Author's Note:

It's October! *enters rushing mode*
Let's hope I can finish quickly and move on to the next fic! Aaaaa x'DD
(Not sure if I can finish this and October's fic on time.)

Still trying to wriggle my way out of the trickier chapters of this fic. Things would probably turn easier to write once everything's set in motion. We're almost there...!

【Chapter 4: Je ne peux pas vivre sans toi】

ー Je ne peux pas vivre sans toi. ー
ー I can't live without you. ー

Louvre, Paris 22:17

The fireworks show over the Eiffel Tower unfolded beautifully in the night. Music was in the air and the crowds cheered. All the people of France had a reason to be happy on this dayーall except him.

Bastien Lebeau took another swig from his bottle of expensive alcohol, sitting all by himself at the quieter banks of the Seine and looking at the distant happiness with envy. One and a half years ago, he had been a proud, athletic member of the Gendarmerie Maritime. Now, he was nothing but a messy, lean alcoholic with a paralyzed right arm that hung limply from his shoulder. One look and anyone would easily mistake him as a homeless man.

After the accident that had cost him his right arm, everything had looked horribly scary. He gave up his dreams and quit his job, hoping that he could get some peace of mind, but what awaited him was just further despair. Normally residing in Toulon, he thought that visiting Paris tonight and squandering some money might brighten up his mood a little, but it seemed that he had been wrong on that as well.

Bastien frowned in annoyance when he realized that his bottle was empty. He sighed, putting it down on the ground next to him and hunching over his knees, wondering what he was supposed to do with his life. The black waters of the Seine flowed quietly in front of him, beckoning sweetly. For a moment, he considered just throwing himself in. But then, a distant voice caught his attention.

"Sauvez-moi! (Save me!)"

The voice was so distant that Bastien thought that he had imagined it. Maybe he had finally lost it, and it was the voice of his tortured soul speaking to him in his mind...

"Quelqu'un! S'IL VOUS PLAÎT! (Somebody! PLEASE!)" The voice was heard again, shouting desperately between coughs.

It awoke the last remnants of the coast guard inside him and Bastien straightened up, alert, looking around quickly to pinpoint where the voice was coming from. Looking into the river, he spotted a drowning blond man, fighting hard to stay afloat and screaming for his life as the waters washed over him and dragged him further downstream.

Bastien looked around frantically. Everyone had gathered near the Eiffel and there was no one here as far as he could see. He looked at his paralyzed arm and back at the man. Was he supposed to jump in there like this? How was he going to do this?

"Sauvez-moi! (Save me!)" The man in the river shouted again with the last of his strength.

Having no choice, Bastien quickly kicked off his shoes and ran towards the river, jumping in.

Evan thought that he wasn't going to make it.

They had very kindly tied his arms behind his back when they threw him into the Seine, so he couldn't use them to latch onto anything. His legs being bound tightly didn't help either. Evan tried keeping his face afloat by holding his breath, but the river's waves would keep washing over him and tossing him. He could only keep it up for so long before he got exhausted. His last option was to scream for help, hoping that somebody, anybody, would hear him.

But this area being a quiet one, no one answered his pleas no matter how hard he shouted. His hopeless voice died down as he sank below the surface. Holding onto the last bit of air in his lungs, Evan could only hope that Giorgio had successfully gotten away. If only he had been a better agent...

'Giorgio, please be safe...'

It was then that he felt something grip tightly around his waist. He opened his eyes. An arm? Someone had heard him!

Whoever that was dragged him with much difficulty back to the surface. Emerging from the water, they both coughed, sucking in plenty of air. The man carried Evan along to the riverbank, climbing up and then pulling Evan out of the water, dropping down next to him. They laid next to each other for a moment, coughing and panting.

Evan cracked open an eye, trying to look at his savior. This man... He looked quite lean and messy, but could it be...?

"Bastien...?" Evan asked with disbelief.

Bastien perked, eyes widening when he saw Evan as well.

"Evan?!"

Hotel, Louvre, Paris 23:41

After Evan's rescue, they had searched the Seine a little, as Evan said that 'another person' might have fallen into the river. But Evan found neither Giorgio nor Anaïs and her men anywhere in sight. Bastien quickly reported the fallen person case to the local police, and the police had started searching for them.

Evan hoped that they would find Giorgio alive instead of dead. Bastien thought that he couldn't just leave his friend wet and shivering there, so he offered to let him stay at his hotel room to settle down.

