InsaneJournal

[Fic] Nobody's Fool 6/10 (Kingdom Hearts 1930s AU, Axel/Sora)
Title: Nobody's Fool (6/10)
Author: harukami
Prompt: Kingdom Hearts 1930s AU
Pairing: Axel/Sora, Axel/Roxas, some others indicated
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 1426 of total 14948
Summary: A hard-boiled detective gets hired to do a job for a girl who's worried about her sister.
A/N: In ten parts. I'll be posting them twice a day until complete.




My headache lasted through the rest of the day and my bad mood only got worse as time passed. That evening, shortly before Demyx was going to check out, he knocked on my door.

"It's Miss Relena again," he told me, nervously; my mood wasn't something he particularly wanted to be around.

I was tired of this bullshit -- she was dicking me around, Marly was dicking me around, and as far as I was concerned they were in cahoots. I smiled tersely. "Let her in to see me," I said.

She entered, as always dressed to kill, and gave me an uncertain smile. "I know it was just yesterday," she said, "but I was hoping that you might have heard something."

So whatever she was after, it was so time-sensitive she had to be checking in on a daily basis. I pretended to be checking out the window at Demyx, and used the cover of my body to lock the door. "Heard something," I said. "You might say that."

"Oh?" she said, breathy and excited. "Please! Tell me..."

I turned to face her, pulling my piece to point it straight at her. "Well, I heard that you're a dirty liar, Miss Relena."

She froze, her face doing that thing where she didn't show any emotion whatsoever. This time, it lasted. "...Pardon?"

"Who are you really?" I demanded. "Let's have details."

A muscle jumped in her jaw, like she wanted nothing so much as to attack me but didn't dare with the gun pointed at her. She said, "...My real name is Larxene."

"That your real name or another fake?"

Slowly she started to smile again. "My real name," she said. Probably lying again. Oh well.

"And your connection to ol' Marly?"

Slowly, her hands came together and squeezed, not the nervous wringing of before but more like she was contemplating wringing my neck. "I used to work for Marluxia in the ...collection business. But I'm an independent woman now, just like I'd told you before."

"This is more like it," I told her, with vicious pleasure as the throbbing in my head only continued to increase. "So, why did you sic that stalker on me?"

She blinked, slow and confused. "...stalker?"

"Don't try to pull one over on me, Larxene," I told her, harshly. "He's outside right now."

Larxene shook her head, the flyaway strands of hair trailing back and forth. "I don't... may I look out, hmm?"

"Go ahead," I said, and gestured with the piece.

She walked -- slow and careful not to make any sudden movements; looks like it wasn't her first time at the wrong end of a gun -- to the window and carefully dented the blinds with a fingertip, looking out. I saw her go pale, lips tightening, when she saw the scarred man across the street.

"You know him," I said.

Larxene didn't try to deny it. "He's got nothing to do with this," she said, low-voiced. "He's... been stalking me since the days I was working for Marluxia. His name's Saix. He's rough business and I try to avoid him."

I quirked a brow. It was unlikely, since when I'd seen him at Marly's he'd been asking to see Marly, not her, but she couldn't know that. "Sure thing," I said. "So what about this Sora?"

She sighed. "Believe it or not, that docks brat holds the key to a great treasure."

"I may have heard something like that already," I said.

Her brows rose. "Have you? I take it you have a lead on him, then? I realize this is a bit of an unusual circumstance," she said, nodding to the gun, "but I'm willing to keep on paying you if you find him."

"If I find him, huh," I said. "So what's this about Namine?"

"Oh," she said. "I've known Namine for a while now. She's easy to convince into this and that, and I thought that it'd be more believable if she sent you after a young boy than if a lady like me did."

I snorted. "You're no lady," I said. Still, it mostly added up -- I'd thought that might be the case. Though it looked like, for whatever reason, she was trying to leave Marly out of it. Too bad Marly had already revealed himself to me. There was just one more loose end I wanted explained before I went after this Sora for more details. "I had Demyx gathering my leads, so if you still want to employ me, I'll put this away," I said, and put the safety back, sliding the gun into my pocket again. "I'll be back in a second."

She smiled, the expression unpleasant. "I'll be waiting," she said.

I nodded to her and headed out, walking fast as I went right past Demyx, who looked confused but nodded as I put my finger to my lips. I had to work quickly, before she thought to look out the window again, so I jogged across the street to where my tail was.

He looked alarmed to be caught. "Ah--"

"Don't bother playing casual," I said. "Would you like to come in? There's someone I think you want to meet."

Slowly, Saix nodded, though his brows drew down and his expression was one of suspicion. "...Lead on."

At least he seemed like a reasonable kind of guy for a thug. I lead him upstairs, past the still-confused Demyx, and into the room.

Larxene jumped. "You--!"

"...You," Saix growled, and before I could say anything, he was charging at her. She withdrew to my desk, put her hands on it, and kicked out at him with both legs, taking him in the chest and face with her high heels, making him reel.

It was something that'd knock out most people and I was suddenly glad I hadn't given her a chance to fight when I'd had the gun out. But Saix shook his head and seemed to recover way faster than should have been possible, lunging forward and swinging his fist around at her head. "You traitor!" he roared as he swung. His fist connected, and she went down in a heap.

"I take it you two used to work together?" I asked, mildly.

Saix looked down at Larxene's crumpled form and breathed roughly, refusing to answer.

"Go on," I coaxed, gesturing between him and myself. "Tell me. I let you have a shot at her, didn't I?"

He seemed to calm down, and drew himself up. "I don't see why I should tell you just for that. You hardly set the terms out in advance."

"Oh, well, that's true," I said, and pulled my gun again. Twice in one day; it had been a while. "So, who do you work for?"

Saix's teeth ground, but he held very still. "...A gentleman overseas," he said.

"I asked a name."

"...Xemnas," Saix said. "That's all I know him by."

"I see," I said, and I did; there was a warmth in his voice on that name that was almost laughable. "I take it you guys are close."

Saix's lips closed tight, disapprovingly.

"Never mind, never mind. How do you know her?"

"We... had worked together once," he said. "She stole part of what we were transporting and tried to bring it back to her master."

"The key?" I asked.

He looked at me in sudden alarm. "How do you know about the key?"

"Never mind how I know," I said. So it was the key; she hadn't lied about that. "But you weren't still following her around."

"We had a... fight when I managed to stop her on the docks," he said. "She lost the key then. I've been looking for it ever since."

"So this key," I said. "Would be rightfully yours?"

His eyes slid off to one side. "It would belong to Xemnas."

Liars everywhere. I said, "Why did you go into Marly's that day?"

"I'd heard there was a girl there who knew... something about the key's location," he muttered.

I nodded. "I want you to leave now and stop following me," I said. "Or next time this gun won't just be aimed at you, you understand?"

"You can't--"

"Go," I said, and gestured pointedly with the gun. I followed him out with it, to make sure he didn't try to take Demyx hostage, and waved to him as he left, watching until he caught a taxi off.

"What was that about?" Demyx asked, when I came back in. "Is Miss Relena still here?"

"Yeah, you could say that. She and that gentleman had a disagreement -- I had to stop it."

Demyx peered into the room. "O-oh no!"

"Her hotel's the Midnight Storm," I said, and slid heavily into my seat, digging out a cigar. "Can I ask you to take her back on your way home?"

I had a lot of thinking to do.