Fic: Fatal Flaw
Title: Fatal Flaw
Author: breathless_dawn
Rating: R for violence and gore
Pairing: Axel/Kairi (much squinting required)
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts doesn't belong to me. I bow to the mouse and Square.
A/N: Weeeell...This did not turn out as I hoped. All of it just kind of turned out wrong, you know? Anyway... Herein lies some dark!Axel and violence. I don't know that I'm too happy with this and I think I may try to rewrite/rework the storyline at a later date. But for today, I give you this... Tell me what you think.
They are running. Running so fast and for so long that Kairi finds it hard to keep up with Axel’s long stride.
“Axel, stop! I can’t…” she says, breathless, dragging her feet and finally stopping. Her chest is on fire and she can’t draw enough breath to fill her lungs fully.
“We can’t stop now! They’re going to catch us.”
Kairi looks over her shoulder, clutching a stitch in her side, and sees nothing. “Who’s going to catch us?”
No sooner do the words leave her mouth than Axel points to the horizon and says darkly, “Them.” A group of dark figures seem to suddenly materialise and begin to rapidly approach them. Kairi gasps and braces herself to run again, but Axel shakes his head. “Too late for that now, princess” he says as he conjures his chakrams in a burst of flame.
It is only then that Kairi realises just how vulnerable she is. She has no weapons or physical strength to speak of. In fact, she has nothing but her hands, which, as she curls her thin fingers into fists, seem especially meagre when measured up to the unknown force of their assailants.
“Stay behind me,” Axel says as the dark group approach nearer. She can see his muscles tense, watches as his fingers ready his chakrams. His eyes darken with something she cannot place, and before she has time to utter a word, their assailants are upon them.
The first attacker launches himself at Axel, who dispenses of him before she can blink. There is a muffled thud as the body lands on the soft earth. He cuts down another, lightning quick, and she blinks as she is sprayed with something warm and sticky. When she runs her hand over her face, her fingers shine red.
Blood.
Heartless and Nobodies don’t bleed, which could only mean their attackers are human.
But she has no time to brood this because she barely manages to move out of the way as Axel slices through another man, with a sickening scratching sound as blade meets bone. She is vaguely aware of Axel yelling something at her, but she can only hear the sound of blood as it rushes in rivers out of the fallen men’s mouths and stomachs. She shakily backs away from the growing pool of red gathering beneath them.
There is a loud crack and another thud as the last man collapses on top of another of his fallen comrades. His eyes stare emptily at the sky.
At first Kairi can do nothing but stand and stare numbly at the sight before her. There is so much blood - too much blood - and their bodies are twisted at odd angles and their faces contorted into expressions she’s never seen before. She moves her gaze to Axel, who is staring at her silently. He is drenched in scarlet.
“Oh God, Axel,” she murmurs weakly. “What have you done? What the hell have you done?!”
She staggers away from him, but her vision is beginning to swim and slip out of focus. It feels as though the force of gravity is suddenly much stronger and she falls roughly to her knees. Moments later, she vomits.
“Kairi…” Axel says softly, kneeling down next to her and reaching out a hand to her.
“Don’t touch me,” she says as loud as she can muster, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand and scooting away from him.
He sighs and tries fruitlessly to wipe the blood from his face. “It was us or them, Kairi.”
“But they were - you killed - they were human…” she stammers.
Axel raises his eyebrows. “So? They were trying to kill us. How does that make them any different from Heartless or Nobodies?”
She opens her mouth but closes again after a moment, finding she has no answer. She supposes it is because she has never seen a dead body before. When the Heartless and Nobodies die, they simply disappear, leaving no trace that they were ever there.
For a fleeting moment, she envies Axel, because he will never have to die like this.
“You don’t understand, princess. This is all a big game to Xemnas. Humans are easily and readily dispensable. If I hadn’t killed them, one of the others would have. Xemnas doesn’t play nicely. Got it memorised?”
Kairi nods numbly and allows Axel to pull her to her feet. Before they leave, Axel tells her he needs to clean up. She turns her back as she hears the roar of flame erupt behind her.
The acrid smell of burning flesh fills the air.
As they walk, she tries to forget, but she doesn’t think she will ever be able to look at Axel’s eyes without seeing murder dark within their depths.