The Chasers: New World Locket

[Reno]

Sora, granted, had probably never been to a place so polluted before - But Monstro had smelt like daisies, port royale had its... bad places, and the underworld? phew! The dead were NOT one thing he licked to smell. He glanced at Ven and smiled, walking next to him. Unlike his brother, he just looked curious, as if he'd never met a place so unique. which in truth, this was definitely the first time a planet talked to him. That was creepy.

Roxas, who had seperated from Sora for far too long, was used to it any longer. It was strange how diverse they had become over the years... and how similar they stayed in other ways. He was certain they could still fight in such a similar manner it would seem like one person had stolen the style from the other. He was sure he still had some old habits and reflexes he never should have had - and msot of all he still talked to a god damned mirror.

That was okay, Sora did too. And Riku and Axel BOTH found it quite amusing.

The four walked through the town, Sora looking around curiously at his surrondings. Everything was so filthy around here - unclean, unkempt, poisoned, polluted. How could ANYONE let a world become like this? How was it even surviving? If he met the leader of this world... he had quite a few things to say to HIM.

Roxas eyes narrowed at his horrid surrondings, fingers twitching. Axel lived... here? Well no wonder his lungs were so terrible! Well okay the water had a bit to do with it, but the doctor had said they had gone through previous abuse...

The four stopped in front of the fountain and all of them turned Ven. He was still the leader here. The three were silent at first, listening to the blonde, and they crowded around when the map was brought out. The world was fairly large in size... and still surviving by some faint miracle.

When the mention of not starting fights began, Sora chuckled and Roxas scoffed indiginantly. Truthfully ALL of them had been known to be quick to anger. Sora was definitently calmer then either of his twins, but with the precise word choice, he knew he could be brought to seeing red in moments. His sore spots though, normally revovled around his family and lover. No one bad-mouthed his friends... or they paid for it.

Roxas of course... especally right now.... had a temper that reached the sky and beyond to space. No one was certain what could provoke the blonde at this point - even THEY could. Rku ebing in charge of him was probably a good idea considering the silvertte was calmer, especally now that he had lost his darker tendencies.

As for Ven... well no one knew what to expect from him anymore since he had his heart again.

Roxas smirked at Riku. "Well let's hope you can handle me." He joked. He'd try to keep his cool, he really would. No gaureentees though.

Sora pouted at the mention of Riku having to say his hair was dyed. But it was such lovely hair! .... Ah well, he supposed HE'D always know it was real. He definitely had no question about that~

Riku shouldn't have felt embaressed because Roxas and Sora both looked at Ven strangely at the mention of the... time. What were they - French?

Roxas looked at Riku before following after him.

Sora blinked slowly. "H-Hey wait a second!" He hurried after them, stopping in front of both. He pouted, crossing his arms, looking at Riku. "You forgot something." The silverette blinked at him blankly and Sora sighed, rolling his eyes, smiling softly. He glanced around, before walking over and giving him a quick warm kiss on the lips. "A kiss for good luck!" And then he stepped away, giving Roxas a quick hug. "And hug for good fortune!"

"Sora... your such a girl." Roxas mumbled.

He stuck his tongue out at him. "See ya guys soon!" he hurried back to Ven's side, waving and then they walked in the opposite direction.


"Yuffie master thief of all, has gotten to the safe. Yuffie, greatest ninja of the world must obtain the gold. Will she succeed? Of course!" Yuffie narrated as she snuck up to the safe. She placed her ear against it, twisting at the knob, trying to hearing the clicks and clinks as the code fell into place. She didn't get anywhere though - because Aeris snuck up on her.

"ah! I didn't do it!" Yuffie said, looking around, trying to be innocent. However when Aerith mentioned the door, her eyes grew alight again with curiosity and mischiviousness. "Og you know it!"

She let Aerith led her to the door in the basement, and when she was presented it, she blinked. She walked over, and like Aerith tried to open it with brute force. The metal groaned against metal, but for the most part didn't even budge.

She frowned, leaning down, seeing a keyhole. She grinned, taking out one of her stars, and stuck it in there, fiddling with it like a true pro. In moments a satisfying click filled the air. "That was too easy." No one wanted to protect ANYTHING these days did they? Didn't they know, Great ninja Yuffie was here?

She grabbed onto the door once more and tugged. And tugged. and TUGGED. It appeared it'd been so long since the door had been opened, that it had gotten stuck. She put her foot on the wall, yanking, hearing the door move an inch. "Give me a hand here!" She called to Aerith.

[Rikugurl]

Riku blinked at the kiss but smiled, waving as Sora trotted back to Ven's side. He looked down at Roxas and grinned. "Aren't I lucky??"

Ven waited for Sora but the moment his brother was at his side, they started their two hour of information barring. Aqua was best at getting information... but since she already messed up... they would have to do that. It wasn't so hard with Sora there though, he really knew how to talk to people... and when they started to get hard onto Sora, Ventus would step in and straighten them out.

What they learned was that no one liked the Shinra company... because they had done this to the planet... but their views were slowly changing. It seemed that this 'Rufus' guy was starting to clean up. However, that was all the information they would talk about. However, everyone had something to say about the Turks.

At 1400 hours... or two o'clock, the four met in front of the ridiculously huge building. Everyone looked up at it, wondering why such a place needed to be so huge.

Ven turned to Riku and Roxas and nodded. "Alright... we found out quite a bit about the Turks..." He slowly looked at Roxas and sighed. He wasn't sure... if Roxas would handle this all too well...
"The Turks is the unofficial nickname of the Investigation Sector of the General Affairs Department of the Shin-Ra Electric Power Company. They use to perform black ops on behalf of the corporation, including kidnappings and.......... assassinations." He looked at Roxas slightly then shook his head. "Now due to the fact that the Shinra empire has collapsed, they are technically no longer Turks... but they keep the name and suits... and are now bodyguards to Rufus and also aid Rufus in his mission to repay Shinra's debt for 'putting the world into its current, pathetic state'."

