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The Institution (title pending)	By : ninvamphelia Category: Kingdom Hearts > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 1177 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: We do not own the Kingdom Hearts series or the characters mentioned in this fiction. We do not intend to profit from this story.

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Ugh…

It smelled…

Roxas didn’t want to be so close to the toilet, but it happened on impulse.

It was acidic…smelled almost like rotten eggs…It made him want to throw up again. He yanked his head out of the bowl once he felt the bile building up in his throat.The sensation was like needles pressing against his esophagus as he forced whatever was in his stomach back inside. He managed to pry away from the toilet and leaned hard onto the wall behind him. Roxas inhaled sharply and held the back of his throbbing head. Quiet, he told himself, he had to be quiet or his brother would hear him struggling.

Roxas wiped a pale yellow trail from his chin and stretched his legs out as far as they could go in the cramped room. The floor squeaked as he did it and he felt his pants dampen slightly. His heart was still pounding but the pain-inflicted tears finally stopped.

“Calm down…” he chanted between each shaky breath, “Calm down…Come on, calm down…”

He didn’t want his family to see him this way. That was why he waited until the dead of night to swallow a few too many pills.

But his body rejected it. Roxas pulled his legs back in, curling into a ball and scolding himself. His head hurt, his stomach was tightening, and it took every fiber of his being to keep from retching. Despite all this, his eyelids felt heavy and head was bobbing back and forth. He wasn’t sure if it was delusion or reality, but he could swear he heard the soft pad of footsteps outside the bathroom. Regardless, he couldn’t do anything about it; his body had other plans. His eyesight went hazy, then dark as he lost consciousness.

~~~

The room smelled strongly of paint and its only light source was a soft blue illumination coming from an abandoned computer. An odd sticky wet sound mingled with uplifting music, but it only made the atmosphere darker. A man sat hunched over in a corner with a bucket of paint between his legs, placed so close to him it almost seemed he needed it there. The strokes of his paintbrush on the skirting halted when the light dimmed a bit, and a cheerful mechanical voice called, "You have a new message!" With slow, delicate movements the man placed his brush and paint bucket aside. He then strode to the machine. He read the message, opened his mouth, closed it, and slowly looked up as he realized he only had one option, who was currently leaning in his doorway. For a moment he wondered how long he had been there, but it didn't matter.

"Eight..." he said with a sigh, "you have a mission."

"Finally!" Eight answered, throwing his hands in the air. "I've been so bored! Not to mention hungry..."

His words trailed off as he found a tiny glass figurine on his boss' desk and decided it looked fun to break. With a flick, the figurine skidded off the desk and shattered on the marble floor. He giggled and glanced at his boss, hoping for any kind of reaction. Instead, the man turned away and went back to his paint.

"Damn it, Boss..." he mumbled under his breath, then rounded the desk to read the screen himself. His eerie smile widened as he read that his first victim of the night was a young, beautiful girl.

"Oh... We'll be dining fine tonight,” he whispered to himself, bringing his thumb to his mouth and biting down. "I love these types," he said to the Boss who wasn't listening. "Their skin tends to be so silky and there isn't much fat."

He pressed the print button then stood straight, pulling out a lighter which he flipped between his fingers with ease. Humming to himself he walked to the printer, crushing the broken glass on the floor along the way. He snatched up the paper which listed his target and her residence, along with whatever else he needed.

"Alright, Boss!" he called as he left, waving behind him. "See ya soon. I'll try not to trail blood in the hallways again when I return."

…

