"Axel." Roxas moaned his name as Axel slowly pumped his erection. "God, Axel, stop teasing me!" Axel grinned and spoke in his ear.

"You know you love it." Roxas was on his hands and knees again… and this time, things were going to be different. Axel's erection was pressed firmly against Roxas warm, sweet ass, but he wasn't going inside just yet. He wanted to make Roxas squirm and plead.

"Axel, please! Ah…" Roxas gasped as Axel flicked his tip. "Dammit, Axel, take me! And if you pull out this time I'm going to kill you." Axel chuckled softly.

"Well, since you asked so nicely…" Axel gripped his hips, slowly sliding inside as Roxas moaned at the pleasure and pain. "Ah, Roxas…" He started thrusting, quick and hard, and the sounds they were making dissolved into pants and groans. Axel stroked Roxas in time with his thrusts, making the blond cry out in pleasure and roll his hips back, deepening the penetration.

"…?" Riku frowned as he heard something… odd. He was walking through the woods, taking a shortcut home, but he could hear voices. That was really odd. It was getting late and the party on the beach had been winding down for hours. Who would be out here in the woods? And there was an odd slapping sound… he hesitated, then followed the sounds to the source.

"Axel!" A low, sexy moan greeted him as he saw the couple, kneeling in a bed of moss, the blond haired boy getting reamed hard from behind. Riku's jaw dropped open as he blushed furiously, unable to look away as the red haired man bit the blond's shoulder, then licked the bite as he kept pumping away. "AH!" Riku nearly swallowed his tongue as the redhead looked up… and met his eyes. Bright green, achingly familiar eyes locked onto aquamarine ones, and then the man… Axel?... smiled like a satisfied cat.

Axel, meanwhile, had just spotted the watcher although he had no idea who it could be. But it didn't matter. Maybe it was his early training or maybe it was just his nature, but being watched was a turn on. Then Roxas clenched around him, and he completely forgot to care about the watcher.

"Roxas…!" He groaned as Roxas tight, delicious heat drove him close to the edge. Roxas was panting helplessly, his erection sliding through Axel's fingers. It was all too much, the pleasure behind him and the fingers in front, and Roxas came with a small scream. He tightened convulsively around Axel, and the redhead came a moment later, emptying himself into the blond.

"So good…" Axel glanced up, trying to find those eyes, but the watcher was gone. "Hm." He decided not to mention it to Roxas, and gently cuddled the blond against his chest. They could rest a bit… but then they would have to collect Sora and go home. Time was offset again, so it felt earlier for them than it was here. Still, they needed their sleep.

"Oh Axel." Roxas settled against him with a sigh, and Axel smiled, holding the blond.

They could leave a bit later.

"I need a cold shower. Oh god, my mind feels seared." Riku gripped his head, pulling on his hair for a moment. "Axel and Roxas?" That couldn't be a coincidence. But who were these people? Clearly they weren't Nobodies… well. They could be Nobodies, he supposed. But if so they weren't wearing the Organization uniform. And Roxas was part of Sora and Axel was dead…

Riku was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't notice he was heading completely the wrong direction. Not until he almost ran into a very familiar boy.

"Sora!" Riku said, relieved, and the brunette blinked at him in surprise.

"Um. Yes? Do I know you?" Riku's jaw dropped for a moment until he realized this had to be the other boy… the other Sora? They were identical… no. Now that he was very close to the boy, he could see that they weren't. This Sora looked a bit younger. But that was the only difference he could see.

"Uh… we've only been friends since childhood." Riku said slowly, and Sora looked confused for a moment… then suddenly smiled. It was the exact same smile.

"OH! I get it! This is a shadow world! Those portals should come with warning labels." Riku frowned. Shadow world? He didn't like the sound of that.

"Shadow world?" He questioned as something distracted Sora. That drew the brunette's wandering attention back to him.