He sighed and looked at Riku. "What did you get for information?"

Riku thought and shook his head. "Not much but Shinra was originally an small weapons company, but after the discovery of Mako energy it expanded into many other areas. I also use to maintains its own private army called SOLDIER. It was founded by a 'President Shinra'... and when he died, Rufus took over. Now that they have done horrible damage to the work... and after Rufus suffered from Mako poisoning... he THEN saw how horrible they made the world... and now wants to fix it."

Ventus blinked and shook his head. "Alright... so now with that information... any one have a good idea on what to do now??"

Riku nodded. "I do..."
Everyone looked at him and tilted their head.
"Aerith..."
"Aerith?"
"Yea.... it seems she's from this world too. And it also seemed at one point... the Turks made sure she was safe... because she was the last kind of... something... so... since we know Aerith... and knows she's ok... maybe they'll listen to us... and maybe we can lure out Axel's Somebody that way?"


Aerith blinked chuckled when she saw Yuffie trying to break into their OWN safe. It wasn't the first time...
She led the thief to the door and watched her do her work. She smiled happily when she heard the door click. That was... pretty easy.

She blinked though and chuckled once more when she saw the younger struggle with the door. So much energy! She blinked though when she was asked and nodded. "Of course!" She rushed t oher friend's side and too an edge, pulling on it. "Alright.... ready? One... Two.... THREEEE!!" She pulled with all her strength and suddenly the door let, making the two fly back.

The brunette stood and leaned down next to Yuffie. "Oh my... are you ok??" She helped the other up then looked at the open door. She frowned, peering inside at the darkness. Chills ran down her spine as she walked towards it and slowly started looking for a light switch. She found it and pulled it up, making old lights flicker on. She slowly walked down the stairs and at the base, looked down a long hallway. It was so cold down here...

[Reno]

Roxas rolled his eyes, walking forward. "Pff if you like sappy romantic crap like that sure."

As for Roxas and Riku, they had a bit of a harder time getting information then Sora and Ven. Sora was naturally social, therefore roxas was naturally anti-social. How he ever made friends he wasn't sure - course most of his friends were either computerized or he met through Axel or were Sora's friends first so...

And Riku well... Riku had tired to live on an island AWAY from people. He was still better at being 'buddy-buddy' with people he didn;t know - or being downright forceful but... they still didn;t elarn too much.

Sora meanwhile was having a ball gathering information, learning all he could about this company - and the world itself. He had been talking to some old man about the theories of the lifestream - but Ven grumbled that they hadn;t had time for it and dragged him away.

But they still accomplished their goal. And two hours later led them all back to the very same spot that they had left.

And Ven was right. Roxas didn't like the information. He avoided eye contact with her proverbial twin, trying to keep his expression masked. So... Axel had been bad even as a somebody. Not that he himself was any angel but...

He worriedly wondered how Axel was adjusting to his somebody - learning his lifestyle, his thoughts, his memories... For Roxas it had been freaky and scary as hell - And Sora had been a fucking saint - his life wasn't anything to fear...

Sora let his brother do the sharing, rather he walked over to Roxas, patting him comfortingly on the shoulder. Sure it wasn;t a rpetty past - but their was a difference in the fact that... Axel hadn't known his somebody or what he had done probably not until he re-merged with him so it didn;t mean Axel was all bad - after all he was STILL feeling guilty about killing two nobodies. And his somebody didn't sound like it either...

Though assassination was still a terrible crime to hold over one's head. It was hard to imagine... Sora was worried about what this somebody would be like. What if he was cold-hearted and ruthless... and wouldn't care about Roxas' predicament or Axel's pain in the least?

"Yeah," Roxas added when Riku was done with his information. "Apparently they were idiots by using the lifeforce of the planet itself for energy. It's no wonder the place is so corrupted."

His brunette Somebody frowned a bit, looking towards the ground, where he could still detect hint of the whispers from the planet. Maybe it was hurt... but was so weka it couldn;t talk loudly enough to ask for help. Yeah he was gonna kick this Rufs' guy's ass. Sora blinked a bit aa Riku shared his plan, tilitng his head curiously. Why would they protect Aeris anyways...? "Well... that's worth a shot."

"That or they could think we're terrosits holding her captive." Roxas mumbled. "And why do we still not know any of their names?!"

Sora frowned. "Well... I heard a few but none of them matched. Tseng was the leader of Turks ring... and... let's see, there's a guy named Rude who's like some champion martial artist, and girl named Elena who's some sort of hacker.... there was some guy named Reno who liked to blow things up. I think the rest of them all had code names cause they went with stuff like Gun and Knife and Katana and basically all weapons and I really don't THINK their moms all decided to fall in love with weapons at the time... But I didn't hear anything that reminded me of Axel. And most of them are well... dead."

Roxas frowned a bit, eyes narrowing.


Yuffie grunted, and with a mighty tug both her and Aeris sent the door screeching open... and both of them lost their balance. "Wah!!" Treasure Hunter Yuffie fell on her bum, and rubbed at it delicately, pouting. She nodded to the brunette, allowing the kinder woman to help her up. "I'm fine." She looked towards the door they had opened and stepped up beside Aerith. when the woman moved forward so did she.

Yuffie looked around uneasily, staying closely behind the other woman. "what was supposed to be down here anyways?" She asked, her mind alreayd playing fantasies of finding the bones of some long-lost failed experiment, or some monsters! AND GHOSTS!

[Rikugurl]

Ven nodded but shook his head soon after. "Yea... I'm guessing he's one of the ones with the odd names... but like Aqua and the others said... he should be easy to find if he has red hair, green eyes and the same voice... we really don't need a name."

The blonde turned to his blonde twin and grinned. "I like Roxas's plan better. It would be all fine and dandy if we tell them that Aerith is fine... but if we claim to of kidnapped her, it would stir commotion... and when commotion starts... bodyguards will be needed. It will draw out the Turks... and that's what we'll have to do."

