Roxas opened his eyes with a groan to see old, weathered wood. He stared at the ceiling blankly for a moment, then looked around.

He was in a tidy little room with cream walls. A small, rather ugly picture was stuck haphazardly on one, and Roxas immediately felt the need to right it. Suppressing the urge, he glanced down at the bed he was in… he was tucked under a warm, dark green coverlet. He pushed himself up on one elbow, and winced. His body hurt in new and unexpected ways. In particular, there was an ache between his thighs.

Pushing himself up, he groaned in pain and closed his eyes for a moment. Then he turned his attention inwards. This wasn't right. He was part of Sora, and after DiZ had reconstructed him they'd pretty much melted together. He wasn't supposed to be independent.

Yet now he was, which meant Sora was… less. And where was Sora? Roxas looked inside himself and immediately found his other. And knew that something was very, very wrong.

It felt like Sora had tucked himself into a ball like a cat, and pulled his tail in after. Roxas frowned, poking and prodding but getting exactly nowhere. Whatever Sora was doing… or trying to avoid… he wanted to be left alone. Which meant that Roxas had been left holding the bag. He wondered, uneasily, if the pain he was feeling had something to do with that.

Then someone entered the room, and all his thoughts vanished as he gaped.

"Axel?!?" He said, astonished, and the redheaded man blinked.

"Uh… yeah. How did you know? We haven't met, have we?" Roxas' mouth clicked shut as he suddenly realized that as similar as this man looked, he wasn't the Axel Roxas knew. There were subtle differences. The eyes were just a shade lighter, and the marks on his cheeks looked more like teardrops than stars. But he was so similar…

"I… I knew someone by that name. He looked just like you." The man seemed to accept that readily.

"Axel's a really common name around here. And we might have been related. I have a cousin who vanished a while back… we figured the damn pyro probably set something on fire he shouldn't have and needed to make a break for it." Roxas swallowed hard at that. "Maybe that was him… anyway, what's your name?"

"Roxas." He replied, getting back his composure. "Can you tell me where I am? I'm… kind of lost." Roxas frowned as he suddenly realized he needed to get back to the Destiny Islands. Really, really needed it. That feeling was coming from Sora but Sora himself was still curled up. What was going on?

"Oh! You're in New Linchester." Axel said, sitting down on the end of the bed. Roxas frowned a moment, then realized there was no other furniture in this room. "Where are you from?" Roxas hesitated. Should he lie or tell the redhead the truth? Might as well go for the truth.

"I'm from another world, actually. It's called the Destiny Islands. I'm not sure how I ended up here, but I need to go back." Axel blinked at that and eyed him dubiously. Roxas smiled, unsurprised at the reaction. "I might be able to prove it. Do you know what keyblades are?"

"No. What?" Axel wasn't sure if he was dealing with something wonderfully interesting… or a simple lunatic. There were certainly enough of those around. But his eyes widened as Roxas slipped out of bed, and summoned in his two keyblades. "Er… wow. That's cool." He eyed the blades carefully, then tentatively reached out to the black one… and pulled his hand back as if it had been burned. "Ow!" He examined his finger. There was a welt on it. Roxas looked at Oblivion, a little puzzled.

"It's never done that before." Axel shrugged, sucking on his finger a moment.

"I've done worse on a stove. Well… okay then. You're from another world and you need to get back. Any idea how?" He decided he was going to accept the thing on face value. Two magical weapons were clearly out of the ordinary. Roxas could still be loony toons, but it was less likely. Roxas frowned, thinking about it.

"…No." He had no idea. He couldn't use the corridors of darkness anymore and he didn't have a gummi ship. How was he supposed to get out of here? Axel suddenly grinned at him.

"Well, I guess that's where I come in!" Roxas looked at him blankly as Axel rubbed his hands together. "Unlike my pyro cousin, I am a certified, grade A blood witch. Or I would be if we had certification which we don't. But anyway, if I put my mind to it I can do anything. So, I'll find a way to get you home. How does that sound?" Roxas looked at him dubiously.

"How long will it take?" He asked, and Axel frowned then.

"We-ell… I have a job. Um… a year?" Roxas stared at him, appalled. "Okay… not a year. Um. If you want me to do it fast, I'm going to have to concentrate on nothing else. That means you'll have to take care of the bills." Axel frowned at him thoughtfully. "I'm guessing you can fight? Are you any good?" Roxas snorted at that.

"I'm good." He didn't add anything more, and Axel smiled.