At the hotel, Evan had finished cleaning up first, so while Bastien took his shower, he sat at the couch, trying to contact Giorgio, waiting for the police search party to call him back. Good thing that the VSSE's upgraded phones were waterproof and could stand a beating.

But even as time wore on, Giorgio didn't reply at all, and Evan feared for the worst. When Bastien came out of the bathroom, Evan was in the middle of putting his shoes back on.

"Ev, where are you going?" He asked hurriedly.

"Back to the river. If I help out with the search, maybe we'll find my friend! I'll dive back in and look!" He said, rushing towards the door in panic. Bastien grabbed him by the arm, alarmed.

"Evan, _non_! What if you ran into the people who tried to drown you again?!"

"But... My friend...!"

"EVAN!" Bastien yelled, turning Evan towards him and gripping him by the shoulders tightly. "He's gone! He's gone, alright? If you search for him now, you'll only get yourself killed!"

"..."

It was hard to accept, but Bastien's words felt like reality had finally come to stab him in the heart. The realization hitting him, Evan broke down into tears, crying into Bastien's shoulder.

"No... It can't end like this...! Why...," he sobbed, "I was so useless!"

"...," Bastien stayed silent, feeling a little guilty. He led Evan to sit down at the edge of the bed, waiting for him to calm down. Evan remembered crying until he passed out of exhaustion.

The next morning 9:07

It was a sunny morning. The festivities of the previous day were over and the streets of Paris had gone back to being busy and bustling, people ready for work with a refreshed spirit.

In Bastien's hotel, Evan laid in the single bed, staring up at the ceiling quietly. His thoughts were clearer now that he had given himself some rest. Glancing to the couch, he saw Bastien still asleep there. He felt a little bad that he was the one using the bed although he was the guest. Looking around the room, Evan saw enough empty bottles of alcohol and wine to make him want to immediately send his friend to the hospital. Bastien himself looked dangerously thin.

Just yesterday, Evan would have been thrilled to see his friend, maybe ask him how he was doing and cheer him up. But after everything that had happened, he was barely in any shape to do that. Right now, the only things that mattered in his mind were his mission and whether or not Giorgio was still alive.

He reached out to his phone on the bedside table and checked it. No message or missed call from Giorgio. His hopes that Giorgio was still alive diminished even more. The police hadn't found his body either.

'Maybe he's just caught in something and can't talk...,' Evan tried to convince himself. But without Giorgio around, he felt as though he was gripped by a new fear.

No one was there to watch his back now. No one would be there to point him in the right direction. No one would fish him out of the next trouble... His safety net was gone.

Having worked two years as a VSSE agent, Evan thought that he could take care of things by himself now. But with Giorgio taken out of the picture, he suddenly realized just how much he still depended on him. He felt like a lost little child who had been separated from his parent, left to fend for himself in the wild. He suddenly lost all his confidence of being able to do anything.

'Don't panic...,' he tried to make himself think.

Last night's mission was a complete failure. Everything felt horrible. Evan scrolled through the contacts list in his phone, planning to contact Xavier at the Toulon Navy HQ to report his situation. He found the number, his finger hovering just over the call button, but then he suddenly stopped. Flashes of the previous night came back to him.

Anaïs knew him by name back at the bridge, and she behaved as though she had been prepared for everything. It was as if someone had informed her the full details about him and Giorgio. Seeing that only a few people knew that the two of them were even there, was there the possibility of a mole in the navy or the VSSE? If there was, it would make sense that Gauthier could find their hidden submarines so easily.

Bastien stirred on the couch. Evan looked there to see his friend trying hard to sit up with a groan, letting himself lean against his knees as he rubbed at his temples. Evan pulled himself into a sitting position, propping himself up against the pillows.

"Morning," he greeted, "You okay?"

"Yeah... Just a little... hangover," Bastien replied, standing up and going into the bathroom. Evan heard the tap being turned on.

"No answer from your friend?" Bastien asked, washing his face.

"...Non," Evan said sadly, his fingers curling tightly around his phone. He felt a heavy weight in his chest. Bastien came back out with a face towel, sitting back down at the couch and looking at Evan.

"Then maybe we should go back to the river and ask the police how the search is going. I'll come with you," he said, "But first, I think you owe me some explanation. Tell me who dared to do such a horrible thing to you last nightーI'll punch their faces in!"

