Summary: Criminals are to be stipped of all rights, including the right to love. Especially dangerous criminals. Axel/Roxas. Lemons, Language and violence! M!
Len: Something written almost entirely by me. I at least needed Rea to stand in the room with me.
Rea: YAY! I'm needed! Do dedications, Len!
Len: This is dedicated to Axelsgirl with many thanks for the plot line. (Tis hers) This was a request from her to us. I am honored. Let's begin!
Chapter One: Fire's Chill
Roxas was nervous looking at this man read his orders as though he was stupid enough to get them all wrong. He was nervous in general, of course. Even he had thought he had gotten the wrong orders when they arrived, but his boss insisted. "You're Roxas?"
Roxas nodded once.
"Well, I guess you're in the right place, then." Said the man, and flopped the papers swiftly on the desk. "Keep your head down, though. This is a really harsh place. I'm Ansem." Roxas shook his hand when Ansem offered it.
"I can use a keyblade." He said quietly, a little bit motest. It wasn't something he usually bragged about.
"Oh, excellent. That explains the orders that you received." Said Ansem. "A lot of the guards sent here can, but...May I ask why that isn't on your profile?"
"It's not really my weapon of choice." Roxas replied as if discusted.
"Listen, kid..." Ansem began "Whoever sent you here didn't like you very much."
"I want to be a night guard. I want to help. I can do it! I chose this place." Roxas lied.
Ansem sighed and motioned for Roxas to follow him. He lead him out to the main prison center. "This is a really hard job, Roxas." he warned. "I hope you're up to the challenge. You seem confident enough, but we hold the most dangerous criminals in the world."
"You hold Xigbar here, right?" Roxas replied, hoping to perhaps impress a bit.
"Yah, and much worse. That's the ward you're on shift at tonight." This made Roxas a tiny bit more nervous, but he sucked it up. "But you won't be guarding Xigbar. I'm telling you now, I don't give orders here about who guards who. This guy is known to burn his guards." Ansem turned to look at him, and Roxas' heart sunk down into his stomach just as it was doing a slow role. He was definitely sick to the stomach now. "Are you sure you're up to this?" Roxas nodded nervously despite his sickness. His head screamed curses at him.
Ansem shook his head and opened the door to the ward. He knocked his knuckles on one cage. "Laryxine. Get up."
"Why should I? I know you're just going to introduce some new guard. He won't make it through the week." A female voice said from the darkness.
Roxas shivered. Ansem turned to face him. "This is Roxas. He's the new one." Ansem introduced. "And Roxas, this is Laryxine. Don't listen to a damn word she sais. She depresses people thoroughly." He couldn't tell if Roxas had been effected, so he moved on. "Roxas, meet Xemnas."
"Go away." came the answering voice.
"He was a night guard her before he met Xigbar. Long story." Ansem moved on quickly. Roxas was a little suspicious. I sense unresolved issues....he thought.
"This one's Xigbar, but you already know he shot sixty six people in one bank robbery, right?' Roxas nodded, and Ansem nodded too. "Demyx. He isn't what I'd call dangerous."
"HEY!"
"Well..."Ansem said. "I'll give you your due." He shrugged at Demyx. "Don't touch the dew." He warned Roxas. Demyx looked satisfied.
"Marluxia. You know how they say 'don't drop the soap?'" Ansem cracked a small smile.
"Uh...yah." Roxas said.
Ansem leaned in and whispered to Roxas. "It's Marluxia they say it about." Roxas tried hard not to laugh. "Seriously, though. Don't bend down." Ansem walked a little further, pointing to the other side now. "Zexion, brains of operation Emo."
"Don't make me hurt you." Came the reply, but the boy behind the bars didn't bother looking up from his book.
"His roomate here is Siax. I don't think he talks because he never said a word. Not to the police. Not to the guards...even when they sentenced him."
"Oh, he talks." Zexion promised him. "He definitely talks. I believe it's actually called a Soliloquy."
Ansem pointed to another single cell. "This is Xaldin. He was diagnosed with a new mania. Obsessed with stabbing people and things. No official name yet." Roxas shivered again.
