A/N: Warnings for drug references, slavery, abuse, smoking, language and mentions of death. I do not own Ai no Kusabi, all rights belong to the respective creators/license holders.


The space port was massive, the largest in Tanagura. Within its labyrinthine corridors ran a gamut of underworld dealings. Smugglers shifted high priced, stolen merchandise and cheap knock-offs in the shadows behind legitimate business facades. Mercenaries hired themselves out as loners and in small companies to the highest bidder. Information was bought, sold and traded for credits or sex and all around Pets changed hands with the ease of a handshake.

Here, where shadow and light interplayed in a mosaic of legitimacy and underhanded dealings Katze felt most at home. He preferred his basement office below the warehouse he held his operations in, but here where goods were received and shipped, where daring thefts and bungling haggling occurred simultaneously side by side he felt a thrill, almost equaling the physical lust he could never partake in. He stood, silently against a corner wall giving him access to the long intersecting corridors in all directions. Leaning casually backwards as he sat on one narrow butt cheek against a side rail, he smoked a cigarette. Inhaling with deep appreciation for the warm burn of the smoke and the heady flavor he let the nicotine hit his lugns, held his breath and exhaled slowly, surrounding himself in a thin cloud of perfumed smoke.

Relaxing further Katze let his lone visible eye wander to the side as he watched the crowds coming and going. Among the bustling mob strode two figures, each dramatic and awe inspiring as they moved; both equally intimidating to those around them.

Iason Mink held his legitimate court as he strode with powerful surety towards his waiting goods. Lesser men formed a swirling current of sycophants around him. The many ministers, presidents, aides and guards flowed and ebbed at his side, shifting their positions in accordance to his unspoken commands. Iason waved carelessly towards several racks of Pets in stasis tubes all ready for transport to other locales on one side of the massive corridor. Towards the other side, he flicked a finger in the direction of hulking towers of stacked crates heavy with manufactured goods, high end technologies, rare beverages and potent drugs all ready for transport and sale.

Down an intersecting corridor Raze Linx stalked with understated grace as he haunted the halls looking for his prey. Posing as a potential buyer of lower class luxury goods, his faux green hair hidden with a silver wig, the short statured man searched within the shadows of the stacked merchandise for his contact. All around him from hard eyed thieves to cut-throat mercenaries, everyone kept their distance. The smallest flick of his hand or a careless wave caused a scuttling flurry of activity as those nearest him sought shelter against the dangerous Elite. Such subtle power made him a perilous guest within the darkness.

Katze watched a moment longer then turned from the commanding display the pair made and moved to the darker shadows of the shuttle port. Their presence made his subterfuge all the easier to undertake. Walking casually Katze gestured to several off-world mercenaries on long-term contract to follow him. All were dressed as common dock workers, loaders, tourists and guards. Each man and the numerous off-world women heavily garbed to hide their traitorous curves, carried heavy bags loaded with weapons, armor and gear as they strode to a waiting vessel.

Katze eyed the impressive armored transport ship, a Wu-class vessel with tough armor, heavy cannons and a large cargo bay. A small portion of his mind whirled, calculating the risks Iason was taking in putting a pirate crew together. Truly, the potential for profit and to create new fear-induced markets was impressive. The blondie could have his legitimate trade, pirate his wealthiest competition then sell the stolen goods to non-federation planets Tanaguran vessels could not approach. It could all be done so easily.

"She's a beauty," a soft, feminine voice spoke at his side, "Bad luck though, to not have our commander on board."

Katze nodded silently, "The Illinia's captain is aboard, Gun Master."

The heavily cowled woman nodded, looking down on Katze from her greater height with a gruff smirk. "Do not worry, no man can tame me."

"I was not worried about the men of Amoi." Katze replied as he turned away, leaving the woman with a pensive frown. Katze knew any man of this world would be eaten alive by this woman. No, she had nothing to fear planet-side, any man capable of overwhelming her would come from a different planet, one where war was common and controlling computers were nonexistent. A small part of Katze's mind wondered if such a thing was even possible, life without Jupiter was unfathomable. As Katze slowly moved he could feel the woman's eyes boring into his back and tried to ignore it, knowing that if he showed any of the fear building in his gut that she would likely kill him – it was what he would do.

