Black, White, and Cigarette Smoke

by Xerxies19

Seifer Almasy and Hayner Corneo live a life of deception and violence on two sides of a line. As a detective tasked with helping the son of the mob boss gather evidence to bring the crime ring down, Seifer learns the line can be blurred. Seiner. Slash.

4. Checkmate

A/N 1: Just to remind everyone, this work is rated mature for a reason. The following chapter in particular has a few scenes that could be accurately described as graphic and/or disturbing. If you are bothered by not unreasonable levels of violence and gore I don't know how you made it this far into the story but you may want to consider the back button.

---

It took them three hours to find where they were keeping Hayner, even with Ultima's help narrowing it down to a five hundred foot area. They had him in the basement of one of the many buildings that had been abandoned in the area, which was notorious for mafia and gang activity. Most people had either moved out or gotten pushed out by the crime family that ran the place, which gave Seifer a good idea of just who had taken his charge. As they crept into the poorly-lit basement he could hear voices talking.

"Don't think there's much left we can break on the fucker. Still won't tell us Daddy's smuggling routes, contacts, or bank account numbers. Should just kill the kid, he's no good to us if he won't talk. Can't break his fingers 'cause we need him to be able to draw on the map. Guess I could anyways, 'fore I shoot him, might be funny."

"Do whatever you want, pretty sure he's shut up like a steel trap. 'Least it'll teach the Don not to fuck with our drug routes. Too bad little Corneo doesn't scream as much as I expected him to, kind of ruining it for me."

The mercenary duo moved in tandem without his signal, darting forward and landing two devastating punches to the people in the next room, the sound of skulls shattering and limp bodies hitting the floor assailing Seifer's ears as he tried to control his rage. Ultima knew exactly where the brown-eyed teen was at this proximity, and before the detective knew it his legs were moving in that direction. He found Hayner secured to a metal chair by zipties, covered in his own blood and just barely conscious enough to respond as the older man melted them and broke them off.

"'ifer?" He choked out, weakly wrapping his left arm around his savior and wincing slightly as the other gently embraced him. There were cuts all along his torso and legs, his shirt probably only staying together because it was held on by blood, he'd struggled against the zipties enough that his wrists were sliced open. He carefully lifted the younger man up out of the chair, one arm tucked under his legs and the other around his shoulders. Several of his ribs were broken, both of his lower legs and right arm were broken, and by the looks of it his right arm had also been dislocated. There were trails of blood out of his mouth, either from the deep cut on his cheek or internal bleeding. His neck was badly bruised. Seifer'd seen people worse off, of course, but they were never still breathing at that point.

"Hey, aren't you the dirty cop the strike team mentioned they left alive? Kind of surprised you came after the little bitch. You want a job, buddy? We could use someone as determined as you," a voice came from the next room over, the person emerging had blood on his hands and clothes. Hayner gripped the detective's shirt tightly, body going rigid with terror. Cloud and Zack appeared from the other side and moved to surround the pair, both men's faces stony.

"You're the one that did this to him, aren't you?" The man slowly being covered in his companion's blood asked, feeling the Espers on his chest rage against the confines of their artifacts, mind surging with their violent consciousnesses.

"Well one of the others helped, but mostly it was me. Fucker doesn't talk much-"

Seifer lost it, unable to fight the summons and no longer wanting to. They burst into the real world hot with indignant fury, and he only needed to give them one order.

"Destroy."

They knew that Hayner, Cloud and Zack were allies, feeding off his thoughts and emotions made sure they only took out the people he wanted dead. Which at this point was everyone else in the area who they decided were related to the torture of his charge, or even knew the people involved. He didn't care anymore, his own anger was mixed with that of the monsters he'd unleashed and combined the emotions were enough to turn his vision red and make his knees weak. The man who'd spoken to him was literally torn in half by Zodiark, though the beast's body remained immaculate under the spray of blood, ever untouched by humans.

At some point one of the others had taken Hayner from his arms and someone was holding him upright while his sight faded. He fought valiantly to stay conscious against the onslaught of two far superior minds warring within his own, but he knew he was slipping. As the Espers formed a barrier around them and lifted them out of the crumbling building, Ultima turned to face him, her bluish hand reaching out to grab his head. His entire being was suddenly filled with magic, healing power running through him and to Hayner like electricity along a wire. Somewhere in the part of his mind that wasn't being torn apart and reassembled, she explained that they broke her new toy and that it was utterly unacceptable, so she was fixing him.

Seifer collapsed as the barrier they were in touched down in the street outside what was once a building, the Scions he commanded circling the area once before dissipating into the gems on his chest. As they finally quieted in his mind, he blacked out.

---

He had mixed and strange dreams as his mind recovered from the overload of summoning. At one point he relived the scene in the basement, just this time Hayner was dead. The friend he'd lost in the only operation he'd ever failed emerged from the shadows, eyes empty, and behind him, Seifer's parents. One by one every thug he'd killed walked out of the corner to stare at him. No one accused him of anything, they just stood and stared, over two dozen people he'd killed or watched die. Many more appeared as shadows, as he'd never seen their faces before he ended their lives. Suddenly the scene shifted and they all opened their mouths in a silent scream and seemed to be sucked into Hayner, and the previously dead teen took a first gasping breath.

Somewhere later in dream-time he watched as Ultima cradled the brown-eyed boy, who seemed to be sleeping peacefully. She stroked his face as a mother would, then beckoned the detective over. He watched himself move towards her from a vantage point somewhere away from both his own body and them. The Scion pulled him up onto her skirts where his companion lay, and they curled up together and slept as she pet their hair gently. Then the female Esper looked directly at him, the him that was watching, and gestured to the bodies in her lap meaningfully. As she spoke there was no sound, but he could read her lips.

"What could be."

The image dissolved and he was standing at his own funeral, Hayner smoking under a tree away from the other attendees. As the service passed Seifer couldn't help but watch the other man as he stared blankly at the coffin, hands shaking slightly as he chain smoked. The scene shifted and everyone but Hayner had left, the sandy-blond now standing on the fresh mound and staring at the headstone. He trailed his hand along the fairly plain slab, pulling off a necklace that looked vaguely like the one that held Ultima and Zodiark's summon materia and kneeling to place it on the ground. He slowly pulled out his .45, put it to his temple, and pulled the trigger. The dream world shattered.

---

Seifer woke slowly, head pounding. He was on his side with his arms wrapped around Hayner, the smaller man curled against him, head pillowed on one arm. They seemed to be in the detective's room at the suite, though how the fuck they ended up there was a mystery to him. His companion seemed to be fully healed, though deep in sleep, his arms also wound around the other's abdomen.

The older man was completely aware he always cuddled things in his sleep, he'd woken up several times snuggled up to his massive cat, who seemed to enjoy the attention no matter how unintentional. He wasn't really sure why, and didn't care to sit down with a psychologist ever, so he'd probably never know. His companion, however, probably only did it because he was used to sleeping with his bed partner of a few years. It was vaguely unsettling merely being a replacement for his lover, even if the other man didn't mean to imply that.

It suddenly struck him that the last time he saw Hayner, the teen was covered in his own blood and his clothes were cut up beyond recognition, yet now he was wearing a clean undershirt and boxers, and so was Seifer for that matter. Which meant someone had changed them out of their clothes and cleaned them off, leading him to believe Cloud and Zack didn't leave after he passed out. Sure enough, the blond mercenary walked in to check on them, eyebrows raising slightly as he noticed that the detective was awake.

"It's been four days. He woke up once, and fell back asleep almost immediately. We've been watching, for a while it looked like you might have fallen into a coma, but you reacted when we shook you, so we figured you'd probably come out of it soon," the older man explained simply, reading the unasked question in the other's eyes.

"I assume you changed our clothes?"

"And washed you off. Couldn't leave you covered in blood. Ultima seems to have healed all of Hayner's wounds, but he's sporting a few fresh scars. She also insisted on explaining to me how she put together his shattered wrist and right tibia," he added, tapping the earring in his right ear meaningfully, the red materia glowing faintly.

"Cloud, tell me honestly, did I..." Seifer trailed off, absently following the faint pink scar on the teen's cheek with his eyes.

