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Post by akimoggie on Dec 8, 2010 1:15:01 GMT -5
It had been far too long.
A small eternity had passed since their first explosive reunion, and absolutely none of the tension that accompanied it had been resolved in the slightest. At the very least, the Castle's Lord found relief in the fact that his murderer wasn't still stationed at Oblivion, but that was no guarantee of safety. And now, be it karma or just the typical bad luck he's endured ever since he met that blond-haired kid all those years ago, even that slight bit of comfort was being ripped right out from his fingers.
Axel was here. And Vexen still had a bone to pick.
What was Xemnas thinking?
The academic had long missed his chance for any sort of revenge; his last encounter with Saix still left a bitter taste in his mouth for that reason alone. If Axel received any sort of punishment, he hadn't been around to bask in it; if he hadn't, that was a travesty that Xemnas would be sure to regret later. It hadn't occurred to him that maybe Saix intended to protect Axel--surely the roots of rebellion hadn't sunk that deep into the Organization--but if no one else intended to put Axel in his place, Vexen would.
Even sans hearts, Nobodies could be deluded by a sense of power they did not truly possess. Perhaps this was Vexen's affliction, being so bold as to call his assassin out to the lowest basement of the castle, without his Replica or anyone else to ensure this didn't turn deadly all over again. Two Scholar-type Nobodies flanked him like royal servants, hardly any great security, but perhaps their presence would deter any violent intentions--not that he really expected Axel to attack him on his own turf. Then again, he didn't expect Axel to kill him before, either.
Either way, Vexen needed peace of mind. And he wouldn't get it until he knew he had Axel under his heel, collared and leashed like the dog that he was.
In the chilly room, he waited.
He would put an end to this.
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Post by axie on Dec 8, 2010 4:51:04 GMT -5
Boredom was not an emotion.
Maybe Axel would feel it, or something like it, even if it was--but a complete lack of feeling like this shouldn't count. It never bothered him before not to be working, or to have a day off, but the restlessness that set in wouldn't even let him nap. He'd heard nothing about Xemnas's little pet project and hadn't seen the princess in her cage or the empty corridors. Ansem he hadn't run into again, and with Saïx on his case Axel couldn't afford to be away from the castle too long. The sudden dearth of missions sent a pointed hint that he didn't need--with the Organization under his thumb again, the Superior could afford to keep some on a short leash. And while he wasn't under lock and key, it wouldn't benefit Axel to test those boundaries just yet. Xemnas had already made it clear just how precarious his position really was. Running from a broken Organization was one thing; running from one in full was another, and if his last respite with Roxas and Xion both was with Sora, it wouldn't help to bring the rest of Sora's enemies snapping at their heels.
Still. This situation was not going to improve itself, and Axel couldn't wait around for too long.
Nobodies knifing into his room with their signature silvery darkness had him launch himself up into a sitting position with one chakram still hot at his fingertips in a second. After running from Berserker and Dusk alike, maybe he'd always react that way to them when they popped in unannounced--and once he realized whose they were he didn't relax.
Just typical.
Xemnas had had his way and now it was Vexen's turn. What next, a post-mortem visit from Zexion?
Eternal Flames slipped out of his hand and back into darkness to a rustling sigh. The Scholars weren't likely to attack him until he ran, although he wouldn't be surprised if Vexen gave them those orders out of spite, and it wasn't like Axel couldn't take them out if he wanted but what was the point? It was no loss to anyone, and Vexen would just whine even more about it.
Even so. Getting a summons like this from a couple low-rank Nobodies when it wasn't from Xemnas himself? Ticked him off. Even if Vexen was the Lord of Oblivion.
Axel rose in a natural motion like growth and waved a dismissive hand at the Nobodies. "I get the message. Don't follow me." He trusted the flint in his eye to discourage them.
The portal took him to Vexen's side without effort. "Well someone's feeling high and mighty." And Axel crumpled his spine on the first couch he saw, crossing his arms and turning greenfire eyes on Vexen over them. The position probably wasn't the most advantageous if things got ugly, but Axel expected a lecture and not a fight--and he chose it specifically to be flippant. "What's this about? Missed me already?"
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Post by akimoggie on Dec 27, 2010 2:11:36 GMT -5
The dead cool of the basement disappeared with Axel's arrival, the Flurry's presence seeming to light up the room with life and warmth, and Vexen very nearly flinched; it was as if he had already put his hand too close to the flame, his voice of reason whining don't do this and grasping for second thoughts, but Vexen wouldn't be cowed. Not this time. And if he could just get a fragment of assurance that everything would be alright -- that there was a sense of normality now, that things would be back on track as soon as Xemnas stopped screwing around and there really, really wasn't anything to fear -- then the academic could let it go at that.