"That means you're really good. Are you okay with stealing and strong arming people? No huge moral qualms or religious vows?" Roxas gave him a look that indicated he was questioning Axel's sanity. "Alright. I'll take you to see our friendly neighborhood street gang. They'll have a place for you, I guarantee it." Axel jumped up off the bed and headed out. Roxas followed, wondering exactly what he was getting into… and why this stranger was helping him.

But he didn't have much choice.

Axel glanced back at the blond as they walked, thinking.

Roxas was… cute. Really, really cute. Axel already had designs on him but needed to make sure the other was into guys. It would be a shame to ruin a possible friendship over lust. But if Roxas really was buddies with his cousin, he was probably into guys.

Axel remembered his cousin clearly, although not entirely fondly. His cousin had gotten into a lot of trouble at home, and had been sent to spend an entire summer with him and his mother. Two Axel's in the same house had been annoying, but the way his cousin had gotten him into neverending trouble had been worse. Yet… it had been the best fun he'd ever had in his life, even if his mom had reddened his backside at least a dozen times before it was over. His cousin had been a firestarter, which meant he had very little of the traditional blood magic. Fire was a common gift, but it interfered with blood magic.

Axel wondered what possessed him to make such wild promises to Roxas. He wanted to impress the kid, but… he knew he was taking it a bit far. Blood magic could do anything, but only at a price. And the bigger the magic, the bigger the price. The old blood witches had gotten around that by making someone else pay it, but that was outlawed for a damn good reason. Even voluntary contributions were outlawed. It was a slippery slope from giving to taking.

Axel avoided an oxen drawn cart easily, and yanked Roxas aside as a messenger blew past on a fast horse, shouting a curse at them. The streets were busy this time of day. A hard faced, older woman leaned off a balcony and called down to them, but Axel shook his head with a grin. Roxas seemed unsurprised by it all, and Axel wondered what the Destiny Islands were like.

The building he finally brought Roxas to was an old warehouse. It was no longer being used for that but was clearly being kept in good repair, and Axel opened the door, letting himself in. A buzz of conversation inside ceased for a moment, then started again as the people inside saw who it was.

There were perhaps a dozen people in a building that had once held hundreds of workers, but it was clear that they needed the room. They had turned it into a large practice arena. Practice weapons clashed together, and so did live weapons, used by the more experienced. Most of the practice continued uninterrupted, but in one corner a large, burly man signaled a halt. His opponent, a slight man with startling purple hair and an odd metal cuff around his throat, pulled away immediately. The two of them walked over and stopped in front of Axel and Roxas. Roxas frowned, looking the man over. He had short, spiky blond hair and dark brown eyes, threaded with gold. He also looked older… perhaps forty, Roxas thought. He looked like the oldest person in here. The man with the purple hair was smiling.

"Axel! Good to see you. We were going to call on you soon, actually. Mina managed to cut herself on a rusty plank and she isn't doing so well." His eyes turned to Roxas, and he looked him over thoughtfully. "Who is this?"

"This is Roxas, Albert. But could I see Mina first? How long ago was she hurt?" Axel sounded concerned, and Albert nodded.

"Right over here. She was hurt two days ago." He led them to a girl sleeping in a pile of blankets, and shook her shoulder to wake her. She had straight cut black hair, and looked heartbreakingly young. She looked up at Axel and immediately pulled aside the blankets, revealing that was wearing no pants… and had a long gash in her left leg. It had been stitched up but looked inflamed. Axel knelt down and touched her thigh, looking away thoughtfully.

"It's starting to get infected, but it's not bad yet. I should be able to handle it, no problem." Roxas watched curiously as Axel pulled out a small wooden stick with a very sharp point, then blinked as he stabbed himself in the arm with it. Blood welled up, and Axel carefully used it to paint a small rune on the girl's leg. Then he tapped it, and the blood seemed to flare into ash, the rune vanishing. The wound suddenly looked a lot better, as if several days of healing had happened immediately. All the inflammation was gone. "That should do it."

"Thank you." The girl said in a soft, breathy voice, and smiled at Axel. Then she stood, reaching over for her pants. He smiled back.

"So what did you come here for, Axel?" Albert asked curiously as Axel stood.

"I'm here for Roxas, actually." Axel explained. "Roxas, this is Albert and his second in command, Xephras the Smiling." Roxas eyed Xephras uneasily. True to his name, the man had never stopped smiling since they entered the warehouse. It was very odd and a little disconcerting.