"Right! Shadow worlds… well, technically they're universes, Axel says that's a really bad word for them but what can you do? Um… right, shadow worlds are places where everything is different. History went differently, things went differently… even the rules of reality can be different! It's pretty awesome. But the bad part about shadow worlds is that if you go to one you can meet your dop alts. And sometimes they won't like you." Sora paused and said anxiously. "My dop alt won't hate me will he? Axel had a bad time with one once. Mongo had to chase him off." Riku blinked, feeling like he was being overwhelmed with words. Did this Sora ever stop to breathe?

"Slow down a bit… you lost me at dop alts. What is that?" Sora's hair drooped for a moment, and Riku stared, fascinated. That was another difference… his Sora's hair had never been a sign of his mood.

"Oh, I'm sorry." The hair perked back up again as Sora continued cheerfully. "Dop alt stands for doppelganger alternate. Kind of silly but there you go again. If you go to a shadow world you can meet yourself, but it's not yourself! Completely different history. Sometimes it can get really weird too. For instance, you've been friends with my dop alt all his life right?" Riku swallowed, and nodded. "Well, there's probably a shadow world out there where you're the same person! Axel has a friend named Rude who's like that. His middle name is Reno and he once met two guys named Rude and Reno who were doing what he does. He said that was freaky and he wanted to scrub himself, I'm not sure why…"

"Fascinating. Where is this portal?" Riku had no idea what he would do about this, if anything. But he was going to have a word with Sora about the mayor's tourism initiative. Some things were just too much. Sora pointed up the beach.

"That big house at the end of the beach." Riku nodded. That made perfect sense… it was the mayor's second house. No doubt he did have to sacrifice using it, but putting the portal there gave the visitors ready access to the path to town and the beach and also kept the portal firmly under his control. Riku wondered if the mayor had told the police about this… such as the police were, on the Destiny Islands. Probably. Sooner or later, something bad was bound to come through this portal. On the other hand, something bad could show up from any tourism effort. So maybe this whole thing wasn't as insane as it first appeared. The people so far had been weird, but not dangerous… just people looking to have a good time.

"Thanks Sora. I'm glad to find out about this." Sora beamed, and Riku smiled and ruffled his hair. He was such a cute kid… just like his own Sora. Then he turned as he heard a crackling of bushes behind him.

"Axel, Roxas! Finally! You take so long having sex!" Riku blinked, hearing that from Sora, but Axel just laughed as Roxas blushed. "I was going to leave without you!"

"Pthh, empty threat. You still throw up going back through the geometry lesson." Riku tried briefly to understand that, then gave up. Some things were beyond comprehension and it probably wasn't worth asking. Green eyes met his again, and Riku swallowed as Axel smiled at him. "Hey there." The laughter in his eyes made Riku certain the redhead knew exactly who had been spying on them. And that sent him into full retreat.

"I, uh, need to get home. Later Sora. Come back sometime." He mumbled, and then quickly left. Just looking at Axel and Roxas was bringing back certain images.

"Sure will!" Sora called after him and waved as Axel chuckled. "Guess what, this is a shadow world and I have a dop alt here! But Riku says she's nice and won't hurt me." Sora said happily, and Axel frowned and shrugged.

"Well, that's good. But let's go. I don't think this place could survive two of you for long. Overload of sunshine and butterflies." Sora pouted as Roxas laughed. Axel grinned, and threw his arms over both their shoulders as they headed back home.

It had been a very good way to end the day.

Elsewhere, in a world that was both far away and oddly close.

Riku sighed, running a hand through her hair as she looked in the mirror. It was really just distressing. But what could she do about it?

"I look like a damn boy." She mumbled, before picking up her toothbrush and vigorously brushing her teeth. When she was younger, her androgynous looks had been nothing important. She'd been a tomboy anyway, so being mistaken for a boy had been fun. But it shouldn't be continuing after puberty.

Unfortunately, it was. Maybe it would have helped if she'd done like Kairi and worn a dress… but she hated dresses. And she thought they made her look like a boy in drag. It wasn't really that much of an improvement. She had the tiniest A-cup breasts in the world and almost no hips. And she was too well muscled. It just wasn't fair. Rinsing her mouth out, she slammed down the cup with unnecessary force before leaving the bathroom and its mocking mirror. She needed to go meet Sora and Kairi.

