A/N 1: Very long in coming, and I apologize for that. Not sure how I feel about the development in this chapter either, but they can't all be sparkling masterpieces. Unbeta'd.

Seifer woke up heavily sedated, confused, and pissed off. At the very least neither he nor Hayner were dead, and a quick check had them both uninjured as well. Where they were was another matter entirely, for the moment it was too dark to see any details. Waiting for his eyes to adjust, he attempted to locate his partner. He could definitely sense the brown-eyed man, but there seemed to be considerable distance between them, on the order of a mile or more. If he had to guess he'd say they had put the two of them in separate areas to lower their chance of escape. They were both still silenced, naturally, and he was missing his guns as well as having his arms tied behind his back. The apparent betrayal at the hands of Luxord and Marluxia stirred a cold anger within him, but he had bigger problems to deal with than being tricked by his own. Mostly rescuing his boyfriend before something terrible befell him because he was danger-prone and the idea of someone else even touching him made Seifer inconsolably furious.

It took about twenty minutes to work out of the ropes, and he wondered at it. If anyone tied them up it was their coworkers since they appeared to be the only ones left on the floor to do the dirty work and they were too smart to leave their captives unbound for any length of time, unconscious or not. So why the fuck would they do such a shitty job of it? Rubbing his wrists, he considered how many people had likely been assigned to guard him and how high his chances of being shot dead immediately were if he kicked out the only door he could see. If they'd spent this much effort getting him here alive, he supposed he had a decent chance of surviving the first encounter; they would probably have been instructed to use nonlethal force. Meaning they didn't stand much of a chance against him, armed or not.

To his surprise there were only three men guarding him and they didn't appear to have firearms, the first falling to a punch to the back of his head before they even had time to react to the door being forced open. The next two presented a bit more challenge, but not much. A kick to the groin brought the second one to his knees where it was easy enough for the detective to drive his foot into the other's face. The last, a thickly-muscled man in a dark hoodie, swept his feet out from under him and pinned him. His move was more amusing than anything, because with one well-aimed punch and a roll, the blond man was on top of him. After throwing a few more punches his opponent was unconscious, having broken one of Seifer's ribs in the process. It was a minor irritant rather than a serious problem at the moment, and he didn't let it bother him as he got his bearings and started in the direction of his partner, fixing his tie. At least he still had a badge, he could steal a car if he came upon any.

Disoriented, the first thing Hayner realized was that his partner was awake and looking for him. A few seconds after he remembered that they'd been knocked out by their friends, though after all the time he'd spent with Luxord and Marluxia he had to wonder if there wasn't more to their betrayal. If they were just going to side with a mob all along, it would have been a better choice to stay with Corneo's and turn Hayner in as a conspirator to better their positions. Starting in with a second party especially after the mob scene was so badly weakened was essentially suicide; they'd be putting themselves at the top of the Turks' hit list and wouldn't live long enough to enjoy a day of whatever their reward was going to be. He supposed he could ask them about it if he managed to find and corner them later.

Twisting his arms around, he found his bindings were tight enough to prevent him from slipping out. There was a single fluorescent light in the middle of the room and guessing by the concrete ceiling and the chill in the area he guessed he was below ground, probably the basement of some building. At the very least even silenced he could still use non-elemental magic, he didn't need a spell or access to his internal mana for that since there was still a crystal in his pocket; the silence spell had worn off enough that he could probably speak, but it was blocking him from the well of magical energy inside him. It was doubtful that the people who were holding him here knew that he didn't need his own energy to wreak havoc. He knew he could cut the ropes if he concentrated enough, but until he had a read on the situation he'd rather not put his life at risk for a half-assed escape plan. He supposed that was a major difference between himself and his lover, not that he considered it a fault of the other; it couldn't be denied that as far as fist fighting went, his counterpart had a huge advantage over him. Without the same odds against his captors, he was better off waiting until he could ambush them.

"The boss was right about you fighting off the sedative faster than normal people, damn. You're lucky the boss is paying us well, there's a hell of a price on your head and I'm of half a mind to collect," a man in his late twenties commented, dark hair cut short against his head and a high-caliber pistol in his hand.

"Please, I'd kill you before you could even if you did have the balls, now cut the crap and leave me alone," he spat, really needing a cigarette right now.

"You wanna bet, Corneo?" He threatened as he walked toward the restrained blond.

"I don't bet on sure things, it's just not fair," the cop answered with a smirk, driving a spike of energy through his skull.

Content in the knowledge he at least had a gun now, he opted to attempt escape, waiting it out pointless since he'd already killed someone. Most people weren't too forgiving of that in these situations, he might as well be proactive and kill the rest before they killed him. He could sense Seifer getting closer; it would be nice to not need rescuing for once, though the past few times he was captured weren't really his fault in the first place. Attempting to reconcile the odd weight of the gun in his hand, he glanced around the corner of the threshold the man had walked in through. Beyond was a dim hallway with a few closed doors on either side, lights above flickering. There was a door at the end labeled as stairs, so he quietly made his way across to it. Surprisingly, no one came out to stop or shoot at him, and he didn't hear any alarms either. There was a security camera in the corner of the hallway that was operational, so it wasn't that he wasn't being monitored somehow. He had to assume they were either luring him, entertaining their options for incapacitating him again, or there was no one conscious at the guard station.

The stairs were a nerve-wracking experience altogether, it was much easier to shoot down at a target than it was to shoot up, and understanding that made it stressful to be traversing the flights upwards from the very bottom. He'd also be completely trapped if someone were to pursue him, there were no doors on the landings until another two floors up. Frowning, he really wished he weren't silenced right now, being able to use magic more easily would fix a lot of his apprehension. Then again, he should feel lucky to be able to do anything, he knew that Seifer had had to find his way out without being able to kill anyone with a thought.

Pushing through the first door he came to, he was immediately rushed by a man twice his size, ramming him back through the threshold and into the handrail between the ascending and descending stairs. Getting off one body shot before he was disarmed, he had a feeling this was just going to go downhill from here. Thrown down the stairs, he groaned and swore at the man as he pushed himself back to his feet. For someone his size the other was fast, too fast for Hayner to form non-elemental magic into a weapon or even draw it. He managed to dodge the first two punches but the third caught him in the nose, cracking loudly. Snarling, he waited until the man's center of gravity was unstable and swept his legs out from under him, retrieving the gun that had been knocked from his hands and shooting his opponent in the head. Panting, he set his nose and tried to ignore the warm, sticky flow of blood down his face and onto the floor. He was accustomed to pain enough that he didn't notice it much, but the uncomfortable itch of blood on his face was annoying.

Successfully clearing the door without being attacked, he walked along the corridor and turned the corner to find a man with a gun trained on him waiting. They were in a stalemate for a few seconds until a magnum barrel was pressed against the back of his head, the second gunman having come up behind him silently. Feeling much like the world was out to get him, he slowly held his hands up and let the man behind him take his gun.

"Walk, Turk," he ordered, shoving the blond detective forward roughly.

Obeying, because he hardly had any other choice at the moment with two guns pointed at his head, he walked into the room at the end of the hall and to the very man he wanted to see anyway. To kill him, primarily. The ringleader they were sent to capture or kill in the first place was sitting at a desk in the room, several security panels embedded in the long wooden surface.

"So maybe the kitten is a lion after all, you proved yourself fairly effective against the first guard. When I first learned Corneo's son had become a Turk I was surprised, assumed you only got there because you were fucking your partner and had turned on your old man in return for safety, but maybe I was wrong."

"Tell me, why am I still alive? You must have some reasoning for keeping a dangerous person captive," he asked, all too happy to ignore the man's insults.

"Our group is collecting magic-users to protect us in the war against the Heartless. Your dear friends told me you could use magic, so I decided to keep both you and your little boyfriend alive until you're useful to me."

"How the hell do you know about the Heartless?"

"When you have enough money and connections it's easy to come by that kind of information."

"And where do your connections come from? You're obviously small-time, maybe third rung up from the bottom. In the mob we like to call you guys bait," Hayner pressed, slipping into his mafia persona just to push the man's buttons.

"I happen to be third rung down from the top, kitten. You'd be surprised who's at the top of my pyramid, but I'm not giving a detective that information. I'm not that stupid."

"So they're on the board of the Alliance of Cities," he deduced, knowing that only them and the fairly impenetrable ranks of the Turks and the Agents knew about the Heartless situation.

"H-No, you're wrong," he stuttered, the first sound of 'how' all the brown-eyed man needed to know he'd hit the mark.

"Huh, too bad. Guess it's good you didn't tell Marluxia and Luxord about your boss."

"They're actually on their way to him now to explain in detail every strength and weakness of the Turks, in order to kidnap or kill the rest of you depending on how useful you'll be. They already told us Reno and Rude were a lost cause, we've sent a few men out to get rid of them. I assure you that I'll shoot those two idiots who betrayed myself when they're done delivering this city to us."

"Do you play cards?" The younger asked, gathering energy from his crystal to kill the two gunmen that had ambushed him and the other two guards in the room with their guns pointed at him.

"Can't say that I do very often."

"I figured. You can't read a poker face for shit," he swore with a dark smile.

"Don't waste both our time by pretending like you have a way out of this, little lion."

The four men in body armor fell in unison when he stabbed them through the skull, trigger fingers never even getting the signal to jerk. Bending down, he grabbed the high-caliber gun the man at his back had carried, crossing the distance between him and his unarmed enemy. The man begged for his life, as they always did, and it was sort of amusing how fast their attitudes switched.

"Not a lion, I prefer jaguars," he snapped, shooting the man in the chest and letting him bleed out.

Grabbing another gun off of one of the guards, he checked the security footage to see if anyone else was coming. The hallways he could see were deserted, so at least he wasn't in a hurry. Searching the man's body once he was sure he was dead, he came up with almost nothing, typical of a pawn. Their superiors didn't let them carry much identification or evidence on their persons in the event they were killed, arrested, or pickpocketed. Sighing, he stood and wiped at some of the blood on his face, succeeding only in smearing it and starting his nose bleeding again.

"For fuck's sake," he muttered to himself, opening the window and briefly looking out of it before jumping.

Landing hard on the street, he tried to pinpoint his partner in the city, as well as get his own bearings. He was in a fairly well-off part of town with a few business but mostly large houses and small mansions; he didn't know it terribly well because he always stuck to downtown. Checking his front pocket, he was relieved that at least he still had his badge on him. Tucking his stolen guns away, he had to question where his actual firearms had ended up, supposing he could leave it to the lower level cops to find them after searching the building that had apparently been posing as a warehouse for a chemical supply company, if the sign on the front of it was anything to go on. Walking down the street toward the general direction of both the station and his counterpart, he got a few odd looks from late-night passersby but they thankfully left him alone. At least the silence spell would wear off soon and he could actually heal his nose instead of just waiting for it to stop bleeding.

"Hayner? Are you okay?" His magic-using companion asked across their junction, apparently just getting within range.

"Fine, you? I just got out, shot the guy we saw before Lux and Marly knocked us out."

"I took someone's car, so that's funny. Got any leads out of the guy before you shot him?"

"A lot, actually. Seems like his faction knows about the Heartless and is gathering magic-users to protect them and their interests in the coming war. Apparently our friends were headed to meet the higher-ups, ostensibly to tell them all our secrets, but I don't really think they've betrayed us. If they did, they would have suggested a lot better security, and hit us with a stronger drug than the one they did."

"You have a point, I was able to get free of the rope they tied me up with easily, without the use of magic. I know they're not that incompetent. Think this was just a ruse to convince the faction they're pretending to work for that they're trustworthy? Maybe get a shot at the top brass, or at least know who they are?"

"I'm thinking this goes pretty far up, so that's my guess. I've known them for too long to think they'd just up and switch sides on me. If nothing else, they had a better gig with the Don."

"But we could also just be overly optimistic, they were our friends, after all."

"I have to admit, I've never had to murder a friend before. Don't know for sure that I could, to be honest."

"Push comes to shove, I'll do it. What street are you on or near, by the way? I'm getting close to you."

"Lyon Street, know it?"

"Yeah, it's near where I grew up after I was adopted the last time. That area's primarily homes for the upper middle class, though the zoning is kind of odd, few businesses here and there. I'll be there in about five."

"Has your silence worn off yet? Mine's getting there but I'm not able to use anything beyond non-elemental magic at the moment."

"That you can use that is impressive. I'm still probably half an hour away from being able to use magic, but I can speak, at least."

"I'll just wait under this streetlight and turn tricks until you arrive then."

"That fast?"

"What can I say, I'm good."

"You'll have to show me then, not sure I believe you."