Gunshots and a scream pulled their attention to the side, and Katze walked swiftly away, hoping that the gunshots had not just taken Rikki from Iason. His gut sinking, Katze slipped from the space port, taking on his role as Iason's chauffeur.


Raze cursed, eyes dark as he stood over the cooling corpse of Tam Dreo, the Tempest Guard trainer and Raze's partner. The operation to find a black market drug ring had ended with Raze killing his own partner. He sighed, calling in the event and waited for their investigative team to arrive.

Death was a constant to those in the slums. Death was the only release the citizens of Ceres had from their hopeless existences. Rikki had long grown numb to life's ending regardless of its violence, but he had never faced being held accountable for taking a life. A tremor trailed like a chilled white glove down his spine making him tense in fearful anticipation. Facing Latthiew would be bad – facing Iason promised to be worse.

Footsteps heralded the arrival of his superiors, hand cuffs and police followed, allowing him to keep his cover. Hours, maybe longer and Raze finally staggered into the white penthouse. He sighed, sagging against the door behind him as his disguise vanished revealing a very tired Rikki. Black eyes looked through the long hall, taking in Iason sitting too silently on the white couch gleaming in the bone white moonlight. The blondie shimmered like marble, his hair flaxen white while the pale wine in his fluted glass sparkled like captured starlight.

For an instant, Rikki forgot to breathe, mesmerized by the vision Iason had become – until he met the ice-blue eyes that bored into him like frozen lances. Rikki gulped, dark eyes widening in terror, his pulse racing as expectancy burned through his veins. He licked his lips nervously, desire and despair warring within him as Iason rose from his seat and stalked to tower over his pet.

"You have been suspended, pending investigation." Iason spoke softly, eyes tracing over Rikki's toned musculature. "I have no use for a sloppy pet."

Cold ice poured through Rikki's veins, making him tremble. Iason had worked so hard to make Rikki return to him, yet now Rikki realized that Iason would tire of him if he failed again, and silence him permanently.

"Raze will not appear again until called. Katze has no use for clumsy agents." Iason leaned forward, cold eyes burning into Rikki's soul, "Welcome home, Pet." As Iason descended Rikki could only tremble, the screams frozen in his throat warring with his fear.


Three days, and Rikki could barely stand straight, his buttocks and thighs bruised and raw from the flogging. He hunched, face pinched and felt defeated. Today he was free, let loose from the penthouse with a loaded credit card. He slunk through the town, head low as curses and baleful glares followed him. Everyone knew Rikki, Iason's old pet. The man was twenty, past his prime. No one could understand why the elite blondie kept the relic. Today, Rikki felt his age with every ache and pain from his knees to his lower back.

He moved through the elite shopping centers, remembering the long distant times when he had sworn he would leave the slums. So pitiful; young Rikki had been naive. Now, there was no going back to the slums. He was trapped in this paradise, a prisoner in a gilded cage. Rikki moved past rows of clothiers, beyond fine diners and boutiques.

Memories Rikki paused as a past nostalgia hit him like a tangible force. Motorbikes gleamed in the brilliant sunlight, resurrecting better times running with Bison. In a haze of longing, wanting to go back to how things were, Rikki straddled a red bike, letting remembered winds move through his hair as he sped down memory lanes. Moments later, he walked away, leaving an ignored and irate merchant to curse at his back.

With a silent sigh Rikki returned to his pacing, dredging memories past and recent of better times. All too soon he would be dismissed from duty through the Tempest Guards. Then he would be useless to Iason. His fate would be limited to the inside of the penthouse, sold to Ranaya-Ugo or killed. Nearly two years of good times, two years of being Raze Linx and Rikki the Dark, had allowed him to become dependent on his new life. Now, there was nothing left.

Rikki continued to recall old times, and turned into an alley he once frequented before he had become a pet. Those times, when he had just started running for Katze, had been the first good times he had ever known, times when despair had not ruled him. A fleeting shadow caught his eye, glancing up Rikki had just enough time to recognize achingly familiar grey eyes and that brown ponytail. "Guy," Rikki breathed the figure's name an instant before blue lightning tore through his chest in an arc of agony and cast him into disturbed darkness.