Eight’s crimson tresses glittered in the moonlight as he gleefully skipped on the city’s rooftops to his destination. Random car horns, yelling from street thugs and the occasional gun shot were unapparent to him. Music blared into his ears from a set of oversized headphones. Every so often he audibly and very badly sang along, scaring those below. Reaching his victim’s home, he jumped and twirled in the air before landing in a pose and holding it until the song ended.

“Man, I love that tune.” He chuckled, pulling the headset down to his neck. Resting on his belly he peeked over the roof’s edge and into the open window below. Inside there was a girl sleeping soundly. “How precious. I hope you wake up all sleepy-eyed so your screams of terror are that much more panicked.”

With a grin he slid forward and crawled into the bedroom without a sound. He reached into a back pocket, then the other, and when he couldn’t feel what he was looking for he started patting himself in a frenzy. The jingling metal on his coat and the heavy footfalls of his black combat boots woke the girl.

At first, she wasn’t sure how to react. There was a strange-looking intruder in her room whose gender she couldn't specify. Watching the person twirl and mumble curses under their breath while staring at the floor was quite comical. While she watched, she forgot that this person was potentially dangerous and let out a soft giggle. This halted all movement from him. Yes, it was definitely a ‘him’ now that she could see their face. His piercing, cat-like green eyes seemed to glow as they stared her down and stole all feelings of comfort from her. Definitely dangerous.

“Well, hi!” he spoke, making her jump. “Oh, don’t be afraid yet. I haven’t found the paper.”

“Wh...What?” She managed to whisper before he started searching again. “What are you doing here? What are you looking for?”

She felt a tightness in her chest as the words left her. Something told her she’d regret those two questions.

“Oh, I’m here to kill you. I’m looking for the paper that tells me why. Oh, and I suppose you, too. But that doesn’t really matter because you’ll be dead.” He stopped and let out a frustrated sigh. “Where the fuck did I… Wait.”

He reached into the collar of his coat, down his chest, until he found one of the inner pockets and heard the crumble of paper being moved.

“Aha, yes! Please don’t be a receipt again. I really need to clean this thing out… Wait, why would I have a rece… Yes! We’re in business,” he announced gleefully as the paper revealed to be what he was searching for. “Alright! Miss… Kairi Hoshiko! Wow, pretty name. Such a shame. Anyway, I am here because someone wants you dead. I will now read why.” He hummed to himself while skimming the paper, then smiled at her. “Okay! Let’s get to i-”

“Wait!” the girl blurted out, holding a hand out to him. Her eyes were filled with fear and confusion, brimming with tears which spilled down her cheeks. “Don’t I get to hear why?”

Eight blinked and looked at the paper for a moment.

“Oh yeah, I suppose that would make more sense, huh… Wow, I’ve been doing it wrong this whole time!” he said with a laugh, hitting his head over and over with enough force to cause him to bleed a little. Seeing the blood dribbled down his forehead was enough to make her jump from her bed and dart out her bedroom door.

“Oh come… I hate it when they run.” He sighed, carelessly stuffing the paper in a pocket. He stood and looked at his watch for a few seconds, tapping his foot with the time.

“Ready or not~” he chimed in a melodic tone, “here I come.”

As he left the room he pulled a lighter out, flipping it along his fingers like a coin before it flashed into a long, slender scythe. He paused in the hallway, finding a picture which instantly caught his interest. It showed girl he was currently chasing, standing proudly with a big grin in the middle of two boys her age. One was smiling with her, his blue eyes lit up in glee. The other… He seemed so sad and lost, like he’d rather be anywhere else.

“Hey, your friends look fun,” he called out. “Are they fun?”

He waited a minute for an answer which never came.

“Hm, guess not,” he whispered. With a movement that shouldn’t be possible his scythe cut down the picture, the glass on the frame shattering along the hall and down the nearby steps.

“Guess none of these people are, then!” He laughed as he continued to do the same to all the frames along the walls.