He knew Terra didn't want any bad news or up bringing... and by the time they were done, the only person who could come down to this world would only be Terra. He chuckled at the thought but shook his head. "Alright... we're evil space pirates who stole Aerith... and forcing her to.... plant flowers!" He chuckled but shook his head. "Let's go!"

The blonde turned and walked through the doors of the huge building. Inside... was huge. He frowned as he walked passed some 'important' looking people up to the receptionist. It happened to be the same woman but none of them would of known so.

She looked up, seeing the man and blinked. What a stunning fellow. She looked pass him to see someone who looked almost identical and... then a silverette and a brunette. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Riku. He... couldn't be a clone... his hair... was off. She had never seen something quite like that.
"Excuse me."

The woman shook her head and snapped out of it, looking back up at the blonde man. "Yes? Can I help you?"
"We'd like to see President Rufus Shinra."
The woman stopped. Twice in two days? She frowned and shook her head. "You don't happen to want to seduce me too do you?"
Ventus was taken back a bit, a little blush on his face. "What? No." He rolled his eyes. That must of been Seifer...

"Listen, can we see the President? We have some business with him."
"Have some new invention to help the planet too?"
"No... nothing like that at all."
"Well, you'll need an appointment..."
Ventus slammed his hands onto her desk and looked at her hard. "Fuck your appointments. I want to see the President. Now. We have someone captive and if you start fucking around with us, you're gonna get it... you got that bitch? Now hurry up and tell him we're coming to fucking see him if you like it or not."

The woman blinked but growled at the man. Not so stunning anymore. She pressed a button on a nearby speaker. "Mr. Shinra... there is a group here to see you... and they insist it be right now."
As she was talking, she pressed a small button under her desk.


Up on the top floor, in Rufus's room, a red light started to flash. Green eyes looked up at it and frowned as he stood next to a larger man with sunglasses.
He tilted his head as his EMR patted on his shoulder. "Ah... them again is it?" He turned to see a man with long black hair looking down at a blonde man.
"Sir...?"


Aerith shook her head, her face looking trouble. She got some very bad feelings about this. Maybe... they should got get Leon.... She shook her head and grew determined. "I'm not sure... but let's go find out." She looked at her friend and smile. "Maybe there's some hidden treasure down here." That would keep Yuffie by her side. Slowly they walked down the hall together, trying to be as quiet as possible. There were a few rooms down at the end of the hall and Yuffie quickly rushed to see what was in them.

However, Aerith stopped when she came to something... well.... chilling. Holding cells? She stopped and looked into them. Of course they were abandoned... and there were no bones thank god but when she tilted her head to move away... she saw something at the corner of her eye. She quickly looked back and gasped. Her green eyes widened as she almost fell over but caught herself.

It was... a beast of some sort. It was... so.... weird looking. She had seen some pretty odd beasts in her life... but nothing quite like this. She leaned down so she was face to face with it, the bars separating them. "Hello there..." She said softly as she smiled. The creature looked like a wolf... but it had curled horns and spikes growing from its back. "What are you doing down here?" The beast just seemed to look around slightly... and was soothed by the woman's voice.

"My name is Aerith... what's yours?" She tilted her head... as if waiting for an answer. Of course she didn't get one. Slowly she reached out, being careful not to startle the beast. When her hand was about to touch it, it suddenly vanished. She blinked as she heard a whisper go against her like a faint wind... saying a name that chilled her to the bone.
"You name... is Terra...?"

She looked pass where the beast had been, getting a glimpse of someone cuddled in the shadows. Someone with blue hair... but they vanished too. Aerith stood slowly, a concerned look running over her face. What.... what was this place?

[Reno]

True they didn't need a name, but personally the curiosity was killing Sora. He just wanted to know if Axel's real name was Lea. Then he could tease him for having a girl's name for the rest of his Nobody life.

Roxas and Sora both laughed at Ven's declaration. 'Evil space aliens?' Well that was a good role. The four hurried on inside the building. Roxas looked around, and like the Chasers before who had walked in, he couldn't imagine why they would need such a BIG building for an electric company. Waste of space if you asked him. And he KNEW something about space and building. He personally oversaw all building in Delshad with Axel. they had to make sure it was accomdatable for their expansions and - oh shit he was gonna have so much work to do once he and Axel got home.

We're gonna need a vacation... Roxas thought exasperated already.

Roxas crossed his arms, looking boredly at the woman. Sora however smiled brightly and waved, as if they werenlt just about to claim they were terroists. Hey no one said he couldn't be friendly!

Roxas blinked at the mention of seduction. He gave Ven an odd look. Is that how Chasers got what they wanted now? If he was shocked at that - wait until he found out what fuujin had done.

Everyone in the room tensed at Ven's suddenly outburst - except of course his three friends who were so used to this weird bipolar second nature that they didn't really worry about it. Besides it was all an act.


Rude cracked his knuckles once the lights started to flash. They weren't a very bright pair attacking again so soon, now where they?

Elena lougned against the wall nearby, frowning at the lights. She reached down, running her figners across her gun. It weas loaded, all she needed to do was take off the safety and aim and her opponent would be dead in seconds.

Rufus was quiet, then he looked up at four of his Turks smirking, "well I guess we shouldnlt let them wait any longer now should we?" He pressed the button. "Send them up." Once he clicked off the button, cutting off the communicastion, He nodded. "Lock them down on one of the floors, ambush them and take care of them once and for all."

"but Sir... I thought we weren;t doing any..." elena trailed off timidly.

"Assassinations?" Rude spoke up helpfully.

Rufus shook his head. "I've studied the security tapes. They obviously aren't from this world - they're magic and weapons assure us of that. For all we know they could be just as Jenova had been years ago and she was said to have wiped out all the cetra. We can't take that risk."


Sora eyes narrowed at the voice. Well... he had grown a bit wiser over the years and he knew when something was too easy. He had a feeling something bad was awaiting them.


At the mention of treasure, Yuffie grinned, shooting ahead and searching all the doors like it was the magic word. "Great ninja Yuffie keeps an eye out for beautiful gems, sparkling tiaras, and munny!" She crowed.

