Roxas cursed to himself as he ducked and weaved through the swamp. He was too young for this and he knew it. Unfortunately, it was still happening and he needed to survive it.

He was fleeing from a Bogart. A malicious swamp creature, it was magical and had no need for food to survive. But it did so love the taste of blood and even more the taste of fear. Roxas was feeling more angry than afraid, but apparently that would do and the beast was chasing him. He wasn't a match for a Bogart. He was too young, without the full depth of power of an adult, and even if he had been one adult wasn't really a match for a Bogart either.

It was his dam's fault this was happening. Roxas knew that but couldn't find it in him to blame him. It was a sad fact that many new people chose their mates almost at random, when they were traveling. Sometimes the choices were bad but it was hard to undo later. The man who should have sired Roxas hadn't, which the group might have forgiven, but his real sire was with another group. A group they often clashed with over the fields to the West. Roxas had caught a glimpse of Ventus in one of those clashes and had seen that the others in the group were right, he was a little copy of the blonde. The group had no choice but to put up with that but no one was happy about it. It hadn't affected his childhood too much, Terra had given him lots of love, but he'd been forced away too early. It should have been a year, perhaps two before he'd had to –

Roxas suddenly tripped on a hidden branch, sprawling in the muck. Climbing to his feet he heard the Bogart laugh, a sticky wet sound and turned. It was too close but he'd do his best to hurt it before he died. The hideous thing flashed between trees and he readied himself –

And blinked as fire suddenly erupted between the trees and the Bogart screamed. There was a wild laugh, but it was a person! Roxas stared as he saw fire red hair bobbing through the trees and grinned as he went on the attack.

One adult would have trouble with a Bogart but two were enough to drive it away, and so it proved. The Bogart finally vanished into the swamp, hissing curses as it went and Roxas finally got to take a look at his savior. Tall and lanky, the man had brilliant green eyes and flame red hair. Roxas had never seen anyone with that shade of hair before and the man's scent was… good. Very good. Roxas knew intellectually that that meant they weren't related at all. The new people had been designed to recognize relatives and avoid mating with close ones. He turned to look at the blonde and from the interest in his eyes, he'd picked up the same about Roxas.

"I'm Axel. A-X-E-L, got it memorized?" Roxas smiled faintly at the cocky tone. "So, what's your name?"

"Roxas." Roxas vanished his weapons and offered him a hand to shake. Axel grinned, vanishing his weapons too before gripping his hand. "Thank you for saving me."

"It was nothing. So, Roxas, want to be my mate?" Roxas couldn't help but laugh at the forwardness of the question. Most would pretend to just be interested in a traveling companion, at least for a short time, but clearly not Axel. Which was fine by him, actually. It was far more honest.

"I think I would." He could certainly do worse. The redhead smiled, taking his hand, and Roxas smiled back.

Later that night they managed to find a slightly drier hummock, and Roxas and Axel both lost their virginity. Roxas vaguely thought he should be ashamed, rutting like an animal with someone he'd just met but he couldn't find it in him to care. Something about Axel gave him a warm feeling in his chest. Although…

"Axel, have you ever wondered?" Roxas asked quietly as his new lover lay beside him. Axel opened his eyes, giving him a quizzical look. "How you know when you have the right mate?" Roxas had always wondered about that. Terra had never been able to offer any guidance. Axel smiled and rested a hand on his chest.

"My dam always said that you'll know it's the right one when there's a special feeling right here. And if you don't feel that, you need to walk away, no matter how lonely or scared you are. Do you feel it, Roxas?" Roxas hesitated a moment, then nodded. He did feel something, a connection to the other man. "I feel it too. I knew, the moment I saw you, that you were perfect for me."

"I hope you're right." Roxas couldn't trust quite that readily. But he wanted it to be true. And who knew? Maybe it was.

Months later they were still together and traveling. They'd considered settling but something restless kept driving them onwards. They'd seen one group at a distance, but Axel said it wasn't right and they'd kept going. Axel had a great faith in his feelings and at first Roxas had been skeptical, but he'd come to trust it more. His feelings about Axel kept growing stronger.

