Chapter 2: Should have listened

Ven blinked at the computer trying to stay awake long enough to finish implanting the data that Roxas wanted so much. "Why does he care about this stuff?" Ven mumbled under his breath, softly so only he could hear it because he wouldn't be surprised if the other blond was watching him at that very moment. Roxas was always like a ninja.

The keyboard made tapping sounds, but seemed so far off from Ven's ears. He was more focused on finishing his work in the small world. Roxas had told him if he didn't make a disk that could enhance his own powers, then Twilight Town would be in chaos. Ven, even though he didn't like to do the extra boring work, understood that it was in fact important. Twilight Town need Roxas to take care of the special viruses that only appeared in the alternative worlds inside computer networks. He had given them the name "Heartless". The Heartless always went around destroying worlds and stealing the people's program's called "Hearts".

Sighing to himself Ven regretted not giving Roxas a power up in the past. It would have made things a lot easier for both Ven and Roxas. Roxas might be a bit hard on Ven, but none the less Ven didn't care as much as most would. He cared for Roxas like he was his own brother. How Ven came across Roxas was really unexpected. Ven was one day minding his own business creating Twilight Town when suddenly Roxas just appeared inside it. According to Roxas, his home world was destroyed by the Heartless, but was able to escape in time before he was erased along with his world and its people through a black hole that sucked him up. Ven wasn't sure if all of it was entirely true, but he knew that Roxas existed so that must mean something. This was pretty much what he was thinking about as he loaded the rest of the data into Roxas. Roxas, the only friend and family he had.

The computer kept running till about midnight, which was the time Ven was usually going to bed. He tried to get to sleep at a different time, fearing about his mental and physical health, but he never made the time, he had to take care of Twilight Town, it was his responsibility after all. But when he finally did get to bed he wondered to himself if Roxas wanted to live a normal life not just inside his computer. The thought made him stay awake for the rest of the night.

.

The clock ticked its hands on 6 o'clock. Birds outside the quiet apartment came from their nests to sit on the window ceil. They chirped happily for the new day that was going to begin. Axel groaned and flipped over on his side to look at the clock.

"Crap. Why does this freaking clock have to go off on a Saturday?" Axel rubbed his eyes with his thumb and stretched his arms above his head. He didn't get a good sleep. Working hours were long and exhausting at the "World That Never Was", a club that was owned by Marluxia, Axel's brother and the leader of the Organization. If his brother didn't own the club Axel would be in a heap of trouble, he needed the job. The reason was because he lived alone in an apartment that he just moved into a week ago. The building was a good size, not one of those overly priced ones and not one of those kinds that has a drug dealer next door either. Axel needed to get away from everything. Living in a apartment of his own would help with that.

Axel got to his feet and went to the kitchen. He got cereal from the shelf and served himself a bowl of cheerio's. The little O's crunched and had a nice texture in Axel's mouth as he chewed them. Right when he was about to take the last bite-

SLAM!

The door was burst open…

"Axel! What do you think you're doing?" A pink haired man said rushing to Axel's side with his hands on his hips as if posing for the next issue of "Traverse Transvestite Magazine". It wouldn't surprise Axel if he was… He had caught him wearing dresses before.

"Eating," was Axel's response.

"I don't give a crap about that, why aren't you working?" Marluxia gave out a snarl.

"It's Saturday. I only work on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Got it memorized?" A hint of annoyance was found in Axel's tone. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Marluxia grumbled a few curses under his breath and let out a sigh. "Didn't Xigbar call you to come to work?"

"No." Axel said flatly.

"Damn I'm a kill him." Marluxia tried to lower his voice. "I needed to talk to you in person, that's why I needed you to come."

"Alright what is it?"

"It's Seifer's gang. They- they want to fight you."

"KUUHA!" Axel choked on his cereal. "What? You can't be serious!"

"I am serious." Marluxia's tone was a bit anxious. To Axel this was a big deal.

"Why would they want to fight me?" Axel shivered. "Mar?"

"Duh' no." Marluxia thought for a moment. "You didn't do anything to piss him off did you?"

"If I did I wouldn't be asking you about it."

Marluxia was silent for a moment. He walked to the door and sighed ruffling up his long spiked pink hair. "Watch your back brother." He left.

.

Ven clicked on his computer. The programming was done and he could finally relax.

"Ven go have some fun you earned it." Roxas said through the computer's speakers. "Wish I could join you but I have some Heartless to take care of at the Old Mansion. Don't know why they're going over there, that place is deserted. At least I'll have them all in one spot."

"Yeah, good thinking, but don't you think you should have a stronger weapon?" Ven said concerned.

