Things were different, when Roxas came. There was this sense, this feeling of anticipation in the air. Like wolves stalking their prey, the Organization members seemed to sense that they were getting close to their goals. It was, I guess, happy for them. But to me it felt like a storm was about to break.

Xemnas may have found Roxas, (it was generally agreed that he named him) but Axel presented Roxas to the other members. Their gathering place is one of the few rooms that have no door. You have to enter and exit by portal. I knew we were getting a new member, and I knew there was something important about this new person, but I didn't know what. I wasn't enthused, honestly. Axel aside, a new member was a new tormenter, and even Axel wasn't overly friendly. That day was one of the few days he actually talked to me.

"Kid, come with me," he said, out of the blue, that day. He waved me over to the couch he was sprawled out on. I had to come to the sitting room like area where they received their mission orders to get my training assignments for the day. A lot of the members would hang out there while waiting for their assignments to be finalized, but there was no one else in the room at that moment, not even Saix. I walked over as he stood up and created a portal. "You heard about the newbie?" he asked, eyes alight with anticipation. Fire isn't just Axel's element, it's his whole personality.

"Yeah, why?"

"Just come on!" he was impatient, and he gestured animatedly for me to get my butt through the portal already. I had no clue what was going on, I just walked through. Axel followed, causing the portal to close behind him.

He'd taken me to their meeting room. We were behind a huge column that was actually a chair. There were thirteen chairs, though we only had twelve members at that time. Peering around the column/chair, I saw a raised dais, just short enough to step up on. All of the other chairs were full, except for one I could see, and Axel's, which I was behind. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I whirled around.

"Pay attention and keep your head down, got it memorized?" Axel whispered at me, bending over to meet me eye to eye. He was ridiculously tall compared to me. I nodded once, and he winked at me and disappeared. I poked my head around the column/chair again, and watched the action unfold.

"Good tidings, friends. Today is a momentous day. I am pleased to announce that a new comrade has been chosen to wear the coat. Let us all welcome one of the Keyblade's chosen, number XIII," Xemnas blathered theatrically as Axel half shoved, half led a kid around my age up to the center of the dais. The kid was Roxas, but I didn't know that then. I remember being almost more surprised by the blank look on his face and the blank twilight of his mind then by that he was a Keyblade wielder. I knew now why the Organization wanted him, but I didn't, honestly, think that he would be up to it. He'd be the first Nobody in the Organization to be eliminated, I couldn't help thinking. He looked so small and fragile up there, even though his arms and torso where technically beefier than Axel's twig limbs. He said nothing, did nothing, saw nothing, the entire ceremony. All the same, he was made the thirteenth member of Organization XIII. All our fates were sealed that day.

After the show, when everyone else had left, Axel brought Roxas to meet me, since I was still hiding behind Axel's chair.

"And this is Aurora," Axel said to Roxas as the two of them faced me. Roxas didn't say anything, just looked at me blankly. I could tell he just barely comprehended what was going on. "She's the boss's project." Axel continued, probably guessing this was going up and over Roxas's head.

"Project?" Roxas and I asked almost simultaneously, though in very different tones. Axel shrugged at me, and then turned to Roxas.

"She's being taught everything the Organization knows so that she can take it to other worlds, got it memorized?" Roxas didn't answer, just stared at me, barely blinking. I didn't have much to say either, and I was still miffed about being labeled a "project". A few years ago I'd been known as the Superior's daughter.

Shrugging at the two of us, Axel made a portal. "C'mon. We've got a mission," he said, though I'm not sure exactly who he was talking to. I walked through the portal, followed by Roxas.

"This is my room," I said. Roxas nodded once, looking around a little. Axel came through, made another portal, and ushered Roxas through it. But he didn't follow.

"So?" he asked me, sounding awkward. I rolled my eyes.

"He's empty, emptier than most. I understand we've been looking for a Keyblade wielder for awhile, but he's just a kid, zombie kid at that. They'll wear him out until he dies."

"He is a bit of a zombie, but Xemnas has big plans for him. If the Keyblade chose him, he's gotta be stronger than he looks, got it memorized?"

"The Keyblade doesn't chose Nobodies, it chooses their originals," I stated more sharply than I had intentioned.

"Then you know who he is, don't you?" Axel fired back at me. "Keep it quiet," he added as he stepped through the portal. I shook my head at the space where he'd been. I didn't have any clue who Roxas was, then.

"Aurora! What are you doing lazing around here, worthless girl? You've still got training today!" Vexen barked at me, showing up suddenly. I jumped, spinning around, and then nodded.

"Yes, sir."

The following days I didn't see Roxas or Axel much, but I heard that Roxas was progressing well, and would soon be ready for actual missions. I dug around, but couldn't find out anything about who Roxas had been before. All the information surrounding the Keyblade was suddenly off limits to me, though I had studied it before. Axel was as enigmatic as ever, paying no more attention to me than he had before, even when he caught me giving him a questioning look. I didn't understand his interest in the new kid, or what I was supposed to keep quiet about and why I was supposed to keep quiet about it.