Ansem laughed. "You haven't seen the worst, Roxas. Do you know anyone by the name of Axel?" Roxas stared at Ansem as they walked. "It was a serious question."
"Not personally." Roxas said, his mouth going dry.
"You're about to know him in person then, Roxas."
"So this is where they keep him..." Roxas swallowed, trying to remain calm on the outside.
"The information isn't disclosed to just anyone." Ansem replied. "But all the guards definitely know he's here." He stooped short at the back of the wall. They had been talking about this while passing by nothing but blank walls. One cell was standing alone in the darkness at the end of this cold hallway, and Roxas' stomach fliped again. Ansem rapped loudly on the last cell. "HEY! Axel, get up."
Roxas looked shocked. "Why are you waking him up?"
"He has to see you with me." Ansem said as if it was a warning.
"Ansem. I have a new switch for you. How about man sem? Like man's seme." Came a young, sardonic voice from the back of the cell. Roxas nearly jumped, but it wasn't the most surprising thing. What was most surprising was the cold chill he had been feeling warming and tracing the same pattern the chill had gone, right down the middle of his back.
"That has two M's Axel. My name has one. Guy never stops with the anagrams." Ansem mumbled. "Get up." he added to Axel.
Roxas stared hard into the cell and could just make out a cot and blanket. A blanket with a large bulge under it. "Mmmm..." Axel finally slid out from the blanket and stood, letting the cloth fall onto the cot on it's own accord. I'm going to die. Roxas thought. Damn, I'm going to die a fiery death. Why the hell did I want to- His thoughts were interrupted by a smooth voice rolling out from the darkness into his mind.
"Roxas...hmm...Roxas...." From the darkness, fire red hair emerged. Roxas gasped at the mad look about him. "Roxas...Sorax? Sore Ax? Haha ha....Sore by Ax, if you know what I mean?" Axel stepped into the light, tilting his head slightly as he switched the letters of Roxas' name around. Ansem rolled his eyes. "Roxy?" Axel finally said slowly, experimenting with it. Feeling it on his tongue. "Ah...I like that." He peered at Roxas through the bars.
"That's not an anagram, Axel." Ansem told him. There was only silence to this remark as Axel gazed at Roxas for the first time.
It wasn't so much that he was looking through Roxas as he was looking so much at him that it should be impossible. Every secret, every detail was laid bare in front of the fire in his eyes. Every piece of Roxas that was seen or unseen by others- viewed and excepted immediately by that penetrating stare.
It was the most comfortable silence in the world. Something like the silence of the end of the world, mixed in a perfect blend with the silence of young lovers after a long and wonderfully sexual night. But for Ansem, the silence was awkward.
"So, are you sure you're ready to start?" Ansem asked quietly.
"Yes." Roxas whispered, then he shook his head. "No- wait. What?"
"I don't think this is a good first time for you, kid..."
"No, uh- it's good- it's-" Roxas tried to convince a doubtful Ansem.
"Leave the kid." Axel's voice suddenly demanded. "If you don't...I'm not going to have to explain it to you, am I?" Axel shivered in delight. "Mmmm....I've been dyeing to burn...."
Ansem shivered. Roxas heart jumped as soon as Axel uttered his threat, and he had to put one hand to his mouth to keep himself from getting sick. "I'm afraid I can't let you hurt this one, Axel." Ansem told him.
Axel laughed. "I'm not going to hurt him. He relaxes me, even from where he is now. I'm going to hurt you."
Ansem eyed Axel, then Roxas. He nodded once. "If I come back and he's dead-"
"You'll up my execution date?" Axel asked with humor.
"If he tries anything, anything, use the blade." Ansem stared back at Axel over his shoulder until he disappeared completely.
"Don't worry. He won't bother us again." Axel promised Roxas.
"Why would I care if he did?" Roxas mumbled, mostly to himself. It wasn't that he had an attitude about the assignment, but rather stated truthfully. He really didn't care either way.