"This is right." Axel finally said as they reached a hill and looked down at a forest. Roxas blinked at the dark, forbidding trees… but something in him said that Axel was right. This was the place. "I wonder if anyone else is here?"

"If not, we'll be the first." Roxas said confidently and Axel grinned, twirling his sling. They had both began wandering in early spring and it was the height of summer. Game and food were plentiful, although it was good they had found their home. They would need to start putting away food in earnest now, especially this far North.

Once they began hunting it didn't take them long to find the others. Fortunately, there were only two and they were friendly. Roxas sniffed the air as the two of them came slowly closer. They smelled okay. Not as good as Axel though, and he was satisfied in his choice.

"Hi, I'm Riku and this is Sora." The silver haired one, Riku, offered them his hand with a smile. Axel took it with a grin.

"I'm Axel and this is Roxas." For a moment Roxas could almost feel the dynamic between the two of them, the moment when some interaction was deciding who would be the leader and who would be the follower. He felt it when it abruptly was decided in Riku's favor and Roxas was almost glad. They were here first and this way there would be no resentment. Axel seemed pleased as well. "Need some people?"

"Do we?" Riku laughed as Sora smiled. The answer was obvious. "We do! We found this place only a month ago and we've built a longhouse that's ready to share."

"That sounds wonderful." Roxas said sincerely. He was tired of sleeping under bushes and trees and he liked these two already.

It was good to be home.

hr

"Why can't we at least question them first?" Axel was more than a little upset with the Superior's decision as he stood on the deck that overlooked the caverns full of Heartless. Roxas just shrugged and frowned at Larxene and Luxord. They were laughing and making bets on who would scream first.

Their two odd doubles were chained up down below. They hadn't awoken yet and for some reason, the Heartless seemed to be waiting for them to become conscious. But then, the Heartless could have a truly sadistic streak. It didn't bother Roxas in the least. He'd seen and participated in plenty of world destructions, why should the fate of a boy who looked a bit like him concern him?

"What's it matter Axel?" Roxas asked. "Even if she could tell you where you come from and what your name is, you wouldn't remember." Like most Nobodies, Axel had no recollection of his life before he'd lost his heart. Until now he'd never even had a hint of his origins, not like some others.

At last, he'd been given a hint of his past. And he was going to lose it before it could be explored. Axel glowered down into the pit and Roxas gently touched his back, following old memories and vague feelings that he should comfort his friend. It didn't help, of course. But it was just one of those things you did.

"They're waking up. We'll be seeing some action soon." Larxene said gaily and Axel wanted to hit her. Anger was one of the few emotions Nobodies could feel a fairly strong echo of. Taking a deep breath the Flurry of Dancing Flames controlled himself, watching as the one that looked like Roxas stirred.

"Hm?" Roxas blinked slowly, feeling odd. He was on his back. He never slept on his back. "?" He tried to sit up and found that he couldn't. Lifting his head, he saw that he was chained in place on a slab of rock. Axel was beside him, also chained down and there were shadow creatures dancing around the cavern.

Roxas looked at them curiously, entirely unafraid. He was familiar with them although he thought of them as shadow beasts, not Heartless. When the cataclysm had happened they had been released to plague the half-people. That had been one of the reasons the new people had been made. They had hearts, but not the same way as the old people. What existed in their chests was merely a mechanism to pump blood through their bodies. The more mystical essence that made a heart was wound through their body and essence in such a way that it could never be removed. To the Heartless, he and Axel were almost invisible. In his own world, Roxas would have destroyed the shadow beasts without a second thought, but not because they would hunt his group. No, he would have destroyed them because they hunted the same beasts as the new people and the shadow beasts had a hunger for flesh and blood that could not be satisfied.

"Axel, wake up." Roxas called to the redhead, but Axel stayed unconscious. "Axel!" Roxas wiggled, trying to figure out a way out of the chains. Scowling, he called up his two blades. If he could only angle Oblivion or Shattered Light enough to catch a chain…

Above them, the Nobodies were a little under whelmed by the display.

"When are the Heartless going to do something?" Larxene complained as Luxord frowned. There was very little activity going on below them and that was really very odd. It got stranger as one small Heartless walked right over Axel's unconscious female twin, acting as though she was nothing but another piece of rock. Then the Roxas double called in his weapons and all the Nobodies stared.