"Raze was cleared of all charges this morning. Tam had been dealing with black market traders from non-federation planets. Raze actually did us a favor, may we speak to him?" Latthiew asked somberly of Iason, standing in the presence of Jupiters' favorite son made the unsightly blondie nervous. Yet, the shorter, imperfect golden haired man held Iason's perfect icy gaze with his own calculating one.

"You cannot." Iason spoke flatly then returned to his work, his hands gliding over the consul he sat at.

"When can I get my best agent back?" limpid eyes demanded, his voice rising yet Latthiew didn't care. Curse Iason for sending him the best agent he had never asked for, and curse him doubly for taking that commodity away on a whim.

Iason looked up, hands folding in a faux imitation of civility that almost hid his acerbic cruelty. "When I have finished his punishments, he will be returned."

Latthiew glared at Iason, stalking from the shimmering white office standing over the glimmering, pristine city. Once the shorter blondie had left, Iason sagged, hands covering his face in despair. Rikki had vanished yesterday. No one knew anything, no one cared about one mongrel pet. His absence was driving Iason mad with loss, insane with desperate need to have his pet back – whatever the cost.

"Rikki," Iason gasped into his hands, gloves damp with his own misting breath and silent tears. Gasping, he could only reign in his despair with his greater fury. Whoever took his belonging, would suffer horribly before he was done. Rikki was Iason's pet, and no one else's to touch, look at or hold. Rikki was his, and his alone.

A chirp from his consul forced Iason to swallow his suffering, and swiftly answered Katze's call.

"Ceres is in an uproar, Bison is embroiled in a turf war against the Toppers. It appears that whatever agent responsible for Rikki's abduction is also responsible for attempting to destroy what is left of his old turf as well." Katze spoke from the monitor, his words tinny across the connection.

"Dispatch some agents, investigate any connection, but do not intervene. Rikki is mine." Iason replied, knowing Katze had already done so. The men were silent, each staring across the void of their electronic connection, each silently blaming the other for the loss of Rikki.

"Would this have any connection to Illiana?" Katze asked pensively, thinking of the large crew holding silently upon the pirate vessel guised as a merchant ship heading for deep space, and pirate country.

"No," Iason responded, turning off the monitor as he left his office. Memories of Rikki's last days within the penthouse plagued Iason, replaying over and over the repeated floggings he delivered to Rikki for failing in Latthiew's assignment. Swallowing tightly Iason felt once more his desire for his pet flare within him, making him seethe with need for the smaller mongrel.

Everywhere he went, Iason saw Rikki, saw dark jackets and mussed black hair. He saw baleful eyes glaring from the crowds and long, lean, tanned arms reaching for him around every corner. Every whisper of wind held Rikki's voice, calling 'Iason' at every turn. Iason found himself back in his penthouse, flat on his back stretched along their shared bed. He was nude, but had no memory of stripping as his hand played along his length, with Rikki's name gasped with every breath.

There was no pleasure, no rewarding mewels as the slighter man received him, no warmth engulfing his member or delicate hands entwining with his own or playing with his platinum tresses. When release came, Iason felt hollow, his insides carved out with the silence of his own penthouse suite. Despite the brilliant sunlight streaming through the large windows Iason had taken Rikki against so many times, the blondie felt cold. Remorse and guilt hanging heavy in his soul, Iason slipped into dark oblivion.


Rikki struggled against the thick cocoon of darkness making him numb and blind, deaf and mute, hot and thirsty and longing for massive hands and icy eyes to drag him from this prison. Eyes opening weakly, Rikki could only vaguely make out a high ceiling overhead made of grey metal, lined with lights that burned his eyes and hummed with a mocking thrum of energy that pierced into his brain. It was agony, but he could feel nothing except the pain from his eyes, ears and brain. It was as if he were a head in a jar, disembodied and forgotten in this hell of anguish.

"How do you feel?" Rikki felt the black cocoon fall away, brushed aside by recognition of that voice.

