STALEMATE
Rated MATURE for violence and Axel's dirty mouth.
No pairing - although there is suggested Zexion/Lexeaus.
Written for REMI.
Request promt "CHESS", requested blood/sex/kinks.
Unfortunately I was only able to successfully work in the blood. Hopefully you still like it, Remi and, if not, I'll make it up to you with another request fic of your choice. 3

For all his trickery and back-stabbing and sly jumping around, Number Eight of the Organization had never been good at board games. Yes, he could stab you in the back and by the time you'd bled to death convinced you that it was really for the greater glory and, yes, he could talk his way into absolutely anyone's bed, but that was where the problem laid. Talking was not the strong aspect when it came to board games, and Axel could not wrap his mouth around all those pretty pieces and make them work magic like he could with his words.

Axel was not good at board games and, therefore, Axel did not enjoy board games. Checkers, Scrabble, Monopoly, Life - you name it, he hated it, which only made the situation he had found himself in all the more amusing to anyone watching from the sidelines.

If questioned for said events, Axel would blame Castle Oblivion itself. Locked away in a prison of white with all the members he hated and normally he was okay with that as long as he had the members he could stand around to balance it off. When confronted by Zexion and his blunt insults, he could go to Demyx ; whenever there was Vexen or even Lexeaus' disturbingly moral sense of logic regarding everything, there was Xigbar to take the tension away ; and when cornered by Marluxia or Larxene, he could turn to Roxas. Or, to be more accurate, he HAD been able to turn to Roxas, but the Nobody had long since abandoned their cause.

Now, he had none of them and was left with the distinct feeling that their Superior was just trying to fuck with his head.

What reminded him of despair turned to loneliness to anxiousness to anger to vengeful, and that was how Axel wound up pacing in the empty recreational room on the fifth floor, plotting. This was where Lexeaus unintentionally found the pyromaniac when he made his way in, a fold-up chessboard cradled under one arm.

The two froze and exchanged equally blank looks of surprise at seeing the other for a moment before Axel's expression adjusted into a slight scowl. Lexeaus airily pretend not to notice the foul mood Axel appeared to be in and went about un-folding his board and setting it up, languidly pulling two chairs up to either side of the board while Axel watched with a mixture of suspicion and curiosity mingling across his pale face.

Finally, Lexeaus sank down into one of the chairs and waved a hand across the board, looking up at Axel. "Care to play a game?" He asked, face perfectly neutral as Axel's lowered into another scowl.

"No," Eight spat without skipping a beat, looking positively repulsed by the idea of sitting down and playing a board game with the other. Lexeaus frowned softly for a second before lowering his hand, picking up the varying black and white pieces and beginning to arrange them upon the board.

"Unless, of course, you don't know how to play."

Axel bristled at the insult, brilliant acidic eyes narrowing in contempt at the large man who seemed to take no notice of the Flurry's sudden change in temper. "I know how to play chess," Axel snapped, striding over and violently throwing himself down into the chair opposite Lexeaus. "I'm not stupid."

Lexeaus graced him with a small half smile, setting the Queen on his side in place and then clasped his large hands together. "My apologies, Eight," He offered and Axel snorted. He looked down to the board with a thoughtful expression and suddenly lifted to pick it up and spin it around so the black side faced Axel instead of the white.

The Flurry looked perplexed by the adjustment but didn't question it, watching instead as Lexeaus selected a white pawn and moved it forward to two squares. Finished with his turn, he clasped his hands together and looked expectantly up at Axel.

Axel leaned forward, eyes darting over the pieces before he quickly selected a black pawn, jumping it forward it's two squares and looking to Lexeaus.

Game play continued on as such for a few minutes in silence before Lexeaus moved his bishop forward, taking out a black knight that Axel had carelessly left out in the open. Instantly, the Flurry was on his feet, enraged. "Bullshit! You can't fucking do that!" He roared, pointing angrily to the bishop.

Lexeaus calmly folded his hands in his laps, looking expressively up at Axel. "I thought you said you knew how to play chess, Eight," He replied simply.