"Are those keyblades?" Axel asked in disbelief, staring at the boy below them who was straining to slip Oblivion under a chain. Roxas leaned over the balcony a bit, frowning.

"I don't know. But maybe we should stop them before they escape." The boy had managed to free himself and was cutting his friend loose, trying to shake her awake. Axel nodded and leapt off the balcony, Roxas following. "You two go tell the Superior about this!" Roxas ordered Larxene and Luxord. Larxene glowered, unwilling to take his instructions but Luxord just nodded and departed in a burst of darkness.

Roxas heard the two land behind him and whirled, both weapons at the ready as he stood protectively in front of Axel. The redhead was obstinate about remaining unconscious and while Roxas could have carried him, he certainly couldn't carry him and fight at the same time. Roxas hesitated, his eyes widening as he got a good look at the two strangers. "…Who are you?" The redhead facing him looked so similar to his own Axel, but was just a touch sharper, with slightly stronger features. The boy who looked like him was much the same although it was less obvious.

"I'm Axel. A-X-E-L, got it memorized?" Roxas blinked at that weird echo of the first time he met his own Axel. This was getting truly surreal. "And this is Roxas. Who are you?"

"I… I'm Roxas." He said, weapons drooping and voice betraying his utter bewilderment. "And this is Axel." Roxas glanced over at his mate briefly and saw he was still out cold. "Please, he's pregnant and he won't wake up. I don't know what's wrong with him." Glancing back at the two strangers Roxas was surprised to see them gaping at him. Surely Axel's condition was obvious.

"What?!?" The other Axel sputtered. "He? Isn't that a woman?"

"A woman?" Roxas was confused for a moment before he remembered Zexion's stories. "No, we're new people. We don't have sexes like that."

"Then why did you refer to him as he?" His own double asked softly, without only a bit of curiosity. Roxas shrugged.

"It's just language. Zex says that back when we were first made 'it' was rude and our creators settled on he because we look more male when we're not pregnant." That made sense to Roxas. They only developed real breast tissue during pregnancy, and usually it wasn't large even then. Axel had small breasts now, although they were hard to spot under his leathers and furs. "But we're not really male. We're hermaphrodites. Please, do you have someone who can look at Axel?" That was his overriding priority. The only thing that mattered more was keeping them both alive, and that was for the good of his mate as well. There was a pause and the other Axel let his chakram vanish.

"Yeah, we'll take him to the infirmary." Roxas frowned, gripping his arm and whispering into his ear for a moment. "Mansex can go suck it! His orders are out of date Roxy. He'll want to know about those keyblades and why the Heartless are ignoring them anyway." Axel bent down, picking up his double as Roxas shook his head. The second Roxas hesitated, then made his two weapons vanish, helping Axel carry his mate. "Thanks, but I'm fine. Say, this is going to be really confusing with two Axel's and two Roxas'. Hmm, we'll have to pin a bow on you or something. Or maybe you could take a new name." That might be easiest to avoid confusion. Roxas hesitated, then shrugged.

"You can call me Roo, if you want. My clan-brother used to." He offered and Axel grinned at that. "And you can call my mate Ax, although he hates that." Roxas briefly thought of escaping, but then dismissed the idea. Axel needed medical attention and Roxas just couldn't give that to him. Briefly he wished for Zexion and wondered where the smart member of their family was. If this place had a second Axel and Roxas maybe they would have Zexion too? That would be ideal. And as it turned out, he was correct. Roxas almost relaxed as he saw the familiar silver-purple hair bent over some strange device. He knew it wasn't his Zexion from the black robe but right now any Zexion would do.

"Zexion, Vexen! Could you take a look at these guys?" Axel set his double out on a bed, and he groaned but didn't awaken. Vexen looked up from an experiment he was doing, annoyed, and Roxas paled.

"…Dad?" He said weakly, making everyone stare at him. "Err…" This was very, very awkward. Roxas had to control an instinctive repulsion. It helped that he knew this wasn't really his father. "Sorry." Roxas looked down, embarrassed, and concentrated on just stroking Axel's hair. Vexen decided to completely ignore that nonsense… he was sure he had no children and if he did, Roxas certainly would be one of them… in favor of scanning the unconscious boy/girl on the bed. He immediately lifted both eyebrows at the readings.