Kairi could hear his antics a little too clearly from the closet beneath the staircase. Her sobs made it almost impossible for her to see, let alone stay quiet. On top of that, she couldn't catch her breath and her heart was beating a mile a minute. She briefly wondered if the man could hear the organ drumming in her chest... She was convinced he wasn't human, but then what the hell was he? Her drifting thoughts ceased when she noticed the sound of shattering glass and falling frames had stopped. Kairi stared at the ceiling, waiting for nonexistent footsteps, which only further escalated her fear. She continued to wait, and wait... and wait until enough time had passed that she felt brave enough to peek her head out.

"Bad idea, kid," Eight said with disappointment. She shrieked and backed inside, but her attempt to escape was useless. The man’s fingers were buried deep in her messy brown hair.

"Miss Kairi," he read from the aforementioned paper, "You have been chosen to be murdered by yours truly, by request of an anonymous client, under accusations that you have..."

He paused a moment, squinting as he skimmed the paper.

"Oh. Interesting. It seems you were just too popular and perfect and someone wants you out of the picture." He grinned, and pulled her head back to make her look up at him. "Were you a little homewrecker?"

Raising his scythe, he tucked it under her chin, trailing it ever so slowly across her skin. The screams and whimpers of torment she elicited only further escalated his excitement.

"What a beautiful singing voice..." he mumbled, looking into her eyes. "You'll make a lovely trophy."

Eight smiled at Kairi, and this particular smile made every hair on her body stand up. It was not only happy, but... kind, for that second, as if Kairi should've been proud he thought that way of her. She felt a warm liquid run down the insides of her thighs. She shook her head furiously, her sapphire eyes wide and terrified, as she clawed at his hand to escape. Eight giggled at her attempt at freedom.

"Shh...Now, make a prettier face for me. I'd really like to show you off," he whispered into her ear. She continued screaming, recoiling from him as far as she could which wasn't much at all.

"Stop screaming!" he yelled into her ear. She screamed louder than before.

"What don't you get about the things I'm telling you? Stop. Fucking. Screaming! Make a pretty face and deal with this!" Eight threw her down with a frustrated grunt and pulled his scythe forward again. She attempted to crawl away, but didn't make it far. His foot found the small of her back, holding her in place on the wet wooden floor.

"Now usually I play with my prey a bit before gutting them," he said, lifting his weapon, "but you're just making too much noise. Which is too bad, really. We could've had a lot of fun tonight. Oh well. There will be others; there always is. Any last words?"

Kairi cried softly and muttered incoherently for a moment before opening her mouth to speak.

"Who sent-"

Her voice stopped abruptly as Eight's scythe severed her head clear from her body. The force of his foot pressing on her corpse caused blood to flood out and pool around it.

"The victims never get last words. Got it memorized?" he teased with a giggle. Crouching over the corpse he picked up her arm and bent it back, bringing it to his nose. He took a long, deep inhale of her scent and shivered.

"As good as they get..." he mumbled, looking over the dead girl's body with hunger and lust. He removed his gloves and dipped his fingers in the blood, bringing them to his mouth and fervently sucking the essence from them.

"You taste as good as you look. Well, looked, I suppose." He took a breath and shifted his position to sit on her corpse, back pressed to the stair wall and legs crossed as he pulled her arm back. He pulled again, then a third time, and finally, a sickening crack echoed through the house as the appendage was released. He purred as he gazed at the arm like a prize.

"The night is young still. There's plenty of time for a snack before clean-up duty," he assured himself. He bit into the arm, blood gushing out the exposed end and on to his lap. He moaned from the taste, rolling his head back.

"So good..."

Looking forward again he found Kairi's head and pointed her bloody dismembered arm at it with a grin.

"You, my dear, will be made into jerky and stew later." He nodded to her, then frowned. Her expression was so ugly. "Oh, don't give me that look. This was your destiny. Haven't you ever heard of Darwin? Sheesh..."

Shaking his head he briefly looked away, then pointed the arm back again.

"Girls," he scoffed before digging his teeth into the cold flesh again.

