Work Text:
“Here’s your target.”
Axel was handed the photo, paperclipped onto a manila file folder. He narrowed his eyes. “This picture is terrible. How am I supposed to tell it’s him?”
Saix frowned and pushed his glasses up his nose, glancing at the photo. “His hair is large. He’s difficult to miss.”
Axel groaned and looked briefly at the paperwork. “This guy is a kid, what the fuck has he done that warrants a hit?”
Saix shrugged. “It’s not your position to ask questions. The client is paying a lot of money to have him taken care of.”
Axel rolled his eyes. “Fine, whatever. Off I go, then.”
“Be quick about it. This client is impatient.”
Axel waved, leaving the room and shutting the door behind him.
Walking down the long hallway from Saix’s office, Axel hummed under his breath. “I wonder what I should use for this kid…” He glanced again at the paperwork. “Student… Doesn’t live at home, thank God… What else. Single? Casual dating, works at a video store…” Axel blew a sigh through his lips and hit the call button for the elevator. Perhaps Larxene in the armory would have some ideas.
--
“He’s a student, and I have no idea what he did, so how am I supposed to decide how to take him out?”
Axel was in the armory, a large room that opened to a simple counter, the rest of the weapons protected behind fencing. Larxene, a beautiful blonde with hard green eyes, flicked a delicate but wicked eyebrow at Axel as she spun a blade between her fingers. “I know you prefer arson, but that’s a little too noticeable in this line of work.”
Axel leaned on the counter. “So give me a suggestion, sweetcheeks.”
Larxene leaned forward, inches from Axel’s face. He felt the cool metal of the blade against the underside of his chin. “Don’t call me sweetcheeks, you piece of garbage. You think you’re hot shit just because you’ve killed a lot of people? Around here you earn respect, and you certainly don’t have mine.”
She stepped back from her desk and scanned the shelves behind her. “Blades are always good. Quick. Personal. I like that sort of intimacy.”
Axel smirked. “You don’t seem the type to like any sort of intimacy.”
Larxene shot him a glare that he felt in his chest. One day he’d learn to stop flirting with her, but today was not that day.
“Poison?” he suggested. Larxene laughed.
“What are you, twelve?” She picked up a couple of small blades he could hide in his belt. “Get gloves and the rest of your supplies from Luxord, I don’t carry that shit here.”
Axel rolled his eyes, but offered a wicked grin. “You always treat me like I’m new here. When will you realize I’m quite experienced?”
Larxene smirked in response. “A lot of people talk big here, Axel. Where’s the action? Get the fuck out of my armory.”
Axel smiled, took the blades, signed the paper she shoved at him, and left the room.
Down the hall into another room to visit Luxord for clean up materials and other supplies and Axel was off for some recon.
After hitting up a drive-thru for a sandwich and some coffee, he parked a few houses down from the duplex where his hit, this college kid named Sora, was living, and prepared to wait.
Axel hadn’t been with the Organization very long. It was a weird situation, this gang of assassins calling itself Organization Thirteen when there weren’t thirteen of them. There had been, he had assumed. There were pictures on the walls of other people whom he assumed had been killed in the field. He didn’t ask.
Having run into problems with authority one too many times, Axel fled his hometown and found himself looking for work to no avail. With no proper references, he couldn’t find a job, and with no job, he was looking at past due notices and constant calls from his landlord.
A short blond named Roxas had shown up at his door a few days into Axel’s despair and had handed him a business card. “Don’t ask, just come see us.” The blond was one of the photos on the wall now, killed in action.
Organization Thirteen.
Axel had shown up at the building, right in the heart of downtown, and was buzzed in without even saying his name. A pretty receptionist who was coloring at the front desk smiled and told him he was expected, and to go to the third floor where he would be greeted by a man named Saix.
Axel had no idea how this Organization had found him, nor what they did. Saix made it known the moment Axel had sat down across from him in the board room on the third floor.
“We are assassins. It to my knowledge that you have a problem with authority, and are prone to arson. Is this true?”
Axel hadn’t known what to say. Yes, it was true. Did you say that to a potential employer?
“Assassins...?” he had replied instead, laughing nervously.