He smirked and leaned against one of the lampposts as he said he would, wishing for a moment he could be completely anonymous again. It would be so much easier to just walk off and disappear into the night and leave the fate of the world in someone else's hands. But he had a responsibility to the scion he was junctioned to and the people he loved to stick around and deal with the fallout of war, both on the mafia and the Heartless. At the very least he could use magic normally again, healing his nose and finally wiping the majority of the blood off his face without making a worse mess. A few minutes later the other detective arrived, typically conspicuous in a very expensive red sports car.

"Who the hell did you steal this from?"

"Some millionaire that was more worried about how not helping the police would hurt his image than he was about his very expensive car? Probably a politician of some sort. You alright?"

"Fantastic, wanna see if we can locate our partners, or did you just want to go home for the night and fuck with that whole situation tomorrow?"

"Considering we have no idea where they are geographically, it would be a waste of our time to chase after them, especially since they might be doing us a favor. Let's just report this to Tseng or Elena and go home. You know, a shift was never this exciting before you came along. I've gotten killed and we've both been betrayed and captured and it's only your first day."

"I really hope most days are much, much more boring than this. I'm tired of being kidnapped and doublecrossed and I'm not okay with you dying ever again."

"I can assure you that things will cool down quickly if we can take out whoever Marly and Lux are going after, and the Sevens. Tseng will probably take pity on us and give us easier jobs for a few weeks in the interest of keeping us alive. Even Turks get worn down after a while."

"And I'm emotionally and mentally delicate, is what you're driving at."

"Not what I meant exactly, but can you deny that it's somewhat true?"

"I could, I'm a much better liar than you think."

"Doesn't make it less true. I'm not trying to say you're weak or anything like that, just that you have way too much to deal with at the moment and you're incredibly dangerous to yourself and others if you break under stress."

"Not my fault the gods saw fit to give me ridiculous amounts of power without the time or natural talent to control it well. Trust me, I'll be fine, Seif. I may be broken, but I'm not about to give."

"I believe in you," the scarred man said finally, pensive.

"At least someone does, pretty sure most everyone else is ready to lock me up until they're certain I'm completely harmless."

"Would rather die than let that happen to you, Hayner. Don't worry about everyone else, if they're smart they'll be too afraid of us to do anything like that. Besides, they need you. Ultima isn't about to pick a new champion and the Heartless aren't just going to go away."

"Whoever is controlling them must be powerful to be worth the notice of the gods and their scions. If the most powerful avatar of each element is picking a human companion to be their champion that would imply that that person or thing can only be felled by all of them working together, don't you think?"

"Can't imagine something that could stand up to the concentrated onslaught of a single spirit, much less all of them. Pretty fucking terrifying," Seifer agreed, pulling up to the station and turning the car off.

"Not to mention they have an ever-growing self-replacing army of nightmare monsters. And our main defense is, what, a handful of people in their twenties that can use magic and a few that can wield giant keys? Forgive me if I'm not thrilled."

"Doesn't sound like your idea of a nice vacation? I'm shocked," the older blond replied dully, sarcasm dripping off his words as they entered the building.

He considered what he would say to the leader of the Turks, quickly coming to a decision as they knocked on the door to the man's office. Walking in, he tilted his head and crossed his arms confrontationally.

"Tell me, why did you use us as bait for Lux and Marly's trap? Doesn't it strike you as a dangerous gamble to bet on us falling for it and not trying to kill our partners or stop them?"

"Are you seriously saying Tseng knew all along?"

"Yeah, I am. He put us on with them, after all."

The black-haired detective quirked an eyebrow at him and the ghost of a smile pulled at his lips, "You are entirely too sharp for your own good, Hayner. You're right, I did send you both directly into a trap, but I knew the four of you were competent enough that despite all the variables you'd manage to complete the operation in one piece. Thanks to you the others have a direct in with whoever the higher level management is in this case, and hopefully will return with names and locations soon. We need to root them out as quickly as possible, as they not only pose a direct threat to any magic user in the cities of the Alliance, but also have access to classified information that could disrupt our investigation into the Heartless."

"You're a bastard, Tseng, one of us could have been killed. I'm guessing you had to force the others into this as well, didn't you?" Seifer swore, clearly on the verge of being angry.

"I did, yes, but eventually they agreed there was no other way, the same conclusion I'm sure you'll come to once you consider the situation from an objective point of view. I know it makes you furious when Hayner's put in danger and I assure you I wanted to avoid it, but you're both adults and extremely deadly detectives, I trusted you to be able to handle yourself in a bad situation. I wasn't wrong."

"Well we succeeded, if you could call it that, and we're calling it a night. Keep us updated on Lux and Marly if you can, we'll see you tomorrow."

"Try to get some rest, and unfortunately those two are strictly classified until we have the leak in the Alliance behind bars."

It wasn't surprising that Luxord and Marluxia were going deep undercover again, they were both practiced and very good at it. He hoped they would be safe, taking down a chair of the Alliance was arguably more dangerous than infiltrating the Don's ranks. While his and Seifer's jobs weren't the easiest, he certainly didn't envy them right now. Dragging himself to his boyfriend's vehicle, he sighed and fell into the passenger's seat, wishing for the impossible: a night of uninterrupted sleep. He didn't want to be stabbed or torn to shreds by visions of the future, he'd be happy with regular goddamn nightmares at this point.

"I'll put you under, you can't go on like this. No one could."

"I just want to fucking sleep. Is that bad?"

"Not at all, Hayner. It's more important that you're able to defend yourself against anything or anyone that might try to kill you than that you know what's going to happen during a war that might not start for months. Not ready to have you nearly die on me again, twice is plenty."

"I'm not ready to have your stupid ass die on me again. Didn't anyone teach you that you only get to die once, not three times at minimum?"

"Must've skipped that day in biology. Maybe it was the same one where we went over jungle animals," he joked lightheartedly, drawing a smile from his exhausted companion.

"That would explain so much of your life so far. I miss Griever, and it's only been half a day since we saw him."

"He definitely grows on people."

"Speaking of, seems like you and Rox had a heart to heart while I was gone. What was that all about?"

"Think he finally figured out what it means to be a Turk and accepted that we're family. He's a little slow sometimes. At least he got it at all."

"There is that. Maybe he'll be less of an ass in the future. He does owe you his life after all."

"Not planning on bringing that up, cheap to save someone and expect anything in return."

"Such a damn hero."

"You know you love it."

"I do, as much as I'd love to take your ego down a few pegs, I can't. At least not with this."

Naturally Seifer insisted on carrying him up to the apartment, because apparently walking was for other people. At this point he was certain it was a coping mechanism for both of them, not just the elder. Sighing, he let the other undress him down to his boxers because it was nice to have someone touch him intimately without actually wanting sex out of it. Pressing their lips together, he wound his fingers into the man's pale blond hair and relaxed for the first time that day. The scarred cop hung their clothes up to be washed later and fed the cat, falling into bed next to him and kissing him briefly before pulling him in close.

"Sleep well Hayner, love you," Seifer said quietly before beginning the sleep spell.

"Love you too."

They ate breakfast and belatedly realized they hadn't eaten anything but their first meal the night before, apparently lacking healthy eating and sleeping habits while under stress. Seifer doubted that the mission they had set up for today would go remotely as planned, but at the very least they probably weren't about to be betrayed by their fellow Turks. Even if he had to, Roxas wouldn't so much as pretend to turn on Hayner, and Tseng would never put him up to it. It would hurt the brown-eyed teen too badly.

"You're right, much as I hate to admit it."

"What are you pulling out of my head now?"

"If you or Rox betrayed me I'd be done. With all of this bullshit, maybe with being alive in general," the younger detective clarified.

"Not a chance of that happening, so don't worry about it. Seriously, I know how paranoid you are."

The drive to meet their coworkers at the station passed in tense silence, neither particularly looking forward to whatever misfortune was going to meet them today. Sometimes he wondered if there was really a reason to make a plan for any kind of operation since nothing they did ever went according to it. It was like drawing up blueprints for a house that was going to be demolished the same day as it was built. At least he'd get to work with Balthier again, the sky pirate was always a hell of a lot of fun when he encountered him in his smuggling days. He doubted the brunet man had slowed down any, he wasn't the kind of fire to gutter out.

"I was wondering, what's a Viera doing so far out of the wood? It'd be one thing if she and Balthier were involved romantically, but if he's with Vaan I doubt that's it," his lover asked, eyes thoughtful.

"Don't really know much about Fran, just that she and Balthier are joined at the hip but it's purely platonic. Like brother and sister, almost. A lot of people think they're fucking but they definitely aren't."

"It happens, people struggle to correctly identify other forms of deep affection than romantic love. Most don't understand it until they've experienced it."

"True. I'm used to it because of my friends, and by extension the Turks, but most people don't have friendships or family-like bonds like we do."

Getting out of the car and meeting their partners in crime in their office he was shocked to find them actually doing work instead of having sex. Apparently they did understand how to fill out paperwork. There was an unusual lack of tension between him and Roxas and he had to hope that saving his life and talking with him yesterday had actually made a difference. Miracles did happen; he was still alive after all.

"So how do we want this to work? We meet up with the pirates, hide while they confront the Sevens, and knock out as many as we can with sleep spells and take the rest down with non-fatal shots?" The shortest blond asked as he started the car, glancing back at them in the rearview.

"Something like that yeah. Don't kill anyone unless you absolutely have to, and watch out for the kids if at all possible," he replied, receiving an elbow in the ribs for referring to his partner's friends as children.

"So what happened with Luxord and Marluxia? They never came back after you four were seen leaving the station together, and they didn't come in today either," Axel asked, looking at them out of the corner of his eye.

"Classified stuff. Sorry guys," Hayner replied simply.

"Must be undercover again then, that's a bitch."

"It's a tough job but someone has to do it. Why Marly is good at being undercover is beyond me, guess he mostly follows his partner's lead," the scarred blond wondered out loud.

"He's pretty damn flamboyant, but he's a fantastic liar. He could convince you he was a triple agent in under a minute."

"Would have loved to see him convince Tseng that pink hair is reasonable in a professional setting."

"I'd imagine that was a long conversation and if the Chief did manage an expression it would have been unimpressed. Marly's good at what he does, but he looks ridiculous," the redhead added with a smirk.

"Says the guy with a head of red spikes."

"Shut up, Seifer," he snapped back with a lopsided grin because he knew it was true that he was calling the kettle black.

"You're unusually quiet, is something wrong?"

"Everything's fine Seif, it's just Ultima. She's on edge about something but she won't tell me what, it's nauseating. Her emotions bleed just like ours do, and having all this anxiety at the back of my mind without knowing why is fucking terrible."

"Generally speaking when an esper is edgy about something it's pretty catastrophic. Hopefully she'll tell you what it is sooner rather than later, at least then we can address the issue."

"If there's nothing she can do about it, where the hell do we come in?"

"We're corporeal? That's kind of the clincher in the summon-human relationship, they need us because they've been banished by the gods into gems for their insubordination. Now they're only allowed out when they bend to the will of a human partner, which keeps them humble enough to not rail against the gods again."

"Guess you have a point, never really thought much into it. Whatever is happening must be going on in the real world instead of Midplane."

"…Midplane? The fuck are you talking about?"

"The other word for it is unpronounceable, but that's what it translates to. That's where we dream share and where the spirits and espers exist. A plane of existence between our world and the null plane, which is where the gods live. Well, and don't live, they exist in a constant state of uncertainty because the null plane both is and isn't. Each plane away from ours is a step up in implausibility."

"Maybe you should start writing this shit down for Dr. Osmond. Pretty sure he'd murder an intern for the stuff you spout at random."

"I'll consider it. He has helped us out a lot lately, probably owe him. Don't like to have debts, you know?"

"You grew up in the mafia, doesn't take a genius to figure out why. You going to be able to focus on the fight today?"

"Not that distracted by her. 'Sides, I'm sure she'll back off once we're in mortal danger and try to be more proactive. She does want us alive after all."

"You, anyway."

"Everyone in this car has a stake in the end of the world, she'll protect all of us."

"Axel and Roxas as well? She tell you that?"

"Not in words, I just sorta knew."

"That's kind of…"

"I know, weird, nothing I can do about it though, might as well embrace it for what it is and make use of it where I can."

"For once I'm really glad Zodiark sleeps most of the time, couldn't stand him if he constantly bled into my mind."

"Hey guys, quit your internal conversation, we're here. Crazy bastards," Axel swore as the two Turks in the front got out.

"You're just jealous that you two don't share a junction bridge," Hayner responded as they followed suit, the sandy-haired blond immediately walking over to embrace his young friends.

"Almasy, you're still alive after all," Balthier addressed him, amber eyes watching him demurely.

"Died yesterday, but it only counts if it's permanent, right?" He retorted with an irreverent smirk.

"Humes have a penchant for being hard to kill despite their short lifespans, it would seem," the white-haired archer commented, red eyes assessing Hayner more than they did him.