For the moment, though, Vexen had everything to fear.
The Scholars were almost purely for show, and Axel must have known that the second he saw them; if nothing else, they were obedient, staying put when Axel told them to and quickly making themselves comfortable in the Flurry's room. Depending on how long this meeting took, Axel may or may not find a few dozen very confused penguins roosting in his room upon his return, but for now all he had to worry about were the two on either side of the Castle's Lord; they stood tall, beaks high, like their master -- and they mirrored his movements when he turned, fluid as mercury. Under their caps, they might have been giving Axel the same utterly disgusted look as their master.
"Hardly." Chemical-green eyes flicked back and forth across Axel's lounging form, the scientist's false disdain giving way to a clinical sort of curiosity; that his subject could bend like origami, so inorganically, made him wonder just what it would take to break him. "If it were solely my decision, you wouldn't even be a memory."
Vexen's hesitation only underlined the distance between them; he was still so reluctant to approach, too unwilling to be burned again, but he still forced himself to move, leaving the Scholars behind. He was well-protected, but not dependent, there was a difference -- and the last thing he needed was for Axel to think the latter. But he should have seemed intimidating enough on his own; he towered over Axel when they stood together, and he should've seemed even greater now that his shadow stretched long enough to completely eclipse the Flurry. If only he could feel as confident as he thought he should.
"Given your current predicament, I would have thought you'd choose your words a little more carefully when addressing your superiors. But," and he shook his head like a disappointed teacher, "perhaps I overestimate your intelligence. Even so, I find it unnecessary to remind you that you tread on thin ice; just as you should consider yourself fortunate that you still have a place in our ranks, you must know you have quite a bit to atone for."
When he leaned in to make sure he had Axel's attention, he was no longer concerned about the chance of getting burned; he only cared that the Flurry understood the intent in his tone, that he would take him seriously.
"Don't you?"
That he wouldn't put up a fight.
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Post by axie on Dec 29, 2010 20:18:17 GMT -5
The only sign of discomfort Axel gave away when Vexen drew close was a tightening around the eyes and lips, and locked up as his position was it didn't do to have someone hovering over him like that. He wasn't going to be intimidated by the same schmuck he saw burst into flame--though as always, the way Sora's voice had caught and wavered still made the memory sour. That said, if he'd had a heart, Axel might've taken solace in the very flammable couch at his back.
For the same reason he couldn't show indecision, Axel would not be controlled. If the Organization thought a few words with Xemnas and harsh looks from Saïx could stamp him down into an ingratiating little scapegoat, he'd never get anything done around here. Just belligerent enough to keep 'em on their toes and just tractable enough not to end up on the flip side of Xemnas's ice cold temper--it was a delicate balance.
"Me?" Crossed arms blocked off his usual glib gestures, so Axel compensated with an arched eyebrow. "C'mon. You know as well as I do those orders came straight from Marluxia. If you wanna whine to somebody about being dead, why don't you take it up with him?" Axel leaned up and punted the nearest Scholar with his foot. "Besides~." In the second it was stunned and doubled over, he crossed both ankles on top of its head, shooting Vexen a greenfire stare that begged a challenge.
"Doncha think, if I really had to catch hell for it, Xemnas would've done somethin' about that by now~?"
Sure, the Organization wasn't as obvious or predictable as a dictatorship. It was made up of a bunch of jagged parts that jangled, but that didn't mean Axel had to answer to any of them--with the exception of the one who clutched his fate in a glimmer of nothingness.
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Post by akimoggie on Feb 1, 2011 15:08:51 GMT -5
They were both entangled in a stupid game of bluffs and unspoken threats, and Vexen had a whole lot more to lose. What made it so difficult was the fact that Axel had far more experience playing these ridiculous mind games than Vexen ever did; Vexen's approach incorporated delicate instruments and empirical data, fixing things at the cellular and molecular levels, piecing together and rearranging his subjects from inside out--where Axel used what Vexen hated to call the most effective tool of all: fear. And fear was all he needed to break his targets down in the worst possible ways.
Axel also had the unfathomable ability to piss Vexen off with every slightest movement. Vexen's eyes went haywire for a moment as his attention split between Axel's hands--there was so much he could do with those hands and they ought to stay in Vexen's sight at all times--and the movement of Axel abusing the poor Scholar. He wasn't so concerned about his vassal, though; the penguin was as disposable as any Dusk or worn lab tool, and if it had to suffer its miserable unexistence as a particularly squishy ottoman, Vexen simply couldn't care less. The offense, as always, was from Axel's disrespectful attitude, and the Academic had to react to it.
