Nexis was angry. At himself, at Axel, at Laska...just angry. He stood, almost alone, in one of the rooms on the higher floors. He glared at Naminé, who continued to draw and ignored him completely. He had been sent to 'guard' her-like she was really going somewhere. He was certain Axel was off doing something fire-related, and that Laska hated him by now.

He stopped momentarily at the thought of Laska, the glare on his face softening. Was he really happy to see her again? Why hadn't he allowed himself to let her know? Not gone for more than a few seconds, the hard, angry look returned to him. 'She just doesn't understand. The last time I showed emotion to anyone, it almost got me killed. But I can't risk telling her, or she'll get all weepy on me. What am I going to do?'

"Hey Nexis."
"Larxene," he said stiffly, regarding her presence.
"I heard you had a fight with your little girlfriend," she said cruelly, malice creeping into her voice.
"And where did you get that idea?"

"Word travels fast around here. I also heard that you use lightning magic."
"Not magic, really. Just channeling energy."
"Call it what you want. I use lightning too," she said, smiling flirtatiously, unlike her normal personality. Nexis remained unaffected, as though he were talking to a wall.

"What do you want? I'm busy being mad at the world here."
"In case you didn't know, Sora is being tortured right now, and I was wondering if you wanted to come watch," she said hopefully.
"That depends. Will Axel be there?"

"Maybe. I don't know."
"It wouldn't be like him to miss out on that, now would it?" Larxene was getting impatient, but tried to hide it.

"Aw, please?" she asked forlornly, making a sad puppy-dog face. Nexis sighed, defeated and annoyed, and followed her out of the room. Naminé, never looking up from her sketchbook, switched to a darker pencil and slowly dragged it across the pale paper.

Sora was still spinning on the Wheel of Torture, but Axel was long gone.

'I think I'm gonna be sick…' he thought, face tinted slightly green. 'I wonder where Axel went?'
"Well, well, well…this should be fun."

'Speak of the devil…'

Axel took out a miniature version of a chakram, a small ninja star that gleamed red against the white background of the room. He hurled it at the revolving wheel, missing Sora's head by an inch. Then he threw several at once, creating a frame around Sora's left hand. Sora struggled to get free, all the while trying not to throw up.

"I suggest you stop moving, Keyblade master. Because if you move too much, I might miss, and I don't want to clean up the blood." He threw another two shuriken, each hitting between Sora's fingers.
"I have…a feeling…you've…done this…before…" Sora managed to whisper, his face now a bright lime green. Axel laughed maniacally.

"Yeah. Just a few times." The next weapon cut off a small chunk of Sora's hair.
"Oh, for the sake of the world, Axel, stop missing."

Axel turned his attention away from Sora and onto the people standing there.

"You just can't leave me alone, can you, Nexis?"
"Hey, it's her fault. She said torture Sora, what else was I supposed to do?" he said innocently.
"I don't know, chop her head off?" he said with an evil grin. Larxene practically hissed at him.
"Watch it, Axel." It was a solid threat, one that made even Axel lose his confidence for a second.

But only a second.
He was ready to show off again.

"Watch this. It took a little practice, and I DID miss a few times," he said, noting the shocked yet blurry look of horror on Sora's face, "but it's still pretty cool."

Focusing, he summoned dozens of the shuriken, each one red with black points. Holding as many as he could in one hand (about twenty, fanned out), he set them on fire and flung them all at the wheel at once, handful after handful. Sora screamed in a high-pitched voice, one that made Nexis smirk and Larxene cackle. A blur of red, black, and flames covered the wheel. Axel held out one hand, and it began to slow. Just when it stopped, he threw one last shuriken that filled the blank space above Sora's head. Nexis and Larxene were able to see what he had done, and Axel smiled evilly. The shuriken had created a perfect outline of Sora, in between his fingers and everything.

He hadn't even lost any more hair. Axel snapped his fingers, and the shackles vanished, letting Sora drop to the floor. He glanced up wearily, then his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell unconscious. Larxene and Nexis clapped while Axel bowed.

"Thank you, thank you, no applause, just munny, please," he said, laughing. Larxene laughed again, and even Nexis couldn't help smiling.

"See? I told you it would be fun," said Larxene, winking at Nexis, who sighed and glanced off in another direction. Larxene pouted, and Axel had to resist laughing hysterically at this.
"Well, I better go. I AM supposed to be gurading Naminé," said Nexis, turning to leave.
"Why? It's not like she's going anywhere," said Axel. Nexis smiled.

"That's what I said. Maybe we can agree on something after all." He faded out, and Axel immediately started laughing uncontrollably. Larxene waited for a minute or two, and when there was no end in sight, she said, "Okay, what's so funny?"

He took a deep breath, calming down.

"You were FLIRTING with him! It was so obvious, and you had NO idea that he didn't CARE! IT'S HILARIOUS!" And he burst out laughing again. Larxene growled under her breath, summoning her weapons behind her back.

"Yeah, Axel, that's really funny." She flung the small knives at him, but he teleported out of the way instantly, appearing right behind her. He summoned the chakrams, then whacked her with the flat side of one. It knocked her to the floor, and she blew a strand of hair out of her face, exasperated.

"You'd think I would have gotten used to that by now." Axel reached out a hand to help her up.

"It's alright." When she was standing, he whispered in her ear, "I don't think anyone is." He teleported away, leaving her confused for a moment.

"Hey, wait, what am I gonna do with the kid?"

"There's only one thing we really need to sort out. You walk the twilight, am I correct?" said the Superior, circling her like a vulture.