"Maybe, you should reprogram it really quick. Don't want to take any chances." Roxas raised up his weapon called a "key blade". It was something Ven made for him so he could fight the viruses that went around loose. He gave it its name because of the shape it had. It could change into different forms by using different key chains, each one with different abilities and strengths.

"Sure. What is the approximant number of Heartless that are heading over there?" Ven asked.

"About a thousand." Roxas said coolly.

"A- a thousand! Roxas are you insane?"

"Yes. Yes I am. It won't be such a big deal if you update my weapon."

"You sure, you're not over working your self are you?"

"Don't worry about it Ven." Roxas grinned. "I know my strengths and weaknesses. If I was too soft to do the job I wouldn't be going out there."

"Thank god for that." Ven whispered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, Ok hold on a bit and let me fix things up." Roxas went to one of his files on the computer and started pressing on his keyboard. "Ok just needs a name now…" Ven thought for a moment. "How about Sword Wand?"

"Hells no." Roxas crossed his arms, his face sort of a pout.

"Alright what do you suggest we name it?" Ven grumbled, wishing that for once he'd get to name a key blade that "he" made.

"Oblivion." Roxas said. "It means to be completely forgotten."

Ven was silent for a moment letting in his own thought process. Roxas had his own reasons to name the key blade. "Ok, Oblivion it is."

After loading in the data Ven went to sleep, drifting off after lying down for a few seconds. This time it was Roxas's turn to do all the work. That's how it was between the two they both had a role to play in this little "video game."

Roxas steadily walked to the forest that was on the side of Twilight Town. It was dark in the woodsy area, not to mention the weird noises that were made from various creatures living in it. Roxas kept up his guard. He didn't want to mess up when there were thousands of heartless waiting for him inside the mansion, for whatever reason.

WOOOSHH! A Heartless appeared! …..or was it really a Heartless? It looked similar to one, but at the same time the creature didn't seem to be lounging around carelessly. It was thinking, unlike a Heartless. Roxas got out his weapon.

"SSSSSSSS!" The thing said. Do Heartless even make noise?

"I don't care who you are! Heartless or not I'm taking you down!" Roxas leaped at the creature not even thinking twice about what it was or what it could do to him.

"SSSS! ROOOOXAASSSSSSSSS!" The thing hissed. The creature zipped across and around Roxas like a snake. "ROOOOXXXASSS! MMAAASSSTERRRR WAAANNNTTTSSSS RRRRROOOOXXXXXAASSSSSSSS!"

Terrified, Roxas jumped backward to get away from the thing, only to end up tripping over a tree's root and falling on his face. Roxas winced from the fall and tried getting himself to his feet.

He couldn't. His whole body was being consumed by the Earth. "What the freaking hell is this?" Panic shot through his body. It was a trap. The Heartless lead him here to dispose of him to some other creature, probably to have him stop killing them off with his Key Blade. "Let me out! Let me out!" Roxas screamed. His hands were balled into fists and his face was covered in a bit of dirt from all the struggling he was making. The last thing he saw of that moment was the tree's roots overlapping his paralyzed body.

Everything went black.

.

His lids flicked open and then shut, getting used to the light. The blue eyes gazed around their surroundings trying to figure out where they were. Roxas sat up and rubbed the back of his head. He felt like crap. Ugh. Roxas put his arms around his stomach feeling nauseous for some reason. Roxas wasn't the one to get sick most of the time, so it made him wonder what made him sick now.

It smelled like sewers.

The light that had been hitting him in the eye wasn't coming from outside, it was coming from a very large computer that was scrolling through a lot of data. Roxas blinked and walked over to the computer after his legs adjusted to standing. The computer had lots of screens and keypads. Next to it was a map showing a base that was directly under the Twilight Town's large mansion. The base was marked with a red X.

"What is this?" Roxas asked the air around him. He turned realizing he was now talking to himself.

"Hello and welcome to the Computer Base."

Roxas jumped back from the computer. "Whoa!" Roxas amazed with the computer decided to stand in silence for a moment because that's what all cool guys in "video games" do. Roxas slowly pushed down a key with his index finger. The computer buzzed.

"Please don't play with my keyboard. I am for work purposes only."

"Hmph…" Roxas crossed his arms. "So what do you do?"

"I access the data in Twilight Town. Who might you be?" The computer buzzed.

"I'm Roxas, the alternative person of your creator Ven."

"Oooh. How splendid. Roxas do you know what I do?" Roxas didn't notice the sly buzzing in the computer's electronic voice. "I control Twilight Town's data base. I'm able to do all sort of things like create new buildings and transfer things from one place to another through black holes."