Sometimes, Riku wondered why she kept torturing herself this way. She loved Sora. Loved him with all her heart. And she knew, with absolute certainty that he was never going to return the feeling. She'd made it abundantly clear how she felt… her lips curved up for a moment as she remembered one sun warmed afternoon, where they had taken each other's virginity. It hadn't been that good… but it had been Sora. And the encounters they'd had after that had gotten better. But she'd always been the one initiating them and that just wasn't right. And Sora had just kept treating her as a friend… he'd seemed completely oblivious to her attempts to get them to date. When she asked if he wanted to go somewhere, his innocent response was always to ask if Kairi could come. Riku had finally given up. It was simply hopeless. They were good friends and what they had done was practice for Kairi. Nothing more.

And now she was going to meet them on the beach. She had to be a masochist. There was no other explanation. But… Sora was her friend. And that was better than nothing.

Wasn't it?

Sighing, Riku slowly walked down to the beach. She was oblivious to the sun on her face and the beauty of the island. All that mattered was her private misery. Misery that increased as she saw Sora and Kairi chatting on the beach.

"Riku!" Kairi said happily as she walked up. "Guess what? We're going to the movies on Friday." Riku stood still for a moment, before forcing a smile onto her face.

"That's great, Kairi." Sora was grinning as if there was no reason in the world for Riku to be upset, and for a moment she wanted to hit him. But it slid away into despair. Why should he think that she would be upset? They hadn't been intimate over a year. He couldn't know that she felt like her heart was going to die.

I have to get out of this place. Riku swallowed as she realized the truth of that thought. She had nothing to hold her here anyway. Her father scarcely noticed her and her mother had died when she was just a child. And Sora and Kairi would get along fine without her. Although they would… want her. They would try to find her. Riku sighed to herself, and thought for a moment. She needed to go far, far away… but where?

"Something wrong, Riku?" Kairi said questioningly, and Riku pulled her attention back to her friends.

"Nothing, Kairi. Just thinking." And just like that, a place occurred to her. A place that they might look for but would be unlikely to find. DiZ had shown her the location of the portal to the Twisted World. Riku had even been there once, but the spiral world had freaked her out to no end. The portal would be unused now… it might have been closed and moved, Ya Tashra didn't usually leave portals active when no one was using them. On the other hand, things could slip his mind. It would be worth going to see. "Hey Sora, I was wondering if I could use the gummi ship?"

"Uh, sure! Why?" Sora asked, puzzled, and Riku smiled faintly.

"Just want to check up on something. I thought I could do it Friday, since you'll be at the movies." Sora seemed on the brink of questioning her further, but Kairi smiled and distracted him.

"Okay!" Riku's smile faded as they took each other's hands.

Friday couldn't come soon enough.

"Still here." Riku stared at the portal to the Twisted World. Once she went through, there would be no going back. The gummi ship would eventually depart when she didn't return, and then there would be no way out of Twilight Town. If she did return, she would be stranded. So for a moment, she hesitated.

But only for a moment. She needed to get away too badly. It was time to take a step into the darkness of the unknown. She touched the portal and was standing in the Twisted World.

Turning around slowly, she took in her surroundings… an old, disused courtyard with only a handful of portals. But even as she turned, she saw the portal behind her close… completely. With a brief twinkle, it was gone, and Riku swallowed hard.

"Was that portal still here for me?" She asked the Twisted World, but there was no answer. Perhaps her use of it had simply used up the last of its power. Or perhaps it had been left active just for her. The ways of wizards were very hard to fathom.

Sighing, she picked up her backpack and slung it over one shoulder. She was certainly stranded now. Sora and Kairi might look for her, but they would never find her. Hopefully they wouldn't look too hard. She'd made it clear in her letter that she didn't want to be found.

But Sora could be so bone-headed. Riku did hope he didn't hurt himself trying, but there was nothing more she could do. Walking out briskly, she joined the crowds thronging through the streets of the Twisted World.

She would find something to do. Riku wasn't sure what, but there would be something.