Axel tapped his fingers as he looked into a bowl of water, thinking.
He was in his blood witch workroom. Although all that amounted to was a table, a cast iron bowl, a knife, a bunch of papers and a pencil. That was all that was needed for this stage of the blood magic. Axel wished, not for the first time, that he was a complete butterball.
To any non-blood witch, that wish would seem insane. Who wanted to be fat? But a blood witch had to draw energy from somewhere, and if you didn't take it from someone else that only left yourself. Fat, muscle, bone, organs, and of course blood. But blood by itself only worked for smaller things. For the major spells, the easiest and safest thing to burn was fat. A blood mage always wanted to be fat, because a major spell could take it all off in one night. Axel's mother had been good at putting on rolls, but he had been cursed with a high metabolism. The best he could manage was a modest coating, and that burnt away fast.
Sighing, he picked up the knife and quickly opened a vein, letting the blood spill into the water. A tiny bit of magic sealed the cut, and then he peered intently into the water, focusing on what he needed and opening his mind to the possibilities.
It was like entering a tunnel of rubies, glittering with light and darkness. Immediately, Axel knew that what he wanted would require both the light and the darkness… and that was bad. Light was always hard to work with and they were even harder combined. The first rune began to form in front of him, and he took a piece of paper, scribbling it down.
There were many, many runes to go. He could feel it.
Roxas sighed. He was bored. Very, very bored and also uncomfortable.
He, Xep and Mina had been sitting on the top of this building for hours. They were very patiently watching a building across the way. Eventually, their mark would have to leave it. But Roxas was beginning to think he was planning to sleep there. The man was apparently a workaholic, so it was quite possible. To put the cap on it, it had started lightly raining a while ago. Roxas was beginning to feel chilled and Mina was quietly sniffing, rubbing her nose. Only Xep seemed unaffected, still smiling.
"How can you be so cheerful?" He finally asked the purple haired man resentfully. Xep glanced over at him.
"Oh, I have to be." He said cheerfully. "I have a weak blood vessel in the base of my head. If I ever get upset it could rupture and kill me." Roxas gaped at him, shocked. Of all the explanations he could have come up with for Xep's endless smiling, that one would never have occurred to him.
"Are you serious?" He finally asked, and Xep nodded, tapping the metal collar he always wore.
"Yep! This is to protect me from a blow there. Not just a fashion statement!" Roxas glanced at Mina, disbelieving, and she shrugged before stiffening like a terrier scenting a rat.
"Here he comes!" Roxas glanced down and frowned. The mark was a middle-aged man with two bodyguards. The bodyguards looked like overdressed thugs, so he wasn't too worried about them, but he did wish he knew why they were killing the man. On the other hand, did it matter?
It does matter. Roxas stiffened, turning his attention inwards for just a second. Sora? Nothing. Had that been Sora's thought or his? It was so hard to tell.
They leapt down as the man passed underneath them. He gaped as he saw Xephras, clearly recognizing him, and tried to say something as the bodyguards attacked… but Xephras wasn't listening, and the three of them simply cut them down. It wasn't as much a fight as an execution, really. The two bodyguards had been no match for two keybladers and a knife fighter of Mina's caliber.
"Sort of pathetic, wasn't it?" Xephras said brightly, cleaning off his keyblade as Roxas frowned at the corpses. "But statements have to be made. Mr. Tall found out he'd been skimming off the take. It might be overkill, but we've definitely made a point." Roxas had to agree with that. Xephras had taken a savage pleasure in mutilating the bodies a bit, after they were dead. And Xephras had explained why they needed to die… although…
"What sort of business was he skimming from?" Roxas asked neutrally as they climbed back onto the roof.
"Drugs. That warehouse is a refinery for Mistake, don't you know?" Roxas felt most of his misgivings sliding away. He wasn't going to shed any tears for a drug dealer. On the other hand, he was working for a gang that seemed to be enforcing the decisions of the man who made money from all the drug dealers, whores and thieves in town. So what did that make him?
Roxas decided not to worry about it. He was only going to be here a short time anyway, and he'd done worse in his time as a Nobody. Much, much worse.
"How can you eat so much?" Roxas said, awed and a little grossed out. Axel was tearing into supper… and from the looks of it, he'd been eating all day. Axel grinned through a mouthful of bread.
"Doing blood magic all day is some serious burn. If I were fat this would be easier, but I'm not so I gotta eat." Axel worked through his third sandwich, finally slowing down a bit. "If a working blood witch stops eating, that's when you have to worry. I found five runes today!"
"That's nice." Roxas said, a little confused. "Axel… how does this blood magic work?" Axel grabbed a pickle and started to crunch it.
"Oh, well… blood magic is basically using the power of the body to do all kinds of stuff." He chewed thoughtfully, and started on the sandwich again. "You'd be amazed how much power you can get out of that, and the possibilities on what can be done are theoretically unlimited. If you search long enough in the pathways of blood, you can find the right runes to do anything." Axel shrugged. "But the search eats up a lot of energy, and then casting the spell can kill you if you don't have enough fat to burn. Fat's the only safe thing to use up on major spells. Blood works well on small stuff."
