Chapter One.

The young boy cringed at the sound of wood striking flesh and tried to scramble further under the bed. For as long as he could remember his nights had been punctuated with the sounds of his mother being ferociously beaten. This night was exactly the same as last month, last week, last year.

Sudden light glared into his dark solace and a huge hand invaded his world. His fingers scrabbled uselessly at the wall and he was sliding out from under the bed into the harsh light and then the deep shadow of his father.

"You little bastard!" Screamed the figure standing over him. "You little fucker, look at what you're doing to this family!"

Another dark figure appeared swaying drunkenly. His mother. "You are a worthless shit!" She shrieked. "I wish you had never been born. Then Reno and I wouldn't have to bother with you!"

Silent tears began to stream down the boy's face, but he did not cry out loud. He knew from bitter experience that sobbing would only make the beating harder. He curled into a ball just as his mother slapped him hard across the shoulders. She lashed out at her son a few more times before sliding to the floor in a drunken stupor. The boy winced, for now that his mother Tifa was done with him, Reno would take over; and he was strong.

Axel's day was just beginning. It was 3am.

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Reno stood over Axel and stared pitilessly down at the shaking boy. He felt the familiar rage rise up inside him and embraced the feeling fully. He knelt next to Axel and firmly entwined his fingers in the boy's fine red hair that so closely matched his. Taking a deep breath he stood up and yanked the boy to his feet by his hair.

Reno's eyes narrowed and he let out a grunt of effort as he slammed his fist into the boy's ribs. Holding him like a punching bag the furious man pulled back and swung again and again. After eight or nine punches and hearing Axel's ribs crack half a dozen times, Reno shook him lose from his fist, tearing out a handful of hair as he dropped the boy unceremoniously to the floor. He grinned briefly as he enjoyed his power over the boy before he went to work again.

Glaring at Axel's body convulsing on the floor Reno shuddered as a dark energy seemed to pour into his body. He blinked to clear his alcohol soaked vision and strangely, instead of the blackness inside his eyelids, Reno saw a pair of burning golden eyes staring back at him. Inside his echoing head he could hear an urging whisper – 'Break the boy. Break his body into nothing. Kill him.'

Axel did not know why he was being given a brief reprieve, but with his breath now coming in gasps, he knew he could not stay conscious much longer. Having passed out during one of Reno's rampages and woken up in a hospital bed, Axel knew he had to get to safety before lapsing into unconsciousness. Hands clenched into fists and wrapped tightly round his grinding ribs he gritted his teeth and attempted to climb to his feet.

Too late. Reno opened his bleary eyes and bared his teeth at the sight of his victim's show of strength. Lunging forward he wrapped strong fingers around the youth's pale neck and slammed him mercilessly against the battered wall. Face twisting in a sick smile Reno stared into Axel's dying eyes, watching the spark of life fade in the depths of jade.

Though his strength was draining away fast Axel managed to lock his gaze with his father's. Instead of the faded blue of forget-me-nots he saw something that forced a rasping gasp of shock from his straining lungs. Golden veins threaded through Reno's irises making his eyes glow with an unearthly light.

With his the last of his breath Axel tried to make his father understand that something was inside him, glorying in his evil. He couldn't force his mouth to work, he had been pushed beyond his limits. Axel felt the world fall away from him and as everything turned to black he could not tell that it was him actually falling from his father's grasp.

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Pursing her lips in disgust Aerith strode past Cloud as he wrestled Reno's hands behind him and into handcuffs. She took in the dank hallway noting the torn carpet, the rotting doorways and the holes in the walls above powdered plaster. Twining her fingers into her thick auburn hair, the social worker could hardly bear to let her gaze settle on the crumpled figure on the floor. She forced herself to take in the details in front of her.

Axel's head lolled back onto his left shoulder, neck tilted at a strange angle. His pallid face was covered in blue-black bruises and caked in crusted blood. Hand-shaped bruises circled his slender neck, already turning red and purple where the blood vessels had broken under his father's hands. Kneeling before him, Aerith laid her hand gently beneath his nostrils and was rewarded with a faint tickle of breath. Sighing she called for a stretcher and shook away tears from her cheeks. Taking Cloud's offered hand she got to her feet and left the squalid house without a backwards glance.

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Golden eyes narrowed in disappointment. From between perfect lips came a hiss of frustration, cut off by a snap of sharpened teeth. Marble splintered into shards as a scream of thwarted ambition echoed through the empty stone halls. The scream echoed through the solid walls and passed without lessening through the spaces between the worlds. 11 hearts across the land of Fallenstar skipped a beat in their sleep, and in the morning 11 young faces awoke wet with unremembered tears.