"The gods gave humans tenacity over longevity, sometimes that's what makes the difference. Those species that live longer grow wise and complacent, those that die quickly are more willing to enact change in the world, for better or worse," the youngest detective said somewhat cryptically, eyes glowing white.

"The hell kinda drugs are you on, Hayner?" Kytes asked, earning himself a cuff from Fran.

"You should treat the Harbinger of the High Seraph with more respect," she said, her accent thickening as if weighted down with ancient lore.

"Is that what the Vieras call it? A harbinger?"

"Yes. The forerunners to the scions of the gods."

"What is she talking about?" Roxas asked, cerulean eyes focused on his best friend suspiciously.

"Conversation for another time, right now we have a gang to beat the shit out of."

They quickly went over the plan with the artifact smugglers who didn't seem to have an issue with it, though Vaan never seemed to have a problem with anything if Seifer got an accurate read on the kid. It was good Balthier was around to temper his brash attitude and keep him from running into a fire fight with a sword. Not that that was an outright terrible idea, but it had never really worked for anyone other than himself that he knew of. The foursome of thieves had already informed the Sevens of the shipment and where they were going to intercept it. Apparently they had been put to the task of fighting the pirates, the winner taking the prize of bragging rights and all the stolen artifacts. They were essentially capitalizing on the senseless pride and greed of the gang to get them to do something incredibly stupid. The strategy hadn't failed them so far.

Lying in wait where the others planned to take the vehicle after they hijacked it, he had the fleeting thought that he was very close to doing exactly what he used to do before he got out of the underground. He supposed it was inevitable he'd end up here again considering what he specialized in on the force, at least this way he was aiding people he actually liked in their crime ventures.

"I'm holding you to that conversation later, by the way. You've both been hiding way too much shit from us lately and I'm fucking tired of it."

"Yes Rox, I'll explain everything I'm at liberty to as soon as we're not in the middle of a case. Try to focus on what we're actually doing instead of what you feel you have the right to be pissed about, okay?" Hayner spat back, anxiety mixing with irritation.

It didn't take long for their friends to return with a quarter ton of magical stones and a tail. The gang members entered the alley fully expecting to catch their opponents unaware with guns when the original arrangement was a proper fists-only fight, so he had to assume they were surprised when they were jumped by four cops and almost immediately disarmed. There would be more of them in a few minutes when the others didn't return, but for now they could cuff the offenders and stuff them in a bush where they wouldn't be seen by their comrades. It was exhilarating to be the ones doing the incapacitation after being on the wrong end of the same situation the night before, a relief.

"Won't be as easy the second time; they'll be expecting us."

"Don't kill my buzz, I want it to last at least until I get shot," he retorted mentally to his companion, knowing damn well someone's blood was going to be spilt and would rather it was his.

"Suicidal asshole, let someone else get shot for once."

"What if that someone is you?"

"Not sure if this escaped your notice, but I have taken a few bullets before and I'm honestly okay with it."

"Doesn't mean I am."

"You're barely okay with me going outside because it's dangerous, Seif."

"Your point being? There are hundreds of people out there that have you at the top of their hit list."

"Same for you, same for all of us. I may have a few dozen extra potential murderers out there, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm in more danger than the rest of the Turks. At least from humans, and we're not safe from the Heartless anywhere."

Their conversation ended abruptly when bullets whizzed past them, Hayner firing a few body shots while speaking the words to a silence spell, rendering three of the half-dozen people closest to them incapacitated in one way or another. He took out the others, while Vaan, the little smartass, swept the lot of them away with a whirlwind. Disoriented, dazed, or outright unconscious, they were easy to subdue and tie up.

"This one is their leader," the white-haired woman said decisively, grabbing a man in his thirties that looked for all intents and purposes just like everyone else in the group.

"How can you tell?" He pressed, unconvinced.

"Fran can read people like a book, you get used to it. Chalk it up to having lived a bit longer than us ordinary mortals," Kytes supplied helpfully.

They took the gang members to the station to be booked, their leader set aside for interrogation. Axel and Roxas left to get permission to do the investigation themselves, since apparently the blond was in one of his violent moods, though they didn't leave with a reminder that they were due a conversation. Their good-cop bad-cop routine was entertaining, mostly because it was more bad-cop and isn't-Roxie-adorable-when-he's-mad-I'm-not-going-to-help-you-cop. Tseng stopped them halfway through their mission reports in their office to inform them they were to take the list Lux and Marly had gotten for them thus far and stalk the traitors for any information regarding their organization and its leaders. The older blond detective mentioned that the faction was planning on sending men after Reno and Rude, to which the man with dark eyes nodded, face carefully blank.

"This sort of thing is going to take weeks, are you sure you can afford to keep us out of other cases for so long?" Hayner asked, glancing up from the sheet.

"The traitors and moles in our government are a risk to the security and stability of every city in the Alliance. If information about the Heartless gets out to the populace without us controlling the situation, it will cause mass rioting, murder, and exodus into the wilds where we cannot protect our citizens. I think we can deal with the personnel shortage."

"Point taken. So, are we supposed to eventually arrest them, or just watch them until we get enough information to incriminate the top brass and therefore everyone below them as well?"

"The second one. Whatever information you gain will go a long way to helping the other team. They've met with the leader, but not face to face, so we as yet have nothing to go on as far as their identity."

"Besides that, would possibly be a good idea to actually have concrete physical evidence on these guys before we try to take down a member of the council. They have a lot of credibility we need to destroy before anyone will believe us. What about the Agents, wouldn't they know something about the situation since they answer to the council? In fact, wouldn't they try to stop Luxord and Marluxia?" Seifer jumped in.

"It seems the council member has devised a very effective way of hiding or mimicking his mana signature so that the Agents never know he's gone, as far as we know they are not involved in the crime ring in any way. This isn't something you should discuss with them either, in the event there are dirty Agents in the fold."

"And if we're discovered and attacked by the people we're watching?"

"Kill them and make it look like an ordinary crime, we can't have anyone find out that we're investigating them beyond the man who kidnapped you. Was there anything else you needed to know?"

"Not really, we'll let you know if anything else occurs to us. Elena's fully up on this too, I'm guessing?"

"Naturally. Good luck."

The black-haired detective turned and left them alone again, prompting Hayner to sigh, stand, and hand him the list. The younger blond had memorized it in the time it took to have their conversation, so he burned it once he was done doing the same. The less physical evidence of their surveillance mission they had on them, the better.

"I'm guessing this will be a largely street-clothes affair."

"Suits would be a little conspicuous, don't you think? Good thing we got your stuff a bit ago, people tend to notice when your entire wardrobe is new."

"Also buying all new clothes would be tedious as fuck."

"I thought most bottoms loved shopping," the larger blond quipped, ducking the pen thrown at his head.

"To everyone else I'm a top, so your stereotyping is not only inaccurate but doesn't apply to me either."

"You're just too cute to be dominating, I don't see it."

He knew better than to taunt his boyfriend, but he liked the results too much to avoid it. This situation was no exception, the teen diving toward him, knocking his chair over and bringing them both to the floor. His wrists were pinned to the tile and Hayner had ended up straddling him, and naturally that was when Roxas and Axel deigned to walk in on them.

"Could you maybe be doing something normal when we see you, ever? Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you two and compromising positions?"

"Says the guy I walked in on about to have sex with his boyfriend at work the other day. You're here about the harbinger comment, aren't you?" Hayner replied snidely before standing and helping his partner to his feet.

"Yes, we are. Turns out the leader of the Sevens is a wimpy bitch, didn't take long to break him. Got too used to interrogating the big dogs, I guess. So, why the fuck did a Viera call you the harbinger of Ultima?"

"As far as it was explained to Seifer, the Scions are choosing champions to fight against whatever or whoever is controlling the Heartless in a last ditch effort to save the human race from being overrun by darkness. All of us will have a place in the war, some more important in the end than others. Your cousin is the primary wielder of the keyblade, and you'll use one too one day. If I had to guess, Axel is Belias's champion, Seifer is Zodiark's, and obviously Ultima has chosen me. And so on."

"You're serious. Gods, you're actually fucking serious," the spiky-haired blond said, looking like he might need to sit down.

"Yeah, congrats, you have to help save the world."

"If it means I get to burn things down, I'm okay with that," the green-eyed cop said with a shrug, hand on his boyfriend's shoulder.

"Well, someone needs to protect you three morons from the Heartless, figures it would fall to me," Roxas said finally, looking burdened.

"Say, Rox, when you were Hayner's boyfriend, were you typically the bottom?" Seifer asked, knowing exactly how to take his mind off the issue.

The shortest Turk turned a strange shade of red and huffed loudly before turning on his heel and leaving, slamming the door behind him. Both Seifer and Axel turned instead to the brown-eyed man, smirking.

"Well, was he?" They said in unison, something Seifer had long ago resigned himself to since they were junctioned through Ifrit.

Rolling his eyes he replied, "Yes, he was. Though I can tell he's a top in his current one."

"Not all the time!" Axel snapped back once he recovered from his shock enough to remember how to control his hanging jaw.

"We all know you're completely whipped, Ax, it's kinda pointless to deny it. It's cute, really," Hayner returned, leaning against the desk behind him in a relaxed but intimidating pose, oddly comfortable and in charge of the situation.

Maybe he was opening up, finally. Seifer could always hope.

"If you were anyone else I'd kick your ass, but I owe you my life and your boyfriend kinda terrifies me," the pyromaniac spat, feigning irritation, though his lips kept twitching into a smile.

"Wouldn't need him to lay you out, Axel. Fought guys bigger than you," the youngest cop challenged, smiling at him darkly, continuing when the spiky-haired man failed to come up with a reply, "You remind me a lot of your brother sometimes."

He ducked the weak swing sent his way, and the redhead threw his hands up and left, either to nurse his ego or find his boyfriend to complain about their terrible friends. Leaning over and kissing his partner, he wanted to know what that was all about, but figured it could wait until they were home.

"Target moving west on Moonlight street. Fucking hell, why can't the street names in the market district be numbers instead of tortured references to day and night? At least in the commercial district all but the main drags are just numbers," he swore over their link, struggling to keep track of the names of the roads as they feigned jogging along different streets to keep track of the business man they were stalking.

"You're bitching to the wrong blond about it, want the street names changed, talk to Rufus. He might humor you if you convince Tseng to spend a few nights at home instead of working 'round the clock."

"Might as well expect me to hang the moon while I'm at it. It took enough effort just to get him to hand half his workload over to Elena so he was actually sleeping in his office a few nights a week. I'm not volunteering to kidnap and hold him at Rufus's home just so he leaves the station. Pretty sure his favoritism doesn't extend so far as to allow that kind of thing."

"Dunno, you can pull off helpless well enough when you need to, might get him to show a little mercy."

"Thing is, he knows damn well I'm not helpless. Ruins the effect."

"Where the hell is this guy going?" Seifer asked, going back to the matter at hand as their unwitting target rounded a corner down a dead end.

"Must be meeting someone. I'll follow him as far as I can, keep back."

Creeping up against the two-story business, he leaned his head around enough to see the man turn the corner of the short alley. If he remember the map correctly the area he walked into couldn't have been more than thirty feet deep and it definitely dead-ended, only existing to accommodate a back exit one of the shops. Crossing the space to the far wall, he pressed himself close to it and made his way quietly to the edge and controlled his breathing so he could listen.

"-weeks and Russell has yet to contact me about whether Jarvin gave away any information or if those Turks that he used our new recruits to kidnap and ended up killing him are doing anything about our outfight right now. What if they're after us now? The new guys say they don't know anything about what the cops are doing, but I think they're lying."

"Calm down, Russell's moved up to Radiant, I'm in charge of Twilight's underground ops now. Those two detectives are being taken care of, I've made arrangements. They shouldn't be a problem after tomorrow."

"Killing Turks? And Jarvin said those guys were important, don't you think the boss-"

"The boss doesn't need to know we called in the hit, these guys have plenty of enemies. Just lay low for a few days and we can get back to business as usual."

"Whatever you think is best, Jay. I'll keep working on the security guard at the research center."

"Their records on magic users will be invaluable, especially if we can kidnap Dr. Osmond as well. Will have to manage an adequate distraction for the Turks to keep them occupied while we take him. Bombing the station should be enough."

"Are you fucking getting all this? Seriously, these guys are batshit."

"As if making the station explode would actually distract us, Axel would just think his birthday came early."

"That's not what I meant, asshole."

"We've gotta warn everyone, and apparently not get whacked by hitmen in the meantime. Fun. Now get the hell out of there."

"Got it," he returned, silently edging out of the alley and taking off down the road toward where he was meeting his partner.

It was too easy to be reminded of all the times he'd done recon for Tseng before he joined up with Seifer for their operation; he'd often run around following people and relaying information in his street clothes. They'd been given this job simply because he was so damn good at it, even if he was caught he could usually weasel his way out of the situation. As Seifer had pointed out, he could pretend to be stupid and helpless quite effectively when he needed to.