"Yes."
"Well, as I'm sure you're aware, it's a very unstable phase. You could go one way or the other with just a thought." Laska scoffed.
"I wish it was that simple. If it was, I wouldn't be in the twilight, I'd be on the side of light."
"Well, you seem to be a special case. You were somewhat forced to be in the twilight, yes?"

"How did you know about-"
"I have my sources. Anyway, beside the point. You must decide whether to be light or dark. You can't remain in the twilight."

"Why not?" she said suddenly, instantly regretting her outburst.
"Like I just said, it's unstable. Not very safe. You need to choose one or the other. Your role in the light-twilight-darkness scenario is not written in stone. It can change. But I would suggest leaning towards the darkness." He stepped closer to her, and she looked away, slightly intimidated.

"Why?"

"I know of your past, Laska. I know what happened. Wouldn't you like for the pain to go away forever? You would never have to feel the hurt again. The light is cold and cruel. One wrong step and you're out, because you're not allowed to make mistakes. You have to be perfect, and really, who is? But the darkness…" He was close to her now, just behind her, hovering over her shoulder. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, on edge.

"The darkness is patient, accepting, forgiving…it is much stronger than the light. For darkness can exist without light, even if it can't be recognized. But light can't exist without darkness, for the brighter the light-"

"-the deeper the darkness," she finished for him. 'But would it really work? I mean, my heart has hurt for so long…and what if this is a bad idea? Darkness is usually considered bad, after all,' she thought.

"Not all darkness is bad." Laska almost gasped, then remembered that Axel could do the same thing.
"You read my mind."

"Hm…yes." He walked away from her, and she breathed out slowly and silently, not realizing she had been holding her breath.
"So, what's going to happen exactly?"
"You'll be sent to Oblivion, where you'll decide. Your heart will tell you what it wants, don't worry."
"Back up. Oblivion? I've been there once, and I don't want to go there again."

"I know." She was surprised.
"How could you possibly know?"
"Remember--while you were there--someone tried to help you, but you didn't fully believe it was real, so the person vanished? Well, that was me."
"Oh. I'm sorry, it's just that I had no idea what was going on, and I didn't feel like I could trust anyone, and I was scared-" He put a hand over her mouth to stop her rambling, and grabbed her hand with his other one.

"Now if you will please stop talking and let me say something, I will. Okay?" She nodded, eyes full of fear that she dared not show."Good." His hand slid away from her face, and she tried not to cry from fear. She felt she should have been able to trust the leader more, but her instincts told her it wasn't safe.
"When I let go of your hand, you will go to Oblivion. After you have decided--dark or light-- you will truly become a member of the Organization. Remember, Laska: Darkness is your friend." And he let go.

All she could see was gray. Not the silvery, shimmery overtone she was used to, but solid, dull gray. Then there were two flashes of light that became portals: one white, one black. She glanced between the two, unsure of what to do.

'You should go to the light one,' said one side of her head in a high voice. 'It's what you've wanted for so long, and you finally have a chance!'
'No, you should choose darkness. It's stronger, and could probably help you control your power better. You've wanted that too,' said the other side with a voice deeper than hers.

'Oh great, now I'm schizophrenic.'
'Light is better!'
'No, dark is better!'
'Light!'
'Dark!'
'Light!'
'Dark!'
'LIGHT!'
'DARK!'

'SHUT UP!' she thought, hoping that her mind could, well…make up its mind. Then her heart took over.

'So much pain for such a long time…trying to reach the light has only made it worse. It taunts me, always staying just out of my reach. The darkness has always been there, waiting to catch me, but I always ignored it because I was just scared of its power, scared of its mystery. Well, I'm not scared anymore.'

She took one step toward the black portal, and felt more confident. Another step, and she was more certain. The final three steps, she heard the light desperately calling out to her, but she trusted the darkness. When she entered it, she felt its warmth wrap around her shoulders like a blanket, as though it had been cold when she had walked the twilight. It settled around her as she took her first breath of darkness, letting it fill her soul and mind. She exhaled slowly, trying to get used to the feeling. Her breath was silver, as though the last of the twilight had escaped her. Everything around her was of the deepest black, and she couldn't see at all, but she felt no fear. She found that she was now standing on solid ground, and took a few definite steps forward. Her senses were heightened, and she could tell that someone stood in front of her.

"Well, you're the last person I thought I would see here." She recognized the voice instantly.
"Axel? Is that you?"

"Who else would I be? Oh, wait, I forgot. You can't see anything. Just one second…oh, and don't blink, whatever you do." She suddenly found her head being forced backwards and a strange liquid being poured into her eyes. It seeped into her eyes and burned like acid. She tried not to blink, but the burning sensation made it difficult. The second the pain went away, she was able to move her head and neck again.

"You can blink now."

She closed and opened her eyes several times, feeling the excess liquid drip out of them numbly. She realized she was looking down at the floor, so she looked up.

Right into Axel's face.

"You can see now, I take it?"
"Yeah."

"What color is it?" She blinked a few more times, then realized that things were all tinted ice blue, making his hair seem a very red shade of purple.

"Light blue, kind of like ice blue." Axel backed up a few steps.
"Good. Come with me." He grabbed her hand and teleported them to a floor in Castle Oblivion. She was a little dazed from the sudden lack of darkness, but otherwise okay.

"Now. That liquid stuff pretty much just changes the color of your eyes. It helps you see in the darkness."
"I guess that's good." Axel was silent for a moment, thinking.
"Your eyes are pretty." Laska blushed.

"Thanks."