Welcome to Gaia! ::

Brooklyn rolled his eyes at Johnny before resuming staring out the window. It was best not to think you could get sense out of anyone who had just transformed. It never worked.

Brooklyn continued staring, not thinking about anything until they reached their destination. He felt their transport slow and sighed quietly with relief. At least now he was done with this whole business. He could disappear again. At least, until his next job.

“Johnny.” He said, roughly shaking the redhead’s shoulder. “Wake up again. Time to perform.”

Brooklyn leant over and opened his door, sliding out and standing up to meet the sea of faces waiting for him. He suppressed a smirk as he felt the palpable disappointment from the crowd that it was him. They didn’t want to know anything about Brooklyn. As far as they were concerned, Johnny had been the only one on the mission. And the hero who had captured the dangerous rebel.

Except for one face.

Brooklyn raised an eyebrow as Issac stepped forward. “You’re here personally?” He asked in a mock-surprised tone. “I never thought I’d see the day”

Half of Issac’s mouth quirked into a smile. “That makes two of us. However it’s not often you bring back something so valuable.”

“Not often I bring back much at all.” Brooklyn said, moving to walk away. He didn’t want any part of the chaos that was going to occur when Rei arrived.

“Brooklyn.” Issac’s voice cut through the crowd. “I need to get your weapons off you. Is Johnny in the car?”

Brookly’s mouth twitched into a bitter resemblance of a smile. “Thought you might forget.” He said, reaching into his clothes to produce what was left of the knife set Johnny had given him. “The rest are embedded in Kai Hiwatari’s back. I thought that was a better home for them, y’know? He made some wonderful sounds when they went in”

Issac winced at Brooklyn’s callus tone, earning him a snicker from the redhead. “You’re disgusting. Just leave.” He said quietly.

“I love it when you whisper sweet nothings to me.” Brooklyn said with a snicker before sauntering away, the crowd parting before them.

Issac shuddered before jumping as Rei’s transport pulled up behind Brooklyn and Johnny’s. This was the moment. If it really was Rei he had the chance to get himself noticed by Balcov or, better yet get himself noticed by people who, together, were more powerful than Balcov.

He had brought several teams of guards down with him in case it really was true. He signalled one to control the crowd that had begun to form around the transport and another to open the doors at the back. Issac travelled around with the guards and waited while they opened the door.

Two men jumped inside to manhandle the unconscious Rei into an upright position, each holding him underneath an armpit.

Issac looked at his key to his bid for power with a mixture of excitement and... disappointment. “I thought he’d be taller.” He muttered under his breath before raising his voice to speak to the guards. “Alright. Bring him out.”

The guards awkwardly began to drag him out, taking a few steps to start moving in time with each other. The unsteady movement jolted Rei, making him let out a low groan as his eyelids fluttered.

Issac reached for his firearm as everyone surrounding him did the same thing. He had counted on being able to get Rei into a secure room before he regained consciousness. This was unexpected.

Rei fought through the sea of pain that threatened to drown him, struggling to open his eyes. He knew that if he could just open his eyes that the rest would follow. But the pain was like it’s own gravity force, threatening to drag him down at any second. He gasped as he breached the surface, his eyes flying open and quickly taking stock about where he was.

His body fed him the details about every scrape and wound he’d managed to pick up in his last fight. It also told him about... Rei looked down at the restraints that had been placed on him. His forearms had been locked together at an awkward angle by a heavy, metal restraint. Intuitively, Rei reached for the tiger inside him, not surprised when he found it blocked off from him. The retrainst didn’t only stop him from using his arms.

He staggered slightly as the effects of the transformation hit him, causing exclamations of annoyance from the guards that carried him. He dully felt the fist of one of them impact on his stomach. Just another ache to add to the growing list. I am so screwed He thought as unconsciousness began to claim him again, a stupid grin on his face.

~

Kai took the glass from Taki and drank from it gratefully. “One of the dangers of living and working with only guys. Girls don’t really factor.”

