Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts (although that would be pretty cool!).

Luxord was frustrated after the meeting. He had been greatly interested in hearing Vexen expound more upon his theory of the regrowth of hearts, but Xemnas quickly ended the meeting after the others arrived with Xion, ostensibly to allow Vexen time to study Xion's supposed "heart." Vexen was told to inform The Superior when he was ready to present again at a full member meeting.

"Was it just me, or did Xemnas seem skeptical of Vexen's theory?" Luxord asked his partner, Marluxia. The pair headed back to their rooms after the meeting and was currently in Luxord's room.

"I can't really say one way or the other. But Vexen's theory is somewhat hard to believe. It would be a major development if true," The Graceful Assassin replied.

"Yes, yes. But I wonder if he's hiding something. I just felt that knows more than he's letting on."

"Could be. I've never trusted that Xemnas is giving us the whole truth. I didn't know him the previous life. How are we supposed to know if what he says is true? I imagine you didn't study the heart in your previous life."

"No, I didn't. And you're right. We're always on a need to know basis from the higher ups in the Organization," Luxord grumbled.

"Well, if you want to know more, you should go talk to Vexen. You know how he loves to talk about whatever he's working on," Marluxia suggested.

"Truer words were never spoken. I shall do so and report back on my findings," Luxord finished. He created a Portal of Darkness and left to visit The Chilly Academic.

Marluxia nodded. He was just as curious as Luxord, but was content to let The Gambler of Fate talk to Vexen. Besides, Marluxia was interested in stirring up a little bit of trouble elsewhere in the Castle.

The Gray Room featured an unlikely cohort of members with Demyx, Lexaeus, and Saïx sitting on the various couches and chairs set up in the recreational room. An uncomfortable silence hung over the room, as Lexaeus and Demyx digested the information they had just received. Saïx had filled them in on Vexen's proposal and the details of the meeting before their arrival.

"So our hearts are growing back?" Demyx asked.

"That's what Vexen posits," Saïx answered.

"That's great news! Then we don't have to go through all of this work!" Demyx exclaimed.

"A typical response from you," Saïx replied with clear disgust.

Demyx threw up his hands in defense. "Hey, as long as it works in our favor."

Ever one to try to keep an eye on everyone, Saïx turned to probing Lexaeus. "So, Lexaeus, how do you feel about Vexen's proposal?"

"It's certainly interesting. We've never understood hearts, even when Ansem the Wise was leading the experimentation," Lexaeus replied.

"It changes nothing. Kingdom Hearts is almost within reach. We can't let this distract us," Saïx added.

"Agreed. Remember, our goal is not just to restore our hearts, but everyone who has become a Nobody. We owe it to all of them to get this done, no matter what happens to us," Lexaeus replied.

"A very noble point," The Divine Lunar conceded.

"Yeah, yeah, I guess that's right. But this is still nothing but good news, right?" Demyx interjected.

"Only time will tell," Saïx deadpanned.

Lexaeus closed his eyes, and nodded. "Hmph."

Vexen found himself once again in his lab, working feverishly on a matter of great importance. But this time, his focus was on analyzing the so-called half heart of Xion. Her body was on one of Vexen's tables, covered with a white sheet. Vexen couldn't bear to look at her any more than he had to. In fact, it was his focusing on his work that was keeping him from thinking about Xion's death. He had seen Xion almost like a daughter of his, but he knew that finding these answers was more pressing than grieving. There would be plenty of time for that.

Suddenly, a voice called out, "Impressive, is it not?" A Portal of Darkness opened and Luxord stepped out.

"What?" Vexen snapped.

"The fact that we've been searching for how to get our hearts back this entire time when it appears that it just happens naturally," Luxord said.

"Perhaps. But I'll need to experiment further to see exactly what Lexaeus captured."

"I hope you find the truth. But I imagine not everyone may want you to do so. They may want you to put a leash on that runaway curiosity."

Vexen was taken aback by Luxord's words. "What exactly are you suggesting?"

"I would think this revelation would damage the mission of the Organization substantially. If our goal is really to get our hearts back, then all of our current operations would become far less necessary." Luxord responded.

Vexen squinted his eyes, unconvinced. "Always so shortsighted. I highly doubt the mission would change. And I simply can't imagine anyone being opposed to my potential life-altering research."

"I suppose I wouldn't know. If only the whispers at the top carried to the bottom."

Vexen ignored Luxord's complaint, as his status afforded him more information than Luxord. "It doesn't matter. Every stride I make is a stride for all of us."

"Oh really? And what exactly are we striding towards?"