Axel gritted his teeth, trying not to look as stung as he felt and forced himself back into his chair, glowering as Lexeaus scooped up his dead knight and placed it on the side-lines beside a few black pawns that he'd already taken out. "Cock sucker," The Flurry grumbled under his breath and was somewhat surprised when Lexeaus didn't react in the slightest. It grated on his nerves because his out-bursts were usually stilled, or he at least received some sort of worthwhile reaction from whoever he was insulting, but Lexeaus just continued to re-arrange the captured pieces on the side-lines as if he hadn't heard Axel at all. He narrowed his acidic eyes and quickly played his turn, not paying much attention to the move he'd made and not stopping to think it through entirely.

Lexeaus took his bishop next, and Axel let out a snarl of disbelief and disagreement, slamming a fist down on the table with enough force to make the pieces quiver. "You're cheating!" He accused, angry eyes focusing on his Superior, who only rumbled a laugh and shook his head. Axel balled his fist up tighter and snatched up one of his knights, moving it a square farther than it was allowed to go in accordance to the rules Mister Chess had set up.

Lexeaus didn't blink an eye.

Axel growled and leaned forward, eyes set determinedly upon Lexeaus' neutral face. "You know, for a scientist you're pretty fucking stupid," He spat and waited on the edge of his seat for a reaction.

Lexeaus glanced up at him with the slightest trace of interest and replied with, "Hm?"

Axel continued to seethe.

Another twenty minutes crawled by and Axel lost both his rooks and his Queen, and only managed to dislodge a knight and a bishop from Lexeaus' ranks. Lexeaus had set up a steady, strict defensive and offensive agenda while Axel was shoving his pieces wherever they could fit, more interested in pissing Lexeaus off than the game.

"I don't know what Zexion sees in you," He tried venomously. "You're just like a big fucking rock that likes to pretend that there's a brain underneath all those muscles."

Lexeaus glanced up distractedly, worrying his lower lip and looking over the board. "Yes, well we can't all be the same, now can we?" He replied good naturedly, picking up his Queen and sliding the piece across a row of black squares to wipe out one of Axel's pawns.

Axel grimaced at the loss and carried on. "But there's nothing interesting about you. I'm sure that if you hadn't been one of the original six, Xemnas himself would have bumped you off long ago."

"You're weak and stupid and you wouldn't even fight to save your life, nevermind for this cause. I've never seen you go out on a mission - all you do is research bullshit ideas."

"And what kind of element is earth? You control rocks, and that's pretty fucking sad. Anyone can control a rock - you pick it up, you hurl it at someone's head. It takes no skill or talent whatsoever."

Lexeaus continued to reply to all of Axel's efforts at riling him up with a soft, knowing smile and a change in the subject.

Another half an hour later and Axel was getting nowhere and was only receiving a bad reputation at chess for all his efforts. "Check," Lexeaus said and Axel glanced down to the board sharply, grinding his teeth together. His side of the board had been wiped clean and all he had left to call his army was a few measly pawns and a knight. The call might as well been a checkmate, or at least a stalemate because there was no way he could win this.

"Fuck this," Axel announced, pushing himself to his feet and smacked the board to the floor, sending the pieces flying. Lexeaus sat up sharply in surprise, and watched in horror as Axel proceeded to smash the board in half with the heel of his heavy black boot and light the entire thing on fire.

When the flame had ignited fully, Axel turned on his heel and glared at the stony number Five. "You're fucking pathetic," He snarled, gesticulating angrily towards the burning chess board. "I don't have time for these stupid games-"

Axel was cut off when a large fist roughly the size of his head crushed against his jaw, sending him stumbling back. He tripped over his over-turned chair and fell with a thud to the floor. Already feeling the blood trickling down the side of his mouth from where he'd bitten himself, Axel lifted a hand to touch gingerly at the crimson liquid before turning a shocked gaze to Lexeaus.

The large man was standing, fists drawn into balls at his side and his face was tilted downwards so the way the fire played against it, enhancing shadows and wrinkles only served to make him look thrillingly frightening.

Axel moved to scramble to his feet, rolling onto his side and was disrupted by a sudden sharp kick to his side. He let out a wheeze of pain as the air fled his lungs and rolled back onto the floor, peering up as Lexeaus towered over him.