"Just fine, thanks." He replied with stiff sarcasm, sitting up slowly as feeling returned to his body – and with sick realization he wished the numbness remained.

"Thought so," Rikki looked to Guy, taking in the gaunt features and smiling eyes fill with the too bright light of drugs, hunger, and despair.

"Where are we?" he asked, silently hoping that Katze or Iason would arrive at any moment. The prospect of returning to the slums with Guy was now a prison worse than any he had ever been held in before. To go back to scavenging from the refuse of the city he had once traveled through the highest echelons of society. No, it was asking too much.

"Dana Bahn." Rikki's heart froze. Bad things had happened here, he remembered the stories of the citizens of Ceres holing up in here, hiding from Jupiter and the thousands who had never made it out alive. It was said, in the slums, that the corpses of the last free men of Ceres lined the ground the farmers for the elites grew their food from.

"We'll be found soon, the pet ring has a tracer." Rikki was stalling, he knew it. The icy cold numb patch from his scrotum to the base of his member told him he no longer wore the ring, and there was only one way to remove it.

"It won't be of any use here." Rikki shuddered at Guy's small, victorious smile, "This place is shielded."

Rikki kept his head in the palm of his hand, stomach churning as the sedatives began to wear off, and pain swiftly overpower everything, even Guy's words. As darkness once more enfolded him, he could only make out the tone of Guy's words, and the lilting strains of madness.


"Will Latthiew believe you?" Katze asked softly, staring at the figure he had hatefully devoted his life to.

"He has no choice." Iason responded from the consul's screen. "Rikki has been missing this past week. I have to tell Latthiew, or he will investigate on his own."

Katze sighed, rubbing a hand tiredly across his eyes. "Always so much trouble. Is he even worth it?"

The silence from Iason's end followed by darkness as he switched off his terminal spoke for him, and Katze could only light another cigarette and take a long drag. "Will Latthiew believe you, Iason? Can any? You have hidden Rikki in plain sight for two years, can you now claim Raze is kidnapped by your competitors without revealing Raze's true nature?"

Only silence answered Katze and he once more returned to his work. He would pick up Iason shortly, drive his master to Latthiew's Tempest Guard hall and wait for the storm that was brewing to hit. Iason's desires for a mere mongrel, his aspirations to ever improve his beloved pet, would bring all of Eos to its knees. "Only Iason can make Jupiter tremble."

"Rikki?" Iason asked wildly when the phone rang, he longed to hear his pet's voice, even if it was to say goodbye forever. "Who is this?" He demanded when silence and strange breathing reac

"You wouldn't know me even if I told you." A strange voice spoke, the words laced with mocking victory. "I wish to return something of yours."

Iason felt cold deluge his soul, a liquid ice that encompassed his synthetic heart. "Where?" The word was gasped, like a mere mongrel drowning. Yet, Iason could not hang his head in shame, his need for the dark mongrel made him hold his head high, even as he lowered himself to merely accepting Rikki's captor's demands.

"Dana Bahn."

Iason sucked in a shuddering sob, and held himself together with only the strength of his fury. "Rikki."

With a flutter of white silk, Iason strode from his office. Face stormy, eyes blazing, no one dared approach the blondie on his silent rampage. Blondies and elites of all stations stepped from his path. Pets scrambled to hide behind their masters, all mere smudged shadows compared to Rikki's firey nature. No one questioned Iason's departure as all knew that Rikki had not been seen in days, Raze was missing and two Blondies were frantic with their loss.

"Iason?" Raul asked of his long time friend, eyes dark with concern as Iason only halted in stricken silence. "Have you found Raze?"

"I know where he is now."

"And Rikki?"

"It will be handled."

"Have you spoken to Latthiew?"

"No, keep him out of this."

"As you wish. Remember, I do not wish to be the one to control your mind. If you displease Jupiter I will have no choice."

"Thank you." Iason murmured softly, yet never met his old friend's eyes. Raul had long been faced with controlling Iason if Jupiter could not reign its favorite son's appetites in. Now, Iason wondered if either had guessed that Rikki and Raze were one and the same. When met with silence Iason stormed from the building, leaving it in a trail of vapor from his dark hover car.