"Luxord, do I detect…a hint of treachery in your words?"

Luxord narrowed his eyes, keeping his cards close to his chest. "What? Don't be absurd. I just merely think that's it is strange how this is all turning out. But I'll leave you to think on it. Then you can resume your stuffy studies."

Vexen did not respond, hinting to Luxord that he had worn out his welcome. Summoning a Portal of Darkness, The Gambler of Fate left Vexen to his thoughts.

Vexen looked to where Luxord had disappeared. Luxord certainly provided him with a new perspective to consider.

Xemnas had immediately retreated to his office after the meeting, not wanting to talk to any members about Xion's half-heart. "This could be disastrous," he mumbled to himself. "But everything should be fine."

"Oh wow! Very nice, full marks. I'm immediately convinced," a voice from the ceiling called out. Dropping down to the floor, Xigbar walked over to Xemnas' desk, sitting in The Superior's chair and putting his feet up.

"What are you doing here?" Xemnas asked, clearly frustrated.

"Thought I'd stop by to see what your plan of action was. Since it's likely that the whole Organization is going to know the little secret about hearts that we've been hiding for years."

"There's nothing to talk about. Vexen's theory can't be proved for some time. By then, we will have finished our planet missions, destroyed the planets, and summoned Kingdom Hearts. And it will be too late for any dissenters by then."

"Aren't you making it a little too obvious? Running away and then saying that nothing is wrong seems very suspicious to me," Xigbar offered.

"Everything will proceed on schedule. We've come too far to fail now. Unless you plan on causing chaos?"

"Me? What would be in it for me? I'm with the old coot for the long game," The Freeshooter answered.

"Then there's nothing to worry about," The Superior finished.

Xaldin was busy in the kitchen, making a lovely crème brûlée. Unsurprisingly, he would often cook when he felt stressed. And while he certainly never would have admitted it to anyone, Vexen's theory stressed him. It posed all sorts of questions that no one knew the answer to, which was not how Xaldin liked to operate. He liked to be in control of everything whenever possible, and this news put him behind the proverbial eight-ball.

Lost in his thoughts, he certainly did not anticipate the arrival of the member who stepped out of a Portal of Darkness into his kitchen: Larxene.

"Oh hello there, Larxene," he began. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I'm not here to see you, but rather to use the kitchen," she curtly replied.

"Oh?" At this, Xaldin was truly surprised. Larxene had never really presented herself as someone who liked to cook or bake. In fact, Xaldin could not remember a time where he had seen Larxene try to make anything substantial.

"Yes, I would like to bake something."

"What exactly do you do you have in mind?"

"I don't know," she shot back forcefully. "I don't really do this much. I want to make something for Zexion because he got injured. That's what people do, right?"

Xaldin noted silently, attempting to process this unusual request from The Savage Nymph. "Yes, that is customary. You could make some sort of sweets," he offered.

"That's what I was thinking. Cake? A pie?"

"Maybe something smaller and easier to eat and make? Perhaps a batch of cookies?" The Whirlwind Lancer offered.

Larxene nodded her head thoughtfully. "Yes, cookies. Chocolate chip cookies, everyone loves some cookies," she said, sounding like she was trying to convince herself that she had made the correct decision.

"Would you like any assistance in your endeavor or do you plan on completing this by yourself?" he questioned.

"I don't need your help," she replied dismissively with a wave of her hand.

"Very well then. My crème brûlée is in this oven so if you want to use the other oven I would be appreciative."

"Of course." Xaldin started to walk away. He mumbled to himself, "Things have taken a vexing turn of late."

But before he got out of the room, Larxene interrupted him again. "Hold on, Xaldin," she said in a slightly sheepish tone of voice.

"Yes?"

"Could you get your recipe for me to use?"

Xaldin raised his eyebrows but chose not to chastise her recent statement saying that she would not need any help. "Of course. I would be delighted."

Zexion was currently in the library, where he hoped to do some research. He decided to look for any materials that might expound on or theorize about the regrowth of hearts. Vexen had not asked him to do this, but Zexion knew that if he found any relevant materials and brought them to Vexen, The Chilly Academic would be pleased. Zexion was no longer bound to a wheelchair but rather was walking with one crutch as he finished healing. Nobody bodies heal much quicker than others and that, combined with the various medicines that Vexen had given him, meant that Zexion would be back to his normal self within an hour or two.

As he looked through the books, a person's scent reached his nose. The owner of the scent was Marluxia and sure enough, The Cloaked Schemer heard Marluxia call for him. Heading to the front of the library, he met the pink haired Nobody.

