Title: Forget About Love

Author: Digimon Empress Yaten (de yaten)

Notes: Companion/sequel to Arabian Nights. It can stand alone, but means more with Arabian Nights in mind. Thanks to my beta for putting up with the huge amount of parenthesis.

Warnings: Axel/Jasmine. Dark, violent, noncon , nothing very graphic. Edited 4.10.2008.

Disclaimer: Don't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, or their respective characters.

it's wrong wrong wrong but let's do it anyway

"Please," she whispered, and Axel knew she meant it because her eyes were wide and she kept throwing glances to the bedroom, tugging against his hold. She hadn't struggled against him the last time, when she had been young and naive and sad beyond reason.

"Please," she said again, and for a moment Axel thought of letting her ago, leading her back to her oversized plush bed, and watching her fall asleep. He had been watching her since their last meeting, sometimes in the dark, sometimes spying her playing with that oversized cat in the courtyard. It was just so see if her heart was ripe for the plucking, of course, as he told the Superior.

But he couldn't let her go, not yet, not now, not when so many things were yet to be done. Kiss her, maybe fuck her, steal her heart. He wasn't sure in what order it was to be done and only one of those options was negotiable.

She stopped struggling when Axel's eyes darkened on the vein in her neck, stretched taut by her efforts and pulsing wildly from fear, panic, and maybe the remembrance of her foolish childhood words to him.

He held her against the wall, held her tight, a direct mimic of their first encounter. His lips pressed against the vein, which fluttered against him – it only served to remind him what she had (a heart) and what he had (an empty space.)

He bit down, drawing blood, but she was strangely silent. Axel looked up, wondering if maybe she had fainted (princesses tended to faint) but was met with those large brown eyes, unwavering.

"Please," she said, taking a hitched breath before licking her lips and continuing. "Please don't do this, Axel."

Axel smiled. It scared her, and he didn't mean to scare her at first, but for some reason pinning people to a wall and smiling did that every time. He released her hands and frowned, and wondered why she wasn't running away with the freedom he gave her.

"I've got a hypothetical question, Princess," he said, finally, and the Memory of his voice was clear on her face. "If you had to choose between your heart," his hands traced the symbol in red burns on her chest, "and your body…" and those hands made her freeze (and burn) as they touched places only Aladdin had been allowed to, "…which would you choose?"

He watched as her eyes (or was it a trick of the light?) reflected the Darkness that had once consumed her, and she raised her chin before she answered.

"I would rather have my Heart forever than lose it…" She paused, swallowing, both knowing and ignorant of what her words really meant, "… to you."

He smiled, again, though this time he meant to scare her.

"Why?" The question was hissed and earnest because he wants to know why this Princess of Heart would rather live with rape and trauma and sadness than be a shell without any of them.

Her answer was steady, and she didn't know how much her words (couldn't) hurt him.

"A body without a Heart is Nothing at all."

Or maybe she did know and (clever girl) that look in her eyes was nothing more than satisfaction at having (almost) wounded him.

He pinned her, again, and decided to tell the Superior her heart isn't quite ready yet—there's been some recent emotional trauma that needs time to fester for a while, ripen the Darkness inside.

He dragged her into a portal and he wasn't sure where they ended up, but it was dark and empty enough that no one would come across them. He lay her on the ground and she pleaded one last time before wrinkling her eyes shut and turning away.

And afterwards, in a white castle hallway with white doors and floors, Axel could do nothing but give a (meaningless) frown, because he knew her heart will heal the wounds he gave her (intentional and non) and his empty space will only echo the silence without a heartbeat.