Noise. That was the first thing Axel sensed. Then the color began coming in around them, filling in the street that the two Nobodies lay face down on. Axel groaned and pushed himself up slowly. "Roxas…?"

"Mmf." The blonde was lying sprawled out over the brown street, his face pressed into the pavement. He moaned as he got to his feet, brushing dirt off of the black uniform. He shook his head dizzyingly, looked around. "Where are we?" He asked in confusion.

"I didn't work."

"What?"

Axel sucker punched the younger Nobody. "The memory didn't work. We're not back where Larxene is."

"But…it had to work!" Roxas protested. "It worked before…I was sure that it would now…" He held his aching head. Axel shook his head.

"Maybe it only works if you're invited into the blackness," he said softly.

"No, that can't be. Because-"

"- because you got in before. Right." Axel nodded. He sighed, stretched, and started off down the street. "Might as well find out where we are."

"Guess so." Roxas jogged after the pyro, glancing at the city around them. Metallic skyscrapers rose up into the pale blue sky, the pale but glaring white sunlight streaming in around them. Neon signs hung from some of the buildings, but Roxas couldn't read them. Large posters of black and red were pasted on the sides of the buildings, screaming advertisements to the crowds of people pacing the metal sidewalks that sprawled at the feet of the giant buildings. Tubes of pale grey plasma stood at the street corners, serving as glow lamps when it got dark. The hum of machinery, and the low rumble of voices filled the air. Smoke curled up in lazy tendrils from the tops of the buildings, drifting up towards the silvery clouds floating high up in the sky. The two Organization members sidled their way through the masses, looking in bewilderment around them.

"What world is this?" Axel asked, rubbing his forehead wearily.

"I have no clue." Roxas zipped up his cloak all the way, careful to keep close to Axel. He always felt safer in his friend's presence.

Axel elbowed him playfully in the shoulder. "You got us into a real nice place this time, didn't you?"

"Me?" Roxas floundered. "You can't honestly blame me for this!"

"Oh yes I can." Axel shouldered his way onto the sidewalk, heading for a low buildings with a glaringly bright blue neon sign. "Come on, keep up." He pulled Roxas up alongside him, not wanting to lose his friend in the crowd. The two leather-cloaked Nobodies forged through the milling people, the red head leading.

"Axel?"

"Yea?"

"Where are you going?" Roxas asked, matching Axel's quick pace.

"That building." Axel pointed to the bright neon sign. They were crossing the street towards it already.

"Why that building? What is it?" Roxas was curious.

"Cantina." Axel sounded too happy, Roxas noticed.

"How do you know that?" The blonde asked. "Do I want to know?" he added teasingly.

"It's called 'looking in the windows'," Axel grinned. He opened the door, his hair purple in the glaring light of the sign. "Head on in." Roxas sidled past him into the cantina. There wasn't much to see; a dozen black table and chairs stood alond the front wall by the windows, illuminated under a score of red lights, and a big brown bar stretched along the back. Half a dozen people were slouched at the bar. Axel sauntered over to the bar and rapped on in. The skinny little barkeeper turned around and asked the two something. Neither Roxas or Axel knew what he was saying. "Hey, I need a shot of that." Axel pointed to the picture menu suspended from the ceiling.

The barkeeper chattered something back, and pointed up at the menu.

"No, not that. That." Axel pointed again. The barkeeper looked up. "Yea, that one. Third from the end." The barkeeper tapped a picture and looked back at Axel. The red head barely avoided a face palm. "No. The one to the right!" He ignored Roxas's smirking from behind him, and about a minute later, the barkeeper got the message. He tapped the right picture, got Axel's approval, and started towards the machines. Axel turned on Roxas, who was barely stifling his laughing. "Ok, what's so funny?"

Roxas crossed his arms. "You do know that next you're going to have to figure out how much you owe him, don't you?"

"Oh crud." The barkeeper made his way back, set the shot on the bar, and held out a hand. Axel didn't even try bartering. He dug in the cloak pocket, and dropped about a dozen silver munny in the man's hand. The pyro snatched up the shot and pointed. "C'mon, let's head for the corner."

"Demyx is going to throw a fit," Roxas observed.

"Yea, that he missed out on a cantina. He'll never miss the money," Axel snickered.

"What about me?" Roxas asked as they headed for the corner table. "Don't I get anything?"

Axel rapped him on the head. "You're underage. Minors can't drink beer."

"Yea, well when you get beer, you're supposed to drink responsibly," Roxas protested. "And you never do."

"Fine." Axel paused beside a sleeping man hunched over the bar, and snatched his full glass. He passed it off to Roxas. "Have fun." With a groan, he slid into one of the seats. Roxas sat opposite him, playing with the glass.

"So why are we here?" Roxas asked. Axel looked out the window at the bright sunlight.

