As Shark turned towards the children again, M-21 felt too weak and tired to even frown, yet his will was strong enough to push him to his feet. When finally Shark

struck the fatal blow, though he had expected to be attacked, M-21 still felt surprise widen his eyes in shock as his hands futilely grabbed at Shark's wrists as though to

remove the blade from his chest. Finally, he felt the blade leave only for a sudden sharp pain in his shoulder to appear as Shark followed him down, pinning him to the

concrete with a knife through the shoulder. Thankfully, the blood-loss made him fuzzy and the pain all seemed to blur together into a vague sensation of

unpleasantness, but the forceful collision with concrete startled him. It helped keep him awake and aware enough for a while. He didn't want to give in until the kids are

safe.

When Tao announced an entrance, his relief manifests in weak laughter and he greets Rai with an admonition that doesn't hide his relief as he fades into

unconsciousness.

His next realization was that he was surrounded by light. That he's dying. It isn't as bad a realization as he would have thought—he's not in pain, the children are

safe, and he had mattered as more than a failed experiment even if he hadn't been able to save the children himself. Suddenly, he becomes aware of someone in the

light coming closer. They're hard to make out, and it wasn't until the figure came closer that he noticed the Ye Ran school uniform and black hair—Rai. Soon he has come

close enough that M-21 could see his lips moving, but there's no noise. Rai spoke again, and now he could hear a quiet murmuring that is, nonetheless, too quiet for

him to make out. Rai frowned at his incomprehension and was suddenly so close to him that M-21 imagined he could feel the delicate heat of the other man's body.

"Open your eyes," the noble commanded, and there's power in that voice, in the order—M-21 can suddenly feel the connection to his body, but though the whiteness

suddenly seemed to surge it didn't leave. "Sorry," he murmurs as nothing more happens.

He continued to frown and then placed a hand on M-21's shoulder; he feels it in a ghostly way though he knows that his physical body isn't being touched in the

same way, and it feels good. Aside from M-24, no one at the Union had been interested in touching him without violence or for experimentation, and even though the

kids seemed willing to include him in most things they didn't know about him. Rai knew. Sometimes he had looked into those red eyes and felt as though they knew

everything about him, but the thought was frightening so he had ignored it. It wasn't so frightening when the man was willing to touch him kindly like this, though. The

hand moved to his face and his eyes opened. He was suddenly aware that he had begun to drift off—begun to finally go wherever the dead went—and the thought

was less frightening than it should be.

"Do you wish to live?"

Gray eyes flashed to look into red in surprise then slid into thought. Did he want to live? Dying like this, after helping to keep the kids safe and living a normal life for

a little while wasn't bad at all. Maybe he could see his comrades again, but what about their names? It was his duty to find their names now, and… A thought tugged at

his mind—would the children miss him? Would they be told that he had died, or would they simply think he had left without a word?

"I—Yes." He responded, and the answer tore at a part of him—dying wasn't so peaceful now. He didn't want to go.

Red eyes regarded him calmly, that same knowing gaze saying he understood more than a simple word would say, "Then you will live, but you will be bound to me

for a time by contract."

He waited a moment as M-21 took this in, "Awakening your power as I did before would kill you."

"What will happen to me?" He had thought they had entered into a contract before, but it seemed he didn't know much about them. 'Just like everything else I

thought I knew that the Union told me.'

"You will need to remain in close proximity to me for several days until the bond settles, but each person is somewhat different and considering your power there

may be greater differences."

'Whatever happens, it can't be worse than going back to the labs and I can work past it. I'll survive and find our names.' "I agree." He stated strongly even as he

fought against the fading again.