The larger man leaned down and wrapped a hand around Axel's pale, skinny throat, and hauled Axel to his feet like he was a rag dog. The Flurry gasped, hands grasping upon the large one wrapped around his throat and he winced up at Lexeaus' set, blank face. "Hey- Five, n-no hard feel-"

The words were cut short when Lexeaus shook him violently, only serving to further enhance the rag doll-esque image, and tossed him back towards the ground. Axel hit the over-turned metal chair with a sickening thunk and released a sharp snarl of pain, rolling onto his side with a hand clasped around his stomach. Cracked rib, his mind supplied and then tuned out when a hand grabbed a fistful of his bright hair and yanked him upwards again.

Axel winced, gritting his teeth and peered up at Lexeaus with a vague sense of doom on the horizon. Five's face was very close and was still annoyingly vacant of emotion, although Axel was finding the neutral expression more frightening than irritating now. He tightened his grip on Axel's hair and the Flurry hissed in pain, reaching up to grab his hand and dig his nails into the flesh there.

Lexeaus seemed unphased, jerking Axel forward and hissed, "I know what you're up to, Eight."

"Up to? I'm not up to anyth-"

Lexeaus smacked him across the face and Axel choked and sputtered out blood and a few pearly white teeth onto his coat. Lexeaus shook him again despite Axel's cry of pain and leaned in close once more, hissing out, "I know what you're up to, Axel, and I do not approve of it."

Axel spat blood onto the ground, anti-freeze green eyes angry and narrowed. "And who said I gave a fuck about what you approved and didn't approve of?" He snapped in response. Another smack across the face and this time let his head hang when it had snapped to the side, a string of bloody saliva rolling past his lips and hanging down in the air.

"I know that in your selfish little head all you're concerned about is yourself and the deserter, Thirteen. You were always a wild card, but you're already going too far," Lexeaus continued, his hiss lowering to just quiet words that were still amazingly stern in their message. "This is not a game, Eight."

The Flurry grinned, exposing his bloodied mouth wide to Lexeaus and tilted his head back to stare up at the taller man with that shit-eating grin in place. "On the contrary, I think this is a game," He replied, letting a spout of blood trail down his lips and drip off of his angular chin. His green eyes flashed defiantly and he sat up straighter, digging his nails into Lexeaus' hand. "And I intend to WIN."

Lexeaus responded with another hit, this time a curled fist dead on to Axel's smiling face and his inferior's nose snapped under the sheer force of the punch. Axel released a broken cry at the punch, head jerking back from the force and gasped admist the blood beginning to run down his face from his now broken nose.

He gripped the red hair tighter in his hand and shoved Axel back, smashing his face against the white tiling and painting it red with his dripping blood. He lifted his face and knocked him back down again, pounding his head against the tiling until Axel sputtered and writhed, kicking his legs out and tearing jagged marks on the top of Lexeaus' hand.

Five tossed him away then, straightening up and watching Eight sputter and choke on his blood and vomit across the flawless white tiles. He stalked forward, kicking Axel over to lie flat on his back and centered his boot on the younger's chest. Axel began to flail and sob out again as he applied pressure slowly, scratching at the toe of the boot desperately.

"For your sake I should hope you aren't playing chess," Lexeaus rumbled, pressing his weight down until he heard a snap. After the second snap, Axel cried out in pain, the blood running down his face down and mingling with his blood red hair, painting his pale skin crimson.

Lexeaus smiled cheerfully down at his writhing inferior, pressing his heel down again to hear the sweet melody of another snap. "Leave Zexion out of it," He warned and was gone.

Beside Axel on the floor the charred remains of the chess board continued to smoke softly, filling the white room with the disgusting smell of burning plastic. Admist his blood and bile and broken bones, Axel began to laugh. The sound grew to something loud and hysterical and border-line sanity questioning, and he lifted a hand to wipe the blood and drool sliding down the side of his mouth.

Leave Zexion out? What would be the fun in that? Zexion was the opposing bishop and Lexeaus was just his stupid, lumbering rook.

Reviews are much appreciated, as always.