Okay okay...

So I really like where this is going so far.

And my live-in editor (my sister...ha.) likes it so far, too.

Still not entirely sure where to go with it, but I have an idea.

Disclaimer: Again, not mine.

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"A Beautiful Place"

"Nice of you to join us." Zexion mumbled to Axel as the redhead stumbled though the doors of the precinct, desperate to get out of the pouring rain. A pale, shaking hand clutching his coat closed, he looked up at Zexion.

"I slept in." he lied. His partner narrowed his eyes.

"I tried calling you a million and one times." he said slowly. Axel shrugged.

"Had the ringer off." he said dismissively. "So have you guys made any progress on the Bailey case?" he asked, changing the subject. Zexion's face flashed with frustration.

"No." he grunted. "Been up all fucking night, too. Seifer didn't even go home." he pointed to the chief, snoozing peacefully with his head down on his desk. Axel laughed a little at the sight, gripping the knob on the door of his office. That's when he felt one of Zexion's soft hands on his shoulder, his partner's face gently pressed between his shoulder blades. Axel's eyes drifted shut for a moment and he shuddered.

"The fuck?" he muttered. Zexion continued to press his face to Axel's back, the fabric of the coat rough against his cheek.

"You smell like lavender." Zexion muttered into Axel's shoulders while the redhead struggled to keep breathing.

"Uh... is that bad?" Axel trembled. Zexion detached from Axel's back and shrugged.

"Not bad. Just weird. You usually smell like vodka and coffee." he said, pulling a pen from the breast pocket of his long-sleeved white shirt and throwing it at Seifer's desk. The pen bounced off the wooden surface less than an inch from Seifer's shining blond hair and he jerked his head up off his arms, looking around drowsily until he caught sight of Zexion standing beside Axel, his arms folded, a look of triumph on his face. Scowling, Seifer flipped Zexion the bird and buried his face back in his arms on the desk. Zexion chuckled, looking to Axel.

"We got a lot of shit to get done today. Chop chop!" he clapped his hands, grinning. Axel smiled weakly, pushing open the door of his office, still trying to shake the feeling of Zexion's face against his back.

He sat at his desk, pulling his jacket from his shoulders and inhaling the scent. It really did smell like lavender. He thought for a moment about what could possibly have made his jacket smell like a delicate flower and not the usual cigarette smoke and filth. "Riku." the name popped into his head. He buried his face in both hands, sighing through his fingers.

"Fuckin' rich psycho mind-fucking bastard..." Axel said out loud to the quiet of his office. He didn't like this one bit. It was a side of him he'd tried desperately to squash since he was a teenager. But still... the image of Riku in silk was a wonderful one. For the first time in years, Axel let his mind rest on the image of another man, though Riku wasn't much of one. There were no bulging muscles in his chest or stomach, though they were both pale as moonlight and they looked remarkably soft. His eyes were gentle, sloping and watery, reflecting the glassy surface of the pond from Axel's childhood. And his voice... so intoxicating. Though more often than not, they were somber, Riku's words could lull Axel to sleep. Of that, he was sure. His mind continued to wander, his imagination exploring Riku's body more thoroughly, caressing everything from his soft lips to his glorious hipbones. Then he lost control of his thought train, and it went careening down a path that haunted the dreams Axel popped pills to stop. A path that was paved with beatings, blood, glorious light brown hair, sapphire eyes and skin softer than the whisper of the ocean at daybreak. Suddenly it felt like someone reached into his chest and shoved a firecracker into the center of his heart, lighting the fuse. Before it exploded, Axel pushed the thoughts of nights beneath the stars long ago out of his head, squeezing his eyes shut tightly. He breathed deep, trying to stop his fingers from trembling where they clutched his coat. Feeling suddenly sick to his stomach, Axel reached for a pile of papers, picking up his phone. He swallowed dryly and dialed the first number on the list of people associated with Demyx Bailey. The phone rang. Once, twice...

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Somewhere in the other room, the phone was ringing. Grumbling to himself, Xaldin stood from his spot on the couch and stumbled into the darkened kitchen, picking up the cordless phone on the last ring.

"Hello?" he said, more demanding than interested. There was only brief silence before a man with a soft, defined tone spoke.

"Is this Xaldin?" the man inquired.

"This is he." said Xaldin, fearing this might be a bill collector.

"Good evening, sir. This is Detective Axel Crowley with the TTPD Homicide division." said the man. Xaldin's blood ran cold and he wished it had been a bill collector.

"What can I do for you?" he asked cautiously. There was the sound of rustling papers on the other line.

"I'm calling to inquire about your relationship with a Mr. Demyx Bailey." said the detective. If there was any color in Xaldin's face to begin with, it was now gone.