He frowned as he caught Taki’s tone of voice as he said Rei’s name. “Rei?” He asked warily. “What about him? Where is he anyway?” He asked, looking around a note of concern in his voice. ”You think he could at least stay around if I get stabbed.”

Issac glanced over at Johnny, a small smile quirking his lips. “Nicely done.” He said, nodding as they began to follow in the wake of the guards carrying Rei. “Not only did you manage to survive Brooklyn mostly unscathed you brought us Rei. Even I’m impressed by that.”

He glanced over his shoulder at the crowd of people now looking for an explanation for such a great victory. “Your work’s not over, you know.” He reminded. “I hope you’ve recovered enough from transforming. You have to talk to them and then Balcov wants to see you.” Issac put his hand on Johnny’s shoulder. “This is big. Probably the biggest thing that’s happened yet.”

So saying, he followed the guards into the main building, leaving Johnny to fend for himself. He had done his bit: he had been there for the cameras, for the moment when Rei had arrived. It was Johnny’s job to do the rest.

“Take him to Basement room 247”, he ordered, naming the biggest interrogation room they had. It could double as a prison cell while they worked out exactly what they were going to do with Rei. It’s main advantage, of course, was that it had an adjacent room with a one-way mirror between them, giving them an opportunity to observe their captive even when they weren’t actively questioning him. “Remember to attach an inhibitor when you take off the arm restraints. The last thing we need is for him to transform on us.” He reminded before ducking into another hallway. He still needed to make more arrangements.

It was one thing putting him into a room. It was quite another preparing that room for the coming days.

~

Kai looked at Taki blankly, his mind trying to comprehend what he knew he’d heard. His eyes widened as it hit home. “You mean...” He shook his head as the vague pain-hazed flashes of Rei ordering Tala to run filled his vision. “Rei is-“ He snapped back into reality. “Is he alive? Do you know anything? Why are you still here looking after me? I’m fine. Go find Rei. If Brooklyn-“

Kai paused as he considered the implications of Brooklyn being the one he had left Rei with. “Why the <********> aren’t you out there?” He asked angrily, trying to sit up. He let out a yell of pain and dropped back down. “Find him.” He said quietly, looking at Taki. “You need to find him. He’s still alive.”

Kai turned a full-force glare on Taki. “******** you, Takiran.” He said, enunciating each word clearly, a cold anger in his tone. “This is Rei We’re talking about. Not some random. This is Rei. You know yourself that if any of us were in the same position he’d mount some kind of rescue plan within minutes. Look what he did for that kid!” He said, gesturing towards Noah. “That’s someone he hadn’t even met!” Kai shook his head disgustedly and moved to sit up. He couldn’t stop a small sound of pain escaping his lips as he slowly manoeuvred himself into an upright position.

“He deserves better than that.” He said quietly as he pushed himself off the table and into an upright position, ignoring the pain in his back. He had been right in his assessment that he should remain still for the next few days. Though underworlders healed much faster than their overworld counterparts, some things simply needed time. “I’m going.” He said simply, beginning to make his way towards the door.

He paused as he was met by Noah, squarely placed between himself and the door. “Get out of my way.” He ordered quietly.

Noah shook his head, trying to ignore his immediate instinct to duck and cover. He wasn’t sure what had made him move but, whatever it was, he was sticking to it. He couldn’t very well let the person who rescued him leave to die or be captured himself.

Kai’s eyes narrowed. “Move” He ordered, louder, a faint aura of flames appearing around him.
~
Rei stirred, this time a headache to end all headaches dragging him out of unconsciousness. He groaned as, once again, all of the aches and pains from his battle made themselves known to him. “Ouch.” He muttered quietly as he cracked open one eye to survey his surroundings.

He blinked in surprise and sat up as he took in his surroundings. Issac had done his job well. He was in a large, sterile room that had been filled with everything necessary for his stay. He was sitting on a small bed and could see that accompanying that was a toilet and other facilities giving him the impression that they intended him to stay for a while. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood, hand moving to clutch his head as it protested at the change in altitude. He moved to look behind what seemed to be a partition in the room, behind which looked like the business end of his captivity. Issac had placed an interview table on that side, surrounded by some chairs.

