Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom hearts, all the rights belong to Square Enix.

After the screaming due to seeing the dismembered head from the girls, there was a moment of silence which filled the atmosphere where the group just took a few minutes to take in what had happened in shock before Zexion became the first one to speak.

"Cloud, I think you need to call the police and let them know what has happened here," he instructed in a calm voice. "Demyx, you and the others wait downstairs in the living room."

The group didn't need to be told twice and headed down the stairs, shivers being sent through them at the thought of the scene. Cloud followed slowly behind them, talking with an urge in his voice on the phone as he made the call. Zexion watched them go, then set foot into the room, putting on a pair of transparent plastic gloves as he did and started looking around the room. Xigbar stood by the doorframe, watching.

"Since when did you carry those around with you?" he asked curiously as Zexion went onto the balcony, looking down onto the ground below.

"Since the last case. Even though we solved it, I got told off by the police as I could have contaminated the evidence and crime scene or something like that. They weren't happy that I didn't call them straight away either," Zexion replied with a shrug. "Can you start taking some pictures of what remains of the corpse?"

Xigbar nodded and got to work doing that whilst Zexion moved away from the balcony and stared at the silent head on the pillows. How did the murderer do this and not leave a trace of a weapon on the scene? Also, with this level of dismemberment, there should have been some noise that would have caught the attention of the people downstairs, yet nothing of that sort occurred.

"I thought I might mention that the corpse's torso is on the ground just below the balcony with an arm and the legs still attached to it, by the way." Zexion spoke out, fixed in his thinking position.

Xigbar just shook his head as he finished taking the photos on his phone's camera.

"It's horrible, isn't it? Of all the ways to kill someone, why go for the goriest?" he sighed, putting the phone back into his pocket.

Zexion nodded in agreement.

"Well…I've got to say I've never come across a situation like this before myself but…I guess I'm ready for a real challenge." He shrugged, just when Cloud came back up.

"The police said that they are on their way now," he reported. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Thanks, Cloud," Xigbar thanked. "No, I think we're alright here for now. Just wait downstairs with the others."

Cloud nodded.

"Ok. Well…I'm not sure if this is important, but I found this under the loose arm in the corridor before reporting here," he shrugged, holding up a small slightly torn bit of paper. "I don't know if it means anything though, but there's half of what looks like a kind of 'L' shaped stand and an upside-down 'Y' shape a few centimetres away from it drawn in black ink and a few dots and dashes on the back."

"Dots and dashes?" Xigbar questioned, and even Zexion seemed interested at the newfound clue.

"Yeah," Cloud nodded in confirmation, turning the piece of paper around. "See?"

Xigbar took the piece from Cloud and examined it with Zexion. From what they observed, they could guess that it was only half of the whole thing due to the way the top of it was torn and the marking on the back made a pattern which looked like:

-. . -..- -

The type of code looked very familiar, as if they had seen it somewhere before.

"What do you think, Zexion?" Xigbar looked over at Zexion, who was stood in his thinking pose again, though it quickly disappeared under a small smirk.

"It's actually a pretty well-known type of code, mostly used by sailors actually for messages with light. A dot stands for one unit of time and a dash stands for 3 units. A combination series dots and dashes of them make a word." Was all he said, and Xigbar slapped himself on the forehand when he realised as well.

"Morse code, of course," he groaned, even though he knew about it too, just a habit to always turn to Zexion for help.

Zexion sighed.

"Of course, I know what type of code it is, but I admit that I can't de-code Morse just by looking at it," he admitted, slipping the note into his pocket. "Let's head back downstairs to the others. There's not much we could do until the police arrive."

The other two nodded in agreement and the three of them turned their backs temporarily from the blood-soaked crime scene before they headed back down the staircase and joined the other members of their group.

Downstairs, not much conversation was made between them as not much could be said after a murder like that had happened; Tifa and Xion was sat on the sofa, staring at their feet, Demyx was casually fiddling with his hands and even the usually chatty motor-mouth Yuffie was quiet for a change. Zexion, on the other hand was looking through the photos taken on Xigbar's phone again. True, it wasn't pleasant, but he wanted to see if he had missed anything. The general standard questions about the crime played over in his mind, but he can't seem to piece the puzzle together fully. Also, he'll need to get a book on Morse code or sometime to decipher the dots and dashes on the back of the piece of paper. Why would anyone bother to leave a message like that anyway?

"The cops sure are taking their time," Xigbar commented, looking at his watch. "It's been about thirty minutes since Cloud called them."

"We're more or less in the middle of nowhere. It will take them some time to find us anyway," Xion replied matter-of-factly. "But to think something like this would happen now…"

The group nodded, and they were consigned to silence once more. Well…until Cloud decided to break it again.

"Any luck on figuring out the clue, Zexion?" he questioned, looking over at the teen.

Zexion looked up from the pictures on Xigbar's phone to face him and shook his head.

"No, not yet, but I'm working on it." He answered, looking back down again.

"Oh! Let me see!" Demyx exclaimed, bouncing over to his friend and plopping himself down on the seat next to Zexion, much to the latter's annoyance.