"I don't know. Why are we here?" He winked at Roxas. "Why are we in the cantina? It's the best place to get information. Besides-" he raised the shot glass. "-I need some of this." He hunched over the table. "Look, Roxas, I've been thinking. Why did we end up here?"

"I don't-"

"Exactly. It worked before, it should have worked again. Unless someone was tampering with the Life Force connection." Axel rubbed his forehead.

Roxas was silent for a minute. "Do…do you think it was.. whoever was controlling Larxene? Her Somebody?"

Axel frowned. "It might have been. Only….well, whoever it was didn't have a reason to send us here, to keep us out of the blackness."

"No.." Roxas contradicted. "She, or he, I guess, might not have wanted us to find Larxene. So they sent us here."

Axel shoot his spiky head. "No. In that place, the torturer has complete control." He winced at the memory. "He…could have done anything he wanted to do. To all of us."
Roxas tapped his fingers on the glass. "Then…if it wasn't whoever then who was it?"

Axel raised his eyebrows. "Larxene herself, maybe?"

Roxas looked surprised. "You really think so?"

Axel shrugged. "We're all connected by the Life Force, aren't we? She could have tampered in some way….maybe."

"So..," Roxas said slowly. "If it was Larxene, then there must be something here that we're supposing to find out…right?"

"That's the idea." Axel took a quick drink. "I'd like to know two things. Where is this place, and who's in charge here?"

"Newcomers, huh?" Both of the Nobodies looked up. A tall man with glasses and black hair stood next to their table, a coat over one arm. "Sorry," he said quickly. "I just was passing when I heard your comment, guess you were new here."

"Yea. Just got her. We….sort of wandered in here. Got no clue where we are," Roxas told him, glancing at Axel sidelong.

"You're in Dusk City." The man shrugged. "It's sorta on the edge of nowhere, if you know what I mean."

"Guess we do," Axel said slowly. "You been here long?"

"Couple years," the man said lightly. "Not a bad place, once you get the language down and get familiar with neon." He laughed.

Roxas grinned along with him. "Say, who really is in charge of Dusk City?"

The man's face went grim. "Depends what you mean. We got a consol; he's the political leader. But-" He broke off.

"Who else?' Axel pressed.

The man looked around, then leaned closer in to the two. "There's an underworld to Dusk City, if you know what I mean. And Reanel Katrix is in charge of that."

"Reanel Katrix?" Axel repeated. "Who's he?"

"She is the most feared crime lord ever to come to Dusk City," the man smirked. "Everyone knows her, and nobody crosses her, not the police, not the consol, not anyone. She got so many henchmen and gangs under her thumb that she's practically invincible."

"She get out much?" Roxas asked casually.

The man looked over his shoulder again. "No. Not she doesn't. Reanel's crippled, uses her money to control assassins, then uses the assassins to control others, and so on. So even though she's physically out of it, Reanel's managed to hold Dusk City for years. It's all in the money, if you know what I mean. She's active in so many circles that she never seems short on the cash. Almost every illegal sale is giving a chunk of the dough to Reanel, she's that involved. Katrix is like a weed; she's got her roots everywhere, she's too big to pull up now. She's pretty dark, if you know what I mean."

"No. We don't," Axel said softly.

"Well.. I don't know anything, really," the man stammered, leaning very close. "But rumor has it that Reanel found a portal into the darkness, and uses it. She can control the darkness when she's in there, or so the rumors say."

"A dark portal?" Axel reapeted.

The man abruptly pulled up short. "I've said too much." He gathered up his coat and abruptly headed away from their table, nonchalantly heading out the door.

"He's got that right!" Roxas murmured. "But I'm glad he opened his mouth."

"This shines some light on it.." Axel muttered. "Reanel…"

Roxas looked up at him. "Reanel Katrix. Odd name, isn't it?"

"Yea." Axel looked grim. "It's even stranger when she spell it out. R-E-A-N-E-L. Got it memorized?" He added with a smirk. He never could resist.

The letters sank in on Roxas, and his face when white. " Two E's, an A, one L, N, and an R." He looked up at Axel, and his blue eyes looked scared. "An an X, and that spells 'Larxene'!"

"I know." Axel's face was a fearful sight. "I think we've found our man. Woman," he corrected himself.

"But.." Roxas rubbed his forehead. "She's crippled. So how-"

"If she did find a dark portal," Axel interrupted, "Then once she was inside it, her physical body wouldn't matter. Darkness does that to you. She could be a perfectly normal person…or stronger."

"I guess…I guess we need to try again," Roxas said softly. "If Larxene was the one playing with the Life Force, then we've found out what she wanted us to find.. I guess."

"Time to call up a memory." Axel folded his arms behind his head and closed his eyes. The darkness swirled in his memory again. Roxas pushed away the full glass, and shut his eyes. The next time the barkeeper looked over at the table, the two were gone.