"Wait! You're the one who made the black holes? So you brought me here?" Roxas widened his eyes in amazement. "You saved my life thanks to the black holes you created. Thank you."

"It was my pleasure. I take in anything from different worlds that are about to be destroyed. Some of the people from your own world might still be going through the black hole. Some take time to get completely through them you know." The computer was having fun bragging.

"Wow. That's amazing!" Roxas almost jumped in glee, but held his feet firm on the ground. "I should tell Ven about you. He would be amazed!" Roxas was about to leave.

"WAIT! …I mean wait. Can you help me with something?" The computer said slyly.

"What?" Roxas asked with a slight glint in his eye. His excitement was taking over his mind. He knew nothing about this computer, yet he was in a trance with it.

"You see that laser over there?" Roxas turned and spotted something sticking out from the ceiling. "It's crooked and I need it to transfer things could you please fix it?"

Roxas stared from the laser then to the computer. "Sure." He was gullible.

Taking a few steps Roxas went under the laser to check it out. The laser seemed fine so why did the computer ask him to-

"HAHAHA! You fool; you really are Ven's parallel self! He would never fall for something as stupid as this!" The computer cackled.

Roxas was horrified. The laser beamed down on him. He couldn't move and he couldn't speak. Not this again! He thought. It was bad enough he had to be paralyzed by the trees that attacked him in Twilight Town's forest.

"You won't be returning to Twilight Town Roxas. Not ever again." The computer laughed. It was the last thing Roxas saw before everything went black once again.

.

Bump. Bump. Bump.

Axel's heart raced as he suddenly jumped out of bed. He inhaled and then let out a great exhale. All red in the face, Axel headed to his bathroom nose pressed to the mirror. "Only a dream," Axel told himself.

Axel had dreamt that he was being engulfed in this black hole into another world. In the world it was peaceful and the sun's light was amazing, making a sort of twilight over the buildings that stood. A nice breeze went through his red hair. The air was fresh and clean, unlike his home in Hollow Bastion. His Town was a lonely place, and you didn't know who to trust. But this place was full of joy and happiness.

Looking around Axel went down to the sandlot. Over there he saw a boy that was around his age. He had blond hair and blue eyes. He looked exactly like Ven. "It can't be…" he started off. "Wait… that kid's hair is parted differently and his face is more… Strict? Hard? Stubborn? ….no that's not it…" Axel thinking to himself scratched his head flickering his red spikes like fire. "Ah! Aggressive." Proud of himself Axel pounded his chest with a fist once and began to walk forward. This boy who ever he was looked kind 'a interesting in Axel's eyes.

Getting a closer look the boy was wearing black leather pants and vest with no shirt underneath. He also had black leather combat boots that went up to half his leg before the knees, with silver buckles holding the leather straps that went across. The pants tightly clutched around his waist and the vest was buttoned together with silver round buttons. The vest was high enough to expose the boy's stomach which made Axel make a light sound…

Wait did he purr? Axel didn't think he would ever be attracted to a guy, especially one that looked a lot similar to Ven, the boy who he saw around school and the one he almost beat up in the ally the other day. Of chores this was a dream, so he wouldn't have any control over his own emotions… would he?

The blond boy strutted across the sandlot into a different path walking down the pavement, Axel following close behind. The boy was cute with his arms at his sides and his hands in fists swaying along with his legs that were secured tightly under his leather pants that thinned down like skinny-jeans. The way he walked just made Axel-

Quickly Axel shook his head to try and get any weird thoughts out of his mind. "This is only a dream that I can't control." The red head told himself. He walked on behind the blond, watching him.

The blond turned into another part of town that had more life in it. A trolley was moving passengers around the area and little shops were busy with costumers. The boy however wasn't at all interested. He kept walking past all the commotion like it wasn't even there. To Axel's amazement the blond ignored everything. What was with this kid?

Axel watched the blond move across the area when he finally stopped at a brick wall with a hole in it. The blond went inside not even with slight hesitation. Axel on the other hand stood in silence, thinking that behind that wall was something he wasn't supposed to see. Ah, whatever it was only a dream. Axel fallowed the blond inside and looked at his surroundings. It was a small forest area that dimmed the light. At other side of the forest Axel could easily see a big house that looked abandoned. "Just like in those scary movies," Axel snickered. Moving his feet Axel watched the boy move up towards the house but stopped suddenly. Axel stopped as well, feeling like he, they weren't the only ones in the forest. "The hell?" Axel quickly turned toward something that moved on his right.

