Author's Notes: Could it…could it actually be? It is! An update!

I'll be updating more regularly now that the semester's over, actually. That means "Blink" and "Equipoise" will be updated as much as I can manage until college starts up again in the fall. Then I'll go back to random, sporadic updating as my schedule permits. (Go me! :D)

According to the list I made, the pairing for this story would be Xaldin/Pence, and the prompt was "forbidden." I worked really, really hard to make that into a story that involved no pedophilia. Here's hoping I've succeeded!

NOTES: This Fic takes place sometime during 358/2 Days. Also, this Fic changes POV a lot between Xaldin and Pence. Each POV change is signified with a page break.

DISCLAIMER: This disclaimer is brought to you today by the author's Sora, Roxas, and mini-Cloud plushies, who would like to remind you that she does not own "Kingdom Hearts!" Thank you, and have a great day!

WARNINGS: Really mild pedophilia, I suppose. Depends on how you look at it. But this story has nothing really creepy like child molestation, or rape/dub-con, or anything like that. I don't write that kind of stuff. Also, some gore.

Yeah, I'm done babbling now. On to the story!

PAIRING: Xaldin/Pence

Forbidden

Xaldin had been a member of Organization XIII since the very beginning. He was one of the Original Six Nobodies who had helped found it. After all this time living as a heartless shell of the person he had once been, all of the Organization's rules and regulations were engraved permanently into his memory. Xaldin knew all of the consequences there were for breaking a rule. He'd seen the horrific punishments Xemnas dealt out to members who went against him, and against Organization XIII.

Unlike some of the other Nobodies, even among the Original Six, Xaldin wasn't careless. He knew it was foolish to assume that one could get away with breaking a rule. The Superior had eyes and ears everywhere, and he would eventually find you out. That was how Xigbar and Saix had acquired some of their nastier scars, after all. Xaldin, on the other hand, wanted to survive long enough to get his heart back. And if that meant listening to everything he was told to do and not to do, no matter how foolish or inane it sounded, then he'd do it.

The biggest rule that a Nobody could break, and the one that carried the harshest punishment along with it, was simple: Unless it pertains to a mission, do not ever, under any circumstances, interact with the inhabitants on any world. It was engraved in simple black script onto the walls of the Gray Room back at the Castle That Never Was, where the missions were given out. There was no chance of anyone ever forgetting it when it was staring them in the face like that, day in and day out.

Xaldin had never, in his wildest dreams, ever thought that he might break that rule. Never before had he been tempted to speak with anybody that he saw on any world that he visited. He stayed among the shadows, as invisible as the wind he controlled, and completed the missions he was given each day. Then he promptly returned to the Castle, not sparing a single thought for the locals he'd seen.

But that was before he met the boy with the brown eyes.

It was supposed to be a simple mission. Xemnas had given him the task of stealing the heart of the Beast. That way, the Organization could gain control of the powerful Heartless and Nobody that would surely result. But before he could even make contact with the Beast, Xaldin had to go on a series of scouting missions around the Beast's Castle. He needed to learn the lay of the land, so to speak. It would make his mission much easier if he knew where he was going, and where to hide if he needed to.

During one of these excursions, as Xaldin was checking out the castle's basement, a Darkside Heartless rose from a particularly dense patch of shadow to his left and started to attack. Darkside Heartless were massive-easily the height of a small skyscraper back in The World That Never Was-but they went down quick enough once you got used to their predictable pattern of attack. Xaldin easily weakened the creature after a few well-placed blows with his six bladed lances, and was expecting an easy battle.

That is, until a horde of Snapper Dogs and Neoshadows appeared from around a corner and charged straight at him.

Xaldin was a powerful fighter, but he doubted that even Xemnas himself could have taken on a Darkside, five Neoshadows, and three Snapper Dogs all at the same time. After a few minutes of futile fighting on Xaldin's part, he had no choice but to retreat. Unfortunately, the Heartless were determined not to make it easy for him. The creatures saw Nobodies as competition for the hearts they so desperately craved, and would attack them without any provocation on sight. It seemed that Xaldin couldn't get away from their relentless teeth and claws long enough to form a Dark Portal and escape. He sustained a particularly bad injury when a Snapper Dog got hold of the hem of his cloak, allowing the Darkside and a Neoshadow to rake their claws across his torso, slicing apart more of his cloak and tearing his skin to ribbons.