"Fuck up? I don't think so. You almost died though. I suppose I neglected to mention, they shot you in the back when they took him. If we hadn't been just a few minutes' drive away you probably wouldn't have made it. Maybe Ultima would've saved you, but we can never be sure, she's kind of a cold bitch. Either way, sometimes shit happens and there's not a damn thing you can do about it. Hayner's alive and safe, so in the end I don't think you failed."

"Have you called Tseng and told him what happened?"

"I believe he deduced something happened when you leveled several buildings."

"...Right. You're...a lot more talkative than I've ever seen you, in fact I'm fairly certain that you've said more words to me in the past five minutes than you have in the years I've known you."

"Zack has...reminded me why I continue to live. Thinking he was probably dead for all this time, because of me," he paused, lips thinning slightly as he turned the words over in his mind before trying them on his tongue, "I gave up on the idea of being able to protect anything, I caused the man I loved to die. So the less I involved myself with people, the fewer people I'd feel I had to protect, the fewer people I'd let down."

"But now you know he was alive, and your drive to find him rescued him. If you hadn't been looking, Hayner never would have known."

"In the end though, it was Hayner who located and freed him. And for that, I will owe him everything each and every day I wake up next to Zack."

"I doubt he feels the same. To him it was just something he was supposed to do, maybe something to make him feel better about what he is."

"And what is he, Seifer?"

"A hero trapped in the life of a cold-blooded killer. The opposite of me, basically."

"If you were nothing but a killer playing at hero, Ultima and Zodiark would have destroyed you the first time you tried to wear their artifacts. You forget, Seifer, just how long I've been joined with them...Espers are unable to stay their tongues. I know what you've done."

"I suppose it's hard to avoid something that makes its home in your mind. You don't seem bothered."

"I've killed more than you, Seifer, and for less reason. To protect myself, to protect the people I've cared about...and occasionally just because they stood in my way. To judge you for doing the same would be incredibly hypocritical."

Hayner shifted slightly in his arms, mumbling something about noise before his eyelashes fluttered and he opened his eyes.

"You asshole. You are never allowed to lose consciousness for more than a day at a time, got it? Thought you'd never wake up," the younger man snapped, shoving at his chest weakly.

"I'm sorry, Hayner."

He wasn't talking about his four day nap, and he knew Hayner understood by the tired look the other gave him. The teen turned to look at Cloud, eyes calculating.

"Not your fault, Seifer. It's fine, I forgive you. Not exactly the first time something like this has happened. In fact, last time it was worse, almost didn't wake up at all."

The difficult thing about speaking entirely in double entendres is that one can't spend too long thinking of a reply without the person supposed to be left out of the loop getting suspicious. Seifer was good at improvising though, learned hard and fast on the streets when he needed to make contact with buyers in high-traffic areas.

"I promise you it won't happen again."

"Promises are hard to keep, Seifer," the other sighed, rolling over and sitting up, letting his legs dangle over the edge of the bed. His back was hunched and he was relaxed in an unnatural way, like he was just too tired to be tense. Impossibly blue eyes flicked between the two, the mercenary clearly confused as to Hayner's listless tone. He wondered if Ultima would tell Cloud what they were actually talking about, or if she had enough respect for the younger man to keep her traitorous mouth shut.

"You should probably rest a little longer, both of you. Don't do too much or you'll collapse. We're not leaving just yet, so let us know if you need something done."

"You don't owe us anything, Cloud. We'll be fine-" the youngest of them began quietly.

"Neither of you are in a condition to defend yourselves, we're staying until you are. We're hired fighters, Hayner, and as far as I'm concerned, owe you a rather large sum to be paid back," Zack interrupted as he walked in, most likely drawn by the sound of them talking.

"You really don't have-"

"We want to, so just accept it. How are you two feeling, by the way?" The raven-haired man changed the subject abruptly.

"Like I haven't moved in four days and two demigods fucked around in my brain for a while," the detective replied with a shrug. He was stiff, sore, had a headache and wasn't entirely sure what month it was, but he'd be fine.

"How have you been since I last saw you, Zack?" The sandy-blond diverted rather sloppily. He couldn't have been operating on all cylinders if he thought he could pull off such an obvious evasion.

"I'm just fine, and that is not the appropriate answer to my question. Try again kiddo," Zack answered, walking over to loom over the smaller man, arms crossed on his chest. Or loom as best as Zack Fair could, since he didn't seem able to wipe the small smile off his face.

"I'm not a child, why does fucking everyone insist on calling me kiddo?"

The eldest of them shook his head before flicking Hayner in the forehead, "Still not an answer."

Hayner glowered, but relented, "Other than a few phantom aches and some new scars, I'm fine."

"That's really good considering you were pretty much dead when we finally got to you. Roxas wanted to talk to you, by the way. You should probably call him now that you're awake. I think Spike and Seifer had something more to talk about," Zack said with a knowing glance at Cloud, grabbing the brown-eyed man on the bed by the arm and dragging him off into the next room.

The mako-enhanced ex-soldier watched them go, then waited a few beats for some unknown signal, then turned back to Seifer and walked closer to the bed. The set of his jaw was hard and serious.

"Ultima used you as a magic channel to heal Hayner. You know why, don't you?"

"I have a feeling you're going to tell me he's my final tier match, so by channeling her power through me it would alter the affinities to something that would be more beneficial."

"Correct. There is no one else out there like Hayner. Don't lose him, don't let him go."

"I wasn't planning on it. I'm supposed to protect him, after all."

"Don't just be his knight, Seifer. Be his comrade, work as partners. Hayner's strong, probably more so than you really understand. If you do nothing but protect him from everything and don't let him take a few hits for you as well, you'll end up dead, and he'll be left to deal with it."

Sometimes it was hard to believe Cloud was merely twenty-five, two years older than Seifer himself. The detective didn't know the particulars, but he knew the mercenary had lived a rough, violent life, even more so than most of them. As a result, he seemed at least a decade older than he was, even after he was reminded how to smile by his lover.

"Thanks for the advice. We should probably go find Hayner before Roxas starts screaming at him."

They walked into the main room, only to find the other detective was already screaming into his phone at the sandy-blond. Hayner was valiantly trying to respond to his friend as he held the phone at arm's length. Zack seemed vaguely horrified that someone could be so damn loud over the phone. Sensing his companion needed rescuing, the scarred blond walked over and snatched the device out of his hand.

"Roxas, seriously, shut the fuck up," he said when the younger cop had paused for a breath. There was a moment of silence, in which he registered he was no longer speaking to Hayner, speaking in a much lower voice so he wouldn't be overheard by whoever might be listening.

"Seifer, what the fuck happened? You let Hayner get fucking kidnapped and tortured, how the hell are you so fucking incompetent? You leveled half a fucking city block too, it's your job to be subtle!" Another pause, "Did you at least get back at the guys who did this to him?"

"As best I know how," he returned, knowing the other would understand that meant that no one responsible had been left in one piece.

"Are you both okay? Be honest with me, dumbass, there's no way I could lose any respect for you, since I have none to begin with," he snapped, which was his way of saying he was worried.

"Just fine," and that was a lie, because he knew neither of them were really fine in any sense of the word, but it would be impossible to explain to Roxas exactly how damaged they were.

"You're lying. But whatever, just make sure you both survive. For whatever reason he likes you, I don't want to have to deal with him if he lost you too."

Too? Of course the spiky-haired Turk probably knew every detail of his friend's life, including the people he'd lost. And no one cared to inform Seifer of any of this.

"I'll do my best. That all you wanted to say?"

"Do better than your best, your best isn't fucking good enough. Give me back to Hayner, I won't shout this time."

He handed the phone back, ignoring the searching look the teen gave him in favor of walking across the rooms and into the other's sleeping area. Picking up the pack of cigarettes he found there, he returned. Just as Hayner started fumbling for pockets that didn't exist and glancing at the tables, the detective strode over and handed the pack to him. The look of sheer gratitude in the other's eyes was well worth the effort, and so was his expression when he realized he didn't have a lighter. Feeling magnanimous, the magic-user lit the cigarette himself. The conversation passed quickly, then he shut his phone.