"What's happened?" Xaldin asked quickly, his eyes darting around the room for any sign of his family.

"Mr. Bailey was found dead in his apartment two days ago." Axel's words made Xaldin feel like someone had just kicked him in the gut. His eyes widened, his jaw fell slack, and after a few seconds of absolute shock, he began breathing again.

"Y-You're serious?" he whispered, almost on the verge of crying, though he didn't know why.

"As a heart attack, sir." the detective's words were cold. Xaldin fell back against the wall, placing a hand on the cold plaster for support. "Demyx can't be dead..." he repeated over and over in his mind. "I understand you were a good acquaintance of his." detective Crowley broke through his clouded thoughts. Xaldin cringed despite himself. How much did this cop know?

"You can say that." he murmured into the phone.

"There's no need to be shy." the detective seemed on the defensive and Xaldin hadn't even said anything. "We know all about your ventures." he said. Xaldin winced, pulling the phone away from his ear as if the detective had screamed into it.

"So what's your question?" he asked, turning a bright pink.

"Well it's nothing we can discuss over the phone, but because you were so close to Mr. Bailey, we'd like you to come down to the precinct for questioning." the detective told him. Xaldin hung his head.

"I'm a suspect?" he groaned.

"I'm afraid until we clear your story, you remain such." Axel's voice was professional to the point of being militant. Xaldin covered his face with his hand. Two days ago had been the night he took his wife and kids to dinner and a movie. Depending on how late the murder took place, he'd have receipts to prove his whereabouts. But explaining this to his wife wouldn't be easy. He decided he'd deal with that later.

"Is tomorrow good for you?" he asked, chewing on his nails from the nerves. "I have things to do with the kids today." he added. There was silence as the man on the other line contemplated.

"Tomorrow is fine." Axel said finally. "And be sure to ask for me. Again, my name is Axel Crowley." he said.

"Like the Satanist writer?" Xaldin questioned absently, his mind on trying to come up with a good excuse why he was being questioned in the death of a gay stripper. More silence, though there was a faint grinding sound. Either a pencil against wood or enamel on enamel.

"Yes. Like the Satanist writer." the detective huffed. He proceeded to give Xaldin the number at which he could be reached, then after a painfully formal goodbye, the line went dead. Xaldin stood for a while in his kitchen, holding the phone. He stared at the stove and the little light above it, feeling the cold of the tile floor seep through his socks and onto his tired feet. He thumped the back of his head against the wall feebly, solemnly swearing that he'd never so much as stick a toe out of line again if it meant he got out of this mess unscathed.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Did you get ahold of anyone?" Zexion's voice was distant when it drifted into Axel's office.

"Barely." the redhead responded loudly. "I got a few people to come in for questioning tomorrow, but that's it." he could hear twin groans and a thud against the wood of Seifer's desk. Things weren't going well on their end, either. Axel had been the one to dispatch a few officers to Demyx Bailey's parents' house and from what the officers had said, neither of his parents seemed to care that their youngest son was found murdered in copious amounts of cold blood. Even the crimescene photos didn't phase them, so it was now apparent that not only did they not have a clue about who might have done this to their son, they sure as fuck didn't care to share the information, even if they had it. According to them, they had one son and one fag, and the fag wasn't worth discussing. People made Axel so sick sometimes.

The day wore on and on as the weather outside became nastier. Confronted with mountains of paperwork and phonecalls, Axel finally broke and asked Zexion for a cigarette.

"How long's it been since your last one?" Zexion asked as he pulled a short and remarkably strong cigarette from the pack, handing it to Axel.

"Three months or some shit like that." Axel answered, lighting the cigarette right there in the building.

"Old habits die hard?" Zexion teased.

"You have no fucking clue." Axel said while exhaling a puff of smoke. Seifer looked up from his desk, hair a mess, and eyes bloodshot.

"The fuck you think you're doing?!" he cried. "Get outside with that! You wanna set off every fucking fire alarm in this building? Good lord, Crowley..." he grumbled, pointing to the door. Axel shrugged, taking another drag as he walked down the hall and out the door. It was only drizzling now, though he stood against the building to be sure no renegade drops would land on the cigarette. Slipping a pale, slender hand into his pocket, Axel pulled out the flask shaped bottle of vodka that he carried around like sanity insurance. Unscrewing the cap, he took a swig, relishing in the feeling of the burning heat that slipped down his throat, numbing it. It was such a stark contrast to the icy drops of rain that landed on his white shirt, which he unbuttoned at the top, letting himself breathe. He stared out at the gray, wet world, taking long drag after long drag, gulp after gulp of liquor until he began to feel the emotional and physical weariness begin to dull.