However her excitement was quickly muted when she like Aerith... ran into the prison. She looked around uncomfortably, walking down the rows upon rows of empty cells, shaking a bit. She came to an opening of a larger room, and snapped on the light, gasping. There was someone on the table! "Oi!"

She ran forward, seeing a teenager all white and she realized the implications of ice damage, catching a glimpse of blue eyes... She reached out and nearly squealed in fright when the form disappeared. GHOSTS!!!

She looked around, shaking all over, and realized the walls were damaged with dark black energy - someone... or someTHING had fought their way out of here... and it hadn't been pretty. "Aerith! I think we should go!" Yuffie cried, realizing moments later that she was in a labortory. Those weren't prison cells, they were cells... for 'specimens'. What the hell kind of operation was Ansem the Wise running down here?

[Rikugurl]

The receptionist blinked as she got the answer. She could hear the tone in his voice and frowned a bit. She hadn't heard that tone for awhile. She nodded though and looked up at the three. "Alright... I guess Mr. Shinra is feeling social today. Please enter the elevator to your right. He's on the 48th floor."

Ventus nodded, noting the unusual easiness too. He looked back at his group and nodded, walking to the elevator. When they all got in, the doors closed and the button that read '48' was pressed. The elevator started to move and everyone sighed.

Riku frowned and looked down at Sora, then at Ven. "I really don't like the idea of this..."

Ven didn't flinch and just kept his eyes on the door. "Yea well... there's no other way."

The elevator was quick, bringing them up to the floors with ease... except... when the top bar dinged 46. The elevator made a quick stop, making the four almost fumbled over. Ven's blue eyes narrowed as he looked up at the digits. The elevator was stuck? "How awkward..." His voice full of sarcasm as he pressed the 'Open Door' button. He looked down the hall that it had opened too and frowned.

Slowly he walked out and the three followed him.
"Guess we'll take the stairs..." The blonde looked down the hall a bit more, seeing a stair sign. He walked towards it when metal bars suddenly slammed down over it. He growled as Aero Maxim appeared in his hands, making the other keyblades react too.

"Oh, and remember, do NOT touch the metal bars if they come down over the doors!"

He frowned but nodded, looking around. Alright... now what?

That question was answered quite quickly. He stopped as he heard two clicks... the clicks sounding quite familiar. Sounded like a noise... Seifer's gunblade made when he was ready to shoot the gun. His blonde spikes shifted as he looked down the hallway to his right, seeing a group of four people at the end of it.

In the lead was a man with long black hair and a bindi in the middle of his forehead. He had a gun drawn like the blonde woman next to him. On his other side, a tall dark man with sunglasses was cracking his knuckles... and besides him...

Riku's eyes widened, seeing the redhead by the dark man. Puffy red spikes reached up from goggles, the only one who was sloppy with his black suit. A pole like object was being patted on his bag as exotic eyes stared down at them in a smug and... devilish look to them. It was.... Axel's Somebody...



Aerith blinked as she heard Yuffie's cry and quickly rushed to the room. She gasped as she looked around the lab. She looked down at the table, also seeing the outline of a body... but it disappeared. The room was ruined, Darkness burned on the wall and papers around like if a horrible struggle had accrued. She walked in, noting a small piece of ice that had never melted. It must of been...

She looked at Yuffie with troubled eyes.
Experiments... She had read the Ansem reports and knew that he had experimented with people and the Darkness in their hearts... but... she never thought it would be anything like this. "My goodness Yuffie... he was.... just like..." She looked back at the lab table. Hojo...

"Hey Aerith! I found out I had a brother! Isn't that great!?"
"Oh Sora, that it wonderful"
"I want you to meet him ok?" Sora grinned happily and Aerith nodded. "Come on you guys! Hurry up!"

Three people came into the room. A short blonde that looked exactly like Roxas... a woman with blue hair and a taller, built man with black.
"This is Ventus! My brother."
Aerith bowed slightly. "Nice to meet you. I'm Aerith."
"And this is my friend Aqua." Sora pointed to the blue haired woman. "And Terra" He then pointed to the black haired man.

Aerith smiled warmly at Aqua and waved. "Hello Aqua." She then looked at Terra and smiled... but it slightly faded.
"What is it?"
She looked down and shook her head.
"Aerith?"
Water started to fill her eyes but she quickly brushed them away. "It..it's nothing. You... you just remind me of someone I once knew." She pushed a smile onto her face as she walked pass them. "Please excuse me..."

She sighed. They were... both experimented on. First.... Zack with Jenova cells... and then... Terra with Darkness in his heart... She walked pass Yuffie and picked up some papers laying around, grabbing some folders and handing them to the princess. Being the last Ancient in the universe... she felt it was her duty to know the suffering of others... and she needed to know what had happened in this lab...

[Reno]

"We're walking into a trap." Roxas said bluntly, his arms crossing. And just as he said it, the elevator stopped moving unexpectedly. "See?" His herat was beginning to ebat strangely... the warmth inside of it beginning to grow.

"Oh my what a surprise." Sora added to his twin's sarcasm, grinning faintly. Well, Axel was in for one hellofva surprise too cause he had walked right into their trap too!

The four took to the hall - but all of them jumped, keyblades snapping into hands as the irons gates game down. there was a soft crackling from them - electricity currents running through them. Bad idea to touch them! Not that Fuujin's warning hadn;t been good enough.

Sora tensed at the clicking of the guns, his breath catching a bit. He had ruun into gun users only a few times in his life. The most terrifiny had been when he was 13... fighting for his life on Tarzan;s world... against Clayton and his shotgun. Had that thing of gotten him - he would be dead, dead, dead. Leon he'd foughten as well, though the man never fired any shots directly at him - just enough to scare the hell out of him. And finally Xigbar and his double guns... no that had been very very unfun.

Sora turned slowly, his eyes narrowing as he took in the sight of the newcomers - but his eye widened when he saw the red-head. Sure he had been expecting it.. but...

