The creation of the All Seeing Eye(ASE) was a project that many of the Admin-information and R&D course students measure themselves against. It was the bar that which they set themselves against as they try to create a better monitoring system for the academy. They all knew there were better systems, more complicated and deadly, but pitting themselves against those was of no use as none of them had access to those vaunted security systems. The only one within reach was the ASE. And so this was what they concentrated on.

It was a well-known fact that the ASE was now a legacy system that had been created by the current Nation Defence councillor when he had been but a student. Since its installation, Councillor Woody has created several other systems. Most notable are the Airship defence, the ND system for the Z table and, what everyone claims as the man's pride, the Kenantou Defence System. The ASE was a special case though, apart from the fact that it was the first large scale program that the councillor created.

None of the Kuronomei students ever asked why someone who was powerful enough to keep his name and family ties intact through Kuronomei would waste his time creating all the different systems, even keeping some up to date personally. Many has just assumed that it was simple altruism. Some think it was commissioned. But those who knew the young councillor enough to have heard of the mitigating circumstances that was the cause of Tokitatsu dabbling in security systems would know, it was a turning point for the young man.

The glare of a bright light burned Tokitatsu's eyes even while he kept it closed. The fact that he had light hitting him was the first clue that there was something wrong. He knew there were no windows in his dormitory room, a year living in the box with soft lighting had inured him to the lack of intense light on waking. There was a heaviness to his limbs and he was seated instead of lying in bed, that was his second big tell. He had been taught that he should try to listen and maybe even smell his surroundings before he let his opponents figure that he was awake. It didn't help this time around as all he could sense was the warmth on his face and the cool almost cold seat beneath him.

He peered at his surroundings shaded by his lashes, hoping not to give himself away. The world was blurry, glasses missing, and he had a splitting headache which the bright light was not helping in the least. He wanted to rub the bridge of his nose but a sudden burn around his wrists told him that he was tied to his seat. It was utterly vexing.

He should be used to this. The modus operandi wasn't even new. The only new element was that they actually did a kidnapping right.

As the eldest child of a prominent and influential family, Tokitatsu has experienced a few of these situations. At the age of 16 he has been involved in enough to differentiate how some groups were more professional than others, which for this current one he ranked in the higher brackets in his sliding scale of professional kidnappers. This also meant that they were probably a lot more serious.

Across from him, tied to a wooden chair that completely dwarfed the strawberry blond, his latest person of interest, Akari Dezart, sat alert yet looking confused. It was times like these that he wondered why he ever bothered getting close to other people. He just dragged them into danger with him.

"We are alone at the moment. You can stop pretending to be asleep." The same crisp voice, as if merely commenting on the bright light that burned Tokitatsu's eyes.

"Well I guess we are off to another adventure dear Akari." He tried to bring levity to their situation, even if just to reassure his friend.

A delicate brow raised at the quip was all the other gave. Had the others legs not been tied to the chairs, Tokitatsu knew they would have crossed and the other the picture of a little lord. It was one of the traits that had charmed him to the boy, who had never been a child.

"We both know this is all about you. I won't break. Neither should you."

It would have been easier for Tokitatsu had he not known Akari enough to understand that the boy knew what may happen next. There was no look of dread but he could see the measured breaths that the other was taking like an elite triathlon athlete pacing himself for the last leg of his task, the one that he knew would push him to his limits.

"This is going to hurt you more than me." Tokitatsu answered with a shake of his head, jaded enough to know why the other was taken as well. Akari was strong. Not strong in the physical sense that Tokitatsu knew he will be working on when, not if, they get out of this, but he was strong in a way that made him want to be worth the regard that the other seem to have placed on him.

"An understatement. But I will be nothing more than a carcass once they get what they want from you." Akari stated grimly with a frown. "Do me a favour. Make sure everything is erased?"

It was all that Tokitatsu could do to nod his ascent at the request.

Tokitatsu sat in front of the bed of the boy who wouldn't give in to their kidnappers' demands. It should have been him in that bed, wrapped in gauze and smelling of antiseptic. It has happened to him before, not to this extent mind but, he had once been leverage to his own mother. Yet there they were. The worst of his own pains were the rope burns.