"I can't do that." Raul replied sadly, and turned to his office and the line to Latthiew. Iason would have to be traced and Raze found. The young, green elite was too valuable to allow Iason free reign any longer.


Rikki woke slowly, slightly grateful for the bed he now lay on and the drugs next to his pillow for the pain. He did not remember when Guy had moved him, nor where he was. He only knew two things. The anesthesia had worn off, his entire groin burned in agony, and his watch was still here. Rikki sighed, grateful for the time long ago when Katze had given this to him. He thumbed the watch's control buttons, activating a beacon, and when the screen stayed red momentarily before returning to its normal time face, knew he was no longer in a shielded area.

With the beacon on, Rikki swallowed a handful of pills and lay back, waiting for the pain to ease and Katze to come for him. Katze knew how to survive losing his testicles, knew the agony of being castrated and forced to carry on. The fate of all boys chosen as furniture was now his own. Iason could no longer control his body with his venom of desire. That had been cut from him along with his manhood, all for Guy's jealous insanity.

Time drifted, darkness creeping on Rikki's consciousness, then releasing him back to the agony of being alert. He turned, hand reaching for more pills when footsteps reached his ears. Damp with sickly sweat, Rikki looked up through his long bangs, eyes hazed and distant as he painfully stood, moving to a nearby chair, and realized he could never go back to Iason.

The footsteps closed in, revealing Katze in his long coat, gun out and eyes steady. It was the rescue Rikki had hoped for, but seeing Katze only made his reality more agonizing. "I thought it would be something like this." Katze holstered his gun, approaching Rikki with his usual gruff manner. "Really, you're such a hopeless case."

Rikki could hear it in Katze's voice, the admonishment that Rikki was blinded by his affections for his paring partner that he had allowed himself to be taken. Rikki could have snorted in disdain, but there was nothing left of his pride anymore. He was nothing now, not even a man.

"Who's the mastermind? Is it Guy?" Katze continued, overlooking – or not caring – Rikki's defeated, slumped posture.

"How's Iason?" Rikki finally asked, hoping that Katze would say the blondie had finally burned his lust for Rikki from his own veins.

"Go and see for yourself." Katze replied bitterly, the old longing for his former master still burning in his gut, knowing that he had ever been a tool for the mesmerizing blondie and nothing more. Nothing compared to the fiery magnetism of Rikki.

"Its too late. I can't see him now." Rikki whispered, a trembling shiver starting in his shoulders and trailing down to his gut.

"I haven't got time to listen to your impertinent talk. Hurry up and get ready."

"I can't go back, Katze. I'm not a man anymore." Rikki looked up, barely able to lift his head in fatigue from the surgery Guy had performed, the old punishment of castration performed on his own former pairing partner, all so that Iason could never have what Guy lost. "I'm the same as you now. It was the only way to take the pet ring off. What a bitter requital."

As Rikki spoke anguished fury contorted Katze's face, making him livid as he kicked the nearby table, sending it flying to shatter against the wall. "That … idiot! He's out of his fucking mind!" Katze snarled, knowing how this would destroy Iason, to lose Rikki, and destroy Rikki to realize he finally cared for Iason and could no longer be with his master, loved or not. "And where has that idiot gone?" Katze demanded, fists clenched as his whole being trembled in impotent fury.

"Dana Bahn, I think. The tracer on the ring didn't work, did it? We were hiding there the whole time. He said something about bringing back the stuff that was left there."

"Can you walk?" Katze demanded, a hint of empathy softened his words, but not much. They had no time to coddle Rikki.

"Just about." The mongrel rasped softly as he slowly stood, trembling as his legs struggled to hold him.

"Then we'd better hurry. We'll fly to Dana Bahn and catch him, so he won't do any more stupid things." Katze helped Rikki to his feet, covering the slight man who seemed so delicate now with his aged leather coat. "We can talk about things later. I suppose you called so I would take a hand in it."

"Sorry, I'll sort things out." Rikki apologized softly, hoping to catch Guy before Iason could become involved. They stumbled through the ruined building, a place Rikki did not recognize on the outskirts of Ceres, and slid into Katze's air car, heading with all speed to Dana Bahn.