He was so lost in getting lost that he failed to notice a small girl standing not five feet from him. Suddenly realizing her presence, he jolted a bit, but only stared.

"Shouldn't you be in school?" he asked, his voice gruff. The girl looked up at him strangely, strands of her brown hair plastered to her face with rain and sweat from the humidity. The dismal, monochromatic color that surrounded her only served to bring out the rosiness of her cheeks, the shine in her earthy eyes and the explosion of color that was the over-stuffed jacket she wore over a pretty lilac dress.

"School's already out." she countered. Axel nodded, uncaring and resumed staring at the soaked asphalt. The girl took a few steps closer to him. "What's that?" she asked, pointing to the gun nestled in the holster on Axel's chest.

"A .50 caliber handgun." he responded, not looking down at her.

"Why do you have it?" the girl asked innocently. Axel smiled ruefully, wisps of smoke escaping his pale lips.

"Because the world is a scary place." he whispered.

"Is that why you drink and smoke like you're trying to take out a major organ?" the girl asked with a sudden spark of intellect. Axel nodded slowly.

"You're pretty insightful for someone who still has their baby teeth." Axel grinned, taking another drag.

"That's what my mom says." the girl beamed. Axel stared down at the peeling label on the bottle of vodka, and at the cigarette that was almost gone. He knew the kid wanted conversation and who was he to deny her when all that awaited him inside was mounds of paperwork and bad news to break?

"Alright, I'll bite." he said softly. "What's your mom's name?" he asked, looking to the little girl.

"Mrs. Moreno." responded the girl rocking on her heels. Axel frowned.

"You call your mother by her last name?" he asked.

"No. Mrs. Moreno is my case worker. I don't know my real mom's name, so I call Mrs. Moreno 'mom'." she explained. Axel felt a surge of pity and almost envy for the girl. When he was young, he'd wanted nothing more than to be taken by an agency, but on the other hand, he'd heard horror stories about what happens to some of the kids in the system that would make a serial killer hurl.

"You're an agency case." he said. The girl nodded.

"I was taken away from my mom when I was real little 'cause she couldn't afford to feed me or anything. But it's okay. They told me she was a drug addict and a hooker." the last word just didn't sound right in her soft, though high pitched voice. It sounded foreign, like she was reading a word she didn't know from a book. But at the same time, Axel knew it was a staple in her vocabulary.

"Shame." he said, flicking the butt of his cigarette into the puddles lining the street, extinguishing the cherry with a hiss.

"It's the world we live in." responded the little girl, again contradicting the very idea of innocence in children with her ill-gotten sense of a cruel, pain-filled world.

"So what's your name?" Axel asked, his stone-cold cop heart melting a tad for the little brunette at his feet.

"Marlene." she said, looked down at her untied shoes. "I'm really not supposed to tell strangers my name, but it's okay..." she glanced up into Axel's eyes. "You're a cop." she muttered the last word as if it were an ugly curse. This made Axel grin wide.

"How do you know that? Lot's of people carry guns." he said, trying to sound wise.

"Not everyone stands outside a police precinct with a gun, staring off into space like they want to jump in front of the first car that rounds the corner." Marlene said, again verbally slapping Axel in the face.

"So you assume that all cops are miserable?" Axel asked the girl, not fully believing he was having a semi-intelligent conversation with someone who wasn't even tall enough to reach the top shelf in his refrigerator.

"Not all of them." answered Marlene. "Just the ones who look miserable." the words took Axel aback a bit. He stared for a moment at the little girl, then out at the street.

"I look miserable?" he asked her, and even moreso...himself.

"A bit." Marlene said honestly. "You should try smiling." she reached up on her tiptoes to pat Axel's arm. There was a warmth in her touch Axel hadn't felt in years.

"I'll do that." he grinned, then dropped to his knees to be level with the girl. "But only if you go right home from here, okay? There's a lot of bad out there and if I ever show up to work and find your picture in a pile of paper, I probably won't smile for a long time." he said. The girl tilted her head.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I'm a homicide detective." Axel said, not bothering to explain. He knew the girl was street smart enough to at least know what homicide was.

"Oh..." she said, almost sounding sympathetic. "Well... the dead ones aren't all that bad." she shrugged. For a split second, Axel wondered if he'd gotten someone pregnant and was looking at his daughter. Without warning, Marlene wrapped her arms around his neck tightly, pressing her rosy cheeks against his own ashen ones.

