A/N: Okay, it's been a while...er, three months...since I actually wrote anything. Not terribly happy with this. It's set sometime during CoM...I'm not entirely sure when. There's some implied Rokuaku here (yes, Roxas is seme) and cussing. And Marluxia's a jerk.
Not intentionally depressing. I swear to whatever deity / deities you happen to worship.
I don't know if I got the genre right, but oh well.
Disclaimer: I don't own KH:CoM or any of the characters, settings, etc. Not even the game, unfortunately. (I cheated and read the manga.)
"So. Namine." She could hear the smirk in his voice. The witch froze, blue eyes wide with fear, as the black-gloved hand came down on her shoulder. "You thought you could get away with defying me?"
A pink flower petal landed on her nose and stayed there. She didn't try to get it off. It was a test.
"You're worthless, now. Do you understand that, my little witch? Worthless. Sora has come too far, we've lost too much. The project we've been working on here is cancelled. You're of no further use to the Organization. If I killed you, no one would miss you." Gods- how she hated that voice, and the note of amusement that crept into it. "No, darling, Sora doesn't count. Neither does his Other."
She forced down a sob, shaking slightly, eyes now tightly shut to prevent any tears. She wasn't supposed to be able to feel, but this verbal abuse hurt.
"You're crying." He sounded even more amused now, speaking softly into her ear. "Stop faking it, Namine. It's useless anyway. You're a toy, a worthless little toy, and I can replace you when you break."
A tear leaked out, despite her efforts. "…I'm not," she mumbled.
"What's that? The little toy speaks. You're not supposed to speak, darling. I didn't tell you to." There was an edge of anger to his voice, now. "And you know what happens to those who choose to disobey me, Namine…"
"Don't you fucking dare, Marluxia." She heard flames crackle suddenly into existence, the soft whoosh of a weapon being summoned. It was Axel. The one who had told her to defy Marluxia in the first place. "Leave her alone."
She heard the swish of an Organization cloak as Marluxia turned around to face the Flurry of Dancing Flames. "You forget, Eight, that I am in charge-"
"Oh, really? I'm your superior. Eight beats eleven. And I'm telling you don't you dare hurt her."
"I am the Lord of Castle Oblivion."
"The project's been disbanded, Marluxia, your 'Lord of Castle Oblivion' excuse no longer applies." A laugh. "How fitting, Castle Oblivion. That's where you're going, and it's your own damn fault. You got yourself into this mess after all. If you hadn't been so hell-bent on power then you wouldn't be completely screwed."
"And what about you, Axel?" Marluxia's voice was cold. She felt his hand tighten on her shoulder, gave a little muffled cry of pain. No one noticed.
"I don't plan on sticking around that long. Now Burn!" There was another whoosh, this time of a dark portal. She felt the hand on her shoulder disappear. The portal closed, and it took her a second to figure it out-
She ducked just in time, and the chakram (trailing flames) shot over her head, and wound up getting stuck in the opposite wall.
"Namine- oh shit-" Running footsteps, and then there was a hand on each shoulder. Gentle, now. She looked up and saw Axel, looking concerned, crouching down so that he was at her eye level. "Namine, are you okay? Did I hit you? Did he do anything?"
She shook her head, tears still running down her cheeks. Lifting a hand to wipe them away, she found that Axel had taken her wrist, and he held it there. "If he hadn't done anything, you wouldn't be crying. Tell me, Namine, please."
"…He said I was worthless. That I was nothing more than a toy, and no one would miss me if I was gone."
"It's not true. Don't believe it if someone tells you that, Namine. Got it memorized?" The pyro smiled, in an attempt to get her to do the same.
She nodded blankly, trying to pull away. Axel smiled sadly and let go of her wrist. "It'll be alright. I promise. Roxas will kill me if it isn't, soon. Marluxia doesn't stand a chance against Sora anyways…You'll be okay."
And he left.
She stayed there, clutching her sketchbook in trembling hands as she cried. When Axel finally came back hours later, he found her asleep, still clinging to her sketchbook as though it were the only thing keeping her alive.
He pried it away, and found that there were words scrawled across the page in red crayon. Most of it was illegible, due to smearing, splotchy marks indicating where tears had fallen, or simply being scratched out. He could make out only two lines.
And when you called me worthless,
something broke inside.