Master of Shadows
Axel loitered on the ridge in the Land of Dragons on orders from Xemnas to find serenity shards for one of Vexen's stupid experiments.
He'd been sitting behind a rock in the snow for a couple of hours now waiting for an Assault Rider to have the misfortune of meeting him and had spent at least half of it plotting his revenge on the person who stuck him up there.
He shuffled his feet in the snow hearing nothing, but a dull crunch beneath his boots.
The wind blew past his ears. It had practically forced him off the sheer edge of the cliff when he had emerged from his portal, which was why he was now cowered behind a rock and trying to make himself as small as possible.
He shivered as the wind weaved itself happily through all the gaps in his coat and tried to justify to himself that these were extenuating circumstances and that the rocky wind breaker was the only thing separating him from certain death. Not that anyone in the Land of Dragons would care about his reputation anyway.
The absurdity of the situation had not escaped him; he was a fire element for fucks sake and felt thoroughly ashamed.
Maybe Roxy would mourn for him and cry a little if he died. Tears in those pretty eyes, his beautiful lips curled into miserable pout. He smiled slyly and mused that it would be nice, but then again he would be dead so it wouldn't be able to enjoy it. Unless the blond was into necrophilia of course. He wiped that thought from his mind, it was way too weird.
He could just pretend to be dead and frighten Roxas into being with him, but that probably wouldn't work either and he would get killed for real.
The main problem with the mission, he was alone and had a lot of time to think. He doubted that anyone for the camp in the sheltered plains took a nice evening stroll into the mountains. The coat that he always wore with the hood up was now caked in so much snow that he doubted anyone would see him anyway. He was so goddamn bored.
Finally his brain stopped functioning and he suspiciously eyed the surroundings in front of him that was nothing but a big depressing mound of rock.
He toyed with the idea of making a little snowman in the style of Marluxia and laughing maniacally before melting it into a puddle. Realising that he would probably be buried in a snow drift if he made a lot of noise, he dismissed the idea.
He didn't fancy being chipped out of ice in 3000 years time and being put in a seriously old and extinct things museum to be gawped at.
"Fuck it"
He tried to sound determined, his voice taking on a world weary tone that he'd never heard before.
He sighed loudly and rose from behind his rock. The snow elegantly sliding from his hooded coat, revealing the black. He sloped forward a few paces before stopping and looking left up to the mountains that emerged from the snow like a rising submarine.
He looked right, down the mountain track. The wind, which had now died down to a mostly safe level was still rolling chunks of stone and shoving them kamikaze style off the cliff.
No heartless anywhere. Not even a little one.
He breathed in and out, considering every breath and watching as it became visible then faded just as fast.
"They must have heard of my superiority and are scared stiff"
He told himself. His mouth curled up at the sides, full of loathing.
He sat down behind his rock again, not caring about the snow he was sitting on and pulled shiny silver lighter out of his coat pocket.
He turned it in his fingers; it had flames etched into the side, a present from Demyx last Christmas. The almost silent noise of the flint sparking sounded like a cannon for a second as he flicked it open and the little flame flared hypnotically.
He smiled at the flame as it danced in the wind.
He figured that he really should be looking for the heartless, now it was mostly safe to move, but seeing as he was sent out to the wilderness without prior notice or even any notice at all, the lazy bastards at the castle could wait.
Anyway, it was a lot better than being chased around the castle by Larxene who wanted to beat his ass back to last Thursday for setting alight Marluxia's flowers. He was the reason why this nice little assignment had suddenly popped onto his mission schedule, Flower boy had squealed to Xemnas.
He idly watched the flame flicker until the light faded over the mountains. The bonus of being able to control fire was that it never got boring.
Moonlight lit up the sky and shone on the crisp newly fallen snow, practically blinding him. He gazed upwards; the snow had thankfully ceased falling. He shook himself like a wet dog, the snow flying everywhere and pulled down his hood, revealing red hair against the black that made him a heartless beacon.
A tinny sounding 'Bridge over Troubled Water' broke the silence. Axel quickly pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. The call was answered automatically; he grimaced and held the phone at arms length. The voice at the other end could still be heard.
After a couple of seconds he put the cold metal against his ear, to keep himself from being a victim of an avalanche.
"Calm the fuck down Dem, the world isn't going to end"
The voice on the other end went silent, before erupting in the loudest sob that Axel had ever heard in his life. Each sentence was punctuated with a whine or a snotty sounding snort. He could picture Demyx hiding in his room surrounded by tissues listening to melodramatic artists singing about suicide. This would be alternated with hard rock about bloody murder and revenge. The blonde was ambiguous even when miserable.
He rolled his eyes at the response, wishing that Dem could have spilt his guts to Zexion, but then again he would be most likely hiding in the dark depths of the library.
"Dem" Axel snapped into the receiver.
The blonde on the other end of the phone wailed like a banshee.
"Dem" Louder this time. "Dem, shut up for a second." The line went silent. "Gimme an hour"
Axel closed the phone without waiting for an answer and put it in his pocket. He pulled out a packet of cigarettes from the inside pocket of his coat and lit one, sliding another behind his ear for later.
Right now he couldn't care less about the light; he wanted the heartless to find him so he could do his mission and get back to the castle. Stealth was not his strong point anyway, he just liked to burn stuff.
He conjured his chackrams for the first time that day and stalked off in the snow to hunt the wanted heartless. He trekked across the white landscape, each time he stepped; he had to climb out of at least three foot of snow. His chackrams flared like his short temper melting a line of snow in front of him.
"Screw Saix, he's an asshole."
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