Gunshots filled the crisp night air. Screams echoed off the walls of the abandoned buildings, and a massive fire spread over the houses. A local gang fight had started uptown, and had resulted in this; complete and utter chaos. A small boy huddled alone. His mother had told him to wait until she could find his twin brother. That was half and hour ago. She hadn't come back. The boy's breath caught in his throat as a tall figure cast a long, flickering shadow over him. Even from the dark corner he hid in, young Reno could see the man's long, deathly sharp knife at his side. Silent tears flowed as he feared for his life. The man saw him and smiled evilly. He demanded all the gil Reno carried. Reno shook his head, eyes and mouth wide. He didn't have any gil. He never really had. The man closed in with his knife to Reno's cheeks. Reno could feel the cold metal of the blade penetrate the skin on his cheeks. Two identical cuts under the far sides of each eye. He only knew three things then...Blood... screaming... then darkness...

Reno sat bolt upright in bed. He was in a cold sweat. This very same nightmare had visited him many times before, but now... it was all so vivid... He stroked his cheeks where the marks were. The actual cuts had healed up years ago, and the scars were barely visible. He lined them both with red paint every day to remind him bad guys were bad guys, whether they pleaded for mercy or not. Bad guys die, good guys kill the bad guys.

The redheaded Turk looked across the room to the other bed. His partner Rude was sound asleep. He looked at the clock. The bright green display screen read "3:26 a.m." He groaned and walked to the bathroom.

Reno stared at his reflection. The paint on his cheeks was slightly smeared. He felt a sudden rush of blood to his face, and he angrily wet a washcloth. Roughly, he wiped the makeup off his cheeks. He ran one of his slender fingers along the thin scar on his left cheek. The memory of the blade burned in his mind. He stared hard at the reflection of his own eyes. He still remembered his brother... same bright red hair, same emerald green eyes, same sharp smile he had when they were in trouble. But his brother had two upside-down black triangles on his cheeks. He remembered when he had those tattooed on when they were 10.

He splashed his face with cool water and shut off the light. He walked back to his bed for just a few more hours of (hopefully) dreamless sleep.

A long ways away, in Castle Oblivion, another mind was wracked with nightmares.

Smoke filled his eyes. He was crying, and running, and tripping. Mother... where had she gone? She had grabbed his arm earlier and told him to run. She had said she would catch up with him soon. She never did. He heard the metallic bangs of gunshots and stared at the fire. Mother had told him to find his brother. She never said where... or how... why were small towns always so GOD DAMN BIG??? He kept running. He looked in alleys and windows and there was no sign of his brother. 'Look for red hair.' he told himself frantically in his mind. 'You'll find him. Red hair...' He ran. Suddenly, there was a flash of bright red hair running next to him. He stopped, and with a short gasp, he realized... it was just his reflection... not his brother. He ran faster. His leg jerked. Hard. He landed on the ground, a sharp blow to the head knocking him down. He gasped, the wind knocked out of his lungs. He tried to scream, but it was in vain. He felt something warm on his face. Then, he knew only three things... Blood... screaming... and then darkness...

Axel screamed in his sleep. His thrashing threw him from the bed onto the floor. He sat up, the dark green sheets of his bed were wrapped around his legs up to his waist. The rest of his body was in a cold sweat. He shivered. Castle Oblivion was freezing, no matter what season. He stood up and walked to his bathroom. The walls were painted a light bluish-gray color. He flicked on the light and stared into the mirror. It was early, according the clock on the wall behind him. It read "3:26 a..." because the screen was slightly askew. He knew it was morning, anyway. He looked at his reflection. Bright red hair, emerald green eyes, and black marks on his cheeks. He had had them tatooed there at age 10 as a way to act out against his parents.

He looked deeper into the mirror and saw, for a split second, his brother staring out at him.

Axel felt the pressure building up inside him. He clenched the edge of the counter hard. "GODS DAMN THIS!!!" He yelled and slammed his fist into the countertop. This was followed by the sound of crushing tile. Axel breathed heavily. Rage was filtered out of him like this very often. Fire flickered in his soul. Unquenchable... engulfing... eternal.

He gently splashed cool water onto his face and sighed. He may as well try to sleep for a few more hours... there was no comfort outside his dreams, anyway.

The next morning, Reno woke up and yawned. He hated early mornings. I mean, it was SATURDAY for somebody's sake! What normal person gets up at 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday? The redheaded Turk shrugged and walked down to the kitchen. He was in only his boxers, but he didn't care. It was just him and Rude, anyway. He flipped on the TV and muted it. It was sort of defeating the fact of turning to TV on without the volume, but Reno didn't care about THIS either. He hated the voices of the newspeople. They were irritating. Instead, he flipped on the radio. The station was playing "Hey Ya" a song by Outkast. Just as he did this, Rude walked in the room. Fully dressed, sunglasses and all.