At least they plan to be civil Rei thought fuzzily as he noticed the mirror down the wall beside both his apparent living quarters and the interview room. Great he thought dully as he raised an arm to wave to whoever was behind the wall. The movement was harder than normal. Rei paused and looked at his arm, frowning when he noticed a heavy bracelet clamped around his wrist. Upon further probing he worked out that it was made of the same material as his arm restraints had been when he was transported.

“Nice.” He said, directing his comment to the person behind the wall. “I don’t think it’s in my colour though.”

Issac smirked as he watched Rei wander back to sit on the bed they had provided. “At least he still has a sense of humour.” He commented absently. “Especially with those injuries.”

“Aw. That’s sweet. I didn’t know you cared.”

It took all of Issac’s considerable self control not to jump. “Brooklyn.” He acknowledged once he calmed down enough to speak. “What are you doing here?”

Brooklyn nodded towards Rei, still sitting quietly on the bed. “I like him.”

“I don’t think I could wish a more horrible fate for him if I tried.” Issac replied sardonically. “I didn’t think you liked anyone.”

“Me either.”

The aura around Kai dissipated and he sagged against the vines holding him. “Just because they won’t kill him doesn’t mean much.” He said quietly, looking down at the ground. “This is Balcov we’re talking about. When Rei doesn’t answer his questions or give him exactly what he wants...” Kai turned his head to look at Taki. “He doesn’t play by the rules, Taki. You know that as well as I do. Even if we mount some kind of rescue tomorrow it’ll probably be too late.”

Kai winced as the migraine that came from using his powers hit him with full force. “Let me go.” He said, defeated. “I’m not leaving. But-”, he looked over at Taki, a glare hardening his features, “If anything happens to him I blame you.” He threatened.

It had all happened so fast. Noah didn’t really understand what was going on. One minute Kai, the person who had saved him, was going to attack him and the next he was... Noah reached out to put a hand on Lilith’s shoulder before ducking around her to face Kai again. “He saved us, didn’t he?” He said quietly enough so that only Kai could hear him. “He knows how to look after himself. He’ll be fine for one night.”

Kai brought his gaze up to meet Noah’s, the coldness still behind his eyes, not saying anything

Noah looked away, abashed. “I-I’m sorry.” He said quietly.

~

Rei sighed quietly as he ran a mental checklist of his injuries. The cuts on his stomach were mostly closed over. It was only the two wounds in his legs that would give him any real trouble. Thankfully, while he was unconscious someone had bandaged them tightly, giving him enough support to be able to walk.

He stood again, testing the pain it caused. It wasn’t too bad, certainly nothing he’d like to agitate too often though.

“What are you going to do with him?” Brooklyn asked, moving closer to the window.

Issac scoffed. “Like you care. Your part’s done. If Balcov decides that he wants to torture Rei I’ll let you know.”

Brooklyn made a face. “I don’t like torture.” He said as he watched Rei try standing up for the second time. “It’s not fun when they can’t run away.”

Issac grimaced. “Can’t you even try to be a normal person?” He asked, irritated.

Brooklyn smirked. “Sorry, I haven’t perfected average the way you have.” He turned to look over at Issac, an eyebrow raised. “You know that there’s a reason Balcov hasn’t said anything to you, right? He doesn’t think you are anything other than average.” Brooklyn walked to the door and opened it, letting light into the small, dark room. “That’s why he doesn’t know.” He shot over his shoulder before stepping outside and letting the door swing shut behind him.

He paused for a second outside, tossing up between his options. He could leave now and ignore his fascination with Rei that had developed or-

He had already walked to the door of Rei’s room and was in the process of hacking into the electronic lock before he caught himself trying to make a decision that was already made. He opened the door and slipped inside, making sure to change the password to something Issac wouldn’t be able to decrypt. Not before Brooklyn had finished, anyway.