"...," Evan looked at him with uncertainty, remembering how his mission was confidential. "Bastien, thanks but sorry, it's... It's just a little scuffle. I'll get it sorted out. Nothing big, so you don't have to get involvedー"

"And you expect me to believe that? They tied you up and you could have died! I know that we haven't talked for a while, but I still care about you," Bastien replied, "Are we not friends anymore?"

"Bastien, for the last time, I can't!" Evan insisted, "This is different. And it's not because I don't trust you or anything. Laisse tomber! (Forget it!)"

"Evan...!" Bastien glared at him, more of from being worried than angry.

Evan made a gesture of zipping his mouth, folding his arms and before looking away with a pout. Bastien sighed.

"Why won't you tell me? It's not like you're on a top secret mission or something! You're just a construction worker for God's sake!" Bastien rolled his eyes.

Evan twitched a little at how close his friend got. Everything about his job was supposed to be kept hidden, for his own good and others' own good. He hoped that Bastien wouldn't pry... Nevertheless, his friend continued to push his luck.

"Okay, you know what, I get it that you can't tell me anything, but I'm still intent on helping you," Bastien said, "Just tell me the bare minimum and I'll make do with that."

Evan turned around and frowned at him, "Why are you so persistent?"

"Because we promised to help each other out when we graduated navy school together, remember?"

"...," Evan wanted to argue back, but then he remembered how loyal, or maybe 'stubborn' was the right word, Bastien was.

"You're getting yourself into something crazy...," Evan warned.

"We've done lots of crazy things together while you were around."

"..."

Bastien was certainly not backing down. Then again, Evan thought back on how he couldn't trust the navy nor the VSSE right now, the possibility of a traitor being in the ranks and all. On the other hand, Bastien had the skills as an ex-naval officer and he was certainly clean. If he was going to fight alone, he might as well use some extra hands. He most certainly shouldn't be spilling classified information to civilians, but well, he guessed that this was a special case.

"D'accord (Okay), if you promise that you won't ask too many questions and that you won't tell anyone about this, I'll let you in a little. So... promise?" Evan asked, shifting over so that he was sitting at the edge of his bed.

"I swear on my entire existence. My lips are sealed," Bastien said. Evan nodded, glancing around before leaning in and saying in a hushed voice.

"We're in the middle of fighting a terrorist attack..."

At that, Bastien almost got a heart attack.

"QUOI?! (WHAT?!)" he said in disbelief. Evan's face didn't look like he just was messing with him, though. Seeing that he was dead serious, Bastien asked for an explanation.

"What's it even about?!"

"Pirates trying to steal our naval weapons and ships. They had their hands on our two SSBNs right now. I was fighting them with my friend earlier, but I guess I'm on my own now. I think that there might be a mole in the navy."

Bastien stiffened, looking at the giant hurdle of difficult tasks that Evan had just piled up in front him. Evan certainly noticed his unease.

"How did you even get into this mess?" Bastien asked.

"Just an unfortunate construction worker seeing something that he shouldn't have," Evan said, evading the true answer, "But I have to stop them at all costs."

He glanced worriedly at Bastien's paralyzed arm before looking back up a him. "It's probably more dangerous than you think. Losing an arm's bad enoughーhelping me might cause you to lose more. This is your last chance to back down," he said earnestly.

Bastien hesitated a little. His right shoulder ached, the trauma of being hurt during a mission coming back to him. He thought that when he had quit the coast guard, he wouldn't have to ever deal with such horrible situations anymore, but he found that he couldn't just leave a friend in trouble all by himself. So he steeled himself and replied.

"Je m'en fous! (I don't care!) I'd rather jump into the fire with you than watch you die alone pretending I didn't know shit!"

Evan took a deep breath, unsure whether he should feel thankful now that he had an ally, or if he should be worried about the sudden responsibility that had just been put onto his shoulders.

"Well... Alright. Thank you," Evan said, straightening up. He promised himself to make sure that Bastien stayed safe and alive throughout the mission. He can do this... Time to make Giorgio proud.

"I have a plan, but I might need some technological help...," Evan continued, "I don't suppose you're hacking-level good with computers and stuff...?"

"Well, no...," Bastien said in dismay, but then he looked up at Evan confidently again. "I know someone who does, though. And I'm sure you can count on her."

"...?" Evan lifted an eyebrow, "Who?"

"Désirée."