"So, he said after tomorrow, I assume the assassins are going to go after us while we're sleeping tomorrow night. Any bright ideas on how to thwart and possibly kill them without firing shots in our apartment?" Hayner questioned his lover, not really liking the idea of strangers intruding on his living space and having to risk breaking something to eliminate them.

"I like how the integrity of our interior design ranks higher on your list of priorities than the lives of the would-be killers."

"Hey, it's a nice place."

"You're incorrigible and sociopathic."

"Are you building up to a point or something? 'Cause if not then you're just calling the kettle black, Seif."

"Just making sure we were on the same page with just how crazy we are. We could always just use magic, would make less of a mess. Guess we don't necessarily have to kill them either. Should we mention them to Tseng, or just surprise him?"

"Surprise him, otherwise he's going to do something ridiculous like try to assign one of the others as a bodyguard. This way he'll just be pissed off instead of worried."

"Better to ask forgiveness than permission and all that. Judging by how little homework these assholes are doing on us I really doubt the hitmen they hire will be properly outfitted to take on high-ranking mages, it shouldn't be hard to knock them out or at the very least burn them to a crisp."

They met up in a parking garage far enough away from the scene that they wouldn't be caught by the men they were tracking, Seifer dragging him into a kiss like they hadn't seen or heard from one another for days. Not that he minded his partner's fervor, pushing the hood off the other's head and threading his hands in soft blond hair.

"Love you," he whispered against the scarred man's lips.

"Love you too, Hayner. Ready to head home?"

"Sure, not really up to any vigilante antics tonight."

"Up to anything else?" Seifer asked, smiling cockily at him as he pulled away.

"Depends what anything else entails."

Apparently in the blue-eyed blond's dictionary, anything else meant tumbling his partner into the backseat of his car and giving him head. Again, not that he was complaining. Though that could have been largely because he ceased to be able to speak or think coherently when the other's lips had wrapped around his dick. Panting and flushed, he was pressed up against the door when he came with a shout, whiting out for a second.

"So pretty when you come, you let your guard down for once."

"You know, for a guy who's bisexual, you're really good at giving head."

"Just because I'm attracted to both genders doesn't mean I've had sex with both of them equally. I'm kind of a rough guy, easier to deal with other guys on that front, you know?"

"I can understand that," Hayner replied, getting out of the backseat languidly and sitting down in the front as his lover did the same, "Was your first time-"

"Guy, actually, I was pretty adventurous when I was younger. Not that that's really changed. You've never-"

"With a girl? No. Honestly never crossed my mind. Kairi and Namine insisted on testing out whether I was outright gay or not, you know, for my health. I think they were just mad when I fucked a guy that Namine forgot to mention she had a crush on."

"How exactly did they attempt to tell whether you were gay or not?"

"That is a story for when I am not sober enough to make good judgment calls. Involved ropes, and that is all I'm going to say."

"I'll just ask them next time I see them, they seem to enjoy seeing you blush."

"It's everyone's favorite pass time, apparently," he muttered irritably, prompting the other to pull him into a soft kiss in the middle of driving, which while dangerous was a pretty sweet thing to do.

"Only because you're adorable."

"Quit undermining my masculinity, gods. Just because you think yours is in danger…" He trailed off, grinning at the ice-colored glare sent his way.

"If I felt my masculinity was in question I'd go beat the shit out of a street gang or something and set the record straight."

"The only thing you can make straight is a lesbian, Seif."

"Smartass. Though if the twins can't make you straight, doubt I'd have a lot of luck with that. I'm just saying they're pretty hot and if you were even the tiniest bit attracted to women you wouldn't be able to pass up a threesome with them," he added at the smaller man's questioning look.

"Well at least you can be sure I'm not going to find another tall, hot blonde that happens to have tits and walk out on you."

"I was sure before that, I'm pretty hard to beat."

"And a cocksure asshole, but who's counting. 'Sides, you know I don't love you for your looks. Though I could, I suppose, you're attractive enough," he supplied thoughtfully, as if considering.

"You know, I already gave you head, flattery isn't really going to get you anything here."

"You act like I could have forgotten that you just blew me in the backseat five minutes ago. Seif, I may be blond, but I am not an airhead. Besides, just because you got me off doesn't mean we can't have sex, unless you have a headache or something," he continued, feeling the urge to make another jab at his partner's dominance.

"You're going to regret that. Or not, you don't mind rough sex."

"Not fragile, and you don't actually set out to hurt me, so why the hell would I? It's not interesting if you don't at least draw a little blood."

"I don't think you're ever going to let my neck recover, are you?"

"If you didn't like the bruises you would heal them, quit complaining. I know it gets you off when I bite you. We're linked telepathically, you can't hide stuff like that, especially not when we're having sex. Seems like it's impossible to keep up mental shields when you're orgasming."

"I've noticed, that's true even for someone shut up as tightly as you."

"I wonder if…" He trailed off, too embarrassed at the thought to continue, though as always his companion picked up on what he meant.

"Doubt it, if we bled into the junction that badly that Cloud and Zack could sense it, it would probably happen the opposite way too. I mean, it's been what, a couple months or something since those two got back together, there's no way in hell they haven't been fucking like bunnies in the time you've been bonded to Ultima."

"Wow, you did not use the word bunny to refer to Cloud just now, did you? That is a terrifying mental image."

"We're two minutes away from home; you will forget this entire conversation very soon, so don't freak out about it too much."

"Holding you to that, Seif."

He really loved the way Hayner gasped when he was slammed into walls like he wasn't expecting it, or how his eyelashes fluttered when Seifer sucked a mark into his neck. The taller blond was a bit surprised when his boyfriend turned the tables on him as soon as his shirt was off, pulling his belt off and proceeding to shove him onto the bed and tie him to it with the strip of leather. Quirking an eyebrow at his companion, he wondered if there was a reason Hayner suddenly wanted to take control.

"As a couple, we're really into light bondage, aren't we?" He commented conversationally, rolling his left shoulder slightly.

"We're both tops, it's only natural there'd be a power struggle between us that transfers into aggression and attempts to somewhat subordinate the other. You're probably never going to bottom, so bondage and mild blood play is actually a pretty vanilla way of working that out, don't you think?"

"Gods, you make us sound so boring. You know, you don't actually need to tie me up."

"Never thought I did, I just wanted to," the brown-eyed teen returned, teeth flashing in a predatory smile, "Does it make you nervous?"

"Not in this situation. Normally when I'm tied up it's more sinister than my boyfriend wanting to make love."

The other just smirked and bit into his shoulder, lapping at the blood before tugging the larger detective's pants and boxers off. He felt a bit at a disadvantage, he was tied up and naked and his counterpart was still unrestrained and fully clothed. It was disturbing how little it bothered him to not have control of the situation for once. Hayner stripped gracefully, lithe body arching and drawing taut with practiced ease. He had a slow-burning urge to trace the scars on his body again, though he'd have to wait until the sandy-blond deigned to release him to do that. The younger man bit his lip cutely before leaning down to kiss him, dark lashes low over his eyes.

Watching the other work himself open was maddeningly hot, his lover flushed and panting above him by the time he got around to tearing open the condom wrapper. His eyes slammed shut when the smaller cop lowered himself onto Seifer's aching hard-on, the sensation momentarily too much. Hayner made a tiny noise that could have been a moan, taking a deep breath and relaxing around him. After a second he pushed himself back up and down, finding an easy rhythm that seemed specifically designed to make his boyfriend want more. Growling at his lover after a few minutes, he bucked his hips, earning himself a hard bite on the neck that didn't hurt so much as it turned him on.

"You're a bastard," the muscular blond huffed, somewhere beyond hot and bothered.

"You love me, now shut up before I gag you."

"Because that would make such a difference."

"Can't blame a guy for trying."

He just rolled his eyes and jerked upward again at just the right angle, drawing a scream from his partner and a string of nonsense from their link. Glaring at him, Hayner slammed himself down on the other's cock hard enough to draw a gasp from both of them. Apparently having figured out how to make better use of their junction in light of the knowledge that their shields went down when they were fucking, Hayner let his filter fall completely and flooded the blue-eyed man's mind with what he was feeling. The next time he hit the brown-eyed teen's prostate the rush of pleasure hit him hard enough to force an orgasm, the smaller blond coming with him.

Once they had come down enough that they could say something over their junction that wasn't atrociously grammatically incorrect and Hayner pulled off him the belt was undone and he stretched his shoulders before pulling off the condom and throwing it into the trash. Grinning, he pinned the other to the bed with his body weight, hands on the slighter male's shoulders.

"That was pretty awesome. What gave you the idea?"

"Nothing really, I just like experimenting. Gotta say, never had two orgasms at once before."

Laughing shortly, he agreed, "Can't say I have either. I could definitely get used to it though."

They showered together, Seifer pressing him against the wall and kissing him deeply, bodies melding together under the spray. It was easy to ignore all the problems the outside world had when they were with one another like this, but pretending they weren't there wouldn't make them go away, unfortunately.

"Stop thinking so much, asshole. And you call me a buzzkill."

"Think we could just leave the defense of our apartment to the cat?"

"I'd rather capture them and torture them for information, if these fuckheads break into our home and try to kill us they don't deserve a quick death," he spat back, water running in rivulets down his body as he turned the shower off.

"I do so love the sadistic side of you."

"Get used to it, if we get any further into this you'll probably be seeing a lot more of it. It's going to take a lot more than a few bullets to rout these conspirators, anyone in the upper level is going to be tough to get to and even tougher to get rid of. I'll be impressed if Lux and Marly managed to oust their leader before he becomes a problem for us. Think we can trust the agents to rescue us if shit truly does go down?"

"The Director and agents Shiva and Odin are clearly on our side more than anyone else's. I think if it was between our lives and their allegiance to the councilor, they'd pick us, considering the fate of the world partially depends on us. Human race versus some asshole's agenda seems like a really obvious choice for people of any kind of moral character."

"You make it sound so simple," Hayner replied as he dried his hair.

"Some things really just are."

"If you had to choose between me and the world, which would you pick?"

"You wouldn't want me to save you."

"No, but that really doesn't answer the question, does it?"

"I'd try to find a way to save both, but if I really couldn't, I'd save the world. Join you on the other side," he added, sighing, "Can't love you without a world to do it in, can I?"

"When you've died before, have you-"

"It's not something that can really be explained in words, or even images. My parents are there, I know that, but I've never been there long enough to really get a good look around."

There still seemed to be something on his mind, but whatever it was he'd shut it up tight behind his mental shields. It was nice to be able to look deeper into his head than he had been able to before, but there was still plenty that he wasn't allowed to be privy to.

"One thing at a time, I'm not used to giving someone so much of me, not since…you know."

"Wasn't complaining. I know why you're so guarded, especially after having me die on you."

"It sucked enough to have one boyfriend die in front of me, don't make it two. By the way, does this complex have security cameras?" He changed the subject quickly as he pulled on a loose shirt and a clean pair of boxers, his companion following suit.

"Yeah, facing the parking lot, in the elevator, and stairwells. Why do you ask?"

"We need to convince them to tie us into the security system so we can monitor the building for those hitmen. I assume you have a security guard if you have a CCTV system."

"Yeah, she has a small office on the first floor. I could talk with her tomorrow before we go in to work so she can get it set up by the time we come home. Should probably also give her a heads up that there's going to be an attempt on our lives. Not that it's anything that should surprise her," he added, glancing around the living room for the most likely points of entry; he doubted they'd come through the door, probably either the balcony or the windows.

"If you've lived here for any length of time I'm sure she's used to it. What are we going to do about the threat on the station? We aren't really expected there any time soon, should we make the trip or hope no one has managed to tap our phones yet and call the Chief?"

"We'll stop by. I don't trust the security of the satellites any further than I can throw them."

"Well, technically, in space you probably could throw them pretty far," the younger cop quipped snarkily, glancing behind him from his position on the couch.

"You're such a smartass. I'm surprised that mouth hasn't gotten you into more trouble."

"I've been carrying a gun since I was fourteen, that's usually enough to ward off anyone wanting to start a fight over a few words. Has gotten me punched quite a few times though, don't think they expected me to hit back harder."

"You are strong for your size, though knowing your genetic disposition for deception I guess it's not surprising. Most people with an affinity for water are excellent liars, though not so the two strays we gave to Kairi and Namine. Guess it is possible to overcome your elemental affinity."