"Don't misunderstand me, Axel. I am perfectly aware of what that dog's intentions and orders were, and his machinations are as transparent to me now as they were then." An unthreatening but ultimately belligerent kick to Axel's calves to get his feet off the Scholar, and that was all the physical interaction Vexen wanted to have with the Flurry today. "But for you to follow blindly rather than act in the best interests of the Organization--that is a mindset that needs to be corrected." A pause. "Thoroughly."
It was something like disciplining a particularly stubborn student, Vexen imagined, and if he had a ruler he might be reliving the past in a barrage of swats and pokes and prods to make Axel sit up straight and pay attention and have the proper posture that Even never did have. But Axel was not a child and he didn't have any real authority figures to respect; Nobodies were only moved by threat of extinction, after all, and that was not something Axel had to fear from the Castle Lord directly--but Vexen feared Axel, and Vexen feared Marluxia, and Vexen feared Xemnas.
This was becoming less like a drive for control and more like a drive to just hold on.
"I fully intend to give Marluxia his due, but he is impotent without his sycophants. While you..." He hesitated, questioning the wisdom in letting Axel know he was considered a threat. "You are a special case. Certainly, the Superior must have his own plans with you in mind, but the task of castigation has ultimately been delegated to me; if it isn't abundantly clear to you already, I am your Superior now, and the assurance of your continued existence lies solely in my hands."
Those hands spread in an unnaturally inviting gesture, appearing more to be in supplication than demanding.
"Absolution is still a possibility," he offered, and his tone wasn't quite sarcastic nor arrogant--not when it was so tinged with a strained, unspoken please.
"If you beg."
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Post by axie on Feb 28, 2011 23:09:23 GMT -5
[OOC: WOO I POSTED BEFORE THE MONTH ENDED.
Toppin'.]
Strange. The more time Axel had spent around Roxas and Xion, and finally Sora, the more uncanny it got to be a Nobody. He knew not to take Larxene's coy flirting seriously, and he knew not to take Demyx's word for anything. But sympathy was setting in. Guilt. Slowly, the lines started to blur. Despite lacking hearts, the Organization was full of excellent actors, and that tended to cheapen the very real performances of those with hearts. By the same token, after hanging around with people who could feel and two special Nobodies who acted like they could, an act could ring true by Axel's intuition.
Case in point, Vexen seemed agitated. Axel was prepared for the kick but winced and swore under his breath anyway, foregoing spite since it was warranted--and to be honest he was distracted by Vexen's reactions. Those chlorine eyes swiveled too quickly at any false move, and that silence spoke volumes. Axel knew to label it fear and file it away under stuff to look out for, because a Nobody putting on the shakes in the middle of a controlled situation was a red flag. But his blurred instincts called it genuine, and that was about to put Axel on edge. Vexen didn't have a heart and he knew it, and those last pleas at Twilight Town's gates hadn't moved him. He might say it wouldn't again, but the last time they'd met at the front of a mansion, something stayed his hand. Not that he couldn't rationalize it, but he couldn't be sure the boy who stared at the undeath unfolding in front of him didn't have something to do with it. The old Axel, Axel who didn't hesitate at Castle Oblivion, at least wouldn't have rescued the Organization's Number Four. But Axel couldn't say he wanted to be that half-person again.
At any rate, if it was genuine like he seemed to sense, then it could still be trauma. If there was one thing that could affect a Nobody, it was trauma, and Axel knew so or Zexion wouldn't have been so skittish when he came face to face with a Replica of the kid who nearly killed him. Assuming it wasn't some residual, primal kind of fear, it was a trap.
Axel was not about to take the risk that it was.
So when Vexen stopped on that ominous note, he made a rough, breathy noise in the back of his throat. His lips twitched like he was trying to stop it--for Vexen's sake, of course--but he dropped his head back anyway in an oiled laugh with little true mirth to it. "Beg~? Oh, Vexen." Uncrossed arms were his props, smacking the cushions and thrusting him up into motion off the couch with a grunt. "You know me better than that. Besides, that's your expertise." A negligent twist of his hips to free himself from Vexen's loom and confident steps away, but they took him out of range and into a turn. The act might cover him so far, but if this was a trap then Vexen was almost sure to pick up on how that whole show was just to pluck himself out of that corner. "And, if you remember, I listened." Not the first time, no, but technicalities. Vexen was perfectly alive for the second time, too. "So if you want to punish me for that..." Axel's stance was locked and the limp black spiders of his hands were poised to seize chakrams from their oblivion. It was an extreme measure to actually go knocking weapons in an Organization member's face and generally one that only a higher status or tighter resolve could get away with. That's why this was only a threat, but the directness in Axel's eyes made it a valid one.
"Be my guest."
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