At the sound of the door, Rei looked up, a small bolt of apprehension running through his body. He had never been in this situation before, not knowing what was going to happen and not having any control over it when it did. He hadn’t planned on being captured when he had faced Brooklyn. He had thought Brooklyn would just kill him. Death had never scared Rei, still didn’t now. It was what came before it that frightened him.

The apprehension turned into panic as Brooklyn stuck his head into Rei’s alcove, a pleasant smile on his face. “You’re awake! I’ve been wanting to talk to you.”

Behind the mirror, Issac almost vomited. Brooklyn was in the room with Rei. Brooklyn was in the room with Rei. A psychopathic killer was in the room with his only leverage against Balcov

This couldn’t end up well.

Issac shook his head wordlessly as he hurried over to the door. “Ruining things in his own special way.” He said as he opened the door and strode over to the door of Rei’s room. He made a noise of frustration when he saw the way Brooklyn had pulled apart the security system that had been protecting the door. “He’s probably locked himself in there too.” He snarled angrily as he began trying different codes in the keypad, a sense of dread settling over him.

If Brooklyn had gone to the trouble of locking himself into the room with Rei he probably intended to be there for a while. Which meant that he was there for his own twisted reasons rather than just as a way to piss Issac off. All in all it led to a scenario of death and destruction and very not good things.

None of which Balcov could find out about.

Issac hit the wall beside the keypad in frustration. He would never get past one of Brooklyn’s codes. As much as he hated to admit it, the redhead was a genius. A frightening, slightly psychotic genius, yes, but one nevertheless. Which meant that he would emerge from the room when he was good and ready.

Issac sighed in frustration and resumed fiddling with the keypad. That didn’t mean that he could stop trying. He still wanted to have a hostage by the time Brooklyn was finished with whatever he had decided in his slightly unbalanced head that he needed to do.

~

Rei felt his face drain of any colour it had left. Why had they sent Brooklyn? He could have probably handled anyone else. But Brooklyn? If the redhead had been the devil himself Rei wouldn’t have wanted to avoid seeing him more.

And yet here the redhead was in the flesh. Something out of Rei’s nightmares. Except he was smiling rather than wielding a chainsaw. Which was possibly the only good point.

Brooklyn’s smile faltered a little bit. “You aren’t even going to say hello?” He asked.

“Can’t say you’ve given me much reason to make friendly with you.” Rei said snarkily, hiding the initial urge to duck and cover with bravado.

Brooklyn chuckled. “I like you. Have I mentioned that?”

“Must have slipped your mind somewhere between knifing my team and shooting me.” Rei replied, shooting his best glare at Brooklyn.

“I didn’t kill him. I thought that was rather generous of me.”

Rei closed his eyes for a second, fighting the urge to tell Brooklyn where he could stick his generosity. “I take it from this room that you didn’t get them? Kai still managed to evade your crony despite being semi-conscious? That must hurt. So is there a reason why you’re here. Other than to prove to yourself that you achieved something?”

Brooklyn looked genuinely hurt. “If you insist, I just wanted to ask you some questions.” This wasn’t how he envisioned their conversation at all. While he was breaking into the room he had gone through what he thought had been all of the possibilities for their meeting. But none of them had included Rei being quite so bitter.

He had been expecting the fear Rei was trying so hard to hide, he had also been expecting the anger Rei was directing at him. He had not expected him to be bitter. There was no reason for there to be so much hurt behind the anger. He hadn’t killed any of Rei’s friends- hadn’t even wounded that one seriously enough that he wouldn’t be healed he a few days. It made so sense.

Brooklyn’s eyes narrowed. Unless...

Rei’s eyes hardened as understanding hit him. “So they’re sending in the torture crew already? I thought Balcov would have at least had the decency to try talking to me first. Then again, that assumes that Balcov is a decent person.” He looked at Brooklyn with a smirk. “Either way you won’t get anything out of me.”