Roxas turned slowly, Oblivion and Oathkeeper flowing with him. And his eyes locked onto the red-head and only the red-head. His heart was beating like crazy - the conenction solidfying once again. He looked at him blue eyes meeting green - saw the simlarities almost immediatelly, from the attitude that Axel had been adapting... to the facial features... to the lanky body. But inside he could still see him - see his lover. Axel was in there... his heart told him so.

Bond of Flames sparked on his belt loop, reacting instantly to the contact. The blonde began to walk tentatively forward. "A....Axel?" He called. His blue eyes were filled with desperation though, silently asking 'Do you recognize me?'

Rude stood quietly at Reno's side, but glanced at the red-head from the croner of his eye. did he know the blonde...? was that where he'd been the past twenty years? He saw no recognition in the other's eyes though...

Elena's eyes narrowed upon the group of stranger. They werenl;t the same ones... but they ALL held one of those strange weapons - Two in that little blonde's case. When he started to walk forward however, she flipped off his safety, her gun already cocked. "You, stop moving!" He didn't. He didn't even seem to hear her. So she did what was natural. She fired.

Sora saw it coming. "Reflect." He snapped, just as the sound of the shot rang out in the hall. Roxas paused dazed and confused, the reflect spell covering him in just milliseconds before the bullet whizzed through the air. The bullet bounced off the shield and the four Turks ducked as the bullet smacked into the wall behind them.

"The hell?!" Elena snapped.


Yuffie bowed her head, nodding silently to the other;s words. she'd... remembered ShinRa's love for experimenting on people. Her old Wutain culture however had disapporved of shinRa greatly for years and years - especally all their strange scentific practices. She came from... maybe not a less advanced country so much but just something less hateful towards mankind.

Learning of all the things Hojo had done... especally to some of her friends... it had hurt the princess in a way she couldn't explain.

The black haired man blinked curiously as he watched Aeris leave the room nearly in tears. He looked at Sora, baffled. "what'd I do?"
"um... to be honest I have no clue." Sora said. "That... wasn't like her." He tilted his head, frowning.
"Aerith?" They heard from the other room -Yuffie who they had also just recently met. There were rapid footsteps. as the ninja went to go comfort the cetra.

She suddenly recognized the blonde who had been on the table. But was it Ven...? or Roxas?

Yuffie blinked as she saw Aerith picking up the lab papers. She frowned walking over. "Aerith you shouldn't." She said strictly. she knew the other felt like she was obligated to know and understand everyone's pain but... Yuffie was afraid one day the woman would take more then she could handle. "Maybe it's none of our bussiness."

[Rikugurl]

Riku blinked as he saw Roxas just walk towards them. "Roxas!?" But the boy didn't flinch at all... he just kept walking. These people were dangerous... it was a bad idea just to...

Ven too was a bit shocked at how Roxas was just walking towards them... but he could understand why... He got into stance though as he heard the gun and Sora's call. Thankfully it was quickly enough! "Roxas! Be careful!"


Tseng and the others ducked as the bullet flew back at them. "Hold your fire." He looked at Elena and nodded, then back at the four. No... they weren't from this world at all. They used majick without the help of materia... and those weapons... Maybe Rufus was right... but... there was only one Jenova... how many of these were there?? He was about to call another order when all of a sudden.

"ORYA!"

"RENO!" The black haired man called as he saw the younger Turk dash out towards the blonde, his straight tied up hair following him.

The EMR was raised to slash at Roxas, his green eyes bright. He needed to protect Rufus and that 'keyblade' from these people. He was about to strike the blonde when he easily missed, pushing past the shorter instead... and time froze.

No!

Exotic green eyes widened as he looked to his left at the blonde locks.

You look tired... you should get some rest....but i want to see you... now. Axel? Axel! The Roxas I knew is long gone.... isn't he? I'm not a Nobody anymore... I have a heart. I don't want you to disappear.... Don't you understand? You're absolutely hopeless without me you know that? Tell me Roxas, if you had one wish, just one, what would it be? I don't like being trapped... I'd rather fade as a nobody then live this life. I guess my one wish is to never lose you again. I'd be like... losing my heart all over again. Christmas! You know the time of giving gifts to people you love! I don't know what Christmas is~~~ Because no one loves little ol' me~~ Can't believe I'm gonna have to show you what Christmas is.. I'm sure Christmas will be fun with you someday, Roxas....

The EMR slowly fell from his hand.

I don't NEED a heart when you're around. And your an idiot if you can't see that I could never have a life without you Axel! You're an idiot if you can't see that I love you! Well I can't wait... to see what your like when you have a heart. I love you... I love you too. It's funny... I'm so happy, so why am I crying? Maybe you're broken.

The redhead was baffled and held onto the wall so he didn't fall. "....Roas...?"
His name is Roxas.... got it memorized?

"RENO!?" Tseng watched as the fellow Turk turned pale.

You lost the 'x' because... a 'x' is made by two lines that join together in the middle. You make it seem like the connection was lost... but it wasn't. His name is Roxas... and my name is Axel.

Reno blinked as he stared at the blonde. "Wha... Ro...xas...?" He shook his head and gripped onto his hair. "AH!"

Tseng quickly raced to the redhead and pulled him up. He glared at Roxas and pointed the gun at him. "Step back! Now!" As the leader pulled the Turk away, a red marble fell from his pocket and rolled to Roxas's shoe.

"Hey Roxas!"
A dirty blonde rushed over before the blonde boarded the ship.
"Oh hey Hayner... what's up?"
"Well... you're gonna go live with that Axel guy now right?"
"Yea...."
"Well... here." He reached into his pocket and handed a red marble to Roxas. It was the marble from the trophy Roxas had given to him after he won the Struggle tournament. "He likes red right? Give it to him huh? So when you look into your blue one, he can look with you."
"Oh..." Roxas took the marble and smiled. "Thanks. I know he'll love it!"



