Stockholm Syndrome

Summary: It didn't take long for the blond to go limp and then Axel pulled him close before turning him around, blinking in surprise at the pretty face. He smirked. Maybe this wouldn't be so boring after all.

A/n: For Adrianne

Chapter One

xXx

"Now then, Axel, are you ready to watch him die?" The red-head stared at the blond, trying to seem impassive although he was screaming inside.

"What do I care? All he ever was was some plaything." Beautiful blue eyes widened, both hurt and accusing. Axel's boss smiled, pleased by the red-head's response before pushing him toward Roxas.

"If that's how you feel, then set us all straight." Axel stared at Roxas. They were so close that if their circumstances had been different, he could have pulled that beautiful face close, closing the space between them to savor those succulent lips. But their circumstances weren't different. He couldn't even save the boy, much less kiss him.

"What do you mean?"

"I want you to kill him with your bare hands." Axel nodded. He couldn't show any signs of weakness.

"Alright."

xXx

Axel took one last drag of his cigarette, staring at the quivering blond, bound and lying on the cold ground beside him before flicking it away, somewhere into the darkness. He intentionally blew out the smoke in small bursts, making rings to amuse himself. He was bored again already, and when his new form of entertainment was expended, his gaze returned to the smaller boy.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you."

"P-please, I don't want to d-die," he whispered, tears forming in those beautiful blue eyes when the cold steel of the knife that'd killed his parents earlier that evening returned to his throat. It was stained with their blood.

"Then you'd better try a little bit… harder," The red-head drawled. He smirked when he saw the terror in the boy's eyes, just before the moon was hidden behind the clouds.

"What do I have to do? I'll do anything! P-please!" Axel smirked.

"Entertain me." The blade found the binding ropes instead, severing them in an instant. The blond lay there for a long moment, trying to decide how. Axel frowned. "If you're just going to lay there like a corpse, then you might as well be one." Frightened, the boy hastily sat up and scurried backward, banging his head against a tree just as the moon came out from behind the clouds for the second time that night. Axel smirked at that pretty face, remembering the earlier events of the evening.

He'd gotten the order for the job from his superior and he'd frowned as he'd reviewed it. It was another hit on a senator and his family. Predictable politics, and he'd found it to be so boring. The opportunity to kill though was what had intrigued him. He loved killing, it made him feel alive.

He'd arrived at midnight, surveying the property before disabling the security, killing off the guards, and then slipping inside noiselessly. The first room he'd come across had had a baby inside. He'd gone to it, smothering it to death noiselessly. Across the hall had been an empty bedroom, but Axel had known from his report that there should've been an eighteen year old boy inside. He didn't want to be discovered, however, so he moved on, to his main target: Cloud and Tifa Strife.

He'd slit the man's throat, but had woken him in the process and the scuffle had awoken his wife. Discovering what had happened, she'd begun to scream for help and he'd done the same to her. Hearing a disturbance after that, he'd quickly hid in the shadows, letting his final target come to him, like a lamb on its way to the slaughter.

Axel had waited patiently as the door had creaked open and the boy had walked into the eerily silent room. "Mom, what's wrong?" He'd asked, going up to his parents' bed. "Mom?" He asked, turning on the lamp. He saw the bodies and screamed, quickly backing away and right into Axel's arms. He struggled as strong hands held his wrists.

"Hello Roxas," he'd whispered in the boy's ear. The blond had struggled, screaming again, this time for help. "Don't bother, they're all dead. Even the baby."

"No! How could you, you monster! You'll pay for this!" Axel had laughed amusedly before reaching behind himself and grabbing a length of rope he'd brought along, just in case, twisting it around the boy's neck and pulling tight. Perhaps he'd drag it out a bit with this one; he'd always enjoyed bringing something home to play with, now and then... It didn't take long for the blond to go limp and then Axel pulled him close before turning him around, blinking in surprise at the pretty face. He smirked. Maybe this wouldn't be so boring after all.

Axel was startled when the boy began to sing. He stared at Roxas, so focused on his heartwrenchingly beautiful voice that he didn't bother listening to or trying to understand the words. It matched that beautiful face quite perfectly, he mused absentmindedly. The red-head felt something stirring in his cold heart, something he hadn't ever felt from another person before, and it was even more bittersweet than the killings he'd perform.

"Stop!" He didn't like it.

"I -I'm sorry, I didn't k-know what you'd like a-and-" He was cut off, choking as hands gripped his neck, pressing him against the tree he'd been sitting against and cutting off his air supply. The blond clawed at them, desperately trying to get free as he saw spots in his vision but no matter how hard he tried, they wouldn't budge and soon, he was succumbing to the blackness that was edging his vision. Roxas went limp and Axel's hands began to shake. He let go, unable to let himself kill the boy when he knew that he should have.

"Dammit," he hissed, letting him fall to the ground as he tried to convince himself that he would later.

xXx

-TBC-

A/n: Thoughts? I promise, I'll try my best not to get too side-tracked from this; I tend to do that a lot…