Chapter Text
Ajax was fourteen when he first learned to kill. That morning was just like any other. He’d eaten breakfast with his mother and younger siblings then gone outside to go see his friends, riding his bicycle along the sidewalk to the treehouse he and his buddies shared. It was peaceful. The wind carried the chill of his homeland with it and the thawed ground below him was still just icy enough to make his bike go a little faster- something very exciting to an adventurous young boy of course. He didn’t know then that such a normal day could take a turn so south.
A car skids across in front of his bike, creating marks along the icy sidewalk as the tires protest. Childe to halt his bike faster than he should have, slamming into the hood of the car, a high pitched yelp of both pain and fear escaping him as he bounces back and off his bike.
“H-Hey! Who do you think you are?!” he shouts, trying not to sound breathless from the sudden impact of bike and car that left him on the ground, trying to scramble to his feet as quickly as possible.
A man steps out of the passenger side of the car, the type your mom tells you to be wary of when walking alone. He stands around six feet tall, probably taller than that. The sides of his head are shaved and the rest of his hair is pulled back tightly into a bun.
“We’re friends of your father. He asked us to come get you,” the man speaks.
He has never known what his father does for a living, only that the man is barely ever at home. Ajax isn’t sure whether or not he can really believe these men. “No way! My dad wouldn’t be friends with you guys!”
“Tch. What’s that supposed to mean huh? Listen here brat, get in the car,” the man says, pointing at the back door.
“Nuh-uh! I don’t trust you guys.”
Annoyed, the man pulls a gun out and aims it at Ajax. “Get into the fucking car or else!”
Ajax learns then, that he was right, these men are definitely not his father’s friends. The boy shakes as he raises his hands, slowly approaching the car, opening the door to the back seat and sliding onto it.
“That’s a good boy,” the man says, voice mocking as he puts his gun away and locks the doors as he slips into the passenger seat again, “Put your seatbelt on too. Those fines are ridiculously hefty nowadays, kid.”
Ajax silently does as he’s told, tears starting to pool at his bottom lashline, “Wh-Where am I being taken?”
“Our boss,” the other man- the driver- says.
“Y-Your boss?! W-Wait please I- My family is very poor! They won’t be able to pay to get me back and-! And with mother in her current condition, who- who will take care of my little siblings?”
“Poor?” The first man- the passenger- laughs, turning to look back at him. “So that’s it huh? Your father must not tell you guys very much,” he explains as they start driving.
Ajax shakes his head. “No, he’s... not home very much,” he whispers, “Are we... not poor?”
“What a son-of-a-bitch. That bastard old man.” The driver sighs, staring straight ahead.
“You aren’t poor,” the other man says, “Listen here, kid. Your father leads one of the main mafias here in Snezhnaya. You guys should be loaded beyond belief.”
“B-but then…if- if that’s true then why does mama have to go out on the streets every night?” Ajax starts crying. “Why have I spent my childhood stealing and- and doing other things to help bring my siblings food every day? Why do all of us have to- have to be dressed in rags every winter…?”
The driver tuts again, obviously annoyed by Ajax’s words. “I’ll kill that bastard myself,” he mumbles.
“Now I feel a little bad taking you,” the other man says as he looks out the window, seemingly musing on the current situation. He continues; “But orders are orders, and I have a family of my own too. How old are you kiddo?”
“Fourteen,” Ajax whispers.
“Only fourteen huh? Well, kid. Maybe our boss will have some mercy on you. He’s a good guy. In comparison to some others at least, considering the business he’s in.”
“He is?”
“Mhm. Although, our goal is still to use you for ransom, maybe if you talk to him a little he’ll lower your ‘punishments’.”
“Punishments?” Ajax whispers, but no one responds after that. In fact, the rest of the drive is all too silent, save for the soft sound of the radio cutting out on some shitty country station.
—--------------------—
When they arrive Ajax is led into a small room decorated with only a bed, nightstand, and a few changes of clothes in some of those cheap, plastic Walmart drawers. There’s a pair of slippers sitting next to them too. The man sighs as he has to push the boy’s back to make him enter the room. “He’ll be coming in any minute I’m sure.”
“The boss?” Childe asks softly as he gingerly takes a seat on the bed for lack of anywhere else to go.