Finally, Xaldin was able to blow the Snapper Dog away with a great burst of wind, although the creature still held half of his cloak clamped between its jaws. Seeing a little alcove, he managed to duck into it and escape the rest of the Heartless for a moment. His vision blurring and swaying, Xaldin used the last of his strength to summon a Dark Portal and throw himself into it.

He emerged in a little alleyway behind two buildings, which was empty save for Xaldin and a few old wooden crates. Looking up at the sky, the Nobody could see the sun balanced on the horizon, its rays staining the sky a deep yellow-orange.

That meant he was in Twilight Town. Just his luck that in his weakened state, he couldn't make a Dark Portal that would take him back to the World That Never Was like he wanted it to.

Too exhausted from his injuries to move, let alone try creating another Portal, Xaldin slumped against one of the alley's walls and passed out.

It had not been a good day for Pence.

He had gone all over Twilight Town, investigating the strange events that the townspeople talked about seeing or experiencing. Privately, Pence called these events the "Seven Wonders of Twilight Town." But when he'd started to dig a little deeper, probing and poking into each of the "wonders," he'd found them all to have not-so-wonderful explanations.

The bag that seemed to hop around with a mind of its own up on Sunset Hill turned out to be someone's pet dog stuck in a garbage sack. The mysterious howling that people sometimes heard down in the tram tunnels had been Vivi practicing for the upcoming summer Struggle fight. The rubber ball that seemed to fly out a solid brick wall was a little girl playing a trick on passersby. (She'd threatened to bite Pence too, if he ever told anyone it had been her, the crazy kid.)

The worst part of it was, everyone in town seemed to think Pence was nuts for even bothering with Twilight Town's "Seven Wonders" in the first place. The people of Twilight Town were nothing if not practical, and despite sharing many of the same strange experiences, they were loathe to admit any supernatural origin to them. Even Pence's best friends were considerably less than sympathetic about his investigations. Hayner had thought the idea of Twilight Town having anything even remotely supernatural was stupid from the start. When Pence came back to the Usual Spot late that afternoon, not having captured anything more exciting on his camera than a blurred picture of the sky from when the dog had knocked him over and accidentally set it off, Hayner had simply rolled his eyes and grinned in triumph. "Just face it, Pence, you're not gonna find anything special in a little town like this. You should've helped me practice for the Struggle Tournament today instead."

Olette's eyes had been soft, and she looked like she was going to say something, but then the bells of the clock tower started to chime six and they all had to scramble to get home before dinner.

Well, at least Pence was almost at his house now, and his terrible day would soon be at an end. Plus, his mom was making spaghetti for dinner tonight. Nothing could cheer him up like his mom's cooking. Just thinking about it made Pence smile a little in anticipation.

His smile quickly turned to an expression of utmost horror and shock as he rounded the corner and saw what was in the alleyway in front of him.

The little back alley at the outskirts of Twilight Town's business district was a place Pence passed every evening on his way home, usually without sparing it a second glance. Nobody in their right minds would ever hang out so close to the shops, where so many adults were around. Shopkeepers occasionally tossed the odd bit of trash back there, but for the most part it was a place that was largely ignored.

Today, however, there was a man in the alley, slumped unconscious against the side of a building amongst some old crates. He was wearing a hooded black leather coat, only the hood had fallen backwards to reveal his face. The coat itself was slashed and torn in many places, as if a wild animal had got hold of it at some point. And the unconscious man himself didn't look much better. Huge cuts crisscrossed his arms, and a set of horizontal gashes stretched across his torso, in the spots where his coat had been torn away. These wounds were all leaking a strange black fluid in place of blood that seemed to rise, mist-like, into the air before disappearing.

Pence blinked once, twice, three times. He rubbed his eyes. Then he pinched himself, hard, to make sure he wasn't already at home, asleep, and was simply dreaming all this up. But the strange man was still there.

Pence looked around. All of the nearby stores were already closed up for the evening. At the moment, he was the only person in the business district. Nervously, as if the black-clad man might suddenly wake up and attack him, Pence went to his side. Looking at him more closely, Pence could see that this person, whoever he was, was even stranger than Pence had first thought him to be.