Iason strode from his silver air car, leaving the expensive model to sit quietly, engine shut down on the outskirts of the massive construction of Dana Bahn. The old underground shelter had long been abandoned. Yet, the pale streaks in the rust along the weather-proofed metal doors told of recent visitors. Iason stood grimly, and moved to the doors.

"Didn't think you'd come on your own. Blondie pride, eh?" A mongrel grinned as he stepped from the shadows. Head down, shoulders hunched, the man stood as Rikki did – or had back in the slums. His posture was that strange mongrel mix of defeat and defiance.

"I see it's you, Guy, wasn't it? An old pairing partner posing as a knight." Iason watched the man's smile bleed away with sinister glee. This man had taken Rikki from him, and this man would not leave this aged citadel alive for that attack on Iason's property and pride.

They turned, headed into the depths of the antique ruin, Guy leading Iason into the labyrinthine depths. The walk was long, Iason mused it was to unnerve him. The thought almost made him smile. What threat was a mere mongrel to a blondie? Instead he watched the passing landscape with a bland impassiveness, silently amused when Guy would look back on occasion, a small smirk on his features only to bleed away at Iason's impassiveness. The small inconveniences to the mongrel were amusing.

"Don't tell me you've been confining Rikki in a place like this." Iason demanded furiously as they finally enterd a shadowed room and Guy locked the door behind them.

"Don't tell me a Tanagura Blondie is truly saying that from his heart." Guy taunted with amusement. He floped in a chair, gray eye watching the taller blondie with a smirk.

"A owner doesn't need any reason to care for his pet." Iason replied, icy eyes hiding the anguish at his pet's absence.

"Iason, I bet you think I'm nuts." The mongrel taunted, a small grin twisting his features. "What's a crazed mongrel doing against a Blondie? But hey, scum have pride as well. If you think you have nothing to lose, you can do anything. Even to stand against you."

"I applaud your courage, although it makes me slightly annoyed." The blondie admitted, looking around the room with revulsion.

"Same here. You completely crushed Bison." Guy informedm his fury at watching his gang fall from their once vaunted heights at the top of the Ceres food chain down to the bottom of the low.

"I think that's enough of an introduction. Right, lets have Rikki back. Where are you hiding him?" Iason demanded, his thin patience worn out completely.

"Why do you think that?" Guy asked with a cruel smile twisting his features. His gray eyes lit with joy at watching the blondie squirm on his hook. The highest of all elites, Iason was now writhing beneath his boot.

Iason held up his wrist, revealing a flashing tracer blinking rapidly its proximity to the tracer in Rikki's pet ring.

"Oh, so that's how it works." Guy asked amused, "No wonder Rikki's scared shitless."

"Give him back. He's my Pet." Iason ordered bluntly, voice level despite the icy venom in his gaze. A part of his gut writhing in denial that Rikki feared him, refusing to believe that Rikki still harbored the affections for the slums after the past years of prosperity in Eos.

Face twisting in fury the sitting Guy kicked a heavy crate in Iason's direction, watching as the taller man halted it with a single careless hand. The strength the blondie held sickened Guy, "Take it."

Iason picked up a narrow case from the crate, lifting it with ease and looked inside. Instantly his eyes widened, fury and revulsion warring in his brain as he lusted for blood. The box slid from his nerveless hands, silver pet ring flashing in the dim light as it fell to the floor.

Guy grinned, eyes wide with glee. "I've definitely returned it." He spoke haughtily, mocking the blondie. "Now there's nothing to tie Rikki down, except you!"

"I will kill you!" Iason raged, meeting Guy's fury with his own.

"I'll give those words right back to you. Rikki's not going. He's not going back to you even if its over my dead body!" Guy raged, standing he lunged at Iason, missing the blondie's launched attack as the larger man moved faster than he could follow. Before Guy could so much as take a step a powerful fist smashed into his jaw, a spurt of blood flying as Guy arched backwards from the impact, as if slugged by solid concrete. Body flying, Guy landed in the chair, the wheels rolling backwards to smash into a nearby wall. Head flying he bashed his head into the metal wall, eyes going dark as he slumped to the ground.

