Author's Note: Sorry this took so damn long! I had the first two parts sitting in a word document for gods know how long .
Some smut here and EvenIenzo fluff. Enjoy and review!)
Chapter Three: Before You Were Mine
I feel you in my heart,
And I don't even know you, Now we're saying Bye, bye, bye
Duck. Parry. Dodge. Slash.
Axel smirked to himself as his opponent let out a short cry of pain after one of his chakrams made contact and grazed bone, judging from the faint but obvious grating noise.
"Had enough yet?"
He jeered, catching the spiked weapon as it bounced off a wall in the training arena. Saix glared at him, panting softly and gripping his bleeding side.
"Not nearly."
Was the growled response. Axel's smirk widened into a likeness of the Cheshire Cat.
"Have it your way then."
Ever quick on his feet, he pounced, blocking what should have been a severely damaging hit from that huge claymore and bounding away, the Lunar Diviner getting more and more hell bent on wiping that shit eating grin from the redhead's face.
"Nyah, you'll have to try harder than thaaaat!"
Axel sing-sang, having the time of his life now he had one up on the berserker. Their last sparring match had gone too far in Saix's favour for the Flurry of Dancing Flames' liking.
Zexion had paid for his frustration.
The rational part of him had intervened, reasoning that it wasn't Zexion's fault, neither was being more impatient and demanding going to improve his chances against the Lunar Diviner any time soon.
But the human part of him begged to differ.
If he couldn't take out the pent up energy in the battle field, he would commit it to his carnal needs.
Axel cursed and launched both chakrams at Saix in retaliation for catching the blunt of his weapon in the gut, mildly winding him.
"Now who's laughing, Eight?"
The berserker's smug tone make Axel fume and he would have simultaneously proved that human spontaneous combustion did exist while also winning this once and for all were his powers not blocked.
Stupid bloody physical training. If only he could use his element...
***
Axel growled angrily as he picked himself off the floor again. Turns out Saix had more stamina than he had anticipated, or rather, hoped...
The berserker dispelled his claymore and straightened up, smirking infuriatingly,
"Perhaps more practice is needed."
He told Axel, far too smugly for the latter's liking, before disappearing through a portal, leaving the Flurry to limp off to get his various aches and pains checked out, he was certain he'd broken something...
Axel found Zexion easily, a quick smirk and a quiet order and the Schemer dropped what he had previously been doing in favour of tending to Axel. He delighted in the way the illusionist's hands shook as he cleaned and bandaged the worse cuts and scrapes he had sustained.
"I...I think you've possibly broken your wrist.."
Zexion murmured the words quietly as he looked over the fast swelling appendage, a faint smile twisting the corner of his lips. Axel scowled, grabbing a handful of his hair with his uninjured arm.
"I can still punish you bitch, so don't you dare think of trying anything smart..."
Zexion whimpered at the hissed threat as he tried to squirm out of the merciless grip, wincing as the redhead gave his hair another tug for good measure before releasing him.
"I..Can't...."
The Schemer bit his lip, watching Axel's expression darken.
"I'm not a doctor! Go see Vexen!"
Axel snorted at the squeak he let out when he raised his hand, slapping him anyway, might as well...
He got up then, leaving Zexion all but cowering on the floor as he went down to the laboratories to see Vexen. Reluctant; he would have to deal with the half hidden glares and muttered threats from the Academic. Psh, if the scientist was still hung up on Zexion, he could forget it. Axel had claimed him and he knew that the Schemer wouldn't challenge that - he had made very sure of that. Although he could be stupidly disobediant (honestly, Axel was beginning to believe that the illusionist was more of a masochist than he had first imagined) and the consequences of this had lead Vexen to believe he was an abusive bastard.
Axel was firm, but fair, of course, Zexion just happened to always manage to strain his last nerve...
***
Vexen looked up when the door to the laboratories banged open and the Flurry of Dancing Flames limped in, holding his right arm. The blond allowed himself a smirk as he stood.
"Ah, good afternoon, Eight, how can I help?"
Axel's eyes narrowed at that smug voice. Bastard...Delighting in his pain...One day he would pay...
"Sparring."
Was all he answered, keeping his fantasies of murder to himself, indicating his injured arm. He sat in the chair the Academic indicated, hissing and swearing as the limb was inspected. Damnit, he knew that much pressure and force wasn't needed...But he had to stay silent, knowing that protesting would likely result in a doubled effort to make this worse.
"Thanks."
Vexen raised an eyebrow at the terse word, watching the redhead stretch and flex his arm, checking over the solid cast on his wrist.
"Be careful with that arm for the next few weeks. No sparring or fighting."
He paused, eyes narrowing.
"And don't make the mistake of trying to use one hand when two are needed..."
There was something in that look that Axel really didn't like...
"Oh? Like what?"
He asked, challenge lacing his words.
"Now, Eight, you're a smart boy. Work it out...I'm sure you can abstain from..Certain activities..."
Axel laughed. Gods, he really is insane...Vexen thought, swallowing a little.
"What difference does it make to you whether I put a dent in my very active sex life or not? Or...Maybe it's where that sex life comes from that bothers you..?"
At the Academic's sneer, Axel's smirk widened.
"Oooh, you do care-"
"You have no right to touch him!"
Vexen regretted those words the instant after he'd said them, watching the look on the redhead's face contort with sadistic glee.
"Oh, but I do, he comes to me of his own free will and I'm sure he would tell you that he's all mine."
"Simply indulging in carnal pleasures does not give you claim to him."
"The same to you, old man."
The Chilly Academic hissed at the insult, an unseen hand clenching into a fist. If he weren't at such an elemental disadvantage he would give Number Eight more than a broken wrist to worry over...