Saix’s face remained stoic, almost empty. “We are hired by clients to kill targets. It is not rocket science, as the saying goes.”
“And...people hire you?”
“We have a team and are almost constantly booked,” Saix explained.
“You’re...not serious.”
“You have unique skills, Axel. I think you would be an asset to our team. I am sure you would rather discuss other things, like salary. You will be paid biweekly, with benefits, and a company car for out of town missions. You will be given a new identity, as our computer experts can rewrite your history and make it so your criminal record never existed.”
“You…”
“I am not finished. We also have an offsite living space arranged for you, should you need it. It is to my knowledge that your landlord is bothering you about overdue rent. We will arrange for him to be paid, and your belongings moved, should you wish it.”
“So wait-”
“Ask.”
“You actually kill people.”
Saix gave a long-suffering sigh and had flicked a button on a console next to him. A large screen appeared on the wall and Saix called up videos of previous hits. Different people taking out different targets, the targets’ histories and criminal records visible next to each violent scene.
“We accept only the hits we deem worthy, be they someone who we feel deserves to be punished for their transgressions.”
Axel frowned. “I mean, I’m not much of a moral person myself, but --”
“You have set fire to more than one person’s house, both times with people still inside.”
“They bullied my best friend.”
“It seems your moral compass is just the type we need in our Organization. Shall I have Namine go over the paperwork with you?”
Axel sighed. “Can I leave at any time, or is this some sort of ‘you’re in it for life’ scenario?”
Saix had offered a hint of a smile. “Axel. You won’t want to leave. Trust me.”
--
And now, hundreds of kills later, Axel sat in the front seat of his car, his cheek full of a mouthful of sandwich, watching Sora’s house with binoculars.
Axel had little to go on by the picture - honestly, a quick search of Facebook had shown him all he needed to know, including a recent selfie of Sora with some pretty redhead. The kid was cute, his grin all teeth. The paperwork was vague on Sora’s crime, but whoever had hired the Organization had a lot of money, and wanted it done.
Around 6pm, a kid matching Sora’s description, and certainly the size of his hair, pulled up to the duplex and went inside, a bag of food in one hand while he ate a donut, bouncing in time to a song playing through his headphones.
Axel groaned. The peppy type, how exhausting.
He waited another hour before approaching the house. As it was Autumn, the sun had gone down two hours ago, and Axel’s presence wouldn’t be as easily detected. He zipped up his black hoodie and threw his hair back into a messy bun high on his head, checking his hips for the blades Larxene had given him. Pulling on the black gloves and slipping his phone into his pocket, Axel hurried up the back steps and listened for sounds of Sora within the house.
Based on the dim light from one of the windows, Sora was in one room and hadn’t left. Axel picked the lock with ease and snuck inside.
Sora was playing an online game with headphones around his neck. He was shooting someone, chuckling to himself. Axel stood in the doorway and watched Sora for a long moment, wondering how to approach him. He should have waited until the kid was asleep. It was always easier that way.
“I assume you’re here to kill me,” Sora said without turning around. Axel felt ice flood his veins.
Sora chuckled. “I can tell you’re there. I knew you were down the street and watched me come home. Took your sweet time, didn’t you?”
Sora typed some commands to his character on screen and pressed a few keys, saving his game. “I wonder who they sent this time.”
He turned around and looked at Axel in the dim lighting, smiling faintly. “Hmm. You’re big.” His eyes scanned Axel from top to bottom and his smile turned into a different expression, one Axel was familiar with. “Damn. You’re really hot. I bet you know that, don’t you?”
Axel frowned. “How-”
“Don’t bother. I’ve taken down a few other members of your team. They sent a girl last time, but she was easy to get rid of. Before that, a blond kid. Now they send you? What did you do that made them decide to get rid of someone pretty like you?”
Sora took off his headphones and stood up, his arms out. “My hands are empty, see? No need to jump me suddenly. I mean, unless you want to. I’d go for it.” He grinned.
Axel’s frown remained.
Sora made a gesture to move Axel from the doorway. “I’m gonna get a snack, are you hungry?”
“You would offer an assassin your food?”