What Axel saw was a creature that walked unlike a normal person. It was white with strange gray markings around its arms, stomach, and legs. It looked like it was dancing almost.

"SSSSSSSS!" It said whatever it was. "SSSS! ROOOOXAASSSSSSSSS! ROOOOXXXASSS! MMAAASSSTERRRR WAAANNNTTTSSSS RRRRROOOOXXXXXAASSSSSSSS!"

This thing was calling the boy Roxas. Axel thought for a moment. "Roxassss." The S' in the blond's name rolled in Axel's tongue. It was an unusual name, much like his own, but at the same time it made Axel's body shiver with delight. "Roxas."

It took Axel a few seconds to realize that the blond haired boy was trying to fight off the things that were calling his name. When Axel turned toward the boy Roxas, he saw that the trees came to life and were smothering him under their branches. "No!" Was what the red head wanted to scream, but his voice wasn't there. For some odd reason his voice was gone, so Axel did the only thing he could do, run to the boy.

Roxas was struggling under the branches, but the forest consumed him. Axel could do nothing for the boy who he gazed at. The boy. Gone. Gone from his grasp. Axel could do nothing but just stare at the spot the blond was in before he was devoured. Axel clenched his fingers against his palms till he felt numbness. "What's going on? Why was he just? He was just-" Axel was surprised he could speak again. Whatever happened to this boy, he hoped it wasn't painful.

The forest went back to its normal self. Still and silent, the trees went with the small breeze while small animals skipped across the ground gathering little nuts and sticks, going on with their happy lives. It was as if nothing changed, but Axel knew better. That boy was there, he wasn't just some kind of made up thing. He was real. Even if he did dream him up he was there, Axel couldn't just forget this boy's existence. To others he might be fake but to Axel he was as real as real could be. That's why he wanted to stand in silence. The boy deserved that much. And… was he crying? Axel wiped away a tear that was strolling down his right cheek about to hit the corner of his mouth. "Is that it? Is he gone, just like that?" he asked himself.

Axel took a few minutes to recover from any "fake" feelings he might have had. He couldn't get around to what was making him dream this up. He had heard that dreams came from the thoughts that were in the back of someone's head, only to pop up in that person's dreams. What was he thinking then?

Crack.

A sound came from somewhere around Axel. The red head looked around only to discover that nothing was there for him to see. Probably nothing.

Crack.

Axel looked above him.

Crack.

There was a loose branch, a big one. It was about to fall on top of him! Axel didn't move, too stunned to move.

Crack!

The branch fell. Axel wasn't moving. He couldn't move. The branch got closer and closer. Then-

That's when he bolted out of bed.

Axel stood at the mirror thinking about the dream and trying to figure out its reason for even appearing. What was the meaning? The question kept running through his mind, but without an answer.

"Damn it." Axel murmured under his breath. Standing at the bathroom mirror wasn't going to help any. Axel then went on to another question. Who was that boy really? His name was Roxas. But did he know a Roxas?

TOO MANY FREAKIN QUESTIONS!

"Get yourself together Axel, now think. Who is Roxas?" Axel slapped his cheeks lightly sliding his hands down his face.

Nothing.

"Screw this." Axel rushed out the bathroom and outside his apartment door. Coming back after realizing he wasn't wearing any clothes, but his boxers.

.

Roxas rubbed his head after bumping against something hard. "Ouch. How could I have been so gullible?" Roxas moaned. He was not having a pleasant day… or night. Whichever it was in this world or place he was in. Most likely night, observing that the whole area was dark. In fact he couldn't see a thing.

"Ugggggnnnnn."

What was that? It sounded like a moan. Roxas stood up and followed the sound trying not to trip over anything.

"Ugggggnnnnn. No… no more Terra…"

Ok… that's disturbing… Roxas cringed

"Terra! Stop… I don't wanna' eat your stupid fruit salad….."

Now that was just getting weird…..

Terra? Where had Roxas heard that name before?... oh right! It was Ven's crush. How could he forget, the guy never stopped talking about him once he started talking. Funny the person talking actually sounded a lot like-

"Roxas what are you doing here!" Ven sat right up turning on the table light.. "His eyes were wide and his mouth almost hit the ground.

"I have no idea…" Was all Roxas could say blushing slightly… to think he was standing right in front of Ven. In the flesh. They were practically twins, of chores Roxas was the coolest out of the two in his own opinion.

"Roxas…" Ven said slowly.

"Yeah?"

"Welcome home my 'twin' brother."

Yay! Finally getting somewhere. I might put a little side story for Ven and Terra, but for now my main focus is on Axel and Roxas. Get ready for more fun and plot twists.