"I thought I might find you here," Marluxia began.

"You certainly had a high probability of success of finding me here. What can I assist you with?"

"Oh, I just wanted to know if you had any materials on training Nobodies." That was not Marluxia's real intent for being here, but it was his cover story.

"There may be a manual or two that Vexen put together lying around here that we could locate. It certainly is rather exciting that you have received your own henchmen."

"Indeed. You know I've often felt that the Organization has not fully nurtured my talents, but it appears that Kingdom Hearts has rewarded me for my patience." The pair wandered over towards the main desk to look for the pamphlet. "It's terrible to see what happened to Xion," Marluxia continued. "Do you know what happened to her Keyblade?"

"I believe the Keyblade is gone, much like your weapon would be gone upon your demise. If I remember correctly, Vexen did not make the Keyblade, but rather imbued Xion with the necessary genes or something to wield such a weapon. I'm not quite sure what he did specifically."

"I suppose that makes sense. But it's still a scary prospect, one of us dying. Of course, you know that well, as you were very close to death, so Larxene said."

"She's not wrong. Let's put it this way, one more encounter with a Keyblade warrior might very well do me in. Oh, here we go!" Zexion procured a typewritten manual assembled by Vexen some four years ago and handed it to Marluxia.

"Perfect," he exclaimed. "So… are you and Larxene a thing?" he gingerly began. This was the real reason that he had decided to seek out Zexion.

"What? No! Well, um, uh, at least not that I'm aware of yet," he stuttered. He wondered to himself if his affections toward her were really so obvious. Then again, Marluxia was always known for being extremely perceptive and he was very close to Larxene.

"I don't know. I've seen the way you look at her and more importantly; I've seen the way she looks at you. It is something you might want to consider. Anyways, thanks for the manual." With that, Marluxia created a Portal and disappeared, not needing to hear Zexion's response. He had done his job.

Zexion was quite taken back at what Marluxia had suggested. Although he had made his feelings about Larxene fairly clear, he had no idea where The Savage Nymph stood.

Attempting to shake off those thoughts, he decided to return to looking for a book that Vexen might find useful. However, only a few minutes had passed when he sensed the presence of another scent: that of Larxene's. Of course, Zexion had fled a number of times from the library in similar situations, but since he felt slightly more confident around Larxene, he decided to stick it out.

Axel had wanted to check in on Larxene after the meeting, but Saïx had caught him into having a conversation on how things were going. By the time that he got to her door and knocked, there was no response, indicating that she either did not want to talk to him (which was unlikely) or that she was out and about somewhere else in the castle.

Instead, Axel turned his attention to Roxas' room, but again it appeared no one was there. Finally, Axel managed to catch Demyx with his door open. Axel entered the open door, curious to hear from Demyx about what had happened at the Olympus Coliseum.

"Hey there," Axel began.

"Oh hey Axel, how's it going?" Demyx asked as he strummed on his sitar.

"Same as everyone else I imagine. A little confused, a little concerned, a little sad, all mixed up together."

"Yeah, that's the vibe that I'm getting here as well." Demyx appeared to not be his normal, cheerful self.

"Tell me about what happened at the Coliseum."

Demyx went on to recount his adventure to The Flurry of Dancing Flames. "And then, she basically sacrificed herself to distract Hades long enough for Lexaeus to get in a crushing shot that wiped him out. But by the time we were able to get to her, it was it was too late. She died in Roxas' arms and then Lexaeus caught her heart with a heart catcher."

"I imagine that was really tough on Roxas," Axel replied.

"Definitely. I don't think he's spoken more than ten words since it happened. I would know, I tried to get more out of him."

"I'll see if I can go talk to him, but he wasn't in a few moments ago. What do you think? You were right there, you saw her heart. Did it look like a heart?"

Demyx shook his head, affirming his response. "It looked very similar to when a Heartless releases a captured heart," Demyx affirmed.

"Then that certainly will change things," Axel said.

"Yes, the Organization will never be the same," Demyx finished.

Roxas was not in his room but rather next door in Naminé's room. He didn't really want to talk to anybody about what happened except to her. The entire ordeal had demoralized, depressed, and confused Roxas to his very core. He now found himself lying on a couch in Naminé's room with his head resting on her lap.

"I just feel like there was more than I could have done to save her."

"Well, it sounds like you did everything that you could and you did save her Roxas," Naminé replied. "You broke her out of her darkness."

"I guess, but I felt like I should've been able to have done it sooner. And besides, I should have been more observant and noticed that she was dabbling in darkness in the first place," Roxas explained.