“I’m not an asshole,” Sora replied with a chuckle as he headed down the hallway to the kitchen, reaching for a can of pop. He handed one to Axel.
“Listen. If you’re gonna kill me, can you do it in my bedroom?”
“You don’t get to request-”
“Why not? Don’t you have any honor, Assassin? What’s your name?”
Axel knew better, but he couldn’t help it. “Axel. A-X-E-L. Got it memorized?”
Sora smirked. “You all have really weird names. Do they hire you all because you have X’s in your names, do you think?”
He finished his drink quickly, leaving the can in the sink, and headed back down the hall to his bedroom. He turned in the doorway and smiled back at Axel. “Well? I’m waiting.”
Axel put the pop down and readied his fingers to grab for the blades. This wasn’t going according to plan.
Axel reached the doorway, uneasy, and saw that Sora was sitting on his bed. “I’d rather be comfortable when I die.”
“You killed the others, and yet expect to die by my hand instead?” Axel wondered out loud. Sora laughed.
“I’m not dead yet.”
“What did you do? Why did our client hire us to kill you?”
Sora shook his head. “If your paperwork doesn’t tell you what you need to know, then neither can I.” He leaned back on his hands. “How are you going to do it? Slit my throat? Or my wrists, make it look like a suicide?” He leaned over and turned on the lamp at his bedside. “There. Mood lighting. Makes me look like I was thinking about it. Really, Axel, I’m helping you.”
The light made Sora’s face look like it was bathed in gold. His eyes seemed to glow in the haze of the room, and Axel wondered why the others had failed when this kid seemed so willing to die.
That’s most likely the attitude that got them killed, dummy. Be careful.
“Axel, can I ask you something?”
Axel frowned. “What?”
“I’m curious. I know you’ll say no for DNA purposes and whatever, but like… I wonder if you’d kiss me while the light leaves my eyes. You know, after you slit my throat or whatever.”
“You’re fucked up, you know that?”
“I’ve been told,” Sora said with a delighted grin. “So will you?”
“Unlikely,” Axel said, stepping towards him. Sora sighed, his eyes sad.
“Fine, okay.” He lay back into his pillows. “Make sure you leave a knife here so it looks like I did it.”
Axel frowned. "Why do you not want me found out?"
"Do you want to be found out?" Sora asked, incredulous. He gestured to Axel. "C'mon then. I'm ready."
Axel cleared his throat. "I still – You're really weird."
Sora nodded. "This really weird kid is ready to die, A-x-e-l."
Axel held a blade in his right hand as he sat on the edge of Sora's bed. "What did you do, Sora?" Axel whispered. "Why am I here to kill you?"
Sora sat up, slow enough as not to startle Axel away from him. In one fluid motion, he circled his arms around Axel's neck, flipped the larger man onto his back and pressed him into the pillows, straddling Axel's hips. Axel couldn't move. He looked up in horror as Sora's eyes turned from blue into jet black, his grin fanged, veins in his skin painting his face with black lines.
"I've killed a lot of people, A-x-e-l," he purred, his voice different, deeper, demonic. "You could have done it, too, I think. It's always hesitance that gets them..." Sora pondered, leaning in, smelling Axel's neck and trailing his tongue up his jawline. "You should have killed me instead of thinking about it."
"What are you-?" Axel panted, straining as he tried to get away from Sora’s mouth.
"A nightmare. The darkness. The end." Sora leaned in and kissed Axel thoroughly, and as Sora's tongue forced its way into Axel's mouth, he felt weird, like his strength was draining. Axel struggled best he could, but Sora just seemed to get stronger. Axel's eyes fluttered open and he watched Sora pull away, licking his lips and grinning as he remained astride Axel's hips, black eyes fading back to blue.
Sora let go of Axel's arms and hugged himself around the middle, shivering and letting out a moan of pleasure. "You are the tastiest of all of them, A-x-e-l." Sora grinned and leaned back into Axel's space, as Axel tried with difficulty to draw breath. "Now it's time for you to have it memorized. Tell Xion and Roxas I say hello, won't you?" He winked and climbed off of Axel as Axel drew his last breath and his vision faded into black.