Iason stood over him, then picked him up by the jacket with ease. One hand lifted Guy high into the air, and as the blackness faded from his sight Guy could finally take in that he hung feet over Iason's head. It was terrifying, but he had nothing to lose.

"Where is Rikki?" Iason demanded, face once more impassive, eyes remaining as slivers of blue ice.

Guy spat a mouthful of blood into the blondie's face, smirking at his own rebellion. Only Iason barely noticed. Five years of Rikki's antics had made him immune to the vulgarities of the mongrel breed.

Instead, Iason calmly grabbed Guy's arm, twisting back the appendage until it snapped, sending Guy into agonized unconsciousness. Iason stood over his opponent, waiting patiently, and was rewarded. Like Rikki, Guy was a strong mongrel. He did not stay down long. Swiftly enough for Iason's non existant patience, Guy sat up, dragging something from his coat pocket. Iason leaned back, confident it was the remote to bring Rikki from hiding. Guy would never leave Rikki alone if he intended to fight for him.

"I ain't giving him up. You're going down with me." Guy rasped weakly, blood loss and agony conspiring to steal his remaining strength away as explosions rocked the shelter, sending dust and debris falling to the floor in the distant areas of Dana Bahn.

Patience running thin, Iason kicked the mongrel into unconsciousness. Head held high, a blondie would never go down with a mere mongrel. Knocking rang from the locked door to their feuding grounds, a familiar voice echoing through the thick plating made Iason's pulse quicken. It was Rikki.

Iason strode to the door, fingers pounding the keys to unlock the ancient device until desperation overrode his last shred of patience and he ripped the door open. It was Rikki. Tousled black hair, large dark eyes and that slim figure that had entranced Iason from their first meeting five years ago. Iason could only look upon his pet for a moment, then he embraced the smaller man, holding him close. He could stay like this forever, holding Rikki to him, keeping him safe in his arms.

An explosion rocked them apart and Iason released his beloved pet, anxious to leave this place and bring Rikki to safety. "It can't be! Why? You promised not to hurt him!" Rikki demanded as he took in Guy's unconscious features. Eyes white and rolled back, arm twisted unnaturally as blood trickled from his open mouth. Guy looked dead.

Iason silenced Rikki's fury with the upheld pet ring, "It was an inevitable retribution. Come Rikki." They had to leave, Iason could not let his pet get further damaged in the death trap of Guy's making. "What is it? There is no need to stick around this madness he's caused. He's lost it Rikki."

"I can't leave Guy here. He isn't dead, right? Then please save him." The small mongrel pleaded, eyes damp with unshed tears. Rikki's actions were unfathomable to Iason.

Bitterness welled within Iason, eyes hardening as the inevitable truth was finally laid bare for him. "Do you love him … so much?"

Dark, desperate eyes looked up to his own. "That's not it! You and I have driven him to this, Iason." Rikki pleaded, "It's okay for you, but if I abandon him now, I'm gonna be worse than scum. I can't live with that."

Iason found himself pushing away from Rikki, the unconscious Guy slung easily over his shoulder. He could never truly deny Rikki anything, not this. He moved in silence, acting as a servant to Rikki's will. He walked, letting Rikki carry himself with what was left of that irrepressible mongrel pride. Explosions rocked around them, at each one Iason looked back to check on his beloved pet.

They were almost out, passing through the last set of internal blast doors leading to the final exit ramp when an internal fuel source exploded, sending flames gysering all around and massive steel pillars crashing to the ground. Iason tossed Guy aside, bolting back to Rikki and grabbing him tightly, running to get his Pet free from the debris. They ran, Iason carrying the one thing he knew he could no longer live without until he felt a piercing agony rip through him, followed by a terrible calmness. He looked up, Rikki was free.

"Are you alright?" Iason asked, feeling that somehow this was the first time he had ever talked to Rikki. Or ever just looked at him. The mongrel was breath taking more than ever before, his dark eyes unfathomable in the dancing flames of Dana Bahn.

"Just about." Rikki panted, lips trembling in exhaustion. He stood up, looking to ensure Guy still breathed.

"Can you go on?" Iason insisted, his voice calm, and strong like always.

