Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.
Pairings: Implied Roxas/Axel
Superchick: Beauty From Pain: "My dreams ran like sand through the fists that I made."
There was a time Roxas was quiet. He stacked shelves in the castle's library with a smooth efficiency born of long practice, and careful precision. He had learnt early on that Zexion didn't tolerate mediocrity.
Roxas had been the Library's keeper for a very long time. Sometimes, lost in the maze of endless knowledge, breathing in the smell of ancient books, he wondered if one day he might just lose himself. Listening to his own quiet, steady footsteps tap a lonely echo across the marble floor, he imagined all the dust from yellowed pages sinking into his veins and becoming a part of him forever.
Some days, he wondered if it had happened already.
Roxas had watched over the library for so long that he had begun to wonder if the distorted memories of his life before the invasion were even real at all. Hazy dreams of summer days, bright and full of laughter that danced on the wind. Faces laced with meaning forever drifted just past recognition. Smiles and voices bleached vague and golden by the silver chains wrapped delicately around his wrists, fading ever faster as the years passed slowly by.
The chains were always cold against his wrists, glittering as they soaked up the heat rising from his skin, using it to send whispers of servitude and forgetfulness deep into the corners of his mind.
He thought he might have had a family once, before he was taken away.
The metal burned cold and unforgiving against his skin, flowing with words of liquid fire.
Roxas ran a finger along the spine of a deep red book. It was old, cracks and stains rested under the layer of dust coating the cover. Roxas frowned, and moved his slim fingers over the indents of runes long forgotten. It was a beautiful red. Rich and dark. He closed his eyes and tried to understand why his heart was suddenly slamming against his ribs. Hard enough to make him wince and clutch his chest, chains flaring bright and blinding, cutting half formed memories to shreds as he screwed his eyes shut, and willed himself to paint colours and feelings onto the backs of his eyelids, hold onto them in any way he could, before they were taken away.
He awoke on the stone floor cold and uncomfortable, a book clutched tight to his chest. He silently pushed it back in place, a familiar sense of unease creeping down his spine.
Axel hated working in the kitchens.
He hated the steam, the way the smell of chopped vegetables clung to his clothes and skin. He hated the monotony, the routine of chopping, dicing, slicing, grinding. He'd have had the place up in flames a dozen times, if the safety charms hadn't kicked in.
Axel hated the Castle's magic. It was a constant, stifling presence, hanging heavy in the air. Eyes that never slept, watching their every move.
He didn't belong here. He was a member of the Thirteenth Battalion – The Kingdom's elite. With the killing power of a thousand soldiers, the troop was made up of just a dozen men, and a captain that could destroy the sun if he put his mind to it.
He was dangerous, he was merciless, but more than that, he was beautiful.
Axel looked up towards the kitchen's skylight, gazing into the same taunting blue that haunted his dreams, his nightmares, his memories… lingered on the fringes of his mind, and lay in the shadows behind his every waking thought.
Lip curling into a snarl, Axel fought to push his thoughts aside. The knives were sharp, and thoughts of Roxas made his hands shake.
Author's note: I was unsure about posting this, since I've never posted an ongoing story here before, and I think this could work as a one shot anyway. I'm currently writing more of it, so if anyone wants more, let me know. Any feedback would be appreciated.