"Both of us are examples of that too. You're well-controlled despite how unwieldy your primary affinities are, and I'm not nearly as flighty as you seem to think. Roxas is more likely to run away than I am, as far as wind affinities go. I don't conform to the idea that our affinities are an absolute destiny, if that were true, there'd be a lot of people who acted basically the same. We're just as shaped by the world around us as we are by how we're born. I mean, if you think about it, if everything depended on affinity we wouldn't be the champions of Ultima and Zodiark. Though, I have a feeling those two are special cases, considering they're the top tier of the esper hierarchy. If Axel is Belius's choice, we can probably assume everyone else has an affinity-based relationship with the esper or spirit in question."

"You're basing an entire theory on one half-conjecture point of data that disagrees with the only two fully-confirmed pieces of data you have? I seem to remember someone complaining about things being 'terribly unscientific'."

"Shut up and get me a beer while you're overthinking our apartment layout's weak points."

"Fine. Anything else I can get you, princess?"

"Yeah, a better pet name."

"I'll get right to work on that," he answered gamely, walking over to the couch with two bottles and handing one to his boyfriend before sitting down, "Mind you it's pretty low on my list of priorities."

"I can be patient, when I want to."

"Do you ever want to be patient? Even when you're biding your time you're pissed off about waiting. Sometimes I think you wouldn't sleep if you honestly thought you could be doing work instead."

"With how enjoyable sleeping is when we don't dream share, work would be a welcome distraction," the sandy-blond agreed despondently, tipping the bottle pressed to his lips.

"I already told you, no one is going to blame you if you choose to use a sleep spell or dream share to avoid them every night, you could use the sleep," he countered, looking at his partner out of the corner of his eye.

"And like I said, there's got to be a reason for it, why it seems to be me that's most affected. I can sleep after we win the war, assuming we survive."

"Unless the espers get destroyed in the conflict, I'm sure you'll make it, at least. Ultima wouldn't let you die, she likes you too much. Probably keep the rest of us alive to keep you stable too."

"Huh, look at that, I made you useful for something," the teen joked, quirking an eyebrow at him as if he was wondering if Seifer would rise to the bait.

"I'm not sure if I'm glad your sense of humor has returned or not. Though that conversation with
Axel was pretty fucking hilarious, don't think I've ever seen him rendered speechless."

"Hey, you knew I was an ass going into this, and don't act like your sense of humor is so kind either. Ax is easy to taunt though, so is Rox for that matter. Axel because he's worried being a bottom damages his masculinity, especially considering how atypical it is if we go by the stereotypes of gay relationships. A stereotypical top is older, taller, and stronger than their bottom, people don't always take into account the personalities of the two. Rox is easy to piss off because he's usually angry and sensitive to begin with. Of the Turks, I think Reno is probably the hardest to make fun of, because he's fully aware of his faults and doesn't give a shit."

"I figured you'd say Tseng."

Hayner laughed, "Funny story actually. About a year or so ago I made a joke about him, Rufus, sex, and guns. I'm not sure if he blushed out of anger or embarrassment, but he didn't speak to me for a week after. As much as he is the epitome of composure, he's still human. Also very forgiving."

"Were you just trying to get him to react, or was that before you learned not to say everything that comes to mind?"

"Get him to react. It worked, probably because it was true. But apparently I was either too useful or too hopeless for him to stay mad about it," Hayner answered once he'd down the rest of his beer.

"Probably both. You know, I'm glad the Don burned his bridges with you early on, I can't imagine how badly we'd be fucked if you were on the other side. Demyx, Zexion, Reno, Axel, Roxas, Pence and Olette probably never would have joined the Turks, for one, and you are very hard to kill for another."

"From an emotional standpoint, yes, but before I junctioned with Ultima I could have been easily dispatched by a bullet to the brain."

"That implies you'd ever let anyone get the chance. You're a lot smarter than a back-alley shooting."

"True. If I remember correctly though, your file has you exceptionally proficient with a sniper rifle. I'm sure eventually you'd have killed me."

"Why do you think I'd be the one to kill you in this scenario?"

"Because if we are entertaining an alternate timeline my death should at the very least be poetic. In this timeline where I turned to the side of the law you saved my life and we're in love, in one where I remained with the mafia, we'd hate each other and you'd kill me. It's a very clean juxtaposition."

"True, but we both know the world isn't black and white like that. We'd probably fuck it up and end up in love and I'd have to kill you anyway."

"Now that would be a beautiful tragedy. I'm sure they'd make a movie about that, everyone gets hot for starcrossed lovers narratives. Since it'd be based on true events and about gay love, probably Oscar material, too. The Academy loves shit like that. I think it would be a lot more likely that if we fell in love, I'd fake my own death and wash my hands of the whole ordeal so neither of us would have to kill the other. We could hide away on the Islands or something romantic like that."

"We could fake your death the same way you did mine," the older blond added helpfully, entertaining the idea for a moment, "In the end it might not have been so different from how things are now."

"Maybe that's because they're how they're meant to be, or at least close to it. According to the world of magic we're essentially fated to be together in some capacity, be it friends, comrades in arms, or lovers. Still weird that people think of us as a matched set."

"I guess, but they probably would even if we weren't affinity matches, just because we're Turks. I mean, when you think of Reno or Zexion, what's the next thing that comes to mind?"

"Rude and Demyx. Guess you have a point. Seeing them apart is kind of weird. Reno, Rude, Tseng and Elena are kind of the odd ones out, they're the oldest other than Luxord, and they're the only ones not in a relationship with their partner. Are Rude and Tifa an item? I've been meaning to ask."

"They could be. If they are they're keeping it discreet. Why do you think they are?" He pressed, receiving an image of the two of them at the bar as an answer while he turned on the TV to see if anything interesting had blown up recently.

It seemed like they were just in time to catch the late night news, the mid-thirties blonde saying something about the Turks before he really tuned into what she was saying.

"Investigators are looking into the death of the renowned journalist Robert Brooke, found shot in the head in his apartment this morning. Brooke did several exposés, including a groundbreaking story on the full reach of the Agents of the Alliance of Cities. Police were sent to his place of residence after he failed to report to work for two days, where they discovered his body next to a window pierced by a single bullet. Many of his documents and his laptop were removed from the apartment. Authorities are terming this a murder and are pursuing possible leads. Brooke was allegedly working on a story about our own Turks and had recently published a column calling into question the story of the detective and Turk Hayner Smith, who almost single-handedly brought Don Corneo's crime ring down several weeks ago, though little is known about him prior. If you have any information regarding the incident, you are urged to call the Twilight Police Force."

The brown-eyed man frowned and grabbed his phone off the table, quickly dialing a number and pressing it to his ear. A quick check across their junction informed him the other was calling Larxene, under the impression that Xigbar had been the sniper in question, and without being asked he switched the phone over to speaker.

"What did you need?" She answered, edged voice softer than it usually was.

"Just tell me, did you?"

"If I know what you're referring to, yes. We're nearby actually, we could meet you in your apartment."

"Don't be seen."

"We never are," she said before she hung up, the line suddenly silenced.

"So Xigbar and Larxene killed Brooke? What made you think of them?"

"The missing documents; if he was looking into the Turks, that means he was looking into me. There are enough people still on the streets that would have given information away for money. Coke addicts mostly, but if this guy likes to get into the dark business of law enforcement I'm sure he's dealt with worse. Not saying he was a bad guy, or deserved to die, but he probably had secrets that could have undermined most of what we did."

"Wonder if they were hired, or took it upon themselves to protect you. If you were really in danger of being exposed by him, I'm glad he's dead."

"Seif, we can't go around killing innocent people just because-"

"They try to destroy an accomplishment that dozens of other innocent and good people have died for just to advance their own name? That is all he was doing, the man had no interest in reporting the truth, if he did he would have worked to help condemn Corneo."

The other male sighed, frustrated. He understood his partner's issue with the murder, he didn't like it either, but the journalist represented not only the end of the mafia's imprisonment, but also the end of Hayner's life at their hands. His life wasn't worth the thousands of innocents that would have been hurt as a result of his exposé. Some people just didn't see the bigger picture, think of anything other than themselves.

A knock at the sliding glass door roused him from his thoughts, Hayner standing and pushing it open for the two highly skilled assassins that had apparently managed to scale the building. They were dressed in all black, pulling down the hoods on their black sweatshirts when they were inside.

"So was it a job, or did you do it to protect me?" Were the first words out of his mouth, concern clearly written on his face.

"Which one would give you greater peace of mind?" The green-eyed woman returned quickly, giving him a brief hug.

"The truth."

"That's a lie, kiddo, the truth is never a relief. It was a job, straight from Rufus, actually. Man pays very well for incriminating documents to be removed and destroyed, and in cash. Way I heard it, Tseng had a plant at the newspaper report that Brooke was very close to getting concrete evidence of your true identity and everything that went with it. He passed it on to his rich and powerful boyfriend who has a keen interest in getting re-elected based on his successes with lowering the mob crime rate, and the Mayor came to us to do the dirty work because he knows we have a personal stake in it and wouldn't turn on him. The job was simple and clean, just the way we like it."

"Damn. Just how close was he, did you read any of the documents before you burned them?" Seifer asked, running a hand through his hair as he stood and walked over.

"He knew that Hayner was deeply involved with the mob from what I glanced at. If he knew about your real identity, he didn't write it down anywhere. It's possible he didn't want to put it down in the event someone tried to take his work, man was paranoid," Xigbar directed the latter to the sandy-blond, crossing his arms and shifting his weight.

"He seemed to enjoy making enemies of the people sworn to protect him, he probably should have been," Hayner responded, looking thoughtful, "What about what work he had saved at the newspaper?"

"The plant destroyed any indication of its existence. Something about a catastrophic server meltdown. If you'd left the news on long enough you'd have heard about that too. There's still a chance someone of more credibility than a crack addict has information on you, so we'll keep our ears open."

"By the way, if you were actually coming here to kill us and couldn't just snipe us off, how would you have gotten in?" The scarred Turk asked, guessing that most assassins had similar thought processes.

"If it was at night, your bedroom window, from there it would be easy to pick both of you off while you slept. Otherwise I would probably have Larx create a distraction at the door and enter through your balcony and shoot you from behind. Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering how often you consider killing everyone around you."

"He means we overheard some people from a kidnapping ring involved with the Heartless talking about a hit they put out on us, we assume they're going to be showing up tomorrow night," Hayner corrected him with a slanted glare.

"Do you know who they are? We'll kill them for you," the lone female hissed, grabbing the man she'd helped raise by the front of his shirt as if to convey her conviction.

"Don't know who they are, and we can take care of them, Larx. You trust me, right?" He asked quietly, putting his hands over hers.

"Kid's gotta learn to handle assassins himself or he'll never be safe from them. 'Sides, you've gotten good at breaking shit since we last talked, leveled a building I hear," the man with an eye patch added, looking to the spiky-haired man for confirmation.

"It wasn't all that structurally sound to begin with, but yeah. I can use magic now, cast Life on this asshole a few weeks ago when he got himself killed."

"Do you like being able to use magic?" The blonde woman pressed, eyes narrowed speculatively.

"Not really, but if it keeps everyone alive I'll do whatever it takes."

"Try not to get whacked, Hayner, we'll see you around. Got another job soon," Xigbar explained as he waved and sauntered back out onto the balcony, jumping down.

"You know how to reach us if you need help, stay safe," Larxene added fondly before following her partner in crime.

"Give you any ideas for how to protect us?"

"Yeah, quite a few. I really regret having any windows and not being higher up right now, though."

"Can't have everything. We do have an attack panther that is woefully unutilized though, too bad we can't tell him to be on alert."

"I'm sure Griever will get the hint if someone breaks in, he's usually pretty good at that sort of thing. Are you still upset about that journalist?"

"I don't like having basically innocent people die for my sake. Sure he kind of brought it on himself, but he still wasn't a criminal. I'll let it go though, because being upset won't bring him back, and we have bigger issues to deal with than guilty consciences."

"One day our moral ambiguity is going to bite us in the ass."

"Sorry, what was that? All I heard was bite and ass," the brown-eyed detective returned cheekily, giving him a lopsided smile.

"Were those instructions?" Seifer asked with a grin before tumbling his boyfriend back onto the couch.

The most difficult part of their day wasn't waiting for the attack, but explaining to Tseng and Elena why they shouldn't be worried about the two detectives when they stopped by, apparently gathering that something was going to happen to them because both their leaders were fucking psychic. Either that or they knew the two blond detectives well enough to assume something was going to happen to them because they had been carefully evasive of that tidbit when relaying the other information. In the end the only thing that convinced them that they didn't need extra help was Seifer reminding them that he'd already been killed twice and so far things had worked out just fine. At which point the blonde woman just threw up her hands and told them to get out so they could work out a plan for finding and disarming the bomb whenever it was planted and protecting the head researcher against kidnapping.

"So, what is night to an assassin anyway? I feel like it makes a lot more sense for them to show up at night since it's already four and no one has tried to kill us, but I'm not sure if they're more evening people, or small hours of the morning people," Hayner asked, sitting next to him on the couch.