~~~

The sound of sizzling and popping...The scent of assorted breakfast foods wafting in the air…

Was it time to eat already?

...Eat?

Wait…

No...

No, no, no, no…

Roxas managed to jerk himself awake. Hyperventilating, his frantic glances at the initially unfamiliar room made the memories come flowing back. That’s right, he didn’t succeed last night. He was still there, fast asleep on his bathroom floor...his suspiciously clean bathroom floor. He didn’t recall making it to the toilet in time, or putting the spilled medication back in its cabinet, or picking up the blanket that was draped over most of his body. Roxas sighed and shut his eyes.

“Sora,” he said. “You didn’t have to…”

“Yeah. I did.”

Roxas jumped when he heard the voice. He thought his brother was still in the kitchen, but there he was kneeling in front of him with a plateful of food. He had a concerned yet exasperated look as he pushed the plate toward Roxas until he accepted it. It was then that Roxas realized how stiff his body was.

“...Thanks,” he said.

“Whatever. Just don’t let me catch you in a pool of your own vomit again.”

That was Sora’s primary concern? Did he really not know?

At any rate, Roxas knew Sora wasn’t letting him out of his sight until he ate something. He balanced the dish in one hand and removed the blanket. All he had left on was his hoodie and boxers. After staring down blankly for a few seconds, he glanced at Sora who used his thumb to point at the washer-dryer combo behind him. Roxas picked up a piece of bacon and nibbled on it, earning a smile from his older brother. As if on cue, Sora smelled something burning. He stood up and rushed back into the kitchen. Roxas waited until he believed his sibling was out of hearing range before letting the plate slide out of his hand and onto the floor. It didn’t break but most of the food was no longer edible. He was hungry but didn’t want to eat. What was the point?

He stayed in the bathroom in his underwear, on the newly-stained floor, staring at nothing in particular until Sora came back for him again.

…

After reprimanding him for causing another mess, Sora managed to drag Roxas into the kitchen and sit at the dining table. He scraped the last of his cooking onto a clean plate and placed it in front of his despondent brother. He sat across from Roxas at the tiny round table with his own breakfast. He scooped up some with his fork but waited until Roxas started picking at his food again. The silence was unsettling, but nothing new.

“So, you have any plans after school?” Sora asked. Roxas, still with the blank, unfocused stare, shook his head.

“Good! Because I want you to give that internship a shot.”

“...We talked about this…”

“Come on, it’s a chance for you to branch out, make friends, y’know, socialize. ...And,” Sora continued when he didn’t get a response, “I want you to have more friends than me and Kairi. Just...Just a suggestion.”

…

Roxas stood in front of his bathroom mirror with his newly-cleaned pair of jeans. He took a gander at his face. The baggy eyes, disheveled blond hair, and chapped lips weren’t exactly appealing, but whatever. He noticed his hoodie looked larger on him than usual but didn’t feel like changing. He gave the underarm a sniff, decided it was decent enough, and went to the living room where his brother was waiting.

“Not gonna change?” Sora asked before receiving a dirty look. “Hey, just asking.”

They left their house with backpacks and lunches in tow. Their school was walking distance, so they always left a bit earlier to pick up Kairi and head to class. During their walk, Sora attempted to strike up a conversation. When it didn’t work he settled for school-related allegories and lighthearted jokes. He was persistent, to the point where Roxas showed a hint of a smile. Sora, feeling victorious, started laughing and playfully nudging his brother each time he stated the punchline. Roxas ended up bumping into someone who was hurriedly going the opposite direction. The stranger stumbled but didn’t stop moving. The boys turned to see who almost ran them over and saw the back of a sloppily-dressed redhead carrying a briefcase. The bag contained something black flapping on the outside. After a few seconds the boys shrugged it off.

“Oh, hey Roxas, your phone,” Sora said when his eyes drifted to the ground. He picked up the encased smartphone. Feeling nosy, he pressed the power button at the bottom. Even though it turned on, Sora thought that its fall damaged it. The screen was still black, save for a white message in the center:

Request sent

The older brother squinted as the phone was snatched out of his hand by its owner. What on Earth was Roxas up to last night?

“Use your own…” the blond mumbled. Sora sighed. He figured that whatever it was, Roxas was too embarrassed to share the details. He decided not to pry.

Roxas, however, was panicking. The moment he saw the message he remembered everything preceding the bathroom incident.

...