"When he comes to his senses-"
"Bah! Stop deluding yourself! He might have been an innocent little boy when you fucked him, but he's since become a filthy little whore...My filthy little whore. And if you attempt to disrupt that, it won't just be you getting...Painful repercussions."
Vexen silently seethed as the Flurry of Dancing Flames sauntered away. That little bastard! How dare he threaten him...And...Those disgusting lies about Zexion...
At least, Vexen hoped that they were lies...But...The mind was a malleable thing...Always able to adapt and accept new situations...
Damnit, Zexion, this is your forte, how could you have been such a fool?
***
One of the first things Even had noticed about the new boy was the way he would fold an arm across his chest and rest the elbow of the other on it so his hand rested against his lower face when he was thinking hard. Braig had joked that the kid should grow a beard or goatee to stroke...Even had simply thought that the action had been utterly adorable...
The second thing he learned was that the confidence Ienzo demonstrated (almost to the point of arrogance) was largely a front, used to prevent anyone seeing him as vulnerable. Ienzo hated being a victim.
Without even thinking about it, he was compiling a mental list of the youngest apprentice's quirks and personality traits. How his silver tongue could render another speechless, his seemingly boundless sense of curiosity and how he sometimes let traits of his true age show through...He had an unquenchable love for sweet things, Even recalled all too well the image of Ienzo licking sugar from his fingers after another baking session...And his body's most disturbing reaction to said scene...
The young scientist was a damnable tease without meaning to be. Extremely frustrating for his sexually and socially stunted colleague.
It had taken nearly a year of coffee breaks before Even began noticing Ienzo watching him, or those certain teasing actions were occurring more and more...In his presence anyway...
He had dismissed it as nothing but a teenage crush, for Ienzo anyway, he was not going to defile him like that if he could help it...
Then Braig had to pick up on the tension and all but set them up, making sure the two of them were sent off to collect field notes and it is awfully hard to ignore your very attractive and underage fellow scientist when you're sharing a tent in the middle of nowhere.
Even really should have done something the morning they woke up all but cuddling, some how having subconsciously wormed their way towards the other. For all his agonising, he had just laughed it off and spent a large part of that day not looking the boy's way.
Then, like a bad cliché, like those stupid films Braig insisted on watching (even if only to call the main female protagonist a whore or something similar), they ended up kissing.
Ienzo had demanded to know why Even had been avoiding him so pointedly. Part of the boy was irritated, as it made their work harder, and the other part...Upset...Concerned...Worried he had done something wrong...
Even had lost control the moment he had met those eyes, tugging the younger male close and pressing their mouths together in an awkward kiss that he had been shocked to find Ienzo returning. Passion. Inexperience. The two made a strange but addictive feeling in both of them as the two scientists had lain down on the earth, so grounding and steadying to the dizzying sensations sparking between their bodies like static.
Warnings should have blared in his ears as he touched and kissed the boy's pale, hairless skin, drinking in every sharp moan and breathy cry that floated from moist parted lips.
Lips that were soon wrapped aroud his length, small pink tongue running over and around him. Experimenting like the good little scientist he was.
When he entered him, Even liked to think that the whole universe had frozen in place, the scenery floating away and everything becoming a dark void except for the beautiful creature beneath him, calling his name in a way that made his mouth go dry and kindle a fire within him.
He knew it had hurt the boy; he was so small and, mercy, so very tight, but the intense feelings the simple action brought smothered any negative connotations.
One thrust blurred into another, nails scratching down his back as his own parted the skin on Ienzo's hips as they spiralled up together before falling abruptly like damned sinners.
They had stayed that way for a long time. Hours, seconds, it didn't matter. The illusions of time faded away as that small body was nestled against him, soft breaths falling against his collarbone.
Even did not regret it for a moment.
Vexen did not either.
He had held that painfully fragile boy in his arms, watched him grow up a little more all the time, maturing slowly into a young man. Still adorable as the seeds of stunning handsomeness began to bloom.
The two things that Vexen did regret were prying Ienzo from himself, even if for his own good, the pain he had seen in those dark eyes could have killed him...
The other, was letting his (still his, always his) pure angel be tainted by the devil himself.
Zexion had retained Ienzo's fragility, his desire to be needed and wanted...What ever the cost.
***
Axel had noticed it after he had first met Zexion. The way the boy's eyes lingered on the blond man, the way the Academic did the same when the former wasn't looking. He had known enough to sense a past between them. But he didn't care.
Once he had set a goal, he would reach it, beating every obstacle in his path.
At first, Zexion had been hesitant. Stiff and stubborn. He would complain if Axel did something he didn't like, to the point of even leaving if he were so irritated with the redhead's inability to meet his specific needs.
But slowly, his submissive nature began to show through and Axel began to take liberties then. Small liberties. One at a time until the Schemer expected nothing but to serve Axel's needs before his own.
What ever Zexion had done with Vexen it was obvious that neither had known how to encourage this delightful side of him.
Axel wanted to destroy everything Zexion had been before he had been his. He was young, still malleable, like clay in his hands. He would shape the boy to his own needs.
What better way to demonstrate his power?
And maybe...If he could prove this to Xemnas...He might get a better ranking for someone of his great skill.
If not, well, he would never object to a warm body that would do his bidding.
And especially when said body could transform itself into anything he wished.
Zexion would soon realise that his self control was an illusion too, and once the Cloaked Schemer was his true puppet....Then things would get even more interesting...
And no one, not even Vexen could prevent this now.
***
Vexen rubbed his face as he left the laboratories several hours after Axel's departure. All those chemicals couldn't be good for his head. He paused, hearing a quiet scream that shook him to his core.
"I'm sorry, Ienzo. I've failed you..."