"So you're… converting your body into magical energy?" Roxas had never heard of anything like that. "Isn't there any way to get power from outside yourself?" Axel paused a moment in his eating.
"…Yeah. It's really easy to get power from outside yourself." Roxas was startled by the sad, haunted look in Axel's eyes. "Just hurt or kill someone. And that's why blood magic isn't respected anymore. It's why my family went from being landowners to paupers. The old blood kings were good for a while, but then they started stealing power to stay young and strong forever…" Axel shook his head. "Taking power is illegal now, even if it's voluntary. The penalty is death."
"Oh. I'm sorry." Roxas said awkwardly, and Axel shrugged.
"It happened a long time ago. I just wish… well. We all have our crosses to bear, I guess. So how's your day been?"
"Not that interesting. We just killed a guy who'd been stealing drug money. And Albert mentioned something about me entering a tournament." Axel paused, blinking.
"Really? Now that would be an interesting idea. The bookies would never take you seriously, Albert could really clean up until they wise up to your keyblades. If he does that, could you tell me? I'd like to lay a few bets myself." Axel grinned, finishing off the last of his sandwich. "I'd love it if you knocked down the current tournament champion, too, he's a pompous snot rag. Likes to beat his girls." There was real contempt in Axel's tone at that. Roxas shrugged.
"I will if Albert thinks it's a good idea. Axel, who are these people exactly? They don't seem like any street gang I've ever seen." When Roxas thought of street gangs, he thought of kids… or tough, ruthless men who dealt drugs and defended their turf. Albert and his crew didn't seem like that. Or rather, they were tough and ruthless but seemed to take orders from other people. Mr. Tall, Mr. Big, Mr. Grey… Roxas doubted any of those were real names. And Xephras and the others all seemed to be respected, not really feared. It was a touch odd.
"Oh, well. They're actually the enforcement arm of the Organization." Axel said casually, as if it was nothing special. "It's just easiest to call them a gang since they all hang out in that warehouse. If anyone gets out of line, they get sent to deal with it. They also run the protection racket and own quite a bit of property in their own right… paying the proper dues to the Organization, of course. Albert's smart. He invests the pension fund through the Organization's accountants." Roxas blinked, taken aback. Axel made it all sound like a business. Which he supposed it was, technically.
"And what does the Organization do?" He asked cautiously. He could already guess a lot of it, but there was probably more. Axel grinned.
"A better question is what don't they do? The Organization runs most of the whorehouses in the red light district, they handle all the drug trade, the protection rackets, and they're deeply involved in some of the unions. But they try to stay out of politics, in general, although it's a lesser known fact that the King, if he wants, can get in touch with the Organization. Usually to threaten them into something." Roxas lifted his eyebrows sardonically at that.
"If I were the King, I'd be worried about an Organization like that." He didn't think most rulers would be happy with such a strong internal rival for power. Axel shook his head.
"The King has resources. He's blessed by Aerina, the Goddess of Winter Winds and Aulin, the God of Summer. The priesthood is square behind him and anyone higher than a chaplain seems to be incorruptible. The Organization has tried. Only a complete fool would try to challenge the King, and the Organization doesn't have any fools in high places."
"Are you about done?" Roxas said abruptly. He was tired of watching Axel eat, and he'd gotten done his meal ages ago. Axel blinked, looking down at the table. Almost everything was gone.
"I guess. Why, you got something you want to do?" Axel was a bit baffled. Roxas didn't have to stay and watch him. He'd been planning to search for a few more runes, then go to bed. Roxas just stared at him a moment… at the bright red hair, the tanned skin, and the gorgeous green eyes. A lighter shade, and there were faint differences, but it would be so easy to pretend.
This is a terrible idea. I shouldn't use him like this. Roxas stood, walking around and sitting on the edge of the table beside Axel, reaching up to touch his cheek, trailing a finger down to the corner of his mouth. Axel gasped softly, and caught Roxas hand, staring at him with wanting green eyes. He wants this… but I'll be using him. Sora, where are you? Roxas almost wanted the brunette to stop him, hold him back… but there was nothing. I'm a Nobody. What does it matter. He'd done worse, in his time, and this Axel could recover from a broken heart. Assuming he had any feelings besides lust anyway. For now, Roxas wanted to pretend.
They kissed, and Roxas was momentarily disappointed. It wasn't like kissing his pyro lover. The Axel he had known had been aggressive, demanding and harsh with his kisses. This one was… demanding, yet gentle. The way he imagined Axel's kisses might have been, if he'd actually had a heart to give. That thought suddenly enflamed him, and Roxas moaned into Axel's mouth, reaching down to undo his belt.
"Eager, huh?" Axel murmured into his ear, and stood, pulling him up. "Oh, Roxas… c'mon, let's take this to my bedroom." He was a bit surprised by how fast this was going, but he wasn't going to question it. Roxas was the sweetest, most desirable boy he'd seen in a long time, and he wasn't going to pass this by.
They made love that night many times, drawing it out like shining beads of pleasure, until they were both covered in sweat and exhausted. And when Roxas cried out Axel's name, it wasn't for the man he was holding. But that was not something Axel could know.