The man nods. “To assess you,” he says, sitting next to him. “It’ll be alright, kiddo. Although, I won’t be able to stay after that. You’ll be appointed someone different to watch over you. Only getting you here was my job.” The man doesn’t say it, but he hopes the next guy will be just as understanding as himself. Ajax reminds him too much of an older version of his own son with those big, blue eyes. He doesn’t want to see him get too roughed up at least. “If you want some tips, call the boss ‘Sir Pierro’. He likes it, gives him an ego boost or something. Oh, and he hates crying. And whining. Don’t do either of those around him,” he says, patting Ajax’s back. “I’m sure as long as you behave yourself he’ll give you a little leeway.”
Ajax nods, turning to hug the man tight. “Thank you,” he whispers. Funny enough, the one that had pulled a gun on him just hours ago and threatened his life was now someone he felt safe with, with his guidance and all. Perhaps it was because he was the only one willing to tell him the truth, to guide him when his whole life had been such a shitfest filled with insecurity and uncertainty.
The man stiffens a little, taken aback. He soon relaxes into the boy’s soft hold, returning the hug but only for an instant. “Hm, seems like he’s here. I can hear him walking. Stay there, I’ll open up the door.”.The man stands and walks away. As he reaches the door, he turns towards the boy one last time. “If you ever need me after this, ask for Tommaso.”
“Tommaso,” Ajax nods. “Thank you.”
The door is opened as Ajax sits on the bed, anxiously playing with his fingers.
“Tommaso,” Pierro says, “I trust you’ve got our hostage here safely?”
“Of course, Sir Pierro.As you’ve ordered.”
“Perfect. You’re dismissed,” Pierro speaks, letting the man walk past him. The man doesn’t spare another glance towards Ajax as he leaves.
“Now, you, boy. Tell me what you know about your father,” Pierro orders, grabbing a chair from behind the door and pulling it in before closing the door behind himself. He drags the chair towards the bed and sits in front of the boy, watching him carefully.
“I don’t know anything,” he says, honestly, “I-I only learned on the car ride here what- What he does.” Ajax swallows hard, still having some difficulty adjusting to the unexpected revelation.
“Look into my eyes when you speak,” Pierro says, “What did they tell you?”
“They told me that he- he runs a portion of Snezhnaya’s mafia…”
“Mh, so that’s all you know huh?” Pierro hums, “I can tell you’re telling the truth. How about your family?”
“We live humbly in Morepesok, sir. I- I believed up until now that we were poor. My mother works the streets at night to earn some extra cash for us to live on- to pay bills and I- I steal and... Offer services during the day to try and feed my siblings,” Ajax says softly.
“How old are you?”
“Fourteen, I’m only fourteen, Sir Pierro.”
Pierro’s eyes widen a little. “And yet you’re forced to whore yourself off,” the old man sighs. “Unfortunately, I can’t pity you too much. I still have my own business to run, you know?” he hums, crossing his arms before rising from his seat. “I will see to it that your family is fed though, and safe while you are away.”
“Sir Pierro?” Ajax asks softly.
“Hm?”
“W-Who are you assigning to watch after me?”
“You ask as if you’d know them,” the older man laughs. “Did you grow to enjoy your kidnapper? Such a naive boy, honestly.” He hums, “Anyways, he will not be the one looking over you while you are here. It will most likely be my assistant, so long as he feels like it.”
“Your assistant?”
“He’s a tough man, so don’t bother him too much. He has the right to do as he pleases so long as he doesn’t kill you,” Pierro responds, looking him over before turning and walking towards the door.
“W-Wait! What’s going to happen to me?”
“You’ll stay here under surveillance until your father comes to pay to get you back. Until then, you’ll be fed and taken care of throughout the day by both our maids and my assistant,” Pierro replies. “If that’s all, I’ll be off. I have more important duties to attend to now.”
“Yes, Sir Pierro,” Ajax mumbles, looking down.
Once Pierro leaves the room, Ajax begins crying again, his shoulders shaking as he buries his face in his hands and tries to keep his tears as quiet as possible. His father would never pay to get him back, he was sure of it. The old man was barely ever there in the first place. He’d forced his mother to be a lady of the night practically and his son to whore himself out in the day. He probably made millions and yet made his family live in poverty, so why would he come to save him? Why would he suddenly care? Poor little Ajax was so lost in his head that he didn’t hear the door opening again.