He had been bored just sitting there doing nothing and watching Zexion and Xigbar have all the 'fun' of investigating. On Zexion's side however, he was hoping not to have any distractions from Demyx, but he gave in anyway and handed the piece of paper to him, in which he actively scanned through the drawing and the Morse on the back. Zexion sighed as he watched Demyx. True, he was a good friend, but Demyx isn't always the brightest bulb in the box-

"N-E-X-T." Demyx suddenly read out loud, breaking Zexion's thoughts and catching Xigbar's attention.

"Sorry?" Zexion politely asked, staring at Demyx.

Did he just-?

"The Morse code on the back. N-E-X-T," Demyx explained with an innocent shrug. "I don't get the drawing on the front though."

Demyx looked up again, just to see Zexion and Xigbar staring at him. "What?"

"How the heck did you know that?" Xigbar gaped, and even Zexion was surprised.

"I've always been interested in Morse a while before I met you and Zexion. I liked the idea of communicating with others just by flashing a light or something at them. It's cool." Demyx smiled cheekily, giving the piece of paper back to Zexion.

"Then why didn't you say so before?"

"You never asked!"

"Guys," Zexion sighed, indicating for them to stop and also erasing the previous comment he made to himself about Demyx. "So…'NEXT'."

He said that in hope to start a discussion, and he seemed to have started what he wanted out of the rest of the group.

"A warning message, perhaps?" Yuffie suggested, joining in.

"But if that's the case, why would the culprit leave that?" Tifa asked, leaning forward in interest.

Zexion took a deep breath, and sighed.

"I don't know," he admitted. "From what I can tell, it's only half of the message. I admit I personally don't see the point in splitting it up, but if that what the murderer wanted, so be it. I think another starting point would be to find that part."

"Yeah." The other agreed.

Zexion was about to continue, until he heard a sound from outside which sounded strangely like a loud engine and a whirling sound.

WHUP! WHUP! WHUP! WHUP!

"What was that?" Yuffie asked, looking around at the rest of her guests who shrugged.

"We should probably go and look." Tifa spoke, getting out of her seat.

The other looked at each other, then followed.

When the group got outside, what greeted them was a large, grey helicopter which had just landed in the large opening in front of Yuffie's villa and once the engine had turned off and the propeller stopped turning, the door opened to reveal a tall, tanned man with long silver hair and amber eyes.

"Well…seems that we got here in the end," He spoke in a deep voice, stepping out and approaching them. "Maybe next time you should have called from a more convenient location."

Yuffie, Xion, Cloud and Tifa said nothing as the stranger stopped in front of them, but Xigbar, Demyx and Zexion was calm.

"Hi, Inspector Xemnas!" Demyx greeted with a grin.

"Yo, Inspector." Xigbar raised a hand.

Xemnas took one look at them and sighed, his expression in an obvious frown.

"You guys again…" he commented. "Can't you ever keep out of crime scenes when they occur?"

Demyx sheepishly rubbed the back of his head in awkwardness and Xigbar simply smiled it off.

"Well…it's not like we wanted to be. We were invited to spend time with some old friends of ours. It was only misfortunate that this had to happen at the same time." He explained in order to try and make him understand.

"What, like you were 'invited' on that opera house case and a murder 'mysteriously' happened?" Xemnas replied sceptically, then he glanced at Zexion. "And of course, the kid who just loves to play detective has to be here, doesn't he."

In truth, Zexion had helped the police in solving many cases but it was the fact that they were letting a nineteen year old on crime scenes that made Xemnas uneasy. The people in the police force are capable, but it was almost…embarrassing in a way that a teenager could sometimes solve parts the police couldn't.

Zexion just shrugged and didn't say anything, causing Xemnas to sigh again.

"Well, at least you actually bothered to call us this time. Let me go in and see what the situation is like." He spoke, brushing past the group of them.

"You see…" Zexion started to explain, but Xemnas cut him off.

"I know, your friend explained very clearly over the phone," the inspector rolled his eyes as he stopped. "A dismemberment murder with a severed head and arm left behind. Can't say I've come across one of those myself."

Zexion nodded and Xemnas continued walking again, followed by Yuffie, Xion, Cloud and Tifa.

"What took you so long to get here anyway, Inspector? You're usually very quick on the scene if called out for a homicide case." Xigbar started to question as Zexion and Demyx pushed forward to join the elder man.

"It wasn't my fault. I was on my way, but when I reached the bridge for vehicles to pass through, it wasn't there. The pedestrian bridge was cut too when I approached it so the only way in was by helicopter," Xemnas told him. "I'd say whoever is responsible for all this didn't want us to leave, or to delay the police from coming."

This statement caused Zexion to think again as they re-entered the villa, once again the 'why?' questions. Sure, it made the investigation more interesting and possibly intense, but if the bridge is down…now what?

Hi :D! Once again, I am really sorry for the lateness of this chapter and if it wasn't very good, as being me, I chose an awful time to restart writing this story after leaving it for so long :S. The next chapter will probably be out when I have enough time to do it with academic work and all that, sorry. Anyway, thanks for reading :)!