed aside. She absently scraped her bottom teeth along her ice cream, collecting cold shavings on her tongue. She listened for him. But she did not look—looking made the heaviness worse, made it so it was hard to breathe.

Lea never showed.

In the morning Dexné waited for the bell to ring, sitting in her usual spot against the wall. She waited more so for Lea to come and find her, to talk to her as he always did.

When he didn't she went through the school day with a knot in her stomach.

Finally she saw him at lunch. He sat talking with Isa, using some exaggerated hand movements to deliver a point. The familiar sight brought out a small smile from Dexné. She took her place with them, sitting across the table from Isa and next to Lea, her posture sagging in relief as the knot dissolved.

Near the end of the lunch period, Isa squinted at the small object in Dexné's grasp. "Is that a jar of pickle juice?"

"Yes," was her frank reply. She took another sip of the tart beverage. She had finished eating and her leftovers were already packed away in the bag at her feet, leaving her tablespace clear and tidy.

"Do I even want to ask why you're drinking it?"

Dexné paused. "…Well, you kind of just did."

Blue eyebrows rose. "And the answer?"

"It's good," she defended softly, fingers protectively circling the container.

Isa made a face.

Lea chuckled. "Everyone's got their quirks. - - - - just might have more than your average person."

"You're one to talk," Isa retorted, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like."

Lea narrowed his eyes mischievously. "I bet it is good," he said, and, taking the hint, Dexné was quick to offer the jar to him.

Lea gulped a portion of the pale green juice, and Dexné watched in morbid fascination as Isa's face adopted a similar shade of green. Lea nearly choked as laughter bubbled in his throat.

Isa shook his head, a smirk making its way to the surface. "You're so obnoxious. Pickle juice—drinking out of the same jar to boot."

"She's not contagious." He poked her cheek as if that would prove it.

"Your mouth is touching the same spot as hers," Isa goaded.

Dexné waited in trepidation for a reaction of disgust, but all Lea did was shrug indifferently. Out the corner of her eye she stared as he brought the glass to his lips again, and something stirred inside her. It made her uncomfortable, whatever it was, yet she wasn't sure if it was good or bad. The confusion that grappled her, however, she determined to be bad.

And so she spoke, wanting to move away from the strange feelings fluttering inside her. "I actually have a rabid disease," she whispered. "That's why I drink pickle juice—it keeps me from biting people."

Juice sprayed from Lea's mouth back into the jar and as he coughed into his arm Dexné frowned at the contaminated drink forlornly. But as Lea's and Isa's laughter trickled through it was forgotten.

"What are you guys tryin' to do, kill me?!" Lea spoke between coughs and laughs.

Isa shook in his seat, attempting and failing to contain his amusement.

The misbeat tune of their laughter wrapped around Dexné and she couldn't help but join in, her hand coming up to cover her smiling mouth. Despite his fits, Lea still reached to pull that hand away.

The moment came to a halt when Lea locked onto something past Dexné's head.

"Gotta go," he said hastily. He rushed off before Dexné could open her mouth to ask where.

Isa scoffed, his mirthful smirk only serving to drive her confusion further.

Exactly what had Lea so distracted? She tried to see where he was going but just then the bell rang and swarms of moving students scattered her line of sight. She swiftly gathered her bag and joined the migrating herds.

She would ask him at the stone wall, she decided.

But again, he didn't show.

Frustrated, she went looking for him in the morning. He wasn't with Isa in the library, nor mingling with the various groups littering the halls. She looked and looked, wandering all over the school. She was about to give up when she came across Sera, who, even in the early hours, bussed around with folders and books under her arms.

Sera smiled kindly, even as she haphazardly tried to open the library door with her foot. "Hi, - - - -. You—ugh—look lost."

Dexné hurried to open the door for her. Ignoring Sera's breathy thanks, she asked, "Have you seen Lea?"

She pointed Dexné in the right direction, bracelets jingling.

She found him in an uncrowded hallway, almost deserted save for a few students rifling through their lockers or walking to class early. He was talking to some girl—a willowy thing, slender and pretty. Her rose-pink long-sleeved shirt's modesty clashed with her grey and white pleated mini-skirt. Shiny golden-brown hair, hanging in voluminous curls, daintily brushed her shoulders.

Dexné, though she stood at the far end of the hall, heard the girl giggle at something Lea said, who then flashed his signature bright grin. Dexné stared at them, flabbergasted.

Was he making a new friend?

She retreated at the bell's screech, unnoticed.

Dexné intended to ask Lea about the girl at lunch, but he sat with the girl at the other end of the lunchroom and she dared not approach. Dexné didn't eat much. She felt queasy and chewed slowly, mulling over the new face. Would she have to give up her space on the wall, scoot over? After a few swallows, Dexné determined the food not to be the culprit to her sudden condition.

A new friend bothered her. What was wrong with the friends he already had? But then she wondered if Isa thought similarly when Lea first brought her around and the notion tightened around her chest. She breathed deep to loosen the coils.

Lea spent less time with them, often being called away by "Curly," as Dexné came to refer to her.

Curly's real name never cemented in memory; they were never properly introduced. But Dexné became very familiar with those doe eyes when they searched out Lea, drawing him away from them. She smiled innocently at Isa and Dexné once when this happened, but that smile slid when she caught black eyes focused on her with an ecliptic glare.