Aerith stopped as Yuffie touched her shoulder. She slowly looked down, staring at nothing really. The folders fell to the ground that she was picking up and sighed. Tears started to form in her eyes again. Slowly she shut them and they started to leak down her cheek.

"Yuffie.... have you ever been in love before....?" She slowly opened her eyes and tried to hold back her crying. "He... was take away from the Planet too soon. His... death was so... wrong. I couldn't bear it anymore... that's why I left with Cloud and you and Tifa..." She swallowed and shook her head. "Terra.... he...." She paused before she could start crying. "I need to know what they did to him... I... don't want him to leave the Planet too soon either."

She picked up the folders again. "If I can prevent anyone from leaving the world early by reading information... I want too... He's not human." She looked up at her friend and smiled softly. "I don't want Ventus to go through what I did. I'm a Cetra... I was taught how to deal with life a death better than anyone else. I don't know why his death is so hard for me to..." She shook her head. "Because it was wrong... I suppose... but... I need to know... if Terra is in any danger. That is all I'll read.... ok?"

[Reno]

Roxas stared blankly, suddenly coming back to realty. What the hell was going on?! Did he just nearly get shot?!

"right!" He heard the cry of the female to something the black-haired one had said...

And then suddenly Axel was racing down the hall towards him - and for one hopeful second Roxas though it was cause he recognized him. But the moment the battle cry issued from the other's mouth he tensed. His eyes went wide but he didn;t move, didn't filnch...

Because he couldn't fight Axel. Never again.

"Axel...?" Roxas asked.
"Oh so now you remember me? I'm SO FLATTERED!" Fire spread across the room. "but's it's too late now Roxas!"
Roxas grit his teeth, and two familar weights apepared in his hand - one being oathkeeper, the other being oblivion.
"Two?" Axel snapped incredulously.


"We'll meet again... in the next life..." Axel murmured.
"Yeah..." Roxas said, watching him fade.
"silly... just cause there's a next life for you..." doesn't mean there's one for me.

So Roxas, and the other seemed to just... pause. Roxas head turned slightly, seeing wide green eyes looking at him. And the recognition he hadn't seen before.. was there. "Axel...?" He called but the other seemed not to hear, his eyes lost in the past. The red-head slipped backwards, bracing himself against the wall, faintly he heard the cries of someone else...

"Ro....xas?" The the red-head issued a cry and Roxas' heart immediately clenched.

"AXEL!" Roxas cried, not completely lost on what was happening here, He and Sora had had the same problem. He tried to get to him, but the black haired turk made it to his lover first.

The moment the gun was cocked again, everyone was tense once more. Elena rasied her own gun, aiing it for Roxas' head. She didn;t understand what was wrong with Reno = but whatever was going on this blonde was causing it. rufus was right, something was off and bad about these guys. He hadn;t even TOUCHED Reno and now look at him!

Rude hurried forward to Tseng's side, helping to heft the red-head backwards. His friend seemed to be in pain... but how? that blonde hadn;t even touched him... was it even plausible.

Sora was tense, but with both guns cocked and loaded, he didn't want to use another reflect spell. the last thing they needed was bullets flying everywhere - he didn't want anyone to get hurt! No. Sudden. Movements.

Roxas tried to protest as they dragged Axel away but then he felt something lightly tap against his shoe. He looked down.

The were sitting on a bench in the park of Delshad, the setting sun ghosting off of their finished picnic.
"what do you think?" Roxas asked, holding out the blue marble as it reflected in the sun. The best time to do this was right when it set - it caught all the right colors.
"For the gazzillionith time Roxas, it's pretty. Stop rubbing it in." Axel grumbled.
"Do you want to try?" Roxas asked.
"Heh, sorry, blue's not my color."
"Somehow I'd knew you say that. that's why I'm giving you this." Roxas said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the red marble. He set it in the other's hands.
"Roxas... you didn't have to..."
"I always want us to see the same view Axel." Roxas said. Then grinned. "Besides I think Hayner got bored with it."
"Oh so now It's just some kid;s broken toy?!"
Roxas laughed, and together they looked at the marbles as they reflected the sun.

Roxas looked up desperately at the Turks, taking his lover away. "Please! Please you don't understand!" He cried, tears in his eyes. "You can't take him away from me... not again!" He tried to step forward-

"Roxas don't move!" Sora snapped, and Roxas seemed to freeze as if still bound by his Somebody's words. He looked at the Turks. "Please we didn't come here to fight... we just needed to find him. He's a friend of ours!" He said, slowly pointing to Reno. "Can't we you know... discuss this - WITHOUT the weapons?"

Reno? a friend of their's? He didn't even recognize them. rude scoffed at the brunette's statement, looking towards his leader for orders. They still had to carry out what Rufus had said - and in his eyes these starngers had become rather dangerous.

Elena's eyes narrowed. Discuss this? Oh, and what did he want next? A tea party? She glanced at Tseng, waiting for confirmation. the moment he gave the word, she would shoot.


Yuffie knew it was a rhetorical quesiton - Aeris knew that answer, so she decided not to say a word. When the other started transitioning over she need not ask who Aeris meant. Aeris had told her about Zack before... but she knew how hard it had been on her...

When she heard Terra though her eyebrows furrowed. so it had been Ven on the table... She bit her lip. how ironic... Zack had been a SOLDIER and Terra... just unlucky. both experiments... - or no... all of the first Chasers had been probably.

Yuffie watched her friend quietly. She admired the woman a lot. she was so storng, so willful. she... poured her heart into everything she did and even in the worst of situations she always kept that smile and silent support. She wasn't afraid to fight or speak up for herself and anyone else...

And now Yuffie knew the woman was determined... the ninja sighed, then smiled a bit, watching the elder woman collecting the files. She leant down, picking up some loose files, and Aeris looked at her in surprise. "Let me help." Yuffie murmured with a smile. Aeris was still her friend... and she didn't desereve to go through all the hard stuff alone... sometimes you needed a friend to help out. "You might lose your eyesight reading so much pinkie." The ninja joked.