"I'll crawl if I have to." Rikki finally turned, "What are you doing? If you don't hurry –!" Rikki's demanded question fell silent as he spotted the bloody stumps of Iason's legs. His eyes closed tightly in anguish.

"Take Guy. You haven't much time." Iason spoke, icy awareness of this irony, Guy had set these taps desperate to take Iason down with him, and now he would die alone. A lowly mongrel taking down the great blondie.

Rikki closed his beautiful eyes, tears falling as he spun away, desperately carrying Guy from the burning wreckage of his own creation and goaded by the strange affections between Rikki and Iason. It was their fault, Rikki knew. If Iason had let him go. If Rikki had never tempted fate or played with fire, then he would have never been entrapped by Iason and Guy would never have been hurt. He pulled Guy along, step by agonizing step. Laser sutures in his groin pulled from the strain, slowly tearing and bleeding but Rikki could not care. Finally, the glowing doorway appeared through the haze of destruction…


"Rikki, Rikki! Snap out of it!" Katze's voice cut through the black haze of unconsciousness, bringing Riiki around.

"Help Guy," Rikki spoke urgently, moving to sit up from where he had collapsed.

"Listen, don't pass out." Kazte replied flatly, wanting to get Rikki back to Iason immediately.

"Haven't got time for that. Still inside …" He struggled for words as his head spun from the pain and blood loss that was unnoticeable in the twilight darkness.

"Just let go. We'll talk later." Katze soothed roughly, wanting to be far away before Iason could come hunting looking for blood.

"Iason… still inside." Rikki panted weakly.

"Where? Why?" Kazte demanded, suddenly realizing what he thought was a scenario that could not get any worse had suddenly become an unfathomable nightmare.

"Seems like Guy was planning to blow this place up with Iason … as company… the explosion was too great…he tried to protect me … can't move …"

Horror and shock coalesced as Rikki spoke turning into bright, burning anger igniting in Katze's chest. "And you just left him there?"


Iason sat, his body already sealing the blood loss, but it was a wasted effort. He would not bleed to death, despite the fractured bones sticking out from his ruined stumps of legs. When this place finally exploded he would die none the less. He longed for Rikki's presence, wanted to hold his pet just one last time. But there was no longer a pet ring to tie the mongrel down, no longer was there any need for Rikki to suffer Iason's desires.

Iason sighed, ready to give up, ready to lean back and let that building's explosion take him when a small figure suddenly appeared on the ramp leading back down into the shelter. It was Rikki. A smile creased Iason's eyes, lifting his lips as the petite figure approached with slow agony. "Rikki, why?"

"Bet you're bored on your own. Thought you might want someone to talk to." Rikki spoke as he carefully sat on the cold concrete walkway at Iason's side. He hunched for a moment then breathed deeply, "Tell me if I'm a nuisance and I'll shut up."

Iason stayed silent, too grateful for Rikki's presence to ruin the inane chatter.

"Its not my style to flirt, but at least I can curl up by your feet." Rikki leaned against Iason's broad shoulder, curling close like a lover. Something had been carved from Rikki when he had been castrated. The constant anger had been snuffed, the anxious need to be on the move had simmered to a contented sigh at his master's side.

Iason looked down on his pet, a small smile brightening his features. They had spent years battling each other for dominance, yet now, at the end Iason had found the peace he had spent his life questing for. It was here, on this shuddering walkway in the middle of this inferno that was swallowing them whole that he finally found his contentment curled up with his beloved pet sitting like a loyal hound at his side. Icy blue eyes softened, watching Rikki pull out a silver case and pulling a long, black cigarette.

"Care for one?" Rikki asked holding one up to Iason, dark eyes deep with emotion.

As Rikki looked up his eyes held only Iason's gaze. The flame of resistance, the burning ember of hatred had cooled to a warm, delicate spark of devotion. "Could do. Not bad to have a last smoke with you." Iason murmured, icy gaze warm with affection. They each took a night black cigarette, Rikki lighting Iason's then leaning in intimately close to light his own with Iason's burning joint of poison. As the cigarette lit they breathed in each other's breath, sharing one last deep kiss inches apart.