"Sometimes the way you approach events in your life is really fucking hilarious. I couldn't really tell you, I'm guessing around three or four in the morning because they'd expect us to be asleep by that time. It seems like a cliché assassination time, right?"

"It does, definitely, though if I were going to kill someone I'd probably do it in the middle of the day because they wouldn't expect it."

"But murdering someone in broad daylight tends to make it a lot easier for the cops to find you, and for a jury to convict you. It's a dilemma, really."

"Let's never become assassins because I think we'd be genuinely terrible at it," his boyfriend suggested with a thoughtful expression.

"Agreed. I'm too used to getting away with killing people to be good at actually trying to escape getting caught."

"You know, Reno was an assassin. When he was a cocaine-addicted mafia man, you know? Good at it, but always made a mess. Blood everywhere. Only killed gang members and errant mobsters, guess that's how he sleeps at night. Still wish I knew what Elena's story is that she puts up with his antics. They balance each other, I get that, but she seems too controlling to let his bullshit slide."

"I heard this from Tifa who got it out of Reno one time when he was drunk, so it's probably not very accurate, but eight years ago 'Lena got herself into a fuckton of trouble by being too stubborn to ask for backup, and Reno of all people was able to get through and rescue her from what was basically a certain-death situation. Their relationship didn't start until much later, but I think that's the reason she doesn't get on him about his hilarious personality faults and lack of professionalism. As far as why she puts up with it in the relationship, I have no idea. Romantic partnerships are the one area in which I don't even pretend to be able to analyze things accurately. People who are terrible for each other love each other, and people who would do fantastic together hate each other. It's a clusterfuck of nonsense and bad choices."

"Ladies and gentlemen, Seifer Almasy: the romantic. You are though, for all you complain about other people's relationships you really value dreams and love; it's absolutely precious."

"You can call me cute all you want, I'm not as insecure as you are about my masculinity."

"You only say that because sometime tonight you're going to kick the crap out of some guys whose job it is to kill people for money and beating people up gives you a power-high."

"Does it ever bother you that you're annoying as fuck sometimes?" He asked, pressing his boyfriend into the couch in mock irritation.

"No, how about you?"

"Not at all, I make a habit of being annoying as fuck."

Hayner smirked at him and rolled them off the couch and onto the floor, and this was exactly why he moved the coffee table to a safer distance. It only took one time of picking glass out of his back before he made that decision.

"Hey, promise you won't freak out on me if I die or something? Don't want you to be mad at me when I get resurrected. You know, no other couples have this conversation."

"Not gonna be mad at you for dying, but that doesn't mean you should be careless," he replied as evenly as he could before leaning down to kiss his partner.

At twelve they shut off the lights; it was a normal time for them to be going to bed if they had to be up early for another surveillance assignment on one of the targets and if they did something out of the ordinary it could set the would-be murderers on edge. He could sense the other's nicotine cravings from across the link, and wished he could honestly do something to help the stress that was making them worse. Griever seemed to sense the brown-eyed man's tenseness, jumping up and nuzzling him before attempting to clean Hayner's face with his rough tongue, causing the other to bat the cat off playfully.

"This is nice, you know?" He started, and even if the older man could read his companion's mind he was going to need some more clarification on that particular comment.

"What do you mean?"

"Not, being hunted or having the world depend on us obviously, but just…this. Being together. Living with each other. You can't live on love alone, but you can survive on it."

He smiled softly and kissed the other detective on the temple before commenting, "You're so damn cute, don't see why you can't admit it."

It seemed like he was going to retort when they both flinched, a spark across their junction to Ultima warning them that something was happening. Joining their consciousnesses and momentarily combatting the dizziness seeing two viewpoints at once caused, they crept quietly into two corners of the apartment. Seifer's room was the only one with a window that wasn't blocked like the one in the guest bedroom which they had shoved a wardrobe over, so he took up position just inside the door where he could easily shoot anyone coming in through it, and Hayner was pressed against the side of the living room with the sliding glass door in the only section of the wall that wasn't floor-to-ceiling glass. Thankfully they had drawn the blinds much earlier so nothing could be seen aside from the clear view into the hallway afforded by the doors themselves. Griever was between him and that particular weak point, and he had a feeling the cat would gladly tear anyone who tried to enter a new asshole.

"Ellen says three people are storming the building through the front, I told her to stay the hell out of their way. You need-"

"No, I'll be fine. Hold your position, if I need your help I'll ask for it," he cut the other off across their link, thinking of Xigbar's words earlier.

It was possible they were doing the exact opposite of the sniper's plan to have someone distract them on the balcony and then come in through the door, and he needed Seifer to be in a position where he could easily take a shot at the sliding doors if Hayner got caught with his back to one of the assassins trying to take down the ones about to break down the door. Of course, that assumed that there weren't any that were going to try and get through Seifer's bedroom window. They should probably attempt to make their home more secure in the event any more attempts on their lives were made while they were out of the field.

It was clear this wasn't their first time going after a dangerous individual if the speed with which one of them shot him as soon as they kicked the door off its hinges was any indication. They missed his heart by a few inches though, the searing pain only enough to give him minute pause before he shot the offender's shoulder and knee out and brought him down screaming. Griever pounced and took the other two down in the doorway in a flurry of teeth, claws and guns. He pinned one man's arms to the floor with spears of magic, forcing him to let go of his guns and jerk at them wildly to no avail. The black cat had his massive jaws wrapped around the last's neck, claws dug far enough into his right arm that his gun had fallen from nerveless fingers. He thrashed a bit but stilled after their faithful attack panther crushed his throat long enough for him to pass out.

Across their link he could see Seifer fighting off two others who shot out the window and swung in through it because apparently grappling hooks were standard-issue now, and he was just moving to help his partner when spiraling tendrils of arcane magic wrapped around him. He was knocked out of their junction and even his constant connection with Ultima, and all the mana in his body and the batteries he carried on him were drained instantly. Completely off-balance, he turned to the only other point of entry in the room to see two Viera with their ears pinned back and metal masks to conceal their faces walking in demurely from the balcony. One of them moved towards him and cast a sleep spell on Griever, while the other moved toward his lover's room, where assumedly he had taken out the two men he had to contend with.

As soon as he moved to pull his .45 the white-haired woman threw a thin knife at his shoulder deftly, the overwhelming fatigue and numbness he felt almost immediately telling him that it had been coated in a strong poison. He dropped his magnum and his knees gave out, leaving him unable to do anything more than stare at her as she pulled the phone with the number of the director of the Agents out of his hoodie pocket and undid the clasp on the chain that carried Ultima's artifact. She withdrew her knife and cast a healing spell to close the bullet wound before he bled to death, dark eyes meeting his briefly before she pocketed his necklace and dialed a number, holding it up close to her mouth.

"Hayner?" The director asked after a brief pause.

"The Harbingers of Ultima and Zodiark are both indisposed."

"Who am I speaking to, and what have you done with them?"

"I am Rinj. They have been poisoned and incapacitated and will soon be unconscious. There are assassins here unrelated to our faction that have not been entirely subdued, the Harbingers will require immediate medical and tactical assistance at their place of residence. There will be complete instructions for the retrieval of the Scions' artifacts left next to this device when you arrive. Be quick, hume."

She hung up and set both the phone and a carefully rolled and tied note down next to him. Covering his mouth and nose with her hand, her eyes crinkled at the corners like she was smiling.

"Sleep well, little Harbinger," she said gently as he faded out from lack of oxygen.

He knew they had drugged him, because he woke up slowly instead of starting awake still panting from the throes of a nightmare or vision. There was immediately a man shining a light in his eyes and asking if he could speak, and it took him a few seconds to get his wits about him enough to answer.

"Where's Seifer?" He managed, one-track mind panicking when he couldn't follow the warped junction bridge to his partner.

The man smiled and stepped aside, holding his arm out to where his sleeping companion was laying just five feet from him, "He's fine, too, before you ask; he's still working off the larger dose of poison they gave him. Since you were already so severely injured, it didn't take as much to bring you down. The annul spell they cast on you and the force field they seemed to have locked the artifacts in has damaged your junction bridge, it'll take both of you being conscious to repair it. Don't worry, it's nowhere near permanent."

"You deal with people who are junctioned a lot, don't you?" He guessed, fairly certain any other doctor wouldn't know the first thing about junctions or what happened to them when certain spells were cast.

"You don't know where you are, do you?"

He shook his head, briefly taking in the stark white room filled with most likely exorbitantly expensive and specialized equipment, including one that happened to be attached to him that was measuring and reading out the exact levels of mana that he was carrying on a second-to-second basis. There were two people on the inside of the door, and from what he could see through the small window, another one or two on the outside. A closer look revealed glowing eyes behind their sunglasses, so they were junction pairs.

"You're in the medical facility of the headquarters of the Agents. The only people I deal with are perfect affinity matches that are junctioned. You're lucky that Viera healed you though, otherwise you would have bled out before we were able to reach you. Anyway, we're going to put you back to sleep until Seifer wakes up, it's a little too dangerous to risk you consciously trying to cross the bridge into his mind when it's unstable."

He was in the middle of voicing a protest when the sleep spell effortlessly dragged him under, beginning to understand this kind of rude behavior must be standard for everyone that knew magic.

Blinking awake, Seifer immediately sought out his damaged junction with his lover, then relaxed once he sensed the other's mana signature right next to him, glancing over to see Hayner sleeping in a hospital bed. There were far, far too many powerful mages in the area for this to be a normal facility though, the four guards at the door were junctioned, so he had to guess this place was related to the Agents of the Alliance. He sat up, feeling the effects of whatever drugs they had him on as soon as he was vertical, dizzy and disoriented for a second. A doctor was suddenly at his side and he swatted the flashlight out of his eyes in irritation, leveling him with a glare.

"Detective, I assure you I deal with Agents all day long that are just as ill-tempered as you and not nearly as drugged. Don't test me," he warned, grabbing him by the chin to hold him still while he reattempted to check the dilation of his pupils.

"You done?" He growled when the green-eyed man pulled away, earning himself an exasperated roll of the eyes.

"I'm very sure we didn't sedate you enough, but no, I'm not done here. I knocked your partner out to keep him safe, but now we need to get him conscious again so you two can repair your damaged junction. Then you need to talk to the Director."

"Have the Turks been informed of our whereabouts?"

"Tseng and Elena are here right now being debriefed and waiting for you two to wake up. The Viera that attacked your partner left very specific instructions, and those two were mentioned by name. I don't know the particulars so don't ask, the Director will fill you in."

He moved to cast Esuna on Hayner, leading him to believe the brown-eyed man was under a sleep spell. Jerking awake, he met Seifer's eyes and then focused on the doctor, looking pretty pissy for someone who just woke up.

"Does anyone ever think to ask before putting someone under a sleep spell?" He snapped before slipping into their junction and joining their consciousness.

It was a massive relief to have the other in his head again, though they broke the full connection after a second and went back to being at the back of one another's mind. Hayner seemed excessively uneasy at the loss of their summon gems, something akin to panic when he realized that without Ultima communicating directly with him they were completely fucked if either one of them died. The High Seraph herself apparently couldn't break through whatever warding they'd put on the artifacts to prevent them from attempting to defend themselves.

"Calm down. I don't think those Viera or whoever they're working for are out to kill any of us; if they were, they had a fucking fantastic opportunity they gave up when they first attacked us."

"The one that brought me down and made the call to the Director actually healed me, and she told them we needed help immediately. They could just be attempting to trap more of us though, if Tseng and Elena and the Agents themselves are involved somehow in the ransom for Ultima and Zodiark."

"I'm not trying to be racist, but as a people the Viera are much more honorable and incredibly difficult to sway in the way ordinary humans are. The two that attacked us were dressed like Warders, though they had their ears pinned back to be less conspicuous, so I doubt they're common sellswords or assassins. I have to assume they were granted exit from the wood to relay their message and take something to convince us to come to them and were allowed to return."

"I've never heard of something like that happening, but…The fact that she referred to us as harbingers makes me think it has to do with the Heartless."

"Well if the amount of chatter you two are exchanging is any indication, it seems that your junction to each other is once again intact. Nothing from Ultima or Zodiark though I assume?"

They shook their heads and the doctor sighed, gesturing to the guards to leave.

"Agents Shiva and Odin were the ones who rescued you, and they were kind enough to grab you a change of clothes. Everything you need should be in that closet, try not to keep the Director waiting," he added before exiting the room as well.

Tugging the IV out of his hand he healed the small wound closed before he started bleeding everywhere, he felt the mana in his blood start to attack the sedative and hoped it wouldn't be long before he could move without feeling dizzy. Hayner seemed to be having less of an issue than his counterpart, they had probably stopped drugging him after he woke up. Smiling softly, he offered Seifer a hand up, which the elder used to pull his lover into a kiss as soon as he was upright. Tangling his hand in the teen's mussed hair, he delved deeper into his mouth until the other bit his tongue.