In his mind's eye, he remembered how methodical they were as they asked and tortured Akari yet never once touching him. He knew he will forever be carved into the skin of the little genius. The boy's life will never be the same. Tokitatsu doubted Akari would ever live a normal life, have normal relationships. Genius separated the blond from the herd, this latest incident just sealed it.

They had started on the little things, building it up. There was little blood in the beginning, there was lots of pain instead.

They had started with Akari's hands. Such small delicate hands. It reminded him how much three years could make a difference, his sixteen year old hands still dwarfed the others bandaged ones. He had watched as they shoved needles beneath the others nails and put a current to it. He had watched the once pink shells turn red then eventually bruised. They had then proceeded to shown how creative they were after.

Akari had screamed himself raw. But not once did he turn to Tokitatsu to make them stop. Not when they flayed him, not when they burned him, not even when they tore him as they passed him around like a toy. Their professionalism degenerated when they hit the wall of Akari's stubbornness.

It nearly broke him when the tears fell and nothing but silent screams came out of the torn throat. The words "stop" and "no" as fingers broke and bruises blossomed burned his ears and is how seared into his memory. But he watched it all. He etched it in his mind, each cut of the blade, each blunt hit, every burn on his friend's body. Each torturer seemed to know a different form of giving pain. By the end of the first cycle Akari was a rag doll.

But he kept his mouth shut. Because he knew the moment he gave the kidnappers what they wanted Akari will die.

There had been tears, far too many. Tokitatsu promised himself that this will be the last time the other would shed them. He could make sure of that with the not so inconsiderable power of his name right now and eventually, once he has risen in the ranks, the power of his own position.

His parents had come by to visit, it was the first time they were to meet with the "little genius" that he spoke fondly off. He had wished it was in better circumstances. He didn't want to introduce Akari as someone weak and fragile, that was not Akari. The genius was more than the small bundle wrapped in white sheets. He was the calm voice to Tokitutsu's wild ramblings, the spitfire to the dull daily grind of the lectures. His very own little Lord Fauntleroy. Maybe even be the reason he was able to accept, even love, his sibling. But there was no help for it. Akari being conscious during the introduction had always been optional, even before the kidnapping.

Tokitatsu sighed as he ran his fingers through the now much shorn locks. There was nowhere else for him to even touch as Akari was swathed in bandages. The strawberry blond had woken up briefly. There was steel in the others gaze but they both knew he was not in any way all right. Only time will tell when the nightmare will end.

So for now he will wait, that was something he was good at, with plans running in the background of course.

Tokitatsu watched through the eyes of the sheep as his brother direct his team of special combatants. Seated behind him, simply observing safe in the bowels of the airship, Akari observed, secure within layers of steel, surrounded by people meant to protect him and under Tokitatsu's purview.

He could see the opaline eyes observing everything, alert, almost warm as Akari watched his two bookends, one in battle as the other stayed with him. It was as Tokitatsu envisioned long ago when he plotted and planned in his little box of a dorm room.

His promise remains unbroken even two decades later. The remnants of that time so buried that not even the two captains, whom he had engineered to meet his little lord, knew of the incident. It remained between the two of them. Only the two of them. He made sure no one else will remember what happened that night. That much he can give Akari.

Never let it be said that Tokitatsu did not repay loyalty, did not take care of his own.

He and his brother were more alike than the second ship captain thought. Their kidnappers' death were his right. No one took from Tokitatsu Woody, nothing he was unwilling to yield, and came away unscathed. Even when he kept a reputation of a mere paper pushing politician on the surface. He returned the pain many fold. Akari need never know how that situation ended. His best friends eyes staring back at him from the cameras of the places he visits. Systems that seem meant to protect all when it is but a by-product of the need to protect his precious few.

He deliberately let the other believe it had ended with the creation of the incredible defense systems that now guarded their alma mater. Though somehow Tokitatsu felt Akari knew the truth behind his lies.

Akari was safe. And that was what was important.

AN: The first time I read the extra story where they mentioned the All Seeing Eye, which I'm not even sure is its real name, I was hit by plot bunnies. Add to this the fact that in volume 8 Tokitatsu was shown to have an inclination to read on subjects pertaining to developing technologies which seems to be part of his field as a tower master.

This was placed as a separate story from my usual Karneval fic list Snapshots as this was originally a supplement to the Bookends story. Yes, still not writing lemons, I will leave that to the professionals.

Again, this has not been beta read.
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