"Sorry for anything he might have said, Seifer, he was just pissed."

"No big deal, I'm used to dealing with the pissy little shit. I think that's why you two get along so well, you're both so angry all of the time."

He rolled his eyes, quirking a smile, then looked to the others in the room, "So, think you guys are up to taking down a team of twenty or so highly trained guards sitting on top of an armory?"

Cloud seemed to be calculating, but Zack just grinned and looked at his partner. The spiky-haired blond shrugged and nodded.

"Sounds like something our speed. So long as you guys are willing to pull your own weight. We can't protect you and take down that many guys at the same time."

"We'll do our part, I had no intention of becoming any more of a burden," the youngest answered, dark eyes sharp. Seifer would have been eager to see him fight someone better than a random street thug if he wasn't so worried about the sandy-blond man getting hurt.

"When do we need to do this?" Cloud prodded.

"Today if possible."

"No way in hell, Hayner. You need to-"

"What do I need to do, Seifer? We've lost enough time as it is. I'm fit to fight, and we need to move before their paranoia grows. That's what's different about Corneo's men, once a threat has been identified, if it's not seen for a while, rather than relaxing they just grow even more on edge. Wait much longer and they'll start shooting at their own shadows, we wouldn't be able to trick them into letting us get close."

"He makes a good point," Cloud weighed in unhelpfully, ignoring the glare the detective shot him. Hard brown eyes met ice blue ones, wills warring silently between them. Ultima's tendrils of thought sifted through his consciousness, whispering to let Hayner win. When he refused, she sent a spike of pain through his brain so violent he was on his knees before he even registered them giving beneath him.

"Seifer?" The other asked sharply, suddenly kneeling next to him.

"Ultima's trying to persuade him to your side with force, the meddling bitch. He'll be fine, so long as he relents," the younger mercenary explained from somewhere to his right.

A cool hand was pressed against the side of his face and the pain ebbed as he mentally agreed to the Scion's demands. Once he could actually see through the pain he realized Hayner's face was inches from his, eyes worried and searching.

"Your eyes turned white, it was freaky," the younger said by way of explanation as he sat back to give the other space, hand drawing away.

"Yeah, they do that sometimes," he deadpanned, standing and giving the smaller man a hand up.

"So I guess you have to go along with it? I'm sorry, that's not really what I had intended," he apologized genuinely.

"It's fine, whatever. Just don't get yourself shot this time."

He put his misgivings aside, knowing he couldn't make an argument lest he incur the wrath of the notoriously testy Esper. Maybe, for once in his life, something could actually go off without anyone getting their blood all over the ground. He wasn't holding his breath.

---

Cloud and Zack, complete with massive swords, had taken the point once the fight started, the other two retreating behind the cover of a vehicle near the building to pick off a few of the enemies at a time. It was becoming increasingly obvious there were more than the original estimate. The mercenaries' protect spells were stopping the bullets for now, but even Hayner knew the spell had a tendency to fail at exactly the most inopportune time. He fired a few more shots around the cover, taking down another guard.

"We're not making any ground, I'm going to have to start using magic. Their armor is making it nearly impossible to get a good kill shot, but it won't protect them against fire or lightning. I'm gonna need you to cover me, though, I can't really do much else while reciting spells, it takes a hell of a lot of concentration to pull off the ones that cover greater area. You've got my back, right?" Seifer asked, cold eyes watching him, measuring, trusting.

He remembered what Luxord had said to him about the other's partner issues, the amount of faith the detective had in him was frightening. He'd trust Hayner to cover him when he'd never let anyone else do so? Unable to count on his voice to keep his shock at the simple request hidden, he nodded solemnly and went back to shooting anyone who came close. A shot into a man's neck disabled him and he fell, just as the teen dove back down to avoid oncoming fire and switch to a fresh clip.

Fireballs engulfed another three guards, the acrid smell of burning flesh assaulting his nostrils as he spared his partner a glance. The older man's eyes were only half open but still glowed with the mana coursing through his body, his lips constantly moving through the syllables of the spell. Watching his lips form around the foreign words incessantly would have been erotic if he wasn't being shot at; as it was the motions were just terribly distracting.

A man dove over the hood of the car they were hiding behind, turning and almost successfully pinning Hayner to the vehicle before the brown-eyed man kicked him in the crotch and subsequently ripped off his helmet. A bullet between his eyes dropped him, his body twitching for a moment, but the killer's eyes were already watching from the window of the car at the rest of the scene. Lightning crashed down on the remaining figures, creating a shockwave powerful enough to rock the car and explaining why the spell Seifer was working on took so damn long.

They both stood and ran into the building, the mercenaries following close behind. Ten minutes of rooting around and they finally found what they were looking for, the sandy-blond tucking the discs into a large coat pocket. Two pairs of feet came barreling down the short set of stairs into the armory, someone shouting something and the distinct noise of a gun being fired simultaneously were all Hayner registered before he felt someone slide right up against his back. The bullet hit the floor with a metallic ting as he turned to see what the fuck had just happened. Zack had his Buster Sword in front of him in a guarding position. standing between the entrance and Hayner, and Seifer was holding up his badge with a gun pointed at the cop with a still-smoking gun.

And screaming at the top of his lungs.

"-is my fucking partner and if you ever so much as look at him again I will make you wish for death," and now he had the shorter cop by the throat, lifting the man clear off the floor in a stranglehold, his partner's eyes transfixed on the scene with horror, "You're fucking lucky I'm busy or I would shove that gun so far up your ass you'd never sit right again. By the way, you're supposed to say freeze BEFORE you fucking shoot at someone. You can expect a lengthy probation order crossing your desk before the day is done, if you even get to keep your job."

He was still breathing heavily through his nose and hadn't yet let the choking man down. Walking around the man who'd saved him from a bullet in the back, he went to the detective. Seifer understood physical expressions better than verbal, with this in mind the younger blond wrapped his arms around the taller man's chest from behind, pressed against him comfortingly.

"Put him down, Seifer. I'm fine, he's not worth it."

All the anger the scarred man had ebbed away and he dropped the rookie cop as if the man's skin suddenly burned him. He landed hard on the ground, gasping and clutching at his throat dramatically. The nineteen year-old was completely sure the man beside him wouldn't have killed the cop, for all his fury; the man had a shield and wore blue and that was pretty much the only thing that saved his life, but it was enough.

Breaking the embrace and grabbing his arm, the man with ice-blue eyes started walking towards the exit, Cloud and Zack following on their heels. They moved quickly, Seifer all but dragging him along as they ran back to the Usual Spot, which was the nearest rendezvous they could come up with to wait at while the whole thing blew over. They sat on the concrete once inside, his guardian pulling him to sit between his spread legs and wrapping an arm around Hayner's chest to keep him close. The other still hadn't spoken since his tirade in the armory.

"Thanks for that, Zack," Hayner said to the mercenary belatedly, just remembering that the dark-haired man had saved his life.

"Any time, Hayner," the addressed answered genially, Cloud's head resting on his shoulder.

He relaxed into the man holding him around the chest, ignoring the his strange behavior for the time being; he'd just ask about it later. The officer almost shooting him dead had shaken the detective, where the massive firefight they were in hadn't even caused him to break a sweat. Then suddenly he felt like an idiot, because of course Seifer would be volatile on the subject of Hayner's mortality after recovering him post-torture, he's afraid of losing another friend on the job. And, naturally, because he is an insensitive asshole, the brown-eyed blond forced him to agree to entering another potentially fatal encounter an hour after they woke up.

Turning around in the man's one-armed embrace, he sat on his legs and held Seifer's face steady with both hands, forcing the other to look at him. His pale eyes were confused, the few inches of space between their faces charged.

"Hey. Stop worrying about me. I'm fine, and whatever's going through your head that's got you so riled up didn't happen. Friends don't die on each other, right? Stop beating yourself up over something that didn't even happen, okay?"