"What manner of creature is this?" He asked, making Roxas glare at him. "Hmm. Most interesting…" Zexion came over, looking at the instruments curiously and blinked.

"Pregnant… the internal structure…" The two began conversing in low voices, but Roxas quickly became impatient with their scholarly discussion.

"Is the baby well?" He asked sharply. Vexen looked up with a frown and Zexion answered.

"I'm no expert on babies, but the vital signs appear to be stable." That was a bit reassuring. Roxas couldn't help but trust another version of Zexion. He'd always quite liked the silver haired young man and known that Zexion was completely dedicated to the good of the group. Demyx was a bit more selfish, but that was fine. No one was perfect. "…Strange." Zexion was examining the more metaphysical readings now, frowning. "Where is his heart?" His instruments couldn't find it at all. "No wonder the Heartless weren't interested. My instruments almost think he's a Nobody." Axel and Roxas exchanged a look. Clearly, that wasn't true. The other Roxas frowned, not understanding.

"What is a Nobody?" He'd never heard that term before. Zexion hesitated a moment but answered as Vexen began a new test.

"A Nobody is the shell that is left behind when a Heartless takes a heart. People with stronger hearts can leave behind greater Nobodies like ourselves." Zexion summoned a few lesser Nobodies to show Roxas, who blinked.

"Oh, those things." His disdain for the Dusks was clear. Zexion eyed him curiously, a touch annoyed before Roxas explained. "They just hang around and don't do anything. We can control them but it's really not worth the effort. I never knew where they came from though, that's interesting. They must be what was left of some of the old people in my world." Not all of them though. Most of the old people had died to the magical radiation, not the Heartless. If the shadow beasts had been the only problem the old people wouldn't have made the new people at all. "I've never seen a greater Nobody before in my world."

"Tell us about your world." Zexion requested smoothly. He wasn't sure why this Roxas seemed to trust him, but he wasn't above taking advantage of it. Roxas hesitated a moment but couldn't see a reason why not, and shrugged before explaining.

"There was a magical war a long time ago. Most of the old people died then and the magic of the world was twisted. The old people tried to survive but couldn't. They were very vulnerable to the twisted magic, and they sickened and died. The ones who survived had children with horrible birth defects. They were desperate and managed to make the new people. We're far more resistant to the wild magic and we have innate magic. Our hearts are also threaded differently in our bodies, so shadow beasts… Heartless… can't take them at all. We're also both sexes. We were made that way so we could have as many chances at having children as possible. The old people thought our children would still be affected by the magic, and they were right. Our population is very low and it's been thousands of years." Roxas was hazy on the time involved, but he knew it had been a long time. "Have you seen anyone else like us? We were pulled through a door, and Riku, Sora, Zexion and Demyx should be here too." He wasn't nearly as worried about them as he was about Axel but he was concerned. The Nobody Axel shook his head.

"Just you. That is one messed up history." Axel wasn't sure he believed it, and what kind of world could they be from that had weird versions of himself and Roxas? "We'll have to see what the Superior wants to do about this." Axel wasn't sure at all what he would want to do. Shoving them through a gateway into another world was a possibility, since they seemed pretty useless for the Organizations goals. They couldn't be made into Nobodies and while they might be powerful, how could they be trusted to help? Axel glanced over as his pregnant version groaned. Roxas immediately moved to his side.

"Axel! Are you alright?" Axel blinked and nodded, sitting up before Vexen pushed him back down.

"Stay still. I'm examining you." Axel reacted to the voice of authority and stayed put as Vexen did one final test, then grunted. "I doubt these two will be much use. Roxas, Axel, take them to the kitchen and feed them. The Superior will deal with this when he's ready." Vexen wasn't about to disturb him over this. Axel glanced at Zexion who shrugged then nodded. The new Axel and Roxas exchanged a glance, but then Axel blushed as his stomach rumbled.

"Food sounds good." The smart thing to do was grab food when they could.

They'd have to try to find their friends a bit later.