Brooklyn let out a startled laugh. “Torture?” He asked incredulously. “If I was here to torture you, you would already have told me everything you know. Even things you didn’t know you knew, I would find them.” He looked at Rei carefully. “Tell me, have you ever heard of unimaginable pain? When something is so painful that the mere act of trying to describe it recalls it to the mind so vividly that the person has to use a euphemism because they don’t even want to experience the remembered pain again? If I were here to torture you, Rei, you would be so far beyond that limit that you wouldn’t believe you could ever come back.

“However!” Brooklyn said, changing the mood. “Since I’m not here to hurt you, you don’t have to worry about that at all.” He smiled happily.

Rei watched Brooklyn, the fear reigniting in his stomach. It was one thing to have to deal with someone who could feasibly rip your intestines out through your nose. It was quite another to have to cope with one who smiled about it. “So I take it that I have no choice about these questions?” He asked, standing slowly. “In which case, would you like to move out conversation out there?” He asked, gesturing toward the table outside his little partition. “I think we’ll both be more comfortable out there.”

Brooklyn inclined his head. “You think that something solid between us would make you feel more comfortable?” He asked, indicating the table. “Because it won’t.”

“No. I just don’t want you anywhere near the place I’m sleeping.” Rei snapped, making his way over to the table and sitting down with as much dignity as he could manage. “So what are you going to ask me then?”

Brooklyn shrugged before walking over to the table and sitting opposite Rei. “I wanted to know why you joined the Rebel forces?”

Rei blinked. That wasn’t what he had been expecting. “Eh?” He asked intelligently. “Why is that relevant?”

“I’m interested.” Brooklyn said simply. “Do you have any objections to the question?”

Rei considered his options. He figured that he was fairly safe in answering the redhead’s question. If he was careful, he could avoid talking about anything that actually mattered. On the other hand, if he refused to answer that would only irritate Brooklyn. And that was path Rei didn’t particularly want to go down. “I wanted to help bring an end to Balcov’s Regime. Under his rule the Underworld has only known fear and hatred. It isn’t right.”

“The company line.” Brooklyn said dismissively. “Try again.”

“It isn’t the company line if you believe it.” Rei stated.

Brooklyn inclined his head. “True”, he conceded. “But do you believe it?”

“Do I believe that under Balcov’s rule people are killed for no other reason than his vanity? Do I believe that under his rule people are constantly watching what they say because they fear for their lives? Living proof that is sitting right across from me. How far do you think you would have gotten in a legitimate government, Brooklyn? Do you think you would have climbed so high?” Rei sat back, pleased with himself.

To his consternation, Brooklyn chuckled. “I don’t know which is more amusing, how well you stay on the line or that you think I’m high on the food chain. Nevertheless, please don’t try to change the subject. Now,” Brooklyn lent forward on the table. “Before you joined the Rebels, can I ask where you lived?”

Rei frowned, confused. “What? Why?”

Brooklyn shrugged. “Curious.”

“Just outside of the city. Lower East.” He said guardedly. “I’m surprised you don’t already know that. I would have thought that Balcov would have complete files on us.”

“I did and he does,” Brooklyn said with a shrug. “I just wanted to ask you.”

“To see if I was being truthful?” Rei asked with a raised eyebrow.

“So I could ask if the Rebel headquarters were around that area.”

“Not even close.” Rei said dismissively, covering the spike of fear that leapt in his chest. Did Brooklyn know? Was he giving away too much by even condoning to talk to him? Nice one, Rei. “Besides, I thought we agreed not to talk about things like that.”

Brooklyn nodded. “Thought so. Don’t worry,” he reassured Rei, “I won’t tell. I was just curious. SO what are we allowed to talk about then?”

“Anything not related to that.” Rei said firmly.

“What about Kai?” Brooklyn asked innocently.

Rei’s eyes bugged. “I-I’m sorry?”

“Kai. The one who makes a rather attractive pincushion.” Brooklyn smirked as he watched Rei’s eyes narrow at his comment. “Why did you sacrifice yourself for him?”

“You mean why did I distract you?” Rei asked. “My team got away, didn’t they?”

