Author: Kiki (Hey-Diddle-Diddle)

Genre: General/Tragedy

Rating: M

Summary: When Axel dies, he goes to Hell. Hades' Hell. A set of three: Axel, Hades, and Hercules. Maybe someone's a hero. Axel/Hades, Axel/Hercules. Not necessarily consensual.

Part 1: Axel monologues and Hades soliloquies. Sorta. Hades/Axel, wangst.

Once Upon a Time Nobody



He was a Nobody. At least, he'd been a Nobody. No heart, no Roxas, and no nothing, all wrapped up in a pretty wrapper like a candy with a hollow center. A little empty, a little not-quite-filling, and kinda really one big fucking disappointment.



But that was Axel's life, or not-life, in a nutshell.



One big fucking disappointment after another.



But that was the point. His not-life. Because Nobodies, as a rule, weren't living, but they weren't dead, either, and they existed on the cusp of everything, begging for table-scraps and a sliver of a world, and maybe your heart, if you don't mind letting it go, thanks.



And when the not-alive, not-dead things finally gave up, it was more of a ceasing to exist than an actual death. Or at least, that was the impression Axel had gotten, time and time again, when he watched Nobody after Nobody fall, from Keyblade or chakram or the just the irony of a heart breaking when there was no heart to break.



So it was with some surprise that he found himself here, in the Underworld, playing it up with all the heroes and damsels in distress that'd had, once upon a time, hearts. It was with surprise, and a vague sense of ah, so life's not done fucking me over, and maybe a little gratitude, because as long as Axel was existed, he was sure to get somewhere. Because a fighter? That was Axel in a nutshell.



Or something like that.



But the Underworld was easy to get used to. Lots of death, a little gloom, and taking potshots at the swirling spirits: like shooting fish in a barrel. And it was also easy, all in all, to get used to fucking Hades.



"You're not supposed to be here," Hades said with a frown, still looking pissed at having a Nobody in his personal little hell.



Axel laughed and pressed his hands against Hades' skin, flickers of flames sneaking from beneath his fingers. The feel of Hades' skin, cold, was one Axel wasn't sure he could get used to. It was easy to do lots of things, sure, but that didn't mean there weren't things Axel wouldn't ever bat an eye at. Like Hades' cold face, all bitter and stiff, like a corpse.



"Do a lot of things I'm not supposed to," Axel said, "didn't you get the memo?" Hades' fire felt colder than his skin, like flickering ice, and Axel shoved Hades further back in the throne (of skulls. A throne of fucking skulls, and wouldn't Marluxia have loved that?), crawled further onto Hades' lap.



"Those without hearts," Hades continued, pressing one long, thin finger against Axel's chest until it hurt, "don't have a place--"



Axel grabbed Hades' face, shoved his tongue down Hades' throat, and grinned to himself, sharp teeth and cut lips, when Hades shut up and kissed Axel back. After a moment he leaned back, licked the blood from his bottom lip, and gave Hades a wider grin, nearly a smirk.



"You gonna shut up and fuck me, or is a soliloquy on Hercules next?"



Hades, when he was angry, was hot, skin and fire than burned, and sometimes, when Hades' hands were leaving blisters and scorch-marks over Axel's body, it felt a little bit less like death.



Not that, of course, Axel knew what death felt like. Because Axel, after all, was a Nobody, through and through.