“Stop crying,” a harsh voice speaks, “It pisses me off to see weaklings like you.” The man walks towards him, grabbing Ajax’s wrists and ripping his hands from his face.
Ajax tries to stop, but the tears keep flowing and he can’t help but let out choked sounds along with them.
“Tch. You know, I heard you whore yourself out often. Would having something in that mouth of yours shut you up, huh? Is that what you want?”
Ajax’s eyes widen and he feels his breath catch in his throat at the threat. “N-no-! Don’t, please! Please don’t,” he protests, voice hoarse as he keeps trying to yank his wrists free.
“Shut the fuck up!” The man shouts, forcing Ajax down onto the bed. “Boss said I’m allowed to do as I please.”
“B-But I-”
“Stop whining, god. Sir Pierro would have already ruined that pretty face of yours if he heard you like this,” the man says, pinning Ajax’s hands above his head with one hand while the other reaches down. “I’m gonna teach you a good lesson about keeping your mouth shut today, boy,” he says, forcing Childe’s pants down. All he hears after that is white noise in the back of his mind.
During Ajax’s stay he finds himself breaking down further and further. He hasn’t seen Pierro since that day, and his assistant refused to let Ajax see Tommaso at all as well. There was no saving him. His father still hadn’t come and Ajax felt as if it was hopeless. Yes, he’d sold himself many times in his youth for the sake of his siblings. However, being treated as a toy on a nightly basis by Pierro’s assistant was much worse. That man had no mercy in his thrusts or the way he held him. Ajax had bruises all over his thighs and hips, and his small cunt and ass both ached almost constantly.
Ajax knows he is on the verge of shattering, he knows he’s only one droplet away from spilling over with unspoken rage and hurt and he knows that tonight? Tonight he is going to kill the man that has hurt him so much.
He plans it all out. In the morning he hides the knife he was given with his breakfast, shoves it between folded clothes in those cheap drawers. Then, he returns his plate with the napkin covering it to disguise the theft. Next, he decides how he’s going to do it. The assistant can’t be expecting it, can’t know it’s coming. Ajax is a smart kid, always has been, knows how to get what he wants. Perhaps tonight he’ll act as if he really will willingly sleep with the man, and the moment he lets his guard down he’ll stab the knife through his heart- or perhaps his neck, it doesn’t really matter so long as he successfully kills the scum.
“Ajax?” A voice calls, and the door opens to reveal Tommaso along with the assistant.
“He said you’d been asking for me?” Tommaso asks, acting cold. Despite that, he can’t help but be pained seeing the situation the boy is in, bruised in plenty of places, visibly. Not only that but he seemed almost dazed and the bags under his eyes indicated he wasn’t sleeping enough.
“T-Tommaso?!” Ajax’s eyes light up for only a few seconds. He feels his heart beating again. Maybe, he thinks, he is in love with this man, with the pure amount of relief he felt just seeing him in the same room.
“Don’t get too excited, boy,” the assistant speaks, closing the door behind the two of them and walking towards Ajax, gripping his throat, “He’s only here because I asked him to oversee your ‘punishment’ tonight. Figured you’d like it since all you seem to talk about is him,” he snickers, “Though...” he leans down and whispers in Ajax’s ear, “He’ll only be disgusted by what he sees. A boy with such a loose cunt, good for nothing, already used up. A filthy fucking whore like you…”
“N-No… no…” Ajax whimpers, “Don’t- Don’t please, not-” he looks at Tommaso, “Not in front of him... Please…” he whispers softly, his cheeks going pink as tears pool in his eyes.
“What are you doing to him?” Tommaso asks, pulling the man off of Ajax, “He’s a kid! What the hell is wrong with you?!”
The man turns and sends his fist flying straight towards Tommaso’s face, and Ajax quickly reacts, grabbing the knife from its hiding spot and plunging it into the side of the assistant’s throat, where he knows there is a big artery. Tommaso’s eyes widen with fear as he watches the knife get pulled down and back out, leaving the assistant’s throat a ruined mess as blood gushes and sprays out in pumps, covering both him and Ajax in the stuff. The assistant gurgles helplessly, hands going to try and hold his throat back together as he quickly bleeds out and stumbles back into Tommaso, almost knocking him over as he goes limp in death.