“Please don’t take me for a fool, Rei.” Brooklyn said gently. “We both know you’re more intelligent than that. If you were simply protecting your team you would all have either escaped or would all be sitting here now. That’s how a team works. However, you chose to sacrifice yourself. That’s personal. Also, you only chose to do so after Kai was hurt. I wonder, if it had been Tala would you have done the same?”

“Of course. When my team is involved it’s personal.”

“Liar.” Brooklyn said simply. “You haven’t mentioned Tala once since I came into this room. Yet Kai was the first thing you worried about. So tell me, why Kai?”

Rei closed his eyes, instinctively reaching for the tiger. He needed some way to wipe the smirk off the redheads face. He scowled as he was blocked by the armlet they had given him. “Kai,” he said eventually, “is none of your business.” He opened his eyes to fix Brooklyn with a look.

Brooklyn chuckled. “So fierce.” He said affably. “Though I can’t really say we were well acquainted I don’t really understand the attraction. In order to inspire such... determination from you this Kai has to be something special. Tell me, what is he like?”

Rei looked at Brooklyn steadily. “He’s like none of your business.” He reiterated.

“If you tell me I promise to leave.”

Rei paused to consider. It was becoming clear that even if they talked about seemingly innocent subjects Brooklyn would continue to draw conclusions from little to no evidence. It was too dangerous for the conversation to continue. At least this was about something purely personal. It couldn’t be related back to his knowledge of the Rebels. “Why do you want to know anyway?” He asked.

“Curious.”

Rei nodded. “As always.” He muttered before looking away from the redhead to study the mirror that made up one wall of his room, searching for inspiration. “Have you ever seen a sunset?” Rei asked, turning back to look at the redhead.

Brooklyn nodded, “Once or Twice.”

“Kai’s like that.” Rei said simply.

Brooklyn smirked. “Very poetic, Rei.” He complimented as he stood. “Though, I can’t help feeling for poor Kai.”

Rei shot Brooklyn a confused look.

“Does he know you don’t love him?”

“Get out.”

~
“They’re using him to get to you. That puts any blame for damage squarely in your corner.” Kai reasoned with infallible logic.

“Um...” Noah interrupted, raising a hand tentatively.

“Shut up, kid. Didn’t ask you.” Kai cut him off before he could poke any holes in his genius-level thought patterns.

Kai raised an eyebrow at Taki. “If I had known that Voltaire was dead don’t you think I would have mentioned it to you by now?” He asked sarcastically before turning to Lillith. “Are you sure? We didn’t have anything to do with that- Voltaire was alive when we ran.”

~

Brooklyn inspected the inhibitor cuff Issac had snapped on his wrist as soon as he had left Rei’s room. “Do you always carry this around with you?” He asked calmly. “Seems a little inconvenient.”

“Only when I’m dealing with you, Brooklyn. You’re special.” Issac all but snarled. “You do realise what you’ve done, right? I don’t think that even Balcov would forgive you.”

Brooklyn chuckled. “You’d be surprised what he’ll be willing to forgive when he needs my... assistance again. Besides, telling him would only reveal your mistakes. I doubt he would be ready to forgive you as easily as me.”

Issac inclined his head. “Which is why, instead of being taken straight to Balcov, Johnny is going to escort you down to the solitary confinement chambers where you and your new accessory are going to spend some quality time together until either Balcov requires your services again or I see fit to release you. Furthermore, in addition to you not being allowed weapons, you will wear an inhibitor unless you are on an assignment from now on.”

Brooklyn all-but-snarled at Issac; though he didn’t have much use for his powers while not doing his work, the cuff put a barrier between him and his inner self. It was a decidedly uncomfortable and unnatural feeling. “And what is the point of that?” He asked, once he had himself under control again. “I didn’t even have to use my powers to outwit you that time.”

“It makes me smile to see you angry,” Issac said simply. “I’m going into the observation room to see what kind of damage you’ve done. Johnny, once you’ve dropped off Brooklyn to his new residence can you come back to meet me?”

“Are you even interested about what Rei and I had chats about?” Brooklyn asked.

“Not in the slightest. Nor do I care why you did it.”