Naminé gently smiled, very well aware of the fact that Roxas was very poor at observing other people's emotions, particularly when it came to Naminé and Xion. "You can't blame yourself for her death. Hades killed her, not you."

"And then on top of that," Roxas continued, seemingly ignoring Naminé's last statement, "she told me that she loved me before we fought. And I had no idea that she felt that way."

Of course, this wasn't news to Naminé, who always knew Xion had a crush on Roxas much as she did. "Oh," was all she said to start. "And did you…love her?" Unbeknownst to Roxas, his answer to this question was going to be hugely important to how Naminé proceeded.

"See that's the thing. Should I feel bad that I didn't? I don't know, I just never really thought of her in that way. Or maybe just thought that way at all," he admitted sheepishly.

Internally, Naminé released a huge breath of relief. "No, Roxas. Like I said, she shouldn't feel bad about anything that happened involving that fight. Really, you were a hero!"

Roxas looked up at her and smiled. "Thanks Naminé. You always know just what to say."

Naminé felt her stomach flutter with butterflies, but remained composed. "And you know, I have just the thing that might make you feel a little bit better."

"What's that?" Roxas sat up.

"It's a surprise! You'll have to follow me to find out," she teased. With that, she hopped up and grabbed Roxas' hand, taking him out of her room towards the kitchen. She was sure glad that had purchased some sea-salt ice cream the day before in anticipation of Roxas winning his match!

Larxene strolled into the library, holding something behind her back. "Zexion?" she called out. After seeing that he was not in his room, she had decided to visit the library. Vexen's lab would have been her next place to search, so she was really hoping that Zexion would be here to avoid having to potentially speak to The Chilly Academic. She didn't like talking to him in most circumstances, but that the fact that he knew things about her and Zexion made it even worse.

Zexion walked to the entrance from behind some shelves. "Hi Larxene." He was a little apprehensive to see her, as the last time they really had a chance to talk alone he had confessed his love for her.

"I see that you're walking now. Feeling better?"

"Eh, somewhat. I'm not exactly sure that walking with a crutch is better than being in the wheelchair, but I shouldn't need either soon enough," Zexion admitted. "What's that behind your back?"

"Oh, well, I, uh, brought something for you. You know, for saving me and to, uh, cheer you up." With that, she revealed the plate of cookies that she had made (with some assistance from Xaldin). "I made these for you."

Zexion could sense that Larxene looked a little nervous and on edge, which he fond adorable (although he would NEVER say that to her because he enjoyed his nonexistent life!). "Really? That's so sw-nice of you!" he replied, quickly correcting himself from calling Larxene sweet to her face.

Larxene could feel herself blush a little and hoped that Zexion wouldn't notice. "Yeah…well, don't get used to it!" she growled, attempting to revert back to her normal façade.

Zexion's knowing smile suggested that she hadn't fooled him, but he continued on anyways. "You just missed Marluxia."

Larxene looked surprised. "What did he want?"

"Some information on how to train Nobodies." Zexion chose not to share the other part of his conversation with Larxene.

"Makes sense. I'll probably need to start doing that. I gotta get Ninja trained. Hopefully he doesn't end up like Creeper!"

"Hey, Creeper isn't that bad actually. But you know, I could assist you with that training if you would like. I helped Vexen write the manual that I gave Marluxia, so I know a few things about training."

"I'd like that very much. Now how about you eat these before they get cold?" she proposed.

"I agree." Zexion tried a cookie. Had he been more observant, he would have noticed how intently Larxene was watching his expressions, as she was eager to find out if her baking was a success. Zexion nodded and smiled. "They are quite good. I didn't know you had this talent."

"Thanks. Well, I may have had-"

At that moment, the monotonous voice of Saïx rang throughout the library (and the rest of the Castle). "Vexen has completed his observations and all are expected at a meeting to hear about his findings. The meeting will begin in fifteen minutes. Do not be late."

Larxene was a little disappointed, as she had hoped to be able to have a deeper conversation with Zexion. She internally cursed Saïx for his poor timing.

Zexion shook his head. "Looks like the moment of truth is upon us."

"Can't wait to hear what that kook came up with," she replied with an eyeroll.

Hey there everybody! Here's a longer chapter to make up for missing April and May! This chapter is intentionally a little choppy as I really wanted to put together a bunch of vignettes that showed what the various Organization members were thinking after the big meeting last chapter. Next time, we'll see Vexen's verdict on Xion's heart and see what that leads to! As always, thank you to those of you who read/favorite/follow the story and especially those of you that review!

See ya real soon,

The Mustachioed Academic