Rude raised his eyebrows in a, "What-kind-of-crap-are-you-listening-to-now" look. Reno just shrugged and sat down in a chair at the kitchen table, where his head promptly fell to the surface. He groaned. The morning hunger pains were kicking in. It took awhile for Reno's body to realize it was hungry because of the Mako, but you'd get used to it eventually, too.

"Rude..." Reno groaned, "make me foodstuff..." Reno looked at Rude. The bald man looked at Reno's messy hair, paintless cheeks, and askew goggles and rolled his eyes. Without a word, he turned to the fridge. Reno smiled halfheartedly and smacked his head on the table again. The song on the radio was driving him crazy. He had been needing a girlfriend for a LOOOONG time, but his searching had been in vain. He cursed at the radio.

"Heeeyyy... Yaaaaaaa.. (OHH OH)
Heeyy Yaaaaaaaa.. (OHH OH)
Heeeyyy... Yaaaaaaa.. (Don't want to meet your daddy, OHH OH)
Heeyy Yaaaaaaaa.. (Just want you in my Caddy OHH OH)
Heeeyyy... Yaaaaaaa.. (OHH OH, don't want to meet yo' mama OHH OH)
Heeyy Yaaaaaaaa.. (Just wan't to make you cumma OHH OH)
Heeeyyy... Yaaaaaaa.. (I'm, OHH OH I'm, OHH OH)
Heeyy Yaaaaaaaa.. (I'm just being honest OHH OH, I'm just being honest)"

Rude slammed the door to the fridge. "WILL YOU SHUT THAT THING OFF?!?!" He threw a piece of lunch meat at Reno. The rouge piece of tukey smacked Reno in the face as he turned to say something to Rude. The meat slid off and splatted on the floor, leaving Reno with his mouth open and an "I-give-up" look.

"Yeah yeah.Whatev, yo." He shut off the radio and turned up the volume on the TV. The headlines were all the same.

Rude looked up at Reno from the stove. "anything interesting in the news, Reno?"

"Ohhh... yeah." Reno rolled his eyes. "Super fun-tastic traffic reports!!! Oooh ooh! And then they're starting a 'Rabbit Funland' in western downtown! And there's a super cute looking two-headed giraffe being born in the zoo!" He rolled his eyes again. "Nope. Nothing exciting. Maybe that mutant giraffe, but otherwise..." He held two fingers up to the side of his head like a gun and stuck out his tongue. "BOOOOOOORING!!!" He smacked his head on the table again.

"Yeah, well here's breakfast." Rude set an omelet in front of Reno. Reno looked at it and stuck his tongue out like a three year old. He hated eggs. Rude bapped him with a spoon. "Eat it you wussie. It's all we have." Rude sat down across from Reno with his own omelet. "And maybe you could eat a meal with clothes on?" He looked at Reno, who was a bare torso opposite him.

"No way!" Reno looked at Rude with a challenging look in his eyes. "I don't wanna get food on my threads." He laughed and leaned back in his chair. He looked back at his omelet. Slowly, he picked up his fork. Without warning, he began stabbing the egg-dish violently, with a maniacal look on his face.

"What are you doing?" Rude looked at Reno. It was a bit strange for him to be so animated for so early in the morning.

"Oh, nothing." Reno stopped stabbing it and nudged it a few times. "Just making sure it's dead."

"Oh, ha ha." Rude laughed sarcastially, and then, suddenly serious, "Eat it."

"Aww... Rude..."

"I. Said. EAT IT!!!" Rude lunged at Reno, pinning him to the chair with one arm. With the other, he grabbed Reno's fork and got enough omelet to keep him busy for a bit. He shoved this in Reno's protesting mouth. The redhead threw a few muffled obscenities at Rude and chewed. Some people just can't win, I guess.

Axel walked through the marble hallways of Castle Oblivion. He wasn't paying attention to where he was walking, so he soon found himself in Xemnas's private study. It went against his better instincts, but those were for people who could follow their hearts. He didn't have one, so his curiosity got the better of him. He walked to the far end of the room and saw an object draped with white cloth. He touched the cloth and it slid off. Kicking it away, he moved in to inspect his find.

It was a mirror, at first glance. Axel looked closer. H noticd the surface wasn't solid. It looked like a solid, liquid, and gas... but so much like nothing at the same time. Another strange thing was this mirror didn't reflect anything. Well, a few books, Axel's face, and a couple of jars, but none of these things mattered. Axel began to walk away, but realized with a start, it wasn't his reflection. He turned on his heel and walked back. In the mirror, he saw...

His brother. But, not his brother. This was a man, about 20 to 24. Same bright red hair, same emerald green eyes, same smirk. Axel noticed, there were red marks under the far sides of either of his brother's eyes. He touched the mirror. It felt burning hot. He pulled his hand back quickly, sucking on his scorched fingers.

Footsteps approached the study. Axel started a portal. Before he stepped in, he looked back at the mirror longingly. The door clicked and Axel disappeared into the shadows.

Sorry Axel's part was so short. He doesn't really talk much, so it's hard to type a lot for him. I'll be back soon with part TWO!!!!!