((2,261 words. Panda rocks... sorry for taking so long))

Brooklyn stalked down the hallway, a step in front of Johnny. The other redhead needn’t have worried about him; he was too lost in thought to pose any danger. He had wanted to talk to Rei to get some sort of closure on the issue. He had wanted to understand why Rei had not only stood against him in a fight, but had persisted when there was no hope of victory or death, only more pain.

The answer, unfortunately, was a depressingly simple one.

Brooklyn looked over his shoulder at Johnny. “I’ve had plenty of opportunity to hurt you before now”, he said conversationally. “I’ve got no reason to start.”

But at the same time, the answer was far from simple. Despite Rei sacrificing himself for Kai’s safety, Rei didn’t love him. At least, not in the way he was supposed to, or in the way he thought he was supposed to. Instead of describing Kai’s characteristics or comparing him to something tangible, Rei had compared him to a sunset: something that was beautiful and awe inspiring but ultimately distant and untouchable. Most importantly, though, sunsets signalled the end of the light.

Brooklyn inspected the cuff around his wrist once more, contemplating his problem. He had gone into that room with one set of questions and left with another. This time, however, no ready way to answer his questions was presenting itself.

He sighed quietly as they turned a corner and entered the hall containing the rooms they used for solitary, ignoring the knowing looks the guards shot at Johnny as they walked past them. It wasn’t Brooklyn’s first time here.

“What did you do this time, hey?” A guard asked pleasantly, secure enough in the presence of Johnny, five other guards and the inhibitor to pretend that it wasn’t Brooklyn he was talking to as he unlocked one of the cells.

“Not much.” Brooklyn said with a shrug as he walked into the cell and turned around. “Just wanted to have a chat with our new Rebel friend.”

The guard whistled. “That’ll do it. You know the drill.”

Brooklyn nodded and walked to the far corner of the small, bare cell, sitting on the ground with his back to the door. “I know the drill.” He muttered quietly as he pondered the new question that promised to bug him until he found the answer.

Why would Rei sacrifice himself for the sunset?

~

“At least that’s one less problem for us, right?” Kai asked as he stood straight, wincing slightly. “I’m certainly not going to mourn his loss.”

Kai walked, albeit a little stiffly, to the room he shared with the team. He emerged a few seconds later, pulling on a shirt with only his expression giving away the discomfort of the movement. “I’m going out.” He paused, looking over at Taki. “And before you try to stop me again, I’m not going to try anything. You have my word. I just... need to be away from here.” Kai looked around at the room they were standing in; despite being so full of people it felt far too empty. He needed to get away from the emptiness, it felt far too much like what was happening in the pit of his stomach.

Noah watched the exchange between Taki and Tala with growing disbelief. These couldn’t be the people who had (maybe) killed that girl, had (maybe) killed that old guy and had (definitely) saved his life. They were just a little too normal.

Normal in a turning-into-animals-then-throwing-shoes-at-each-other-way, that is.

Except Kai.

First he was near death, then he was ready to kill someone, then he had given up and now he wanted to take a stroll?

In an atmosphere that seemed to be hanging on to the illusion of normality by the skin of its teeth Kai just wasn’t playing along. Noah considered whether he wanted to try and stop Kai... again.

After considering that for two seconds Noah decided against, figuring that Kai probably wouldn’t forgive him again and he didn’t particularly want to become flaming chunks of Noah any time soon.

He sidled up to Lilith, figuring that she was the safest person to be close to. “DO you have any idea what’s going on? Really?” He asked hopefully.

~

Issac watched Brooklyn and Johnny leave before turning to the keypad and resetting the passwords Brooklyn had programmed into it. Having done so, he went into the observation room and sagged into one of the chairs.

Though he could appreciate Balcov’s reasoning for keeping someone like Brooklyn around he was sure that there were others who posed less of a risk. Or at least others who would cause him less stress. He sat back in his chair and looked at Rei.

On the plus side, he was alive and intact.

On the minus, he was just sitting at the table with his head in his hands. Probably not a sign of an interview gone well. Later he would review the tapes to find out what Brooklyn had asked him. That was, of course, before he erased the tapes. There were some things Balcov didn’t need to know about.

