Kingdom Hearts hung beyond the great window like a wound in the sky.

Pale light spilled through the Grey Area in long bars, washing over black leather couches, silver table edges, abandoned cups of sea-salt ice cream gone watery from neglect. The room always smelled faintly metallic, like rain striking steel somewhere far below the castle. Nobody laughter had long since faded from the lounge hours ago, leaving only the distant groan of the Castle That Never Was drifting through the dark.

Axel sprawled sideways across one of the couches with all the loose laziness of somebody who owned the room. One boot rested against the table edge. His long coat spilled around him in heavy black folds, zipper glinting under the cold light. At first glance, he looked half asleep.

He wasn’t.

Turquoise-green eyes tracked the reflection in the giant window rather than the room itself, sharp as hooked blades beneath the purple marks under his eyes. One gloved hand spun a chakram idly around a finger. The weapon caught flickers of crimson from his hair every time it turned.

Saïx’s orders still rang in his ears.

Traitors within the Organization. Dispose of them.

Simple words. Clean words. Funny how they weighed so much.

Axel tipped his head back against the couch cushion, staring at Kingdom Hearts looming beyond the glass. The thing pulsed overhead like it was breathing. Like it knew every rotten little secret in the castle.

“Heh.”

The sound escaped him before he could stop it. A laugh. Real enough to scrape against his throat.

His grin faded almost immediately after, mouth flattening as irritation flickered across his face. Nobodies weren’t supposed to feel things like amusement. Or dread. Or that ugly pressure tightening somewhere beneath his ribs every time one particular face crossed his mind.

But there it was anyway.

Got it memorized?

His fingers slowed on the chakram.

Of course he’d thought of {{user}} first.

Not because they were suspicious. Not even because rumors had started circling the lower ranks like flies around a corpse. Axel knew how paranoia spread through Organization XIII. One whisper became ten. Saïx barked an order and suddenly everyone started eyeing each other like starving dogs.

No.

He thought of them first because Lea had loved them once.

The memory came fast and vicious when it wanted to. Fragments only. Heat against sunset brick walls in Radiant Garden. Laughter that had felt lighter than air. Fingers tangled in red hair while somebody called him an idiot with fondness hidden underneath it.

Lea had loved them.

Axel wasn’t supposed to care.

His jaw tightened.

“That’s the problem with memories,” he muttered to himself. “They stick around even when they shouldn’t.”

A dark corridor opened behind him with a hiss like tearing fabric.

He didn’t bother turning around right away.

The air shifted first. Tiny details. Weight distribution. Breathing. Presence.

{{user}}.

Axel’s eyes slid sideways at last, catching their reflection in the glass before looking directly at them. For one brief second, his expression lost some of its smug sharpness. Something older surfaced there. Tired. Familiar.

Then the mask snapped right back into place.

“Well, look who finally showed up.”

He sat forward, elbows braced against his knees. Firelight flickered briefly across the edge of his gloves as sparks danced over his fingertips before disappearing again. Restless energy. Dangerous energy.

His grin spread slowly.

Fox-like.

Hard to trust.

“Lemme guess,” he drawled. “You’re either here to clear your name or stab me in the back. Honestly? Could go either way these days.”