For starters, there was his clothing. Besides the ruined coat, he was also wearing black boots and gloves. This close to summer, it usually got pretty warm out during the afternoon hours. Nobody dressed all in black leather unless they wanted to faint from the heat. The man's hair was also black, and very long, styled into dreadlocks that were tied back into a high ponytail. Besides the dreadlocks, he also boasted the most impressive sideburns Pence had seen in his life. They almost looked like they were eating his cheeks.

Pence didn't know why he should be afraid of an unconscious man, but he was terrified of this one. His heart was pounding so loudly in his chest, he was sure the stranger would hear it and wake up. And yet, he couldn't just leave him. This man was still alive-his chest was still rising and falling faintly underneath the remains of his coat. And Pence was currently the only one around who could help him. No one lived in the business district, which meant that no one would hear Pence if he yelled for help. And it wasn't like he could just leave an injured, possibly dying man alone… His only choice was to try and get the man conscious and walking so they could get to the residential district, and from there find someone to take them to the hospital.

Not to mention that weird misty black stuff. Pence had never seen anything like that before, not even that time when Hayner had cut open his arm on a railing while skateboarding and there was blood everywhere. He wasn't even sure that black, misty stuff existed inside a normal human body. What was wrong with this man?

Pence went to the stranger's side and looked for a part of him that wasn't covered in black mist. Finally, he settled for shaking his shoulder. "Um…sir? Excuse me?" Pence whispered. "Can you get up?"

Xaldin shifted against the wall and moaned, clenching his teeth in agony. Damn, he hurt everywhere. He couldn't remember hurting this much since his heart had been torn from him all those years ago. He often thought it unfortunate that pain was one of the few things a Nobody could still feel, as it most definitely was not an emotion.

"…sir? Sir! Please, you have to wake up!" Hold on a moment. There was someone there…talking to him? Shoving at him, too, if the hands Xaldin felt at his shoulder were any indication.

With a supreme effort, as his eyelids felt like they'd been cemented together, Xaldin managed to crack his eyes open. The world swam blearily into focus before him.

…There was a boy. A boy was crouched in front of him, peering worriedly into his eyes. A heavyset child, and by the looks of him, perhaps close in age to the Organization's Number XIII. He had a very round, innocent face, with black hair that spiked up in every direction like a patch of weeds and was kept off of his forehead by a headband. The child was dressed like an average inhabitant of Twilight Town as well: baggy jeans, blue and white sneakers, long sleeved shirt, red jersey with some kind of logo on it, and a purple kerchief around his neck. But it wasn't his clothing or hairstyle that caught Xaldin's attention.

The boy's eyes were a deep, rich brown in color, and right now were filled with worry and concern. Xaldin couldn't remember the last time anyone had been worried about him. He hardly even remembered what it felt like to be worried himself. For the last ten years or so, Xaldin had been surrounded only by the dead, empty eyes of his fellow Nobodies. But this boy's eyes were filled with emotion, and over a Nobody, no less. Their softness made Xaldin suddenly think of a puppy he'd once owned, back when he was still Dilan and a young boy on Radiant Garden. That thought, and how out of place it was right now, when he was gravely injured, made him crack a wry smile. The smile quickly turned to a wince, though, because it made his face hurt.

The boy who was hovering above him, broke into a wide grin of his own. "You're awake!" He cried. There was a gentle tugging on the sleeve of Xaldin's coat. "Can you stand? I need to get you to the hospital right away. You're hurt…"

Xaldin's eyes widened. A hospital would be filled with humans, who would all quickly discover that he was anything but. Letting the ordinary inhabitants of any world the Organization visited find out about Nobodies or the Organization in general was a cause for swift and harsh punishment, no matter what your rank was. Xaldin didn't know what scared him more, the people of Twilight Town finding out that he was a Nobody, or what Xemnas would do to him if he let that happen. And fear, being an instinct rather than an emotion, was definitely something Nobodies could still feel.

Xaldin shook his head at the boy, hoping he'd take the hint and go away. He was still too weak to create a Dark Portal or use his wind element, otherwise he'd have left this place as soon as he was conscious.

"Hey, c'mon." Damn the little pest. Now he was shrugging Xaldin's right arm over his shoulders, trying to help the Nobody get on his feet. Xaldin shook his head again, but the boy was still pulling at him insistently. Well, he certainly won points for persistence…not that that could actually make Xaldin want to be near him.

