Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Witchcraft ❯ Witchcraft ( One-Shot )

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"Tell me about the worlds you visited."

Blunt and straight to the point, that was Roxas for you. Axel honestly couldn’t say he was surprised as he glanced at the blond boy sitting next to him and looking up at him expectantly. Still he grinned and cocked his head to the side, stalling for the pleasure of teasing his friend. The blond hated to be denied anything.

"Why the sudden interest?"

Roxas frowned -the Key of Destiny did not pout- at his so called best friend and crossed his arms before him.

"Just tell me."   Talk to me, about anything. Just talk.
Axel’s grin turned into a softer smile as he abandoned the book he was reading to face the younger boy. While he was the same as always on the outside his inside had turned to ice and his stalling was no longer due to teasing.

He had a feeling the question would pop up one day and he had feared that moment where he would have to explain. Roxas had no memory of his former self and had never left the World That Never Was yet, it was only natural that he became curious about what was out there one day. Xemnas had realised this as well and had given them all instructions should it happened.

Damn.

The Flurry of Dancing’s eyes glazed over slightly as he mulled over what he would tell Roxas, losing himself in thoughts as the Key of Destiny waited patiently beside him.

When Axel finally opened his mouth, the words came out as if they had a mind of their own.

"There is this world that I knew a long time ago," he started, voice almost trailing off before he shook his head and started again "a world with an archaic culture, I don’t think you would have enjoy living there."

He had found his trademark grin again now, nothing but an empty mask while vivid green eyes observed as Roxas’s frown lessen a little in answer to his performance. He was such a great actor, wasn’t he?

"It was a poor world, filled with superstitions and tales of magic but the most popular one was the tale of the Witches."

"Witches? You mean the old hags travelling with brooms, like in the books?"

Roxas made a face and Axel nearly burst out laughing. Sweet, naïve Roxas.

"Not that kind of witches, silly!" The redhead ruffled Roxas’s hair, which earned him a dirty look that he dutifully ignored "Witches were the plague of this world and could be anybody. They were the official scapegoats should anything go wrong in the community. If the crops failed or if a woman died in childbirth, they blamed it on the ones they called witches. But they weren’t evil; hell more often than not they didn’t even have any kind of power."

"Then why blame them?"

He wondered, confused, before he noticed the weird glint in those bright green eyes. How long can one play a role before slipping anyway?

"Because they were different." The tone was flat, a sharp contrast to the earlier, lighter mood and Roxas blinked in surprise but Axel was too far gone to notice he had stepped out of character "Humans tend to be scared of what they can’t control or understand. Back there all you had to do to be marked as a witch was to have knowledge of medicinal herbs."

"And… what happened to those witches?"

He was almost afraid to ask, -except that he couldn’t- afraid of what Axel was implying -it was hitting too close to home for comfort, too close to their own situation- but he couldn’t take back his words now. Axel seemed to be somewhere else and it bothered Roxas -even if he would not admit to it-.

"They were physically marked to distinguish them -the Devil’s Children- from the People of God, the good folks." He stressed those words, as if to show what he thought of those people "They wouldn’t kill witches until they could blame a wrong doing on them -they were the good ones after all- but they had no problem abusing them whenever they could. Lynching and torture wasn’t uncommon and when they had the opportunity they got rid of them the best way they knew how."

Roxas was watching him with wide eyes now and Axel almost felt bad, almost stopped and told him to forget what he said. Until he remembered Xemnas’s words and the reason he was doing this in the first place and pushed the uneasy sensation in the back of his mind, refusing to look at the blond.

If he ever asks about the other worlds, scare him off.

"They would burn them at the stake."

He whispered and wished he had missed the small intake of breath next to him.

"Oh. That’s… sad."

That was all he said.

"I’m sorry. It’s not a happy tale I know. I fear I don’t have any good ones."

Roxas glanced at his best friend, took in his lost eyes and apologetic smile and merely nodded before sliding off his seat; but not without squeezing the redhead’s hand once. There was nothing more to say. Axel looked away and listened to the sounds of the boy’s footsteps fading away.

When he couldn’t hear them anymore he leaned back in his chair and let his head drop backward with a sigh.

Damn Roxas for asking and damn Xemnas for giving those orders. But most of all damn him for giving in and telling that story.

Cold, strong hands gripped his shoulders and Axel would have jumped out of his skin if he hadn’t already known who they belonged to.

"So the Key of Destiny asked you about the other worlds…"

"Indeed, you heard us didn’t you?"

"You did the right thing. It’s too early for him."

Axel laughed harshly, before it quickly turned into a moan when those hands started rubbing his neck.

"Still I don’t understand why you had to talk about your home world Axel…"

But the Flurry of Dancing Flames wasn’t listening at this point, lost in memories of a past he desperately wished to forget.

--

He had been marked as a Witch the day of his birth; with black tattoo under his demon eyes to fit the darkness inside of his heart. At least that was the Priest’s opinion. Only his mother’s pleading had saved his life back then as the priest wanted nothing more than for him and the sin he carried to be disposed of immediately.