[Rikugurl]

Tseng continued to cock his gun as Rude pulled the redhead away. His eyes narrowed as he looked at Roxas.... the look on his face...
He could feel eyes on him, knowing that they were ready for an order. There was no way he could back down on Rufus's order... but he could remember that face that Roxas gave him.

"Come on Tseng... you better take care of her! I'm counting on you!" A man with black spiky hair pointed at the bindied man before he ran off.

He growled slightly as he glanced at Rude. "Take Reno away." He looked back at the blonde and then the rest of the group, hearing Reno shout in the background while the other Turk took him away from the scene.

Brown eyes looked down at the blue. Not all Turks were heartless... for example, Cissnei.

He pointed the gun at Roxas's head but nodded. "If you want to talk, you'll have to talk to Rufus. If you want to make it out alive... you do things our way... not yours."
He looked passed the blonde at the others. "First... get rid of those weapons."

Ven growled. "You put your guns down first!"
"Our way."
Ven growled again, but Aero Maxim disappeared.
Riku frowned too but Twilight Requiem was now gone as well.



Aerith smiled as she nodded to her friend. When they were done picking up the files, they quickly left the basement. Before they went to the study, she asked Leon to see if he could destroy the door... so it could never be opened again. He didn't bother questioning... usually Aerith did thing for a reason...

The klepto and Cetra went to the study and got comfortable. She looked through the files and sighed. So many of them. The thing that stood out was that... Terra, Ventus and Aqua weren't the first experiments... they were the last. It seemed these experiments started a good 50 years ago. She decided to look at the three Chaser's files last.

She sighed as she handed some files over Yuffie to look at. She opened a few files, seeing a picture of the person they experimented on. The difference was that these men and women seemed to volunteer for the experiments.
On the third folder, she blinked, reading the name.
"Farran Yamada..."

She tilted her head, seeing the man's picture. He hand light hair with aquamarine eyes. She smiled faintly then looked at the status. It said deceased next to it. She read more of the file, seeing that out of all the test subject, this man's heart was the easiest to accept the Darkness. Farren means 'land'... it must of been where his mother got his name.
She turned the folder so Yuffie could see it. "This must be Riku's father."

[Reno]

Rude nodded quietly, hefting his red-head friend up and hurried away from the scene. He could still see the look on blonde's face though... it was... very curious. It looked almost heartbroken. But he still didn;t like what they did to Reno.

Elena's eyes narrowed as Tseng began to talk but made no protests. It was his decision...

Roxas was silent as he let go of Oblivion and Oathkeeper - and they disappeared before they ever hit the ground. He crossed his arms in front of himself somewhat nervously.

Ultima disappeared in a muted flash and Sora straightened. He looked at the guns warily but he didn;t THINK they were going to shoot... some sort of understanding had passed between at least Roxas and Tseng.


Yuffie followed after, holding a stack of files herself. She passed Leon with a wary smile before she continued into the study. They set the files onto the table - and set the three Chasers aside.

She flipped through a few of them carefully, reading the words on the pages. Some of them just sounded downright nasty. Most of them had been failures.

At Aerith's word she looked up and blinked. "Wow... they look a lot alike don;t they?" she reached out taking the file and looked it over. "You think we should show this to Riku when he visits again...?"

[Rikugurl]

Tseng nodded and looked back at Elena. "Alright... follow us." He turned, knowing that Elena would keep an eye on them as they slowly walked down the hallway to an elevator that was blocked with the bars. He pulled out a small devices and clicked a button, making the bars returned above the door. He pressed the elevator button and it opened.

Him and the blonde woman walked in first then watched the four come in after. "Press 48".
Ven looked down and pressed it, making the door close and the boot move up. When they reached the 48th floor, the doors opened and a gun barrel pressed against the back of Riku's back. "Out you go."

Riku growled as he felt it and moved out with the others. They were walked... by gun force, down the hallway. When they reached a door that read:

President Shinra

they stopped.
Tseng walked ahead and opened the door slowly. "Boss... we have the intruders..."

He let them in one by one. "Line up in front of the desk." His gun followed them as they did as he said. At every order, Ven's nerves grew more and more thin. His fist clenched as he looked at the back of a wheelchair... the ol mighty boss was handicapped. Pffft.

Tseng walked up to the desk and frowned. "They wanted to.... negotiate." He leaned down to the man's ear and started to whisper. "They have done something to Reno..."



Aerith tilted her head but smiled. "I think he would... it doesn't seem like he was a bad guy or anything... maybe Riku's mother would want the picture." She smiled softly as she started to look through the others. It was pretty much the same... and after a good hour or so... she reached the last ones.

She sighed and looked at Yuffie, smiling softly before she handed the woman a random file. It happened to be Aqua's. She took Ven's and opened it, his eyes widening a bit to see a picture of the frozen boy. She bit her lip as she started reading, seeing that they had done countless experiments on him... and the one that started her... was the fact that.... he was dead when they did it.

That couldn't be right. Ven was very much alive. "Hmm...." She turned the page and looked through the rest of the file. The last experiment was Darkness injection. It was to see what Darkness would do to a dead body. Ansem... was no less horrible than Hojo! Her eyes angered as she continued to read and turned the page.

That was when she blinked. The hand writing stopped in the middle of a sentence... and the rest of the page was blank. There were rips and tears in the blank page next to it, seeing black burn marks. She slowly nodded, understanding. Darkness brought a dead body back to life... but she wondered... if that was the case... how come he didn't turn into a Heartless? Perhaps other experiments prevented him to? Or.... maybe not all hearts taken over by Darkness turned into Heartless.

[Reno]

Elena's eyes narrowed but nodded, staring at the four uneasily. She watched them closely, watching as the blonde named Roxas bent down picking up a... marble? It was definitely too small to be a materia. "Move." She ordered and the four did. Elena kept behind them.

Sora stayed close to Riku, feeling the other tense beside him when they were shoved out of the elevator. He glanced back, paling ever so lightly at the silver gun pressed against his husband's back. He blinked rapidly, trying not to think about what could happen if the Turk shot.