There was nothing for it. He would have to talk to the brat, or he wouldn't get any peace until another member of the Organization found him. Which could take awhile, since Xaldin wasn't even on the same world he'd originally been sent out to. And if the boy ran off to get help from someone else, the Nobody wasn't in any position to stop him…

"Leave me," Xaldin rasped out. His throat felt like sandpaper from so many hours without water. "Just go home."

"I couldn't do that!" The boy cried. "You're cut up really bad…I can't just leave you here like this!"

Xaldin hissed loudly through clenched teeth. He shut his eyes tightly as a wave of nausea swept over him, and he tried desperately not to throw up. "It will be very bad for you if you're caught helping me. You have to let me alone…"

Something in the stranger's voice made Pence step back. The man's face was contorted in pain, and he clutched at his stomach, where black mist flowed from the gashes there. A strange look filled his midnight-blue eyes…not quite desperation, but something very, very close to it. "What-" Pence whispered, not even quite sure what he was going to say.

The man cut him off. "Please."

Pence couldn't have known, but it was the first time Xaldin had used the word since becoming a Nobody.

Something about the man's voice as he said that word confirmed Pence's suspicions. He'd finally found something truly wondrous in Twilight Town. This man was completely and utterly beyond a normal, rational explanation. Maybe that was what Pence had been looking for all along. And now, he wished that he hadn't even bothered to search in the first place.

The teenager suddenly felt strangely sorry for the man before him. He must have been beyond whatever help a hospital could offer, if he wouldn't even try to get to one in his state.

Perhaps that was why Pence, acting on a sudden impulse, leaned forward and kissed the stranger on the forehead, just like his mother did to him when he got hurt.

The man's eyes opened wide. His hands unclenched from around his gut and dropped to his sides. He stared at Pence, as if he couldn't believe that the boy was real.

Pence turned and ran as fast as he could for home.

Xaldin spent all night slumped against the wall in the alleyway, trying to stem the flow of matter out of him by pressing his gloves against his wounds. At some point, the amount of black mist started to slow, which meant that his body was healing. That meant he didn't have to worry about fading away. Not yet.

Although he knew that his injuries should be his primary concern right now, Xaldin couldn't stop thinking about that boy. The feel of his lips, soft and gentle against Xaldin's forehead, lingered for what seemed like hours. The last time anyone had kissed Xaldin like that, out of pure concern for him and nothing else, had been his mother over a decade ago back in Radiant Garden. Xaldin hadn't thought that there would be anyone who would care about him while he was a Nobody.

Xigbar found him some hours later, when it must have been close to dawn. It was impossible for Xaldin to tell the time in a world where the sun never actually set. Luckily, the gunman appeared in the very same alleyway Xaldin was in. "Whoa," he said, yellow eyes widening as he took in the state of Xaldin's coat and his injuries. "Dude, what happened to you?"

"Heartless," Xaldin grunted. "A whole horde of the damned things."

"Shit," Xigbar said, "we better get you back to the Castle, then. Oh, and the bossman wants to speak to you about your mission, so report to him before you do anything else, OK?"

Xaldin nodded once, tersely, as Xigbar helped him to his feet. The pair limped over to a Dark Portal that the gunman created, and vanished inside. It was as if they had never even been to Twilight Town at all.

The Organization had already lost almost half of its number after what happened at Castle Oblivion. It is for that reason, and that reason alone, that Xaldin was not punished for breaking the Organization's most major rule. As Xemnas explained to the dark-haired Nobody upon his return, they could not afford to punish him when he already needed to take time off to recuperate from his injuries.

After he recovered, Xaldin was kept very busy with various missions. He was never sent on a mission to Twilight Town, and he didn't have the time to visit the world at his leisure. Although Xaldin desperately wanted to at least see the wild-haired teenager who'd helped him at least one more time, he simply wasn't given an opportunity to.

Every single night until the time he is felled by the Keyblade, Xaldin dreams of a boy with a round, innocent face and sweet, soft brown puppy dogs, and he wakes in the morning to the feeling of soft lips against his forehead.

~fin~

Author's Note: I…I think I just made Xaldin/Pence canon. :O

REVIEW CORNER Thanks for Reviewing: becoafamu, moon maiden of time

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