"Come on, I am not going to be aroused in front of the head of the Agents and our bosses," he explained before moving the closet to retrieve his suit.

"That sounded like a challenge."

"Seifer, love, I adore you, but if you compromise me in front of them I will hurt you, and not in a sexy way."

He had the good sense to wait until they were both fully dressed before pressing his partner into the wall and kissing him furiously. At least he knew the sedative had worn off, otherwise he wouldn't stand a chance against how dizzy his companion made him normally. Especially when he made those tiny panting moans and blushed like he was completely overwhelmed by the scarred man from time to time.

"You're a force of nature, how could I not be overwhelmed?"

"You still seem to give as good as you get."

In response he could feel Hayner smirk against his lips, grabbing him by his jacket and reversing their positions roughly, holding Seifer securely by the back of his neck to prevent him from moving as he jammed his tongue down the taller man's throat.

"Agents or not, you affinity pairs are all the same, leave you alone for five minutes and you start making out like teenagers. Get with it kids, Director's not a good man to brush off," the doctor interrupted them, arms crossed over his chest as he stood in the doorway.

They pulled apart reluctantly, the younger giving him a playful look out of the corner of his eye that kind of made him want to tell the Director to fuck himself and tumble his boyfriend into the nearest closet. But unfortunately, he knew the other wouldn't have any part of that, so he was stuck being a responsible person and following the Agents guarding their door to the center of the facility.

"Seifer, Hayner, it's good to see you two conscious again," he greeted them, the others in the room turning to look at them.

Elena and Tseng were there just as the doctor had described, along with Fran, Cloud and Zack, and a pretty brunette woman with green eyes that radiated just as much magical energy as they did if not more. Her eyes didn't glow, so he had to assume that her mana was a natural thing, and that he had just met the most powerful magic-user he probably ever would.

"I'd say it's good to be conscious, but that's a little up in the air at this point. What did those Viera want?" Hayner replied, picking up on his counterpart's distraction.

"A formal meeting in their village with everyone here excepting Fran, who will lead us there. Balthier and Vaan are outside preparing the Strahl because it's not an easy place to reach in a standard plane. We'll be taking Agents ZERO as added security. We have about ten minutes before we're ready to leave. Your…house cat has been taken in by our tactical R&D department for gods only know what, but I assure you he will be returned in once piece and tended to in the meantime.

"Thank you, I appreciate that. And the quick rescue," Seifer answered easily, hoping he'd get to speak with the mystery sorceress before they took off.

"You'll have to thank Rinj, the warder that called me. If not for her, it would have taken us half an hour to register that your artifacts had been taken and actually get to you. By then one of the assassins would have recovered enough to do away with you and we'd just have to hope that Aerith could still bring you back. I need to discuss your current assignment with you and your superiors once we've returned, since we're on the topic."

He knew that meant that either the Director had managed to figure them out, or had gotten it out of the Turks present. The fact that the sentence wasn't followed by a glare or death threat or really anything but vague attentiveness told him that the man wasn't angry or likely to kill them any time soon, so there was still hope. Hayner seemed similarly preoccupied with the green-eyed woman, though he doubted it was because of her mana signature, more likely because she was standing close enough to both Cloud and Zack to be a dear friend of theirs.

The two agents that would be providing security arrived to talk to their leader in hushed tones and he was caught between wanting to meet the woman in the pink dress and knowing he needed to get a better read on the severity of their fuckup with Tseng. Luckily, the dark-haired man took it upon himself to make the decision for him.

"At least neither of you died this time, I suppose."

"I assure you none of this is our fault. We were prepared for the assassins, had them essentially taken care of three minutes after they infiltrated the building. The fact that two extremely skilled Viera warriors showed up in the middle of it was a ridiculous and unforeseen circumstance," he returned evenly, pale eyes squaring off with dark.

"Something that wouldn't have been an issue if you had accepted the extra guards. Reno and Rude have extensive experience with assassins."

"Because they were ones," he said before he managed to rein himself in, earning himself a cold look.

"What do you think they want with all of us? We're a fairly eclectic bunch, really," Hayner piped up.

"I don't pretend to understand the workings of a culture like the Viera, so I can't really make assumptions beyond the obvious inference that it has to do with the fate of the world," the exotic detective responded after a second of thought, eyes drifting over to his youngest charge with mild curiosity, "How are you faring, Hayner? I was told you suffered a bullet wound to your left lung."

"Rinj healed it before I could bleed out onto the floor. It hurts a little bit, but it hardly bothers me. I would have been able to take care of it myself if she hadn't have poisoned me."

"So, on a scale of normal to catastrophic, how bad is it that the Director knows about our current assignment?" The taller blond queried, always liking to know just how fucked they were.

"Not quite to the level of Axel with a fuel source, but getting there. I'm certain his knowledge of it has nothing to do with your actions, however. He doesn't appear ready to murder either you or our undercover agents, so perhaps all is not lost. And if it is…Well, Turks have never been known to bend to any authority but our own."

"Let's try to do everything we can to not have an all-out war with the Agents, because no matter who won, we'd destroy the city," Hayner said as a reminder, frowning.

"I think that depends largely on the two of you, actually. The Agents have a unique respect for you as the champions of the most powerful Scions we know of, and as perfect affinity matches you are most likely to be accepted as one of their own in discussions. As much as the two of us have a history with the Agents, it's you they're likely to forgive any trespass," Elena explained, eyes thoughtful.

"So don't fuck up and destroy the tenuous relationship between the Turks and the Agents, is that what you're driving at?" Her scarred subordinate translated, arms crossed over his chest.

"No pressure, of course. At the very least it would be a fantastic way for our deaths to make it into history," Tseng deadpanned before noting the way Hayner's attention kept going to the side, "You both clearly want to speak to Aerith, so go ahead. We can talk later."

They nodded in unison before stepping away to approach the triad, all of them giving the two blonds some sort of smile. If he didn't know better, he'd think Cloud and Zack approached each time they saw the pair as a miracle that Hayner and himself were still alive. Aerith probably just liked them because she seemed the kind of person to see the good in just about anyone.

"Making a mess of things again, aren't you? Also, Seifer, I strongly suggest you make efforts to die a little less in the future," Zack began before stepping further aside so he wasn't partially blocking the green-eyed sorceress, "This is Aerith, a Cetra, sorceress, and the only woman who has managed to put up with both Cloud and myself in the past without ever punching us in the face."

She smiled and stepped forward, throwing pretense to the wind and enveloping him in a hug before moving to do the same to his partner. There was something highly irregular about her that he only noticed now that she was so close, but it was comforting rather than disconcerting. Familiar, somehow.

"Nice to meet you, Aerith. What exactly did they mean when they said you're connected to the planet? I've been wondering," he asked once she stepped back.

"I speak to Gaia, and she talks back. It's not unlike the bond Hayner has with Ultima. I can also draw off of her directly, you may have noticed that I'm a lot stronger in terms of magic than most people."

"A mother. That's it, you radiate the feeling of a mother. That's from Gaia, isn't it?" The dark-eyed detective realized suddenly, something distant in his eyes.

It seemed odd that he'd recognize the feeling sooner than Seifer considering the elder had three more years to remember his mother by, but considering their circumstances it wouldn't surprise him if Hayner clung more tightly to his memories of the parent he'd lost than the scarred man had to his. He was sad, Aerith's presence serving to remind him of what he'd never get back, shirking away from their link when his partner tried to reach across it. As much as it bothered him that his boyfriend wouldn't accept his comfort, he understood and left it.

"Yes, though not everyone figures out why they feel at ease around me, I'm surprised you did so quickly. I'm so sorry for your loss, both of you."

He blinked quickly in confusion, mental shields slamming shut even more tightly.

"I didn't read your mind like you're thinking, it's just that everyone who pins down the feeling has lost their mother, usually at a young age. They're more likely to think of it as unusual because they haven't experienced it in so long. Guessing by the looks on your faces you've both lost your mothers."

"So, I guess you two are in a huge mess again. The Agents, huh?" Zack picked up the conversation with his typical easy smile like the world was just fine so long as he had his Spike.

"We decided that being constantly under the guns of every criminal in the city wasn't dangerous enough for us, so we figured we'd start annoying the Agents of the Alliance themselves. Only organization we could think of more powerful than the Turks," Seifer joked, wondering more seriously just how many resources the Agents had occupied trying to take care and keep track of them.

He knew agents Shiva and Odin were assigned directly to them, and wondered if the tech that connected them with the operatives was similarly damaged by the spell the Viera used to tear at their junction. There were more pressing matters to attend to, but at the very least he could thank them for their help without needing to track them down. It wouldn't surprise him if they were being tracked by the CCTV that the Agents had direct access to, possibly also by a computerized tracker that latched onto their mana signature not unlike a magic-user with a much wider sensor range. They were definitely tracking the summon gems, the Director had as much as said so, and it would stand to reason they were being tracked to ensure they weren't parted from them as well. Both because they needed them and because the gems weren't something that should ever be allowed into the wrong hands.

"Vaan just informed us that the Strahl is ready, follow me," the Director announced, cutting off whatever Zack was going to say in response.

The walk out to the landing pad on the top of the building was short once they were out of the elevator that took them up fifteen floors, and it surprised him just how tall the building actually was. The first two levels were underground, where most of the more volatile research went on apparently as well as where the Director was typically stationed, but the other thirteen were unusually spacious in the vertical, causing the structure itself to soar above the other buildings at the edge of the commercial district.

"Why are the Agents stationed in Twilight anyway? Shouldn't they be in the same city as the seat of the Alliance, Radiant?" Hayner asked, apparently stable enough to loosen his shields again.

"I don't really know much about the history of the Agents, chances are it's actually classified information. All I can think of is that we're not landlocked like Radiant is, and close to the bridge that connects the mainland to Destiny Islands. You could ask the Director or the Agents if you'd like a real answer."

"What I'd really like to know is what his name is. Last name, at least. Kind of awkward to refer to someone as Director all the time, you know?"

They sat next to the Director as instructed, Cloud and Zack to their left, and Tseng, Elena, Fran, and the male and female Bahamut ZERO summoners sat on the opposite side. Vaan and Balthier were in the cockpit, and he wondered why an organization like the Agents needed to contract sky pirates to shuttle them places. Certainly it was impossible with a regular jet, but you'd think they'd be able to afford a sky ship like the Strahl that didn't come equipped with felons.

"The Agents are stationed in Twilight because it had the most advanced magic monitoring system, built decades ago in response to magical crime. It was updated by scientists looking for…" He glanced over at Cloud and Zack, "Two escaped sorcerer-class military personnel that had run from a lab up in the mountains. Midgar, with the mako reactors all over the city that now lay dormant and abandoned, was impossible to monitor in a similar way and the framework didn't exist there in the first place, so they didn't bother. We later managed to duplicate the sensor web on a much larger scale in Radiant, but that wasn't until about five years ago. And if I could be frank, the Agents need to stay out of Radiant because the city is far too political for justice to be meted out if the members of the Council ever actually got their hands into our organization. To answer your other question, you can call me Director Jarrod. My last name is classified."

"You have some way to monitor thoughts traveling along junction bridges? Suppose it makes sense, considering your employees are all junctioned," the man with ice-blue eyes surmised, shocked technology like that could even exist.

"Magic technology, highly classified. It was made by someone much smarter than myself who realized that a few people junctioned to one another could cause the downfall of entire governments without ever uttering a single word that would betray their intent. Has a limited range though, unfortunately."

"Because of how much power it takes to force your mind into Midplane without a spirit or esper to open a path, I'd imagine," his companion guessed further, caught somewhere between playfully enigmatic about where he got the information and more seriously contemplating the implications of the Director being able to read their traded thoughts.

"I must admit, Ultima is more attached to you than even our researchers assumed. Handing you the secrets of the universe."

"Still hasn't told me who we're up against though. I'm sure she knows; I catch glimpses of them in my dreams, but nothing solid, the images keep shifting."

"It very well could be that you're seeing multiple timelines at once. That's the problem with the future, it's unstable. Of course, that also means we have the ability to change it."

"And if we try to change it and end up making it worse?"

Jarrod frowned, "Let's try to avoid doing that and deal with it if and when it happens. Time magic is a terribly dangerous thing, but we do have resources that can use it."

He was aware time magic existed, but up until this point hadn't met anyone that could use it. Maybe Cloud or Zack could and just never had reason to use or mention it, but otherwise he was at a loss for likely candidates. It was likely they kept themselves well hidden because of the rarity of and less than savory demand for their gift.