And Axel didn't like it. "Common...don't you want to be friends?" Axel rested his red head on the bars, threatening to come through. "Oh...you're hot..." Axel's hands gripped the bars and he began burning though them. Roxas jumped to his feet, Keyblade out and beat the bars until Axel stepped back.
"You wouldn't believe the total headache that gives me!" the criminal said, gripping his head. He ran his hands from his ears to the bottom of his hair to get it out of his face and fixed a look of content on Roxas. He stepped back up the bars. "Alright, I won't try to escape. Why would I want to with you here, after all...?"
Roxas shivered, but it was clear he wasn't really sure why he had. Was it because of who Axel was, or because of what he looked like? He stepped up to meet Axel at the bars, truly curious. "What?" Axel rose both eyebrows in sarcastic surprise and leaned in. Now that the boy took a better look at Axel, he was far sexyer than he had initially thought. Even not keeping up his appearance, his figure was curvy for a man and his hair was about as soft as a bunny. He severely resisted the urge to run his own fingers through Axel's hair.
"My names Axel. Got it memorized?"
"Everyone knows your name." Roxas stated slowly.
"I have the right to introduce me myself." Axel said proudly.
"Did you make that up?" Roxas asked innocently. Axel grinned at the accidental sarcasm and reached out, grabbing the guard by the shirt. Roxas flinched, but all Axel did was pull Roxas closer to the bars, to the point where they were touching. Roxas dropped the guard-issue weapon he had used to beat the bar out of shock and gasped as his face felt cold metal against it.
"Now that I know you'll fall for a small trick like that, it's hard not to underestimate you, Roxy." Axel said, really trying the new nickname out.
"OW! Ow! Let go, please!" Roxas pulled back, but Axel held firm quite easily.
"Not the best fighter, are you?" Axel asked. "That's alright. You're cute." Axel watched Roxas struggle a minute. "Listen." He said. Roxas continued to fight and Axel shook him a bit. "Listen!" Roxas was still, staring terrified into the eyes that had scanned him a few moments before. They were so alive, but they didn't seem to be the eyes of a murderer. Roxas relaxed minutely. "I want to kiss you." Axel said.
Roxas nearly lost consciousness when Axel began to speak again. His knees buckled, and he couldn't be sure if it was because of the severity of the situation, the ridiculousness of his words, or the way his heart was beating five times faster than it really should have been. For a split second, he was sure he was having a heart attack, but the haze that gathered before his eyes disappeared just as quickly.
"I want to smother you and keep you all to myself, but not...now. You fight me, Roxas." Axel continued, without pause. "You push me away and I don't like it. But a few days, and I'll have you all to myself, snuggled up in this blanket with me in this cell like a lover-"
"Wh-What are you saying? I'm...." Roxas began.
Axel cut him off. "Quiet. Quiet. Shhhhhhhhh Roxy. I can make love like you wouldn't believe." Roxas shivered again, very visibly, and Axel grinned. Roxas couldn't blame him. he had discovered the source of the chill- it was most definetly the firey gaze Axel had set on him. "I'll make you want me."
"Axel." Came an echoing voice. Axel dropped Roxas and made a silent gesture to him. Roxas stepped back until he reached the far wall. He gasped as his back hit the cold stone. Ansem was coming down the stairs. "Axel, you best not have burt that kid- oh, Roxas. Good. You're off duty. I'm having someone take over for you."
"WHAT?" Axel said angrily. Roxas darted to Ansem's side, and the older man began to lead him out.
"Hey, Roxy." Axel said as Roxas was leaving "When you're alone tonight, think of me."
"No thank you." Roxas said simply, a little weakly. He wasn't breathing well.
"Kid has enough nightmares without you in them, criminal." Ansem had clearly misunderstood the situation. Roxas was tense in thought as Ansem walked him back. All he could do was pray no one ever found out about his first day on the job. There was no way, after all, he could know that his first day would be a fairy tale compared to the rest.
Rea: Oooo! Len, you got a little sexy!
Len: Shut up! You watched me write this so why are you acting all surprised?
Rea: It's hot, though.
Len: It's not even that sexy! Please review for our story. Select reviews will also be shown deliberately to Axelsgurl for her contribution!