“H-Hey! Kid you shouldn’t-!”
Ajax starts crying again automatically and Tommaso does his best to get out from under the limp body to comfort him, unceremoniously letting the assistant’s body thump dully to the floor. When Pierro walks in it only gets worse. He demands to know what’s happening and Ajax tries to lunge at him too in his frenzied rage, it takes all of Tommaso’s strength to hold the boy back, despite the difference in their sizes, and he is struggling to get Ajax to let go of the stolen knife.
“It’s your assistant’s fault- His punishments- He was-” Tommaso tries to speak but is interrupted with a bullet to his head. There’s a figure standing behind Pierro now as well and Ajax stills, whole body freezing as he registers the sound of the gunshot and the disappearance of the arms restraining him and- and his father’s figure looming behind Sir Pierro’s. Why... Why wasn’t Father killing him? Sir Pierro took him away and his father was just acting as if- and his father he killed- he killed Tommaso. Tommaso, who had protected him…
Ajax lunges forward with his limbs now freed, not sure which man was his target for the boiling rage directing his movements, only for his own father to stop him. The hand holding the knife is gripped and twisted until forced to drop the weapon, and Ajax’s scrawny body pulled against the other’s larger torso, a thickly muscled arm easily pinning both skinny arms down now that the spike of adrenaline is fading.
“You’ve grown up quite a bit haven’t you, Ajax?” Father speaks, voice calm as he pets his head, and suddenly Ajax can’t stop crying, turning in his hold to cling to his father’s shirt.
“I- I had to- Please don’t be mad at me- I- I had to, Father…”
“Two of my underlings are dead now because of you and your son,” Pierro says, voice bland as he crosses his arms and nudges the bloody corpse of his former assistant with the toe of one shiny black leather shoe, as if the man meant nothing to him. “In the future, I’d like to keep this from reoccurring.” He frowns minutely, brows pinched together. “What a mess,” he grumbles as he looks at the blood and the two bodies on the ground again, not bothering to hide the distaste in his voice or expression.
“He’s learning,” Ajax’s father chuckles, nodding to Pierro. “I’ll make sure to send you two of my own men as payment though. Or two of my women if you’re into that sort of thing.”
Ajax doesn’t hear this conversation over his sobbing, even though it has quieted into something more akin to watery, soft hiccups, still desperately clinging to his father.
“How about when your son grows up, I take him instead?” Pierro asks with a smirk, not missing a beat.
His father laughs as if it’s a joke, maybe believing it is. “Right. Sure I’ll think on that,” he snorts, “Well, I think we should be headed off now. Since he’s had his first kill, perhaps it’s time I train him,” he smiles. It is not a nice one, but Ajax doesn’t see that, sight still blurry from tears.
“Mh. Have fun with that.” Pierro watches as the father and son duo walk out before looking down at the floor again and picking up the knife. “Must’ve hidden it away. Smart boy,” he sighs and tosses it on the bed before walking out himself. “Maids. Be sure to clean Ajax’s room well. Perhaps make it a little nicer too. I’m sure he’ll be seeing it again one day,” he commands, walking down the long hallway, not sparing them another glance as they get to work.
—--------------------—
Ajax doesn’t remember much from that incident after his years of training to become an assassin. Years of torture, of having his mind broken, his soul torn to shreds, all in the name of that training. He was left an empty shell, stripped of everything that had made him human. His father had been ruthless and unforgiving in his treatment, determined to shape the boy into a mindless weapon. In the process, memories of his childhood had been shattered to pieces. And yet, as he read his next hit’s name, he felt a sense of familiarity. “Kill the leader Pierro,” he mumbles to himself with a sigh, “Should be easy enough. Sneak into that stupid party and poison the guy, child’s play.” He folds the paper and shoves it in his pocket, taking out one of his many burner phones and calling his father. “I’ll take the job offer,” he says dully, “Besides the poisoning, is there anything else I need to do?”
“It’d be best if you dressed up, Childe. His parties are pretty grand. Oh- and, if you can, buy yourself a wig and some nice makeup. He prefers his girls younger.”
Ajax tsks and glares down at the ground. “Pervert,” he mutters to himself before responding to his father, “Sure. Sounds doable.” He hits the end call button and heads into the store. Ah, this mission surely is going to be an interesting one.