Rei stared down at the table, his eyes seeing nothing.

“Does he know you don’t love him?”

What had Brooklyn meant by that? How did he come to that conclusion? He’d never even met Kai. He hadn’t met Rei before today. How could he know— think— that?

Rei shook his head, banishing the traitorous thoughts that were creeping up on his consciousness. Brooklyn was just trying to mess with him by asking inane questions and spouting random theories in response to those questions, hoping to hit a sore spot.

Which he hadn’t.

Rei loved Kai. Loved him with all his heart. That was why he had challenged Brooklyn. In order to protect Kai.

“Does he know you don’t love him?”

Brooklyn didn’t know anything, how could he? How dare he even theorise about Kai and Rei’s feelings about him? It was none of the redhead’s business.

Especially when he was so wrong.

Rei stared down at the table.

He was so wrong.

“Does he know you don’t love him?”

Wrong about Kai.

Wrong about Rei.

“Does he know you don’t love him?”

Wrong.

“Does he know you don’t love him?”

Rei stared.

He knew all of this. In his head, he knew.

But some part of him, the part that kept whispering, the part he didn’t want to listen to told him what he didn’t want to know.

Rei launched to his feet, knocking the chair over and ran, limping, to the small toilet in the bedroom side of his room. He collapsed in front of it and threw up whatever was left in his stomach.

He sat up, shaking, feeling cold sweat forming all over his body.

What his head refused to acknowledge his body knew all too well.

Brooklyn was right.

~

Issac watched Rei, fury darkening his features. “Whatever he did, it’s seriously affected our chances of getting anything useful out of him. Look at that!” He gestured angrily towards Rei as he slowly pulled himself up from the floor to collapse into the bed they’d provided, curling up into a ball.

“How are we supposed to get anything useful out of that?” Issac put his head in his hands, unknowingly mimicking Rei from just a few minutes ago. “He’s ruined it.”

Issac sat like that for a minute, his mind going over every possibility. Rei had been his key. The leverage he needed to take down Balcov.

Now he looked like he could barely handle another person talking to him, let alone an interrogation. He still had the information Issac needed but there was no way to get it.

Issac’s mind worried at the problem, breaking it down. The information was still there. Because of Brooklyn it couldn’t be forced out anymore. To try would be to risk breaking Rei completely and losing the information for good.

Could the information be coaxed out?

Issac looked over at Johnny, calculatingly. “He’s not broken yet...” He said slowly, a plan forming. “He’s close but he could still be brought back. Especially if we tried something gentler.”

He jerked his head toward Rei. “Get in there and make nice.” He instructed. “I don’t care how you do it but you have to get him to stop thinking about Brooklyn and start thinking that he can trust you. He’s useless for interrogation anymore but if you can get him to think you’re on his side he might still be useful.”

~

Kai ran.

He ran ignoring the screams of his recent wounds.

He ran smiling savagely as the pain turned into a wet, sticky feeling as his only recently healed wounds opened again.

He ran because it meant he didn’t have to think or feel the much worse pain that was bubbling up inside.

He slowed as he realised where his feet had brought him.

Without thinking, he touched the unassuming wall and stepped out into the overworld.

Kai blinked as the sun struck him in his unaccustomed eyes. Taki could yell at him later. Right now, though, he needed to get away.

Kai tucked his hands in his pockets and turned down the street, the urgency gone with the everpresent darkness of the underworld. Nothing could hurt him here. Not while he was in the light.

He walked through the city, his feet taking him through the maze on a path he had taken many times before until he stopped outside a tall building near the outskirts. Without hesitating, he began to climb the fire escape stairs.

It was almost time for the sunset.

~

Noah shuddered at the idea of leaving the building. He had seen what it was like outside. Even from Tala’s back as they ran through the underworld he had seen. He didn’t want to go back there.

“I’m with him.” He said firmly, walking into Taki’s study behind Tala.

He blinked as he saw the chaos that filled the room. “Uh... how can I... help?”