"When you peel back the layers of hurt and sadness... the world really is a beautiful place." she whispered. "Maybe someday you'll see it." and without another word, Marlene detached herself from Axel and began walking away, her little white sneakers splashing in the puddles as she went. Axel stared after her, still feeling the little girl's touch surging in his veins, giving him strength that no alcohol could ever provide. He stood, watching as Marlene turned a corner at the end of the street, then looked down to find a small, plastic flower keychain. Axel was almost certain she'd left it intentionally. Smiling, he clipped it onto his key ring. "If anyone gives me shit for this..." he thought "I'll break every bone in their body."

As anticipated, the rest of the day dragged on painfully slow. Axel got screamed at over the phone, had someone break down and bawl their head off at the news, and several people just hung up after Axel barely got out the words "Twilight Town Police". When Seifer came stumbling into his office around 7:30, Axel had given up trying to get anything useful out of the people on the painfully long list and had taken to bouncing a tennis ball off the only bare wall in his office.

"Having fun?" Seifer asked sarcastically.

"Time of my life, chief. You?" Axel grinned a bit. Seifer groaned, reaching out to catch the neon yellow ball as it bounced it's way back towards Axel. It slipped through his fingers briefly, but Seifer managed to catch it with his other hand, setting it on the desk's cluttered surface.

"The investigation." he reminded the redhead lounging lazily in the large black armchair. Without a word, Axel lifted the telephone receiver and held it out to Seifer, an expectant look on his face. The chief only scowled and smacked it away.

"You're useless as tits on a bull, Crowley!" he called over his shoulder, leaving Axel's office. Axel picked up the tennis ball and resumed throwing it against the wall.

"So they tell me." he muttered to himself. As Seifer stalked out of the room, Kairi slipped in, dressed in long, loose navy blue slacks and a baggy white turtleneck sweater. "Even skanks aren't immune to the cold..." Axel thought to himself, looking her up and down.

"Axel?" she asked, bringing the detective's attention from her hips to her face.

"Yes, darlin'?" he responded. Shifting her weight from one foot to the other, Kairi motioned with her thumb over her shoulder.

"There's someone here to see you." she murmured. Axel cocked his head a tad, wondering who could possibly be looking for him. That's when a man in a black pantsuit stepped into the office. Kairi excused herself, Axel's gaze following her as he leaned sideways to see around the hulking man standing in the way of his view. The man in the suit gave Axel a cross look.

"What?" Axel cried. "She looks good when she's actually wearing clothes." he defended. The man's face didn't change.

"Mr. Carlson is waiting in the car for you, sir." he spoke in a low tone. Axel straightened up in his chair and immediately began shoving papers into his briefcase, setting a few piles aside, cramming the list of names and numbers into the pocket of his pants. He looked up at the man.

"You don't have to like... wait for me. I'm not a child, I can get out to the car myself." he said. The man seemed to twitch,but nodded, turning on his heel and exiting the office. When Axel had gathered his things, he shut off the light and pulled the door of his office closed. The was about to lock it when he caught the faint smell of expensive cologne on the recycled air of the building. He glanced to his left, gasping when he discovered Zexion's face not five inches from his own. His partner was leaning over his shoulder, a disapproving look on his face.

"What gives?" asked Zexion. Axel stared at him a moment, trying to come up with something good.

"I don't feel good." he lied lamely. "I think I'm getting sick."

"And the guy in the suit doesn't have anything to do with your leaving early?" Zexion's eyes narrowed accusingly. Axel locked the door of his office and began walking down the hall, Zexion trailing behind him.

"He's so not my type, Zex." he joked. "I'll be in tomorrow."

"Whatever." Zexion muttered, turning away from Axel. Brushing off his partner's irritation with him, Axel stepped out of the doors and into the pouring rain, making his way to the dark sedan, barely visible against the saturated asphalt. The door already open, Axel slipped into the back seat, slamming the door shut as the driver tapped on the accelerator. He found himself staring into Riku's deep, beautiful eyes. Riku only smiled.

"You're picking me up from work now?" Axel asked, shrugging out of his coat, the heat of the car so very welcomed. Riku's smile widened.

"On some days." he said, his soft voice barely audible over the hum of rubber on asphalt.

"So why today?" Axel asked. "I don't have any leads, everyone I got ahold of can't come in for questioning till tomorrow..." he listed. Riku held up a hand to silence him.

"It's not police business today." he said kindly. Axel scowled.

"I haven't been home yet. I have no clothes." he said, now noticing his own mounting smell.

"I know that. Which is why a clean change of clothes is waiting for you in the guest bedroom you slept in last night." the silver-haired man beamed. Axel only sighed, defeated.

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This is what greatness looks like, people.

Haha.

Kidding.

But seriously, I like it so far.
Kinda have more of an idea of what I want to do with it, so...this is good, yesh?

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