When he was 8 years old he came home in tears and asked his mother why the other kids chased him and called him a witch. She hadn’t been able to tell him then that his only fault was to not have a father, her mind already half gone with grief. His tormentors couldn’t even claim he had powers to back up their accusation but his hair and eyes were enough in themselves to cast him off as a witch. After all only the Devil’s Children ever had red hair and green eyes.

At age 16 he was cornered and beaten until he passed out. When his mother found him she nearly had a heart attack, believing him to be dead. To the dismay of the community he managed to survive, as unlikely as it was. They moved out for the outskirt of town afterward.

But it wasn’t until he turned 21 and his mother died that things really went down the drain. It only took the Priest one week to accuse him of the murder of a little girl -her heart had been ripped off her chest- and to send him to the pyre.

Lea fought, screamed and even begged for his life all the way to the pyre. He was young; barely a man and he didn’t want to die. He received only scorn and hate and had to listen to the cheers from the crowd who had came to see the ‘killer’ meet his end all the way to his death.

It was only when the flames started licking at his flesh, burning his clothes off his body that Lea gave into his rage. He cursed the town and the Priest with all the strength he had left, wishing for the first time in his life that he was a real witch.

As he stood there, writhing in pain among the flames he suddenly heard screams that weren’t his own. The smoke and tears blinding him weren’t enough to hide the strange, black little shadow like creatures he saw then, nor did he missed the fact that they were attacking the town people, ripping off their hearts. In his shock he didn’t notice the shadow crawling up toward him until he felt a sharp pain in his chest. Then darkness.

When he woke up he was cold, naked and the whole town was silent. After blinking a few times to clear his sight, he quickly examined himself in disbelief, not believing his luck until he saw a scar on his chest, right where his heart should be. He touched it lightly, before turning his attention to his surrounding. Chaos was the only word to describe what he saw. Parts of the small town were burning; bodies filled the streets and the little shadow creatures were running around attacking the survivors of the disaster.

Lea coughed a few times, though he barely noticed it. He only felt cold and empty. He did not even seemed to be able to care that his killers were now dead or dying, as if God had answered his prayers. Pushing himself to his feet he choose to ignore it for now and made his way out of town after stealing the rests of a tattered coat from one of the bodies, his clothes having burned in the fire. He didn’t know how he had survived but right now all he wanted was to escape this hellish place.

As he crossed the town square a bunch of those shadow creatures attacked him, startling him and causing him to fall down with a yelp. Lea held out his arms in a desperate attempt to protect himself and, to his shock, saw a burst of fire forming before him. The flames destroyed the creatures, leaving him panting and drained. That was how he discovered his new powers and as he sat there he couldn’t help but marvel at the irony. He had died for powers and an evilness he didn’t have, only to gain them in the afterlife.

He found the strength to continue after a little while despite his nearly broken psyche and walked around in a daze, not really watching where he was going until he stumbled and fell forward. Lea closed his eyes, expecting to meet the harsh ground. Instead he found himself pressed against something warm and solid and tall. Lea blinked, raised his head to see what had stopped his fall and lost himself in a pair of feral golden eyes.

"Did you come from this town?"

Lea nodded numbly, stunned by this stranger who had caught him and who didn’t seem to care about the obvious marking of the Witches on his body. He wasn’t from around here that much he could tell, as he had never seen anyone with blue hair before. Strangely he didn’t feel intimidated. Only something like… kinship.

"Then come with me, I can help you. You lost your heart to the Heartless but you were strong enough to keep your human form, like me."

"My… heart?"

The stranger nodded but didn’t wait for another answer from the redhead. He linked his arms around the thin waist and called a portal of darkness. When Lea started struggling and whimpering -where was this stranger taking him?- he merely tightened his hold on the barely clothed body and whispered in his ear.

"Don’t be afraid, you do not have the ability to be anyway.  I promise you shall not be hurt."

Lea believed him. He buried his face against the other’s chest as darkness enveloped them and stopped struggling.

--

"What are you thinking about?"

The hands still rubbing his neck were now sliding down his spine in a calming manner. Axel shook his head, back arching into the touch and smiled at the Luna Diviner.

"The past, and the first time we meet."

"I see."

Saix’s face didn’t changed but the rubbing became a bit stronger, sharp nails biting into his skin but he didn’t wince. He never did.

"Forget about it, you are not Lea right now. You are Axel, the organization’s Flurry of Dancing Flames."

"I know."

"Then come with me. I think you need me to reinforce this fact in you."

The Luna Diviner stepped back and held out one hand to him. Axel didn’t think, he just took it and let the blue haired man lead him out of the room, a barely noticeable smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

This was why he had followed him the first time. Others could think what they wanted; Saix and he had an understanding.

Saix didn’t care if he had been called a witch once and Axel didn’t care if Saix was hiding a dangerous animal in the back of his mind.

That was just how they worked.