He nodded and the smaller man removed his hands and settled back into his previous position nestled against his guardian. Cloud and Zack shared a look, apparently able to communicate via telepathy because they quirked tiny smiles at roughly the same time before shifting their attentions back to the other pair. They waited another twenty minutes before Olette arrived dressed in non-descript street clothes to pick up the evidence. She hugged her old friend and they exchanged a few words before she left, heading back to the station to leave the discs in Tseng's capable hands.

The mercenaries bid their farewells and went back to where they'd stashed their bikes so they could head back to the place they were staying in town, Hayner and Seifer making their way back to their own hotel, apparently satisfied that they were now capable of defending themselves. There was still something in the air between the two blonds as they started walking back to the hotel in silence, but the teen let it slide. If Seifer wanted to talk, he'd talk, and if not, his companion wasn't going to press it.

"It's a grounding technique taught by the military and the police. Hold onto something of meaning to you, be it your friend, your gun, your shield or your tags, and just sit there until the world makes sense again. It's mostly used as a shock-prevention after a traumatic situation."

"So what was so traumatic about that cop shooting at me that wasn't so bad about the thirty or forty other guys shooting at me?"

"One of my own almost murdered someone I cared about right in front of me."

"The worst kind of betrayal," the shorter man mumbled, the picture shifting and slotting into place, explaining exactly what had gotten his friend so damn fucked up over it.

"You really going to get that guy fired? He was probably-"

"Don't. Don't ever make excuses for that. It would have been cold-blooded murder, and if he'd done it to someone out alone without witnesses he would have gotten away with it. It's up to Tseng what happens, but he'll face at least a probation for failure to observe proper procedure. If it was up to be he'd be dead with his throat ripped out by now."

"You're a pretty violent guy, but even when you're pissed with me you won't..." He trailed off, not really sure if he wanted to go there now that the words were half out of his mouth.

"Hit you? If you learn nothing more about me from the time we spend together, remember that I will never, ever lash out in anger at someone I care about. Pinning you to things to get you to fucking listen is about the most physical I will ever get in a situation where I'm angry. I protect people with violence, it's what I do. Being violent to the people I'm sworn to protect is completely ass backwards."

"Almost sounds like you're familiar with domestic abuse, you're pretty serious about the whole no-hitting thing," he prodded, realizing he was truly making a complete asshat of himself today.

"In the line of work, I've dealt with domestic violence cases, but even before that I've never struck someone close to me."

"Sorry, that was just...completely fucking out of line. I'm being an asshole today, aren't I?"

"So I've noticed, but it's fine. You've had a rough week, I forgive you," the older man shrugged.

"Just because we're friends doesn't mean you have to make excuses for me," he returned, pulling out a cigarette. He had just put the tobacco stick to his lips and pulled out his lighter when it lit itself, Seifer smirking.

"Your questions really don't bother me that much. I've got a pretty tough skin, and you are just adorable enough that it's hard to stay mad at you."

He could feel a hot blush spread across his face as he accidentally inhaled smoke too fast and ended up coughing, "I-I am not cute! Why the hell do you say shit like that?"

There was something predatory about his wide smirk, eyes glinting, "Because you react like that. It amuses me to fluster you."

Hayner glared and swore under his breath, the blue-eyed man ruffling his hair just to tick him off further. He liked it though, the way they shifted easily back into companionship. He'd miss this.

"You did a good job back there. For someone used to working alone, you're good at covering someone."

"Well I have a personal investment," he retorted, brushing off the compliment.

"You sure you're okay? It's...not normal to just bounce back after that kind of brutality. Be honest with me, Hayner," he asked, watching the other in the shadow of the alley they were walking through, brows furrowed enough to twist the scar between his eyes.

"I think your Esper fucked with my head. I remember it, but it seems...distant. Like it happened years ago. I...I'll handle it. You're not exactly a licensed therapist."

"Zexion told me. What you did for him, and how the Don reacted."

His heart stuttered in his chest and he froze, Seifer stopping next to him, blue eyes sharp. Fuck, no one was supposed to know that, much less someone who could use it against him like the other man could.

"You're asking if that was worse? Yeah. My own father drove a knife into my chest, didn't miss my heart by much. I was honestly disappointed when I woke up from the coma. These guys, at least they weren't related to me."

Anger and sorrow mixed in Seifer's expression as his right hand twitched slightly, most likely itching to rip the Don's throat out, if the younger man knew his guardian. It was really too bad violence wasn't the answer this one time, he'd much like to see Corneo torn to pieces by his own son's knight. But unfortunately, the situation called for a more subtle form of justice.

"Had you met Jack at that point, or was that later?" The detective's voice had gone soft, he knew he was treading on thin ice.

He'd probably figure it out sooner or later anyways, "He was waiting for me when I woke up. Jack was a good friend turned bodyguard. Joined the mob to support himself, he'd been living on the streets for a few years. Was a year and a half older than me."

"When did you start dating?"

"So you did put it all together. Not long after that. A few days before my seventeenth birthday. He was killed two weeks after our two year anniversary. So, about five months ago."

He felt defeated, tired. Hayner didn't want to talk about this ever, with anyone. But it wouldn't be long before the mission came to an end, so he might as well tell someone the truth. On some level, Seifer deserved to know.

"I told him to leave the mob, to run away and disappear. Over and over, but he always refused. He stayed with the organization so he could be close to me. His brother ratted him out in exchange for drugs, he was terminated for being gay, right in front of me. And I'm such a fucking coward I just let him bleed out on the ground, couldn't tell him I loved him...Just to save my own goddamn life, I knew they'd kill me too if I did. He was only there because he loved me, and I couldn't...He died for me, and I was too damn selfish to die there with him."

His face was wet and he felt like such a fucking moron for crying over this again. The older blond pulled him into a tight embrace, one hand going up to tangle in the hair at the back of his head. He returned it, he knew he didn't deserve to be comforted over this, but he wanted it. Fuck, he hated being this weak. Burying his face in the other's shoulder, he just stood there and let the man's warmth seep into him. For the moment the scarred man didn't speak, though there was that air about him like he had a lot of things to say.

After about ten minutes of this he let go and made to back away, but Seifer held him firmly at arm's length, as if afraid he was going to bolt. Which was exactly what he was planning on.

"As much as you won't believe me, your boyfriend's death wasn't your fault. He chose to stay. He would have wanted you to live, and I doubt he ever questioned that you loved him, even if you didn't say so in his last moments. The only people who are at fault are the ones who pulled the trigger, and if memory serves, you killed them. You don't have to let go yet, but stop beating yourself up over something that you couldn't have changed. Cloud did that for years and it got to the point where he almost offed himself over it."

He looked away, knowing it was a stupid idea but unable to stop his reply of "So? What if I did?"

It was hardly shocking when he was grabbed by the front of his shirt and yanked into Seifer's personal space, but the hot rage burning in the man's eyes was. The detective looked like he wanted to throttle the life out of him.

"You know how bad it hurt when Jack died? How bad it still hurts? Think of doing that to the people who know you. If you give a damn about any of your friends don't you dare even think about it. Don't do that to Roxas, Pence, Olette, Reno, Axel, Zexion, Demyx, Tseng...Don't do that to me," he ended quietly, both his expression and overall body language genuinely, heartbreakingly sad. Well fuck, if he hadn't cocked things up badly enough yet, he supposed he had now.

"Sorry, Seifer. I didn't mean-"

"Yeah, you did. You're the shittiest actor ever, but still...I know it hurts, and it feels like you're better off dead so you can't keep hurting others, but you need to live, Hayner. It may not seem like it, but the pain gets better after time. Forgive yourself, and live the life Jack would have wanted you to have. I'm willing to bet he wanted to steal you away from the mob as well, right?"

"He did. It was one of the things he was planning on doing, once he got wind of the scheme I was working with Tseng on. Figured we could escape in the ensuing chaos," he laughed bitterly, feeling more tears pricking at the back of his eyes.

"I'll finish the job for him, then. Come on Hayner, let's head back before someone notices we're gone," he said resolutely, pulling his companion along by the wrist he had a strong grip on. It was clear the normally serious detective was being intentionally upbeat, and as patronizing as the effort was, it was appreciated.

"You act like you know what it's like, to lose someone and blame yourself for it. Just because of Cloud, or...?" He was curious, and if he'd given everything up like that, he deserved something in return.