Considering the superior speed capabilities of the ship, he had to assume the trip of several hundred miles would only take them an hour and a half, maybe two. He did have to wonder at how they'd managed to convince the sky pirates that carrying a ship full of law officers of various types was a good idea. Probably offered them amnesty or something of the like, stole their number off Hayner's phone or tracked them in some other way.

He eventually just closed his eyes and tried to sense where they were by the mana signature of the area around them, failing up until they passed over what must have been a large town or small city. After some groping he eventually found the junctions he had with Ultima and Zodiark, following the threads and finding them essentially fluttering like strings in the wind after a point; the espers simply weren't there to hold down the other end. Moving back into his own head because having his consciousness on a one-way road to oblivion didn't feel particularly safe, he tried to get a read on the emotional state of his companion. Outwardly he was shut off completely, eyes hard and distant. Internally he was anxious, knowing they were flying into what could be a hostile situation or even a trap, and the two of them didn't have the benefit of their pocket demigods to rescue them if they got up a creek.

Deciding that he had nothing to prove to the agent next to him and if Jarrod wanted to listen in he didn't give a shit, he brushed against his partner.

"Did I ever mention I'm really into exhibitionist mind sex?"

His lover suddenly smirked and he could tell it took effort for the other not to laugh out loud. The Director was an example in stoicism.

"No, you must have forgotten. And in exactly what situation did you discover this particular kink?"

"I don't kiss and tell."

"Not yet, anyway. You know damn well I could make you do anything I wanted."

"Yes, but you're the type that likes to figure things out themselves. Coercion is for people you don't have enough patience for."

"Let's amend that to people I don't care to be patient with. No one has the patience to deal with Roxas on a bad day, but I haven't coerced him that I'm aware of. The forced friendliness between you two was an apology so it doesn't count."

"Sometimes I really wonder how the fuck Axel manages to handle him basically twenty-four seven."

"By not trying to. Rox isn't the kind of fire that you can fight, you just learn to stay out of its path. And, while moody, he's really not that bad usually. I know that's not something you could have ever seen, since before this he was constantly doing anything he could to be an annoying little shit to you, and with everything that's been happening lately he's been under a lot of stress. He's not as at peace with his own mortality or that of the people he knows as we are, knowing that our lives are going to be in his hands even more than normal in an unknown amount of time is particularly hard on him."

"We were both introduced to death earlier than he was, weren't we? I guess we've had more time to adjust to the idea."

"Did Axel or Roxas ever mention that one incident where I shot a man dead for stalking Axel?" Hayner paused and the older detective sent him a mental affirmative, "That was the first time Rox had ever seen anyone die. He was…eighteen? I think, around there. So we had thirteen and ten years on him respectively. And it just takes some people longer, some don't get there at all."

"I've always found it's easier to accept the danger I've lived with so long as I remember that no matter what, everyone has to die sometime. Just because I've done it twice more than normal people doesn't mean it's any less of an inevitable eventuality."

"I haven't cared whether I lived or died in at least five years."

"And even now you're not sure if you care or not, right?" Seifer asked gently, startling the teen that was staring down at his hands contemplatively.

"It's amazing how well you can read me; you don't even need the junction half the time, do you? Does it bother you that I don't know for sure if I'm actually invested in my own survival?"

"I don't take it personally, if that's what you mean. Like I said before, it's selfish of me to want anything more than your happiness. You should never feel obligated to want to live, it's pointless if you're doing it for other people. The only thing I'm ever going to care about is whether I make you happy while you're here with me, and anything that comes after…Well, that's entirely up to you. All I can ask is that you let me know if there's something I can do to make you feel better."

He realized distantly that his opinion of his boyfriend's possible lack of will to live would probably come off as strange or even cold if he ever had to explain it to other people. But the way he saw it, he didn't own Hayner or his life, and his partner owed him nothing. Making some sort of exaggerated claim about how if the other blond wasn't sure he wanted to live then he obviously didn't love Seifer was self-serving and controlling in the extreme. His counterpart was going to die eventually just like everyone else, making however many days they had together more enjoyable was the only correct thing to do and he just had to hope his company was enough to do that. Using emotions and guilt to hold the shorter male's own life hostage against him would do nothing but make him suffer. He'd be the scared, powerless kid that the scarred cop had gotten a brief but stunning glimpse of when the MRO grabbed him and his mental shields fell from paralyzing terror. If it wasn't for the gun immediately pressed to the other officer's head by Tseng he would have ripped the man's throat out with his bare hands; he couldn't even imagine actually inflicting that on someone he loved.

"You have this habit of reminding me daily why I'm so crazy about you. Do you think I'll somehow manage to forget, or…?" He trailed off, voice warm over their connection.

"It's not intentional, I am just this awesome."

"There will never be a person as arrogant as you, at least not one that's managed to live as long as you have."

"So I'm one of a kind?"

"That's a way of putting it."

He smiled softly then became serious again, "I love you, and that's all that matters."

"Love you too, Seif."

He thought he caught a small smile on Jarrod's face out of the corner of his eye, but by the time he turned his head to look it was gone.

It seemed to surprise everyone that they weren't immediately attacked, trapped, or disarmed upon entering the home of the Viera, the dark-skinned women with rabbit ears simply turning to look at them curiously as they stood at the bridge separating the entrance and the first gathering place. Fran walked and stood to the side, refusing to cross the bridge but gesturing for them to go ahead. Hayner knew she had her reasons for not joining them, but it still felt strange to be leaving her behind with nothing to do.

It was Elena that had the balls to cross that boundary first, walking resolutely up to the nearest warder and asking to be lead to whoever had requested their presence. The armored women just regarded her before nodding and moving to climb a staircase leading to the next platform. They moved as a group after the two, and if Seifer and the two mercenaries with them seemed to surround him, he just assumed it was automatic. Apparently protecting him had at some point become standard operating procedure for all three of them. He didn't have the presence of mind to be annoyed with them at the moment; this close he could just faintly feel Ultima's artifact and it made him anxious to get the object back.

A woman that reminded him keenly of Fran greeted them finally at the end of several bridges, just outside a tent, "I am pleased that you have come to speak with us. This is Eruyt, and I am Jote. Harbingers, please accept your Espers back from Mjrn."

He had to assume Mjrn was the younger-looking healer that approached them with their necklaces floating in some sort of concentrated bubble-like veil. With a sharp word she made the barriers dissipate, catching the chains on which the materias rested and holding them out to be taken. She seemed shy, though this could very well have been her first time seeing humans, so maybe it was to be expected. They fastened the chains back around their neck and Ultima pulled the junction bridge between himself and the High Seraph taut.

"Why did you return these to us before talking? You don't have any leverage now, what makes you think we'll stay?" Seifer asked, voice hard and suspicious.

Red eyes blinked as Jote considered his words as if the idea never occurred to her. She wasn't stupid, but maybe the ways of humans eluded her.

"Are humes really so impatient as to come all this way and leave as soon as they get what they want back? I hadn't considered this. Will you stay then, and listen to what we have to say? I must warn you, the wood will not let you leave until it is satisfied."

"So the trees are sentient, I was wondering who I was hearing," Aerith commented quietly, almost as an aside to herself.

"I'd like to know what was so important that you send warders out to disable two harbingers and take their artifacts. If we survived the trip here, we can spare a few minutes to listen. You must have a very good reason to allow your loyal warriors out of the wood, and invite humans in," the Director decided, and he had to wonder what relationship he and the two leaders of the Turks had that they didn't mind being spoken for.

"Please, come inside," she replied coolly, walking inside the tent.

They ended up sitting in a circle, Aerith and the male ZERO agent directly to the left and right of Jote and the rest of them arranged largely by familiarity. Her ears twitched as she took a deep breath, perhaps to steady herself, perhaps to draw in energy from the wood around her.

"There is a storm coming, a storm so powerful that even Gaia trembles before it. Normally the Viera of the wood do not engage the world of humes, but we must make an exception, as the jungle cannot protect us from the monsters that will soon crawl their way to our village. It is with great deliberation and at great cost of pride that we have called you here. The people of Eryut Village wish to pledge our aid to your army; we have skilled healers and highly trained warriors to offer. We fight not for your lives or ours, but for the fate of the world. This is the only cause lofty enough to warrant our intervention. Do you accept?"

"Can your kin follow orders?" Cloud asked, surprising almost everyone involved that he'd be the one to take the lead.

"We will allow ourselves to be directed for this war only because we cannot win it alone. Do not test us. The Viera are a proud people, I have lived longer than all of you combined and will continue to live long after you are dead. You have no right to lead us, but we will accept it because the world matters more than our pride."

"We'd be more than willing to accept your aid. How will we contact you?" Jarrod answered, face neutral.

"When the time comes, we will arrive wherever you are. Gaia will guide us to her child," the white-haired woman responded, lids low over her eyes as if deep in thought while regarding Aerith.

"Can I ask something? How did you know where we lived, much less that I had a direct line to the head of the Agents?" He queried, bringing her focus back to him.

"The wood told us everything we needed to gather you. Our world sees and hears everything, and she speaks through the trees. I admit I was…surprised to learn how young you were, even for a hume. Barely an adult by your standards and entrusted with the High Seraph. But the workings of the gods are not for me to question," she added for good measure.

He nodded warily, guessing that the Viera were probably rather offended at being largely left out of the core plan of the gods in favor of what they viewed as snot-nosed little shits with guns, magic, and far too much arrogance. Jote herself was probably close to three-hundred if not more and was still in the autumn of her life. He couldn't imagine how short and meaningless their lives seemed in comparison.

"If there is nothing else you wish to discuss, I must ask that you leave. We do not enjoy opening our home to outsiders, your presence causes further unrest as the minutes pass."

They stood almost in unison and nodded to her before exiting the tent. As they found their way back through the village he couldn't help but notice the way the atmosphere had changed in the short time they were here. There was a stark animosity in the air around them as the women either ignored them completely or glared at them as they passed, and he wondered if it was because the scent of their…humanity had had enough time to permeate their home and make them uneasy.

Mjrn seemed to be trying to convince Fran to stay in Eryut with her and he made the connection that she, Jote, and Fran were sisters based on her words. The long-haired Viera simply shook her head and placed a hand on the younger's shoulder before waving her off. Hayner couldn't imagine how difficult it had been for her to leave, even if she had her heart set on the outside world, it was never easy to give up your family and everything you knew especially since she knew she'd never be able to return.

"Are you finished here? This place does my mind no service," the archer asked curtly, some mix between a frown and a snarl on her face like she'd just bit into something incredibly sour.

"Yes, thank you for leading us here," Jarrod answered as they left to go back through the jungle until they reached the anchor for the Strahl in one of the few clearings the thickly wooded area had to offer.

"It's not my business, but…Why did you decide to leave, Fran?" He asked her quietly as she walked beside him.

She watched his face searchingly for several paces before coming to some conclusion and turning to look ahead of her again. Hayner had to assume she didn't want to dignify his question with a response, but then she sighed and started to speak.

"My sisters live in the wood because they are afraid of the changing world of humes. Traditions have turned to stagnation, our once keen minds have dulled over the centuries. The Viera are mindless servants in stasis. I saw this, and I left. I have never seen reason to regret my decision. There is a certain beauty to mortality; living in a dangerous world without the guarantee of survival has given my life passion. I may die before my kin, but until then I will live."

It was easy to understand where she was coming from, he hadn't actually started to live until Jack came along and as painful as that had been, as close as that had come to ending him, it was still worth it. He could say the same and so much more of his love for his partner. As much as he didn't know if he had much of a will to live, at least he was living right now. Before Jack and between his death and Seifer's appearance he had been nothing more than a body with a pulse. It took being alive to remember that he could die, to contemplate whether he cared about that or not. To himself he was no longer means to an end, he was a human being that could make the choice to just stop. He could only assume that was part of the reason for Seifer's calm regarding his opinion on the matter of his mortality, his boyfriend knew that if he told Hayner that he couldn't choose to die he'd be right back to going through the motions of maintaining a heartbeat to reach the goal of making the scarred man happy.

"You always make me happy, Hayner. Even when you piss me off, I'm still glad to have you…For as long as I have you."

"Same here, Seif."

He'd just have to hope that together they could keep themselves alive to enjoy each other's company.

A/N 2: And this marks the crossing of the 500,000 words archived milestone I set for myself. There is a reason this took five and a half months to write, though I didn't want to bog down the beginning of the story with it. Roughly a month and a half ago (at the posting of this chapter) I broke up with my live-in boyfriend of close to two years, forcing me to move and rearrange the vast majority of my life. Even now I still haven't gotten all my possessions back and it's been a deeply exhausting and frustrating experience. As much as I wanted to get this out to you, I've had much more important things to do and my heart just wasn't in it. I hope you can forgive me, and I'll make the attempt to be slightly faster on getting the next chapter out.

So thank you for your patience, and your continued support of this story.