A Pyromaniac's Reflection
"I hate here, I hate her, I hate her…" Reno grumbled over and over, trying to work some feeling back into his (amazingly unbroken) limbs. He rolled his wrists a few times, and then lit a cigarette. There was a knock at the door.
"Axel, it's Zexion, let me in."
"Can't move my legs right now. Door's open." Reno called, letting the smoke curl from his mouth. The door opened, revealing Zexion wearing a face mask.
"Nice." Reno laughed.
"Axel, my nose is very sensitive. If it stinks to the others, for me it practically falls under the category of 'deadly'." Zexion reminded, standing at the door, trying to stay as far from the cigarette as possible.
"Now that that's out of the way, why'd you come here, other than to tell me my cigs are bad?" Reno grinned, blowing a smoke ring in the Schemer's direction. Zexion's visible eye twitched slightly.
"Your new behavior is disturbing everyone. Vexen apparently thinks you've been brainwashed and wants to do some testing."
"And he wants me now?" Reno asked, taking a long pull from the cigarette.
"Very soon. He also requests you don't light one of those in his lab…lots of flammable things and whatnot." Zexion smirked under the mask. "Oh yeah, and congrats on getting enough courage to smack Larxene like that. That takes real guts." Zexion turned and left before he got an answer.
Reno snubbed his cigarette in his newly acquired ashtray and stood up. He winced as his legs screamed in protests, but he stayed upright. Stumbling outside his room, Reno realized he had no clue where Vexen's lab was. Reasoning there was no smell of chemicals, Reno decided to go down until he recognized an area that could be a lab.
He had gone down roughly nine floors when he detected a familiar scent: chemical fumes. Sadly, Reno was all too familiar with a mad scientist's lab, working in the same building as Hojo. Shrugging off the more painful memories, Reno stopped at a door that read "Experimentation in progress, do not disturb." Ignoring the sign, as usual, Reno knocked on the door. There was a small explosion and loud curse from within. The door hissed open, revealing a disheveled blonde man with an annoyed look on his face. It evaporated at soon as he saw Axel.
"Oh, Axel." Vexen waved him in, shutting the door quickly. The Academic led Reno to a small room that reminded the redhead suspiciously of a psychiatrist's office, but without the bed. Instead there were two chairs and walls lined with shelves upon shelves of books. "Sit." Vexen commanded, and Reno reclined in a chair.
"So what's all this about 'brain-washing'?" Reno smirked. Vexen pulled out a clipboard and began to ask questions.
"What number are you in the Organization?" he asked.
"You guys have numbers, yo?" Reno tilted his head slightly. Vexen wrote something down.
"What element do you control?" This question also confused Reno.
"I control…an element? Without materia?" Vexen looked up, a bit thrown off.
"What's materia?" Vexen asked.
"You mean you don't know? They're little bits of mako energy that give the user a different power when activated. Like if you used a mastered fire materia, you'd cast Firaga." Vexen began scribbling furiously.
"I see….and who is your best friend?" Reno didn't even need to consider this question.
"Rude, duh. We've been partners for years, yo." He grinned.
"Mm-hmm. Who is your boss?"
"President Shinra." Vexen stopped writing, looking at Reno.
"That will be all for now. Wait here." Vexen summoned a portal, startling Reno, and left.
Reno sat there for what felt like ages. Out of sheer boredom, he lit a cigarette. Eventually a portal opened, and Vexen stepped out. "Axel, follow me." Reno shrugged and stood up, following the older member through the portal. They emerged in a room that was completely white, blinding Reno for a moment. Blinking away spots, he saw they were not alone. Along with Vexen and Zexion, a man with silver hair and dark orange eyes was watching Reno with an unblinking stare, hands behind his back. Before Reno could ask the man what he was staring at, he found himself with a giant, black, key-like sword with a violet jewel set in the handle at his throat.
"What have you done with Axel?" Roxas hissed, eyes flashing dangerously. Reno swallowed.
"Roxas, don't threaten him, or he'll never talk." The stranger spoke in a deep voice. He spoke slowly, as if he were carefully considering each word. Roxas lowered Oblivion grudgingly.
"Thank you." Reno managed to gasp, rubbing his throat.
"So, whoever you are, what have you done to Axel?" Zexion asked.
"My name's Reno, yo." he grumbled. "I'm sure Axel's fine. As long as he doesn't done anything stupid, that is. If he ruins my body he is in deep shit."
"Your body?" Vexen looked at him.
"Yeah, my body. See, last night, me and Axel met. He started yelling about how Nobodies take care of themselves and he stormed off. And this morning, I wake up in the freak's body! And I told him I wasn't Axel, but he didn't listen." Reno pointed at Roxas.
"Told you he hit his head." Roxas said.
"I don't think so, Roxas. His scent, its almost identical to Axel's but not quite. This man is not Axel." Zexion said.
"THANK you!" Reno cried. "Now can someone here change us back?" Vexen and Zexion glanced at each other.
"I suppose if we took him to Hollow Bastion, we could convince Merlin…" Vexen remarked thoughtfully.
"The only problem is convincing Merlin without Leon or Cloud beating us to a bloody pulp." Zexion said. The Schemer looked around to find all eyes on him. "Damn it."
"And you're completely sure this will work?"
"For the fifteenth time, YES. Now how long is your ponytail again?" Reno rolled his eyes. The others had decided Zexion would use his powers to disguise him, Reno deciding he wanted to look like his old self. Much to his chagrin, Zexion needed exact details to get the illusion right, and was correctly guessing when Reno was exaggerating.
Finally, both of them were satisfied with the disguise, but Zexion had decided to go as he was, reasoning if things got bad he would open a portal and bail them out.
"Now do it like I showed you." Zexion instructed. Reno closed his eyes, holding out a hand. "Concentrate on where you want to go." An inky black portal opened up in front of them.
"Awesome!" Reno cried in triumph. He walked through the portal, followed closely by Zexion. Where they emerged was definitely not Hollow Bastion. Reno looked over the edge of the cobblestone ledge, down at the ocean lapping against the rocks far below.
"If you weren't in Axel's body, I'd kill you." Zexion hissed.
"You two, halt!" The two spun around to see a crowd of men in red uniforms, all aiming guns at them. "The two of you are under the accusation of being pirates!"
"Pirates?" Reno cocked his head.
"I've always hated this world…" Zexion grumbled, watching as the uniformed men put a struggling Reno in handcuffs.
"Come on you, you're headin' to the gallows." Zexion and Reno were pushed and shoved in front of the troop at gunpoint. Reno only spoke one word.
"Shit."
Zexion shouldn'tve trusted Reno to open the portal. Lesson learned, life moves on...we hope.