"When I started out trafficking magical artifacts, I wasn't working alone. I didn't drag Fuu or Rai into it, of course. It wasn't safe for them and I wasn't going to take them down with me. I worked with a girl named Yuffie for a while, before she ran off to parts unknown, and after that I worked with a guy who insisted I call him 'Shadow', which was pretty much the most asinine thing I'd ever heard. We ran together for three months before I fucked up on the intel and we ended up in way more shit than we expected. He died, I ran. Never even knew his real name."

The cold, factual way he expressed the story was telling enough of how much he still regretted what happened. His eyes were distant, and when he finally looked back to his partner, he seemed braced for some kind of judgment.

"I'm sorry, I don't...Most people die in that profession, it wasn't entirely your fault," it didn't escape his notice that he was so quick to forgive the blue-eyed man for something he couldn't forgive himself for. Double standards were easy to fall back on.

"I learned to forgive myself a long time ago, just because I knew I couldn't keep wasting the life I had by living in the past."

But you weren't in love with the man you ended up getting killed, Hayner thought to himself, though he outwardly projected thoughtfulness, as if he was really mulling over the information. By the time he let the mask fall they were back at the hotel. They went to their separate rooms, though Seifer did give him a warning about the dire consequences of leaving this time. He went to continue his report and contact Tseng to make sure he received the data, and Hayner went into his room to smoke and replay today's events in his head. He wondered just when he'd lost their little game so terribly that he didn't even notice he was in check before it was too late.

Later that night he was drinking out of a wine stem while listening to Roxas talk about his day with that barely-restrained tension he spoke with when he was angry. The older man mentioned something incredibly deprecating about Seifer and he bit out a reply about leaving the scarred blond the fuck alone.

To which his spiky-haired and mostly-drunk friend replied, "What the fuck, 's he your boyfriend now, Hayner? That worked out great last time."

He snapped the phone shut as the wine glass shattered in his hand from the sudden pressure he unintentionally put on it. Even if he knew Roxas didn't mean what he said, that didn't necessarily make it untrue. Hayner was too friendly with his knight, and he knew that, but at the same time knew that if he stopped being so the other man would pry. Glancing down at the mess of dark liquid and glass in his right hand, he swore.

The next few minutes were spent staring at it in the faint light from a lamp he had next to his bed, watching the blood from the cuts mingle with the purplish wine, sprinkled with glinting bits of clear glass. Vaguely he was aware he was crying and probably cut the most pathetic figure ever. Naturally, Seifer chose this moment to knock on the half open door and proceed into the room without confirmation, barely giving his charge time to wipe the tears off his face before he was right next to him. Fucking hell.

"Axel just called me. Said Roxas is blackout drunk and said some things he shouldn't have. That I should check on you," a sigh, "Guess he was right. Come on, let's get that cleaned up."

And because the larger man tended to fail on social cues such as 'people crying into alcohol would rather be left alone', he immediately swept his friend in a bridal-style carry and headed for the bathroom. Setting him down, he pulled Hayner's hand over to the sink and washed the blood and wine mix off, letting the water run a little longer to clean the cuts out. He lifted the teen to sit on the small counter next to the sink and set about picking out the pieces that had dug themselves in.

At some point he realized Seifer was probably operating under the assumption that he was utterly trashed, which made this the perfect opportunity to do what he'd been wanting to do ever since he saw the scar between the man's eyes. He traced the mark gently with his fingers, noting the way those impossibly pale eyes flicked up to meet his before moving back down to watch his work. Definitely thought he was drunk off his ass.

It was smooth and a little deeper than he expected, but it was...interesting. It was probably incredibly rude and strange to find it attractive, but it just seemed to fit Seifer, like he wouldn't be quite the same without it. If not for that scar, he probably never would have become a cop, a detective, or a Turk, and would have never met Hayner. Perhaps it really would have been better that way.

"Hey, stop that. Leave the thinking to me for the moment, alright? You're shit at it."

He settled for glaring at the detective, knowing that he really couldn't say anything without giving away that he'd been only half a glass into it. While Roxas seemed to be gifted with the ability to be completely coherent up to the point where he passed out, most people were not. Alcohol and apathy had dulled the pain in his hand enough that he barely noticed when the older blond had stopped pulling out glass pieces and set his hand down. A healing spell knit the gashes back together, faint white lines that would probably fade soon the only indicator anything had happened.

"On a scale of one to ten, how hosed are you?"

"Not enough," he returned with a sigh, draping his arms across the other's shoulders and resting his head on them.

Shaking his head, Seifer lifted him by the waist, most likely planning to set him down on his feet, but Hayner decided now was an opportune time to wrap his legs around the magic-user's middle. Maybe he was a little too good at playing drunk. The cop gave a long-suffering sigh and carried him back into the bedroom, dumping him unceremoniously on the bed. This was how Seifer did gentle, warm but practical. He ruffled the sandy-blond's hair and moved to leave, but the younger man latched onto his wrist.

"You're really not this drunk," it was a statement, not a question.

"No, but we could continue to pretend like I am."

Nodding, the taller man crawled into bed a little further in than his companion liked to lay, waiting till Hayner joined him under the covers before laying on his side and wrapping an arm around the teen. It seemed normal, to curl his arms against Seifer's chest and curve into him, as if they'd been doing this for years.

"This should be weird," the blue-eyed man commented, deep voice barely above a whisper.

"And I should be drunk. I suppose if we were being truthful, both of us should be dead, as well."

As he started to fade into sleep, he thought that maybe, in the end, all was as it should be.

---

He was sitting at a bar, he wasn't really sure where but it seemed vaguely familiar. Seifer was sitting beside him, and they were both smoking. This was his first indication that he was dreaming, but he decided against taking the step of opening his eyes to instead see how this would pan out.

"Fucking Ultima is making us dream share. Seriously, is she like the gods' matchmaker now? I assume you've already figured out that this is a dream," Seifer added, bright eyes turning to look at him as the older man took a drag on his cigarette.

"What the hell is dream sharing? You mean…I'm dreaming the same thing you are, and we're both aware of it? How do I know you're not just a figment of my imagination?"

"Well, I am, technically. Same way you are to me. But we're both having the same dream, basically, and can interact with each other. I suppose another difference is that you'll remember most of what you dream tonight. We're real, but at the same time, not. It's hard to explain, just roll with it."

"I don't think I've ever heard a worse explanation of anything ever, and someone once tried to regale me of the intricacies of quantum physics while drunk."

"Fuck you."

"You're supposed to at least take me out to dinner first, where is your sense of romance? Anyway, why are you smoking in your own dream? Or is it my dream?" Hayner asked, more than a little confused with the whole situation.

"It's our dream. And…I always smoke in my dreams. I guess it's my subconscious's way of telling me I'm not quite over the addiction. At least this way it doesn't destroy my lungs, right?"

"You seem pretty familiar with the whole dream-sharing thing. Like you've done it once or twice before. How exactly is Ultima doing this anyways?"

"Sometimes I dream share with others who have successfully joined with Ifrit, there's about a dozen or so that I know of, including Axel. I once shared with Cloud when he was seriously contemplating suicide, I guess the High Seraph wanted me to talk one of her favorite toys out of ending his existence. To explain how it works I have to first explain that when you master a summon, or they allow you to use them, they twine with your consciousness like a vine on a tree. Separated, but symbiotic, and able to alter things in small ways. The more powerful the Esper, the greater pull they have on the summoner's mind.

"To say that Zodiark and Ultima could take over my consciousness whenever they want is an understatement, if they wanted they could literally erase any and all of my memories and turn me into a puppet. It's happened to a few people. But for the time being they find me interesting enough to keep around. …And apparently Ultima junctioned with you when I wasn't looking. She hasn't completely melded with you yet, but the seed is there. If you accept it, by wearing her artifact, she'll probably proceed with the meld. If not, she'll do obnoxious shit like making you share dreams with me until you do."

"So because she has a foot in the door to my head and yours wrapped around her little finger she can temporarily merge them in a dream? Can I take a moment to explain to you how that makes no sense from a psychological standpoint?" He bit back, not remotely comfortable with the idea that his mind was being completely invaded by the Scion of Light.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but magic doesn't follow the rules."