It was just Isa and Dexné again at the end of school. Dexné walked beside him, all the while trying to comprehend Lea's intentions. If Curly was truly to be a friend, why had he yet to bring her into their fold?

But she wasn't sure if she wanted that.

No, what she really wanted was for Curly to disappear.

Dexné stopped walking, the soles of her shoes scuffing against the cobblestone.

Isa looked back at her. "What's the matter?"

Her face was grim. What was she thinking? Had she just wished death on someone? "I…forgot something."

He motioned toward the school. "Hurry up, then."

"No, don't wait for me. I'm…actually not feeling well. I think I'll skip ice cream today—if it's okay."

Isa shrugged, unfazed. "Sure. See you tomorrow."

"Yes…" She watched him go, the uneasy feeling in her stomach churning, then turned back.

She needed to be alone, she needed to think. She was…frightened, almost. She headed towards her special place—the small clearing in the woods behind the old school. The sigh of the trees and the whisperings of the grass would help calm her as she sorted through her consternations.

She never made it to the meadow though. She only got as far as the old building.

It was there she caught the two of them together.

He had her pressed against the brick wall, lips sealed over her gloss covered ones. The sound of their kisses and the sight of her fingers threaded through his red hair, his hands straddling her waist, wrenched Dexné's stomach.

Quicker than lightning she was gone, dashing for home.

Terraces and roads flew by and beneath her, and she could hear nothing but her gasps and the wind that pushed past with every long-bounded stride. She yanked the front door of her house open, threw herself inside. Then stared into nothingness, thoughts and images racing, tangling. Her heart punched her ribs too hard.

Slowly she shut the door, carefully treaded down the hall. Her mind, in overdrive, gave no loose rope for faster motor functions. Storming emotions made thinking difficult.

One thing she was certain of: that girl was no friend, and was never going to be.

Dexné didn't go to school the next day. No prodding or concerned inquires would pry her from bed, so Mirron let her be. "Just for today," she said, worry hidden under the firm tone.

She avoided Lea like the plague afterwards, going so far as to eat lunch in the girls' bathroom. She wanted no chance of seeing him. Wanted no chance of seeing that—that girl of his.

The stone wall beckoned, and she listened, dragging herself to it. She owed it to Isa. She couldn't abandon him. It wasn't his fault. Whatever the "fault" was, Dexné didn't fully know. Thankfully Lea wasn't there.

"Sorry to leave you. I wasn't feeling well." She pulled up onto the stone, slipping her legs over the side.

Isa looked at her blankly. "I can take care of myself, you know. No need to apologize."

She sat with him. Companionable silence stretched like a long and well-taken road. Her fingers turned the ice cream stick, and she spaced out, suddenly mesmerized by twirling frozen dairy.

"Is something bothering you?" Isa's voice was quiet.

Dexné squirmed. "Lea, he… That girl…" She sighed, frustrated at her poor communication. She couldn't tell the truth of her dark thoughts and didn't want to lie either. That left her with little to say. "He hasn't been around."

Isa snorted contemptuously. "Don't worry, he'll come around. It's just another one of his flings. They never last."

"Oh…" Hearing that should have relieved her. It meant Curly wouldn't take her spot on the wall. But bewilderingly, it just made her want to chuck her ice cream off the plateau. Fling? Another…?

Dexné continued her dodge and touch method. Touch base with blue, dodge any sign of red. She lingered when she could with Isa, but at the first sight of Lea she darted out of there like a hunted hare and disappeared.

Over time Curly ceased to monopolize Lea, and he became harder to hide from.

She crept around corners, made sure the redhead wasn't present before venturing out into the hallways. Eventually that behavior extended to the stone wall. It didn't take long for Lea to figure out something was wrong.

"Where's - - - -?" she heard him ask just after she ducked into the bathroom.

"She hasn't been feeling well." Isa fed the excuse with a hint of doubt, stare lingering at the bathroom entrance.

Lea started seeking her out, which made the game of dodge and go exceedingly more difficult.

Dexné was late to almost every class because she waited until the halls were clear.

"Are you still sick? What do you have?" the blue-haired boy asked her one day, eyes narrowing upon her.

"…I'm not well."

"That wasn't the question."

Dexné avoided Isa too after that. She couldn't tell him—couldn't tell anyone. They wouldn't get it. How could they when she couldn't understand herself? She would be scorned, derided without mercy. She wouldn't risk that.

And so she ran and hid, back into the shadow where it was safe but cold.

𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝒽𝒶𝒹𝑜𝓌𝓈, 𝐼'𝓂 𝓈𝒶𝒻𝑒

𝓘'𝓶 𝓼𝓪𝓯𝓮

It was better to pull away rather than let them see the twistedness that lied inside.

Nulla of the Organization shuddered on the cold hard floor of her chamber.

Something so trivial, something so foolish drove her back into the shadowed walls.

Was that all it took to break a bond? The Nobody sneered at her human self, who was so controlled by emotions she could not bear to pretend they didn't exist, to carry on with strength instead of succumbing to the heart's wiles.

How thankful she was to be free of that nuisance.

Recollections flashed uncontrollably. Dexné could do nothing but watch. She gripped her head, grit her teeth.

She just prayed what she watched did not lead to the end of that friendship.

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A/N: Reviews are cherished!

Thank you for reading.