Roxas had been in the Organization about a week when he surprised Axel and me both. After the usual mission, Axel had been compelled to take Roxas to the training dome, where my battle training and any other practice battles took place. Though it was unlikely Roxas would ever be a part of my training, as his skills were too necessary in the field, things had to look equal to keep the other members happy. So Axel brought him down towards the end of a particularly nasty bout with Saix.

Saix, being second in command, avoided training with me as much as he could. Again, though, the need to keep everyone satisfied to prevent revolt made it impossible for him not to teach me altogether. He hated me almost as much as Xigbar, and considered me as a whole a complete waste. He was smacking me across the room with his giant claymore when Roxas and Axel wandered into the room. Axel had monitored my training with Xigbar for over a year now, so he was prepared for what he saw, but Roxas was shocked.

Nobodies, in general, can't feel anything. They tend, however, to look like this is not the case. Part of it is unconscious; they remember feelings so well that they mimic them without trying. For the most part, though, this play-acting is entirely on purpose and is used to manipulate others around them. So, when real shock, disgust, and anger ripped through Roxas, it knocked me off guard. Off guard enough for Saix to send me flying across the room and smashing into the wall.

"Pitiful," Saix remarked, leaving the arena.

"What's his problem?" I heard Roxas ask angrily while I sat up and drained a mega-potion, eyes squinched shut against the pain.

"You ok, kid?" I heard the sound coming slightly above my head.

"I've been better," I remarked as the mega-potion started to take effect. I opened my eyes, and their blurry faces hovering over me began to snap into focus. Axel pulled me to my feet while Roxas turned and said,

"We should take her to the clock tower with us."

Axel and I both blinked at him in surprise. I later learned that that was their spot, but then I had no clue what it was Roxas was talking about.

"C'mon, Axel, she needs it," he wheedled, gesturing to me. Axel looked me up and down.

"Alright, alright, she can come," he agreed, opening a portal. I felt a weird rush in my heart, and I dashed through the portal, knowing they'd follow.

Colors, light, noise all hit me at once. It had been five years since I'd seen anything other than the dark, grey night of the World That Never Was. Twilight Town, in all its small town dusky sameness, was heaven, a paradise of color and sound. I gasped aloud, turning in a slow circle to take everything in. The sunset dazzled my eyes with its colors. It belonged in a painting, it was so beautiful. Axel laughed behind me.

"You don't get out much, huh kid?" He asked, smiling. I shook my head.

"I haven't left the World That Never Was for five years," I informed him, still taking in the sky. Roxas walked up, holding three popsicles the color of pale turquoise stones and ocean waves. He passed one to Axel, then one to me.

"It's Sea Salt Ice Cream," he told me, biting his own treat.

"Thanks," I said, and then licked mine experimentally. It tasted wonderful, the perfect combination of salty and sweet. I hummed in the back of my throat with the simple pleasure of it. The setting sun warmed my skin and I closed my eyes, so happy I could nearly cry.

"Are you coming or what?" Axel asked, breaking my reverie. My eyes shot open, and I ran to catch up to him and Roxas as they wandered from the shopping center up an inclined path. We made our way up there towards the train station with its massive clock tower. We climbed to a ledge above the clock face using a complicated system of ladders and back doors. Roxas and Axel settled on the edge like they were invincible, but I had serious vertigo problems. It was HIGH. I could see the entire town from here. I pressed my back against the tower, which towered high above us, even though we were two thirds of the way up it by now.

"It's ok, you won't fall off," Roxas said with a mouth full of ice cream, looking back at me.

"I-I'm fine right here, thanks," I stammered, shaking my head back and forth with fear. Roxas shook his head at me and got up.

"You're never gonna be able to enjoy it if you're so scared," he said, taking me by the arm and leading me to the edge ever so slowly.

"C'mon, kid, you really think we'd let you fall?" Axel asked, smiling at my stupid fear. Roxas sat me down in between the two of them, and then settled next to me.

"Don't look down, look out," Axel advised, gesturing to the skyline and the perfect view of the sunset we had up here. I took his advice and soon forgot my fears. The breeze felt good, and the view was absolutely amazing. The sky was alight with pastel hues, reds and oranges and yellows and purples. I munched on my ice cream slowly, savoring everything. Time seemed to fade away and disappear. No one talked, but that was ok. Silence is always laden with something, and this was laden with a comfortableness I didn't have a name for at the time. I never wanted to leave.

"Well, time to head home," Axel said, standing up and startling me. He made a portal as Roxas stood up.

"Already?" I asked, heart sinking to my shoes. They looked at me like I was crazy. They didn't understand.

"You know you can come back with us anytime you want, right?" Roxas asked me, pausing at the portal's threshold as I slowly got up and headed over.

"I can, really?" I asked. Both boys nodded.

"Of course, kid," Axel remarked.

"Thank you!" I said, bouncing up and down. That got a smile from Axel and a bemused look from Roxas. We headed back to that miserable world of darkness, but things were different.

There was a little spark of light in our lives now.