"Right, of course not. So what's her point in doing this?"

"We need to talk. And here in the dream world, you can't run away."

"That's not threatening at all. I assume I have no choice in the matter?"

"None whatsoever. Look, I know you just ignored what I said today about forgiving yourself, and I maybe overreacted a little. I can't force you to live. I don't have a right to your life, what you do with it is your choice, including ending it. As your friend it's my job to make you want to live, even when it seems like there's no point, rather than trying to guilt you into carrying on when it causes you pain."

"Is this a veiled apology for being a selfish dick earlier? 'Cause if so you really don't have to ask forgiveness, it's a knee-jerk reaction," he paused, waiting for a response, and upon receiving none, continued, "So what you're saying is that you just want me to stop hurting, even if the only way is jumping off a building?"

"I hope that's not your answer, but yeah. That's what friends are supposed to do, right?" He added, as if he wasn't entirely sure. Hayner supposed he didn't have a ton of people he put into that category, for all that he was friendly with the person he was assigned to guard, it seemed like he wasn't normally so easy to get along with.

"You are both more talkative and more sensitive in the dream world. I have a feeling this is just some elaborate ruse my subconscious has come up with in an attempt to save itself from an untimely fate."

"Hey, I'm not that much of an ass outside. But, the dream world is like being drunk, it removes your most of your inhibitions by taking away all external reasons for maintaining them."

"So you're a cuddly, sweet drunk then?" The younger man ventured with a smirk.

"No, I'm more of a 'pick fights with everyone bigger than me and proceed to beat them into submission' drunk, which is why I don't get drunk anymore. Getting thrown out of bars is only fun the first dozen or so times. I'm only nice around you and the other Turks."

"You were nice to Kairi and Namine," he reminded the scarred man.

"Of course I'm polite to women, chicks are scary. If you fuck with a guy you just punch it out and everyone leaves bloody and forgiven. Mess with a woman and she will ruin. Your. Life."

"I guess I never really realized. But then, all of my disagreements with men were solved with a well-placed bullet, and I don't come into contact with a lot of women."

"Speaking of scary women, are you planning on taking the Queen Bitch up on her offer?"

"You seriously call Ultima the 'Queen Bitch'? And she doesn't destroy you over it?"

He shrugged, "I think she's kind of proud of it, to be honest."

"I really don't know…Do you want me to? Can't she read our thoughts and share them with each other?" The older man nodded, "It would basically remove any privacy between us if we let it. I don't really want that kind of responsibility, I don't have a right to your thoughts, I don't want access to anything not freely given."

"She'd be able to protect you, as well as find you much more easily if you were fully junctioned."

"I'm capable of defending myself, thanks. I may not be as numb to pain as you are, but I can handle myself in most situations."

"I know you are, you're a pretty tough bitch. That doesn't mean you won't be overpowered and either kidnapped again or outright killed. If it means you're safe, I'm fine with the meddling Esper whispering all my dark secrets to you. You're life is more important than my privacy."

"I can't tell if you're all talk or not."

"Could be, I guess. You won't know unless you test it, right?"

"So do you want me to accept Ultima as my guardian angel, or don't you? I'm pretty confused by all the mixed messages you're sending."

"I'm saying there are both good things about it and bad things. It's called honesty, you should really try it sometime. I'm surprised you don't have water as your primary element, you're deceptive enough for it."

"I'll think about the junction issue. As for honesty…I'm not very good at that anymore."

"It'll come back, with time. I didn't think I'd ever mellow out from the selfish, insufferable asshole I used to be, but…I guess as I got older and gained a little more life experience I realized there was really no point in trying to be a thug now that I had a legitimate way of meting out justice," the blue-eyed blond mused, taking another pull of his never-ending cigarette. It was curious, no matter how long they smoked them, the sticks of tobacco never got shorter.

"You're still not the friendliest person, to most people anyways. In fact you weren't all that friendly to me when we first met."

"I'm not going to go out of my way to be nice to people unless I need to do so for my job, or they're in trouble. I don't want a ton of friends, especially not ones who can't hold their own, because if you haven't noticed most of the people around me die."

"Yeah, guess I could say the same. Hey, Seifer?"

The larger man made a noise of acknowledgment, eyes tilting to look at him.

"Do you trust me?"

"Definitely shouldn't, but yeah, I trust you. I let you watch my back today, didn't I? Trust you with my life, Hayner, only thing I can't really trust you with is your own."

"Lux told me about what happened with your partner on the force."

"So he did. Suppose he told you I'm too bitchy to accept anyone else, too?"

He hummed, then said, "Doesn't it wear you out? Always pushing people away, I mean. Just because he betrayed you doesn't mean everyone will."

"This may shock you, but I'm absolutely fine with only having a few good friends. I don't need a partner to function effectively, if someone comes along who I actually want to be my other half, sure I'll let them. But I haven't met a cop like that yet."

"Maybe you're just being too picky about it? I mean, just because you don't click immediately doesn't mean it won't work out in the end."

"Or maybe you should just become a cop."

It rolled off his tongue so easily, the words floating between them as if unaware of their own gravity, that for a moment Hayner was certain he'd misheard the stoic blond. When it finally registered, he gave the other a blank look and tried in vain to form words. Seifer rolled his eyes and ruffled his companion's hair, a small smile tugging at his lips.

"Think you'd be good at it, to be honest. You're a good kid, you take responsibility for your actions, sometimes way too much. Wouldn't mind dragging your stupid ass around. You wanted to be a detective anyways, right?"

"You know, if you keep saying shit like that, I'm going to start taking it seriously," the brown-eyed man ventured carefully. He knew his counterpart would understand his reluctance to take the offer at face value, they were both distrusting as a defense mechanism.

"It's hard to explain, but…I like you. I know for a fact we have things in common that most of the population can't even begin to understand, and I admire your tenacity. You're obnoxious, excessively depressed, bitchy, and so prone to bodily harm I'm beginning to think I should just lock you in a padded room, but you still manage to be likeable, somehow."

"Well, I guess you're okay, for an asshole with a self-sacrifice complex."

They laughed easily; though the strangeness of new friendship remained, it really was friendship now, a vast improvement from whatever it was they had before. Seifer made him feel comfortable, even if the other asked questions and spoke of things that made Hayner less than so at times.

"So, did you want to continue this shared dream, or do you want me to let you go back to your own head?"

"How do we get out?" He inquired, genuinely curious to know how one escaped a lucid dream, or whatever you could consider this.

"Usually asking the Esper forming the connection to sever it works," the detective answered, as if it was obvious, then continued, "What, you didn't expect to have to kill yourself or something, did you?"

"You are such an ass. But no, if you don't mind, I'd rather stay. You're an amusing drunk."

"That was an analogy, you idiot," the blue-eyed man snapped, before rolling his eyes and kicking the stool out from under his friend. Just to be obtuse, Hayner remained floating where he'd been. This was also his dream, after all.

"So, if this is our dream, why the hell are we so boring that we dreamed we were at a bar?"

"Easier to introduce you to the idea if we started out somewhere fairly familiar rather than say, in an active volcano or at the bottom of the ocean."

He had a point, the sandy-blond teen would have flipped out if they tried to have this conversation in either of those places. Though it did give him a few ideas. He thought of the last time he visited Wutai in the palace of one of the larger drug lords, the opulence there, the smell of incense and the beautiful women in full kimonos walking serenely about their tasks.

"You're better at this than I thought, though we should work on not taking stuff with us when we change the scenery," Seifer said, something odd in his voice, almost like fascination or awe.

Blinking and turning to look at him, the younger realized he'd managed to change the area around them, and were now sitting at a bar in the middle of the grand hall of the very place he'd been thinking of. He wondered if only memories could be used, or if they could make things up too. For the moment though, it was clear his friend wanted to explore the area, so he set his feet on the ground and followed behind the larger man as they traversed the corridors covered in golds, reds and deep sea colors.