Having difficulty sleeping the night before, he surfed the Web until he happened upon a strange ad banner. It said ‘Does someone make your life hell? Click here.’ and led to an almost exclusively-black website. It had a text box with a few statements above it: ‘Please type the target's full name and what he/she did to you. Include your name in the description. Do not worry; your identification will not be revealed to the target.’

Assuming that it was a local business site, it likely wasn't difficult for Kairi’s address and contact information to be dug up. Whoever was on the other end of that webpage claimed to get their work done within twelve hours. If Roxas remembered correctly, it was around one in the morning when he glanced at the clock. It was 7:34 now.

Did something really happen in half the amount of time…?

“She’s not answering,” Sora said, snapping Roxas back into reality. “Probably asleep, haha.”

Roxas wanted to head straight to school. He pretended to still be preoccupied by his phone as he walked past the turn to Kairi’s cul-de-sac. When Sora noticed, he grabbed his brother’s arm and pulled him back.

“Hey, whoa, Kairi’s place is this way, you know that.” Sora chuckled. Roxas didn’t respond but averted his eyes. It wasn’t as if he disliked her any more than usual; he was usually able to tolerate her abuse since it only occurred in brief intervals while Sora wasn’t looking. On this particular day, he wanted to avoid her as much as possible. If his request for hired reciprocation ever traced back to him there was no telling what she would do.

...When he had really thought about it, what was going to be done to her? The site never asked him what he wanted.

As Roxas was being led like a reluctant child to Kairi’s home, he noticed how strangely empty the street was. There wasn’t a sound other than the whistling autumn wind. The distant flashing red and blue lights only added to the eeriness.

“Wonder what that’s about,” Sora said before subconsciously counting the houses between himself and the emergency vehicles. “...Oh shit.”

Sora took off running when he realized whose house the paramedics were exiting. Roxas’ walk slowed to a crawl as he watched the scene, phone still in hand. A police car, a coroner, yellow tape, and several people covered the house’s front yard. An officer stopped Sora from getting closer, but everything was visible to him and the inquisitive neighbors. Kairi’s parents were standing by at the doorway. Still in their pajamas, they were holding each other. They were sobbing and struggling to stand, calling out their daughter’s name and demanding to know who did it and why. An officer proceeded to questioning the grievous couple, gently leading them out of the way of a moving stretcher. An EMT emerged from the house, rushing to get the human-sized bag into the mortician’s vehicle. Once Sora saw it, the truth had suddenly hit him. He fell onto his hands and knees, screaming. His voice cracked as the tears started to flow. Roxas paused several feet away from the commotion. It didn’t take long to guess who was in that body bag.

Roxas’ arms fell to his sides. He dropped his phone. He opened his mouth but he didn’t make a sound. He watched as people he had known for years tore themselves apart over a death he may have been involved with. It was a stretch to say it was a coincidence.

And for a moment, all he could do was listen quietly.

“...Snrk…”

Until, for the first time that day, Roxas showed signs of life. He snickered until he wasn’t able to hold back. He doubled over, arms tucked under his stomach, and laughed. He laughed until it hurt, with his sides cramping from lack of food, and even then he didn’t stop. He laughed until his eyes watered, until his voice was hoarse, but none of it stopped him. The neighbors stared at him but he didn’t care. He couldn’t if he tried.

Roxas wished he was there to see it. He wanted to witness the proud, dominating Kairi at her lowest point, begging for mercy. He wanted to see her cries fall on deaf ears, for her to finally empathize with the people she stepped on.

Kairi Hoshiko was finally gone and he was going to fucking enjoy it.

By the time Sora approached him, Roxas’ face was covered with tears. His brother hugged him tightly. He either mistook the laughter for crying or desperately wanted to stop the insanity. Roxas quieted down and sniffled in an attempt to give Sora reassurance.

“L...Let’s...just...go to school...o-okay…?” Sora whispered.

“I’ll try to be strong for the both of us,” Roxas replied, struggling to force down another outburst.
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The Institution (title pending)