The other gun was literally against Roxas' head, but the blonde didn't filnch or even really seem to care. He was closer to Axel then he had been in a long time.

They were forced down the hall and into the boss' office. Sora's shoulders slumped in relief as both Elena and Tseng backed off. He clasped his hand in Riku's comfortingly.

Roxas' eyes wandered around the office, and rasied, narrowing at the side of the keyblade above the boss' desk.

"I see...." Rufus said coolly, his eyes narrowing onto the four strangers before him. His eyes wandered to the silver-haired one and scoffed. Another one of Hojo's creations? No his eyes didn't glow. "Alright, negeotiate."

Sora frowned, looking up towards the blade above the desk as well, then looked at the boss. Well... here they were. "Now, before we all get off on the wrong foot maybe we should try introductions. I'm Sora, this is my husband Riku, my twin Ven, and..." He paused. "My Nobody Roxas." He indicated each in turn.

Rufus' eyebrow rasied at the uncommon term. "Nobody? That;s not a very nice way to introduce a friend."

Sora chuckled. "That's... not what I meant. He's... sort of the other side of my heart. What I mean is..." The brunette paused unsuredly, then slowly took a breath. "Twenty years ago - was this world attacked by shadows?" Everyone in the room tensed. "They're called Heartless. They're borne from the darkness in people's hearts... and they seek out hearts of other people... and take them. I'm guessing your red-haired friend lost his heart at some point... and became one of the shadow creatures as well."

Elena lowered her gun slowly, her eyes wide. How did he know that...?

"But... once a heartless seperates the heart the soul is split as well." Roxas continued. "Creating what we've termed a Nobody. Sora became a heartless one time as well... creating me... and when your friend was taken away his nobody was created and named Axel. Axel's my best friend... and my lover."

Rufus' eyes narrowed then he chuckled. "Tseng." He said short-temperedly. "They sound insane."


Yuffie flipped though them as well, but soon they had finished hrough all of them... except three. She and Aeris shared an uneasy look, and she took Aqua's file while the woman took Ven's.

Aqua's file was very short. It almost seemed like either they had lost interest in the woman... or had found a better subject to test on. Yuffie shivered, skimming the lines:

Keyblade lost... not accepting... coma

The darkness caused Aqua's keyblade to become... lost? But why she wondered. Or maybe that was the purpose, otherwise she could have escaped. It seemed however that Aqua hadn't reacted well to the darkness and had slipped into a coma?

Her file ended there. Unlike Ven they left the woman alone while she was gone - possibly afraid of losing her. White hot anger shot up inside the ninja. How could these... these people treat others in sich horrible ways?! Those kids... they had been so young... It was amazing they even turned out semi-normal at this point.

Yuffie set down Aqua's slowly, just as Aerith put down Ven;s. They shared an uneasy glance then slowly there eyes turned down onto the last of them. Terra's.

Were they really ready to read this one?

[Rikugurl]

The man with long, black hair stayed silent. He frowned as he listened to this all... yes, they were attacked by shadows about twenty years ago... and that was when many of the Turks fell... including Reno. However... the rest of the story seemed.... pretty bogus. Unfortunately... it was the only type of explanation they had gotten for Reno's disappearance.

He shook his head then looked down as his name was called. "Boss." He frowned as he heard Rufus speak. They were wasting the boss's time.
He stepped forward and frowned. "I said you could talk to us... not tell us stories."

"HEY! Since when the fuck did we say it was fucking story time!?" The other blonde snapped out but quickly stopped as a gun was pointed at him. Brown eyes narrowed as his finger on the trigger started to pulled.... but suddenly a noise made them all stop.
Tseng looked up at the siren that was going off....
The fire alarm...?


Only a few halls down, a fire started to rage through the room. Couches and chairs were aflame as well as the curtains and papers. Black smoke started to bellow out of the windows and the door as a darker man rushed out, covering his mouth.

Tseng quickly left the room, leaving Elena to keep the four in check. He looked down the hallway and frowned. "Rude!? What happened!? Where's Reno!?"


Aerith took a deep breath and smiled at her friend before she slowly stood and pulled the chair besides her. Now they could look at it together. She pulled the file with her and brushed her hand over it before she slowly opened it.

At the top was a picture of Terra... and stapled to it was.... a picture of the creature that she had seen in the cell. It was... Terra too. Green eyes softened as she reached out, slowly brushing the picture of Terra... along his cheek.
You... looked just like him.... before he changed his hair to that silly style....

[Reno]

They all tensed at the other as he started to pull on the trigger, but the noise of the alarm made them all jump. Roxas and Sora looked around. Lights were flashes in an almost epileptic effect.

Sora's eyes narrowed. It was a fire alarm all right. they had similar one go off at his school before. They watched as the black-haired turk took his leave.

Elena however stepped forth, closer to her boss, her gun never leaving the four's sight.

Rufus scoffed, irratably. "What now?"


Rude coyghed at the smoke in his lungs and pointed within. "Inside... he did it." Reno had been yelling in pain when the fire erupted - there was no known cause really but... but he knew it had come from his friend.


Yuffie looked over the file, frowning a bit at the pictures. Aerith was right - he wasn't human...

She glanced over at the cetra when she got that nostalogic look on her face, then sighed. Slowly she looked down at started to read the report.

Name: Terra
Height: 5'8''
Weight: 150
Eye color: Blue
Hair color: Brown
Blood Type: AB
Magical strength: Land
Magical weakness: Fire

Beast: Terra
Height: 6'5''
Weight: 180
Eye color: Gold
Fur color: Black and Brown
Blood Type: AB
Magical Strength: Darkness
Magical Weakness: Light

Yuffie's eyes narrowed slowly, biting her lip. The next page revealed line upon line of notes taken... The administration fo darkness was done differently one the last three chasers had been brought in. It was used with... laser technology. And it seemed Terra had accepted it readily...