---

They awoke in much the same position as they had fallen asleep, and it was still a bit disconcerting how comfortable it was to be so near to someone they each barely knew. He wondered if all affinity pairs were like this, magnetically drawn to one another.

"Well that was…interesting," he voiced groggily, shifting slightly away to allow more room for them to speak.

"Better than nightmares, at least?" The older man answered, similarly rough.

"I dunno, sharing an entire day with you after doing the exact same thing while I was awake? I think that should count as torture."

"Yeah, whatever. I've known people who would kill for the chance to sleep with me, and all you do is bitch," he returned, smirking wide at his pun and the way it made his companion blush when he realized what the other implied.

"Somehow I don't think I'm really missing out on much," Hayner quipped back, watching the way ice-colored eyes slanted to watch him with a predatory glare, like a wolf eyeing potential prey. It was incredibly arrogant to assume he could always get what he wanted, but it probably wasn't all that far from reality. If they were both strangers in a club and Hayner was a little less damaged, he'd definitely let Seifer pick him up, maybe even just to see if he could hear the story about the scar.

"Your loss, I guess," the detective answered finally, carefully neutral as he sat up.

They got out of bed and milled around for an hour before actually managing to accomplish anything. Seifer cleaned his guns, twice, constantly glancing at his companion who was sitting opposite him on one of the other couches. Hayner went through half a pack of cigarettes before they even got their breakfast. It was hard to tell exactly what they were so anxious about, waiting for Tseng to answer back on whether the evidence was enough to secure a warrant or not, or the very idea that the next few days would be the most important parts of the whole process. A single fuck up could not only kill them both, but doom the operation. No one could disappear like mafia men who knew they were being hunted.

The call from Tseng came in at two twenty-three in the afternoon. They had been walking around the city aimlessly for several hours, trying to work off their excess energy. The district judge had issued a warrant for the arrest of Don Corneo and any of his accomplices, effective immediately. Hayner breathed deep and told the Chief of Police that they'd continue as planned, to which he received a long moment of silence.

"Are you sure, Hayner? I had assumed you would have changed your mind by now."

"It's just better the way I planned it."

"You're just going to keep him in the dark until the end, aren't you?"

"And beyond that, if possible."

A sigh, "You are, irreconcilably, an idiot, Hayner. But if that's how you want to go, it's far out of my power to stop you."

"Take care of things for me, won't you? Tomorrow night."

"Understood, we'll be ready."

He ended the call and turned to look at Seifer, giving him a reassuring smile and the news that they could go ahead with the plan.

"Are you actually going to tell me what that is, or do I have to continue assuming the worst?"

"Assume the worst. Just follow my lead, you're good enough at reading me. You know everything there is to know, you won that little game of ours after all. Check and mate."

"You can never really know a person, and I can't say I'm comfortable with not knowing what you're doing. I can't protect you if I'm too busy trying to figure out what the fuck is going on."

"You'll do fine. Just trust me, Seifer."

"That's not going to work this time, and you know it. I'm not going to let you die in some heroic attempt to rid the world of both yourself and your father, understand?"

Hayner scoffed and stuffed his hands into his hoodie pockets. He didn't feel like explaining everything, just because he knew the other wouldn't like it. Even if it was the only way things would work. It irritated the fuck out of him that Seifer just simply didn't get it.

"Then ensure that I don't die. That's not too hard, it's your job, isn't it?" He answered finally, continuing to walk towards the edge of the city.

"Dammit Hayner, this is not the time for mind games," the detective said as he followed, a mix of resignation and anger in his voice.

"Look, just shut the fuck up and do your goddamn job and maybe everything will work out."

He knew he was being unnecessarily nasty, just as he knew the other had stopped walking, mouth hanging open just a little bit as the younger just continued on. This was how it had to be, he couldn't go through with this otherwise. He just hardly expected to have so many ties to the older man that he needed to sever. Taking a drag of his cigarette, he breathed deeply and tried not to think of how the taste of smoke now reminded him of their dream.

"So why are you trying to push me away now, of all times? That offer to live with me wasn't said for my benefit. Just because the operation is ending doesn't mean our interactions with each other have to."

"Because us being friends was never part of the plan, and quite frankly you're going to fuck everything up if we continue this way. So if you put any value on what we've been working towards and all the blood we've spilled up to this point, you'll do your damndest to stop giving a shit about me and just do what I tell you to."

"And if I value your safety above everything else?"

"Then you're an idiot."

Seifer fell silent, though his simmering frustration was loud enough by itself. The brown-eyed man hated this, both the idea that his companion trusted him so much, and knowing he'd have to betray that trust. With a sigh of blue smoke and a quickened pace, he steered them towards the clock tower. As they ascended the steps, the detective deigned to speak again.

"So in the end, has any of this really mattered to you?"

"Yeah, it has. Thanks for what you've done."

"You're really bad at pretending to be an ass, you do know that, right?"

For some reason, the blue-eyed blond just refused to accept that maybe he should give up on Hayner, and it was stirring something that felt kind of like twisted hope in his chest. He sat on the edge of the top of the clock tower, shivering slightly from the cold wind that blew stronger this high up. The other sat close beside him, warming the side he pressed against. Aside from the wind, it was quiet up here, far away from the sounds of the commercial district. Sometimes he would come here with Roxas and the rest of the group, a few times he took his boyfriend up here. That was actually the last time he came here, it was just a few days before Jack died. He swung his legs a little and stared down at the ground so very far below.

"You said before that the Espers could destroy you at any time if they wanted to…Do you ever get scared about that? Or wonder exactly how much of your actions are your own, and not them leading you in that direction?"

"Sometimes. I'd be lying if I said I don't worry that they'll grow bored of me and drain my life force so they can stay in our world for a few days and wreak havoc. And I think in a lot of ways the path we walk wasn't chosen by us alone. Just as we had no control over being a perfect affinity match, we don't control where we start out. And as much as we hate to admit it, we're products of our environment."

"So we are a match then? I kind of agree with you, some sort of cosmic joke on that one. As far as being products of our environment…I'd say there's a difference between letting your environment shape who you become, and letting the environment shape our perception of things. For example, if you merely sat back and let what you've lived through change who you are, you probably would still be trafficking and doing other illegal things rather than a detective."

"But instead, I take what I've learned and use it in a way people like me normally wouldn't, right?"

"Exactly. We can bitch about where we started out, but that doesn't always determine where we end up. People like you and Reno prove that."

"But not you?"

"Nope. I am exactly what I was raised to be. A murderer with allegiance only to himself."

"You are nowhere near that cool, quit lying to yourself."

"I like how your idea of emotional support is to be a complete dick. You are the most well-intentioned asshole ever."

"Only for you, since you're the only pathetic sap who uses phrases like 'emotional support' that I choose to deal with."

"I think I've heard Roxas use it before. Repeating something Axel said."

"I said choose to deal with. I don't choose to deal with Axel or Roxas, I just have to. It's not pleasant."

"I think secretly you like the other Turks, you're just too busy maintaining your image to admit it. Beyond respecting them, I think you consider them friends, in a vague sense of the word."

"It's my job to psychoanalyze, not yours. Quit that," he snapped, smirking around his words.

"You're the one who wants me to become a detective so I can be your partner."

"Only if you want to. Judging by the fact that you seem to have a serious death wish, I don't think you really give a damn."

He swung his legs again, trying to judge the distance between them and the steps going into the Clock Tower below. Seifer slung an arm around his shoulders and held him a little tighter than was comfortable, dangling on the edge of painful.

"We're here for a reason, Hayner. All of us. There's a reason you and I met, despite all the odds against it, and it wasn't so I could watch you die after knowing you for a few days."

That was probably the closest the older man had gotten to pleading, and something inside the teen shattered beyond fixing. This would all end badly, and there was little he could do.

---

Seifer rarely felt apprehensive about anything; his way of going about life was to always look before he leaped, but do it regardless of what he found. He never let the idea that he could die doing something stop him. However, in this case, it was someone else who was probably not going to make it, and that was far more unsettling than it should have been. The worst part was he had no idea what was going to happen, just that he had to stop it. It was like trying to hit a target at fifty paces blindfolded.