"Please call me Xep." He said, and his voice was genuinely cheerful. Roxas nodded.

"Roxas here has two magical blades and needs a job." Axel got right to the point. "He says he's pretty good with them." The two looked at Roxas, interested, and he took the hint and called in his keyblades again. Albert's looked shocked, but Xephras smile widened.

"Oh, that's neat." Xephras said with a small laugh, and lifted his hand. Roxas stepped back as it was filled with a keyblade. "I never showed you this, did I Axel? I've never heard of someone having two before, though." Roxas looked at Xephras keyblade thoughtfully. The keyblade revealed a great deal about the person who held it, and Xephras keyblade was… pink. Very pink, with a bit of blue frosting, shaped into a stylized key with odd, pointy teeth. And the handle had a guard made of drops of different colored glass. It was very… colorful, and felt very light. But there was a strange darkness about it, as if the lightness was simply a… lack of caring. Roxas frowned as he tried to understand. "You're wondering about my keyblade. Everyone does that. It's reflecting the fact that I'm a happy go lucky person with no moral sense at all." Xephras explained cheerfully. "It's called the Clown Key. Clowns can be scary!"

"In other words, he's a freak." Albert said briskly. "We'll have to see what you can do before we take you. Xephras, test him." Xephras nodded slightly, a bit hampered by his metal collar, and the two keyblade wielders squared off in an unused part of the warehouse.

They circled each other warily for a moment, but then Xephras suddenly launched an attack, leaping forward in a lightning movement. The keyblades clashed for a moment, and then he jumped back as Roxas struck out. The battle quickly turned fast and furious as Xephras attacked unmercifully, throwing Roxas on the defensive.

But that was only temporary, and Roxas quickly regained his balance as he got a feel for Xephras fighting style. It was a little like Larxene when she was in a particularly nasty mood, although Xephras was smiling the whole time. Roxas went on the offensive, the sound of keyblades clashing ringing through the warehouse. He was vaguely aware that everyone else had stopped what they were doing to watch, but Xephras was taking all of his concentration.

Then end, when it came, came quickly. Xephras was too focused on the attack and Roxas saw a weakness. Roxas pretending to leave an opening, and Xephras took it… but it was nothing of the sort, and Roxas trapped his key with Oblivion, then punched him in the stomach with Oathkeeper's hilt. Xephras went flying back, losing his grip on his keyblade, and landed on his back. Rolling over, he gasped then retched, before vomiting on the floor. Roxas blinked, and winced… he hadn't meant to hit the other keyblader that hard, but the fight had gotten really intense. It had been all he could manage to use the hilt and not the blade.

"He's good!" Xephras gasped, looking up at Albert with a wide smile. "Really good!" Albert snorted and tossed him a rag. Xephras rubbed his stomach for a moment, wincing, then started to clean up the mess.

"We guessed. I haven't seen you taken down like that in years." Albert looked at Roxas thoughtfully for a moment, then nodded. "You're in. You get an equal share of the loot, and special compensation for anything really difficult. Also, you have the option to pay into the retirement fund if you think you're going to be around a while." Roxas blinked. A retirement fund for a street gang? What were these people?

"I probably won't be around that long, but thank you." Albert nodded.

"You can always change your mind later. Xephras, get him some clothes and show him around." Normally, Albert wouldn't have delegated something that mudane to his second-in-command… but Roxas wasn't at all ordinary, and he already had some ideas on how to use that. Some very interesting ideas. Roxas looked up as a hand touched his shoulder, and saw Axel smiling at him. He smiled back, and it didn't feel strange at all.

"I'll leave you here then. Do you think you can find your way back home?" Roxas frowned. He wasn't sure he could. "Xephras, do you think you could bring him back to my place when you're done?"

"Surely! We need to pay you your retainer anyway." Xephras said cheerfully, tossing the rag in the trash. "Right this way Roxas… owies." He winced as he moved a bit too quickly, then laughed. "Took me down like a raw recruit! I love it."

"You really are a freak, aren't you?" Roxas remarked as Xephras led him to the back of the warehouse. There were rooms there, containing all kinds of interesting things… equipment, weapons, clothing, food. Xephras didn't take offense at all.

"You have no idea. I think I got the keyblade too young. Ten year olds shouldn't be doing stuff like that. Well, that's just how it goes." Roxas blinked at that as Xephras helped him pick out a wardrobe. Ten?

This was going to be an interesting place.