They had left the Clock Tower behind them a few hours ago, just now getting back to the hotel. They sat next to each other this time, though the other didn't seem aware of their proximity. Hayner was suspiciously silent, dark eyes distant. The detective was tempted to ask Ultima what was going on in the teen's head, but he tried to save friendship-ending trespasses of privacy for when it was a little closer to the wire.

Not for the first time he came to the startling realization that they had known each other just a little over a week. He knew that affinity matches got along well naturally, because that was really the whole point, but still. At what point did he become such a fucking sap that he actually gave a damn about his charge's mental well being?

"That necklace you have, did Vaan give it to you?" It had been bothering him since he noticed it, he couldn't think of any other way the sandy-blond man could have come by it.

"Yeah, he didn't exactly tell me what it did though, just said it would keep me safe. I promised him I'd wear it, that's really the only reason I do. Do you know what it is?"

"Mmhm, though it took me a while. Technically it probably shouldn't even exist. It's an amalgam of shards of powerful magical artifacts. It shifts colors, and from what I can tell it was made from the magic of a Life materia, wind and water magicite, Luck materia, and a summon, though I can't really tell which. It's feasible to use a stone with magical properties and force feed it the mana of other bits of artifacts until they all work in tandem, but I've never heard of anyone doing so successfully. Vaan worked long and hard on that, and he made it specifically for you."

"Because he put the wind and water magicite in it? But…what does it do?"

"I honestly can't tell you precisely what all the parts in combination amount to. Like I said, no one was even sure it was really possible. I could probably use the Life magic in order to revive you if I was close, and the Luck magic is self-explanatory. The magicites are intended to boost elemental power, but you don't really have any magic-using capabilities, and the summon is completely out of left field."

"I think this is the first time you've admitted that you just have no fucking clue about something."

"Well, even I can't know everything."

"I'm shocked, truly I am. You mean there's something that Seifer Almasy doesn't know?"

Rolling his eyes, he gave the smaller man a rough shove, watching him topple over to sprawl on the couch. He looked different in his hoodie, jeans and shoes with the ridiculous rainbow shoelaces. Whenever he wore one of his suits he acted differently, as if what he wore affected who he pretended to be. Though something about the hooded sweatshirt stood out to him now that he was paying attention.

"Your sweatshirt, it was Jack's, wasn't it?"

"You…how the hell do you do that?"

"The material is a little stretched in the arms, as if someone with about twice your musculature wore it for a long time. Besides that, it's pretty large on you, and most of your other clothes fit fairly snugly," that sounded a lot less borderline stalker in his head.

"He gave it to me about a year ago, it was his favorite. He really liked this color," it was a dark blue, impeccably clean, and had the symbol for Light embroidered in white on the left pocket.

"How did you meet?"

"At a bar, naturally. I knew the bartender, he was vaguely involved with the mob, scoping out potential fighters for the underground rings. So I went there to drink occasionally. Well, more than occasionally, I'd get completely trashed about every night just trying to get everything off my mind. Anyway, this particular night someone decided to slip something into my drink. I lost consciousness, and by the time the bartender noticed something was wrong, the guy was walking out the door with me. Jack, being the knight in shining armor he was, broke my kidnapper's face, dragged me back inside, and ended up taking me back to my hotel.

"He volunteered to be my bodyguard once he found out who I was and that I wasn't a dick. At some point, I fell in love with him, and we slept together several times before we quite realized what we were doing, not necessarily in that order. We didn't start really dating until five months after I originally met him. With Kairi and Namine as my cover girlfriends, no one questioned what exactly he and I got up to in the suite."

"Sounds like he was a genuinely good person."

"A little like you, he couldn't ignore someone in need. He didn't really think about it, he just saw someone that needed help and helped them, regardless of the risk of personal injury."

At some point the younger blond had started smoking again, slowly blowing the smoke up towards the ceiling as he spoke. The scarred man wished he had anything to say that wouldn't be an empty consolation.

"You don't drink very frequently now, why'd you stop?"

"I didn't have anyone to rescue me anymore."

They were silent for a while, minutes stretching to hours as the other smoked and the detective brooded. At some point Hayner set down his cigarettes and rolled over to face the couch, curling up like he was trying to go to sleep. Reciting the sleep spell he knew so well by now, he watched the other relax as he stilled. Standing, he leaned over and scooped the teen up, carrying him to his bed. After some deliberation over what was and wasn't okay between new friends, he shrugged and removed everything on the smaller man except the hoodie he was burrowed into and his boxers. Throwing the covers over him, the blue-eyed blond sat down beside the bed, leaning back against it. He pulled his left leg up towards his chest and rested an elbow on it, using his arm as a headrest while he continued to mull over the situation. He closed his eyes for a moment, and in the next he had fallen asleep.

---

They'd spent the day alternately yelling at one another and silently sitting next to each other, the hours dragged endlessly as they fidgeted, waiting for the sun to fall below the horizon. After it did, Hayner left to make a few final calls and then gestured for the detective to follow him downstairs. He explained briefly on the ride there that they were headed to the docks, pier fifty three to be precise. Both it and the warehouse next to it were known smuggling hot spots, he supposed it would make sense to call the mob to somewhere they felt safe.

Seifer waited while his charge officially dismissed his driver, telling the man to drive far, far away, then followed him to wait at the edge of the pier, looking out at the ocean. A tiny sliver of moon was just peeking over the water to the side, doing its best to paint the black water silver. It was quiet, aside from the distant sound of the buoys further out and the occasional splash of water. It was odd to think that such a serene place fueled the violence that came with the mob it harbored.

"They'll be here in about five minutes. Lucky for us, no one is late to this kind of meeting."

"You still haven't told me how you're going to get them relaxed enough to let their guards down for the Turks to jump in. What on gaia is going to distract them enough that they won't notice basically all of the cars the station has pull up, even if their lights are off?"

"Just stay here, near the edge of the pier, and follow my lead. I assume you'll catch on at some point. Oh, and take this just in case," he set a miniature breathing apparatus only about the size of Seifer's fist into his hand, gesturing for him to tuck it into one of the larger pockets inside his coat, "It's rated for about ten minutes underwater. To be safe, only stay under for five at most. I find that counting the seconds helps."

"Why would I need to be underwater for any period of time?"

"You're bright, you'll figure it out when the time comes."

A few beats passed before the sound of movement near the end of the pier could be heard, shadows moving towards them. The brown-eyed blond lit a cigarette, glancing at the detective before throwing his lighter into the water. After a few minutes there were a good two hundred people on the concrete extension into the ocean, dark eyes all on the smoking teen.

"This everyone?" He asked, a hard edge to his voice that drained all the personality from his words.

"Everyone in this goddamn town. Now what the fuck did you want, kid? You said you had information on the people who've been stealing all of our information and killing our men," the elder Corneo spat, stepping closer to his son.

"So I did a little looking into it, and I came to the realization that sometimes not everyone is who they say they are. Obvious, right? Turns out my partner in crime here is actually still playing for the good guys, and has been causing all of this," at this point, the bottom of Seifer's stomach dropped out and his heart jumped into his throat, because oh fuck.

Hayner walked several yards away, towards the men he may or may not still be loyal to, and it took every ounce of discipline in the scarred man not to chase after him, instead staying the hell where he was like he was told because for once in his life it seemed like a good time to follow instructions, "And since everyone always bitches that I don't do anything fun, I decided to bring you all here to enjoy watching him find out what happens when you cross the goddamn mafia."

With that, he pulled out a gun and fired straight into his friend's chest, right at his heart. Losing his balance more from shock than any sort of momentum from the bullet, the blue-eyed man stumbled back and fell into the freezing water below.

---

A/N 2: And you may all begin writing your angry reviews threatening great bodily harm if I don't update quickly. The fic is NOT over, not by a longshot, despite the shortness of the chapter and the placement of the cut. This is supposed to be a crime-thriller genre story, I decided months ago to cut it there for the purposes of suspense, as any similar-genre serial release would. Anyway, I hope to update sometime soon, maybe in a week or so. Thanks to all of you who have reviewed the story thusfar, your comments have given me a great degree of happiness/peace in a somewhat difficult time in my life. See you soon~