The dreamless spaces between waking and drifting grow longer. Katze is feverish, and it's getting harder trying to keep breathing, staying on his feet. When he cares to look, he can see, from the corner of his eye, a faint glow under the darkening sky. Something about this disturbs him beyond the bare instinct to survive, but he is too tired to figure it out. There is a lone star high above, sinking into his mind with the memory of a touch, but it melts away as a cool breeze drifts by, and he can feel his scorched skin ripple with chill. He smells earth and damp ash, and suddenly he knows where he is. It makes him want to laugh and cry at the same time.

"Hey, Guy," he murmurs.

"I hear you," comes the laconic reply.

"They're gonna find us."

"I know."

"Won't be long."

"Don't care."

"Might not be long enough to see me die," Katze grinds out.

He can hear Guy's steps, and then Guy's face swims into Katze's vision. It is strangely quiet, as if all his anger had gone, leaving him still and empty. "Then I'll help you along," he says, and Katze can feel the prod of the silencer against his ribs.

The haze of light is too low to come from the bowl of fog above the city. It seems to waver along the horizon, barely above the ground. The smell of ash grows stronger as the sky deepens and the star grows brighter, clear like crystal on blue velvet. The silence of the ruined station is so deep, Katze can hear his own blood pounding in his ears. He feels incredibly thirsty but there is no point asking.

"Riki... he wanted you to live," he says, his lips stiff and numb.

Guy pulls the scrunched-up packet of Katze's cigarettes from his jeans pocket and lights the last one of the cheap smokes. There are only two Black Moon left. He looks at them for a moment, then puts the packet back. "It doesn't matter anymore."

"He died-"

"Because he went back to that bastard," Guy cuts in, a fresh flare of hatred in his tone, quickly subdued by something that seems like resignation. "That bloke who ripped off my arm. Who made Riki into this... animal. Who made him LIKE it. He got what he went for."

"Riki thought you were his friend," Katze murmurs.

Guy stares at him. "I loved Riki," he says, with a breath of smoke into Katze's face.

"He didn't love you."

Guy tenses, and Katze flinches, expecting a blow, but Guy steps back and points the gun at his head. "You want me to kill you. Sure thing, but there's no rush."

"I want to live," Katze says. And then, into the startled quiet, "You're all the same. You, Iason, the lot. You all want to own... win... like this was a fight."

Guy snorts but makes no reply. He stoops to rummage through the small pile of clothes - his own ragged jacket, Katze's stuff - then straightens, a bottle in his hand. He wedges it between his knees and unscrews the top, pulls it off with his teeth and takes a long drag. The reek of alcohol hits Katze's nostrils and makes his head spin. He watches the strange shine spread in the distance, a wedge between the blackening sky and the low horizon. Silently it seeps into the night, and then Katze sees fingers of light rise from it, gliding into the sky as if to touch it, sliding across the sea of darkness in wide arches that sink back to where they have risen. Katze stares, and suddenly it hits him what this means.

Guy steps to him and holds the bottle to Katze's lips. The glass clicks hard against Katze's cracked teeth, and the stink of booze makes him sick.

"Aren't you thirsty? Here, drink," Guy orders, tilting the bottle. The stuff sears Katze's lips and burns his dried-out mouth. He spits, but Guy grabs his hair and pulls back his head. "I said, drink."

There is no choice but to swallow. Guy gives him an unkind smile as he takes the bottle back to down the rest as if it was water. Katze's focus narrows to one single thought, and he tries to hold on to it, to get it across before he passes out. "You see that? The light? They'll find us, and then-"

"I don't care," Guy repeats, his tone bland, distant.

"You kill me," Katze grates out, "and Ceres will burn."

"What, 'cos I snuff the godfather? You're not the only one, asshole."

"Because," Katze manages, his voice fading to a thready rasp, "He's been waiting for this."

"Who?"

"Raoul."

A smirk pulls at Guy's lips. "Your owner?"

Katze closes his eyes and lets his head thud against the wall. "Ceres..."

"Here's news for you," Guy says, leaning back to throw the bottle in a wide arch into the night. Katze hears the glass shatter, and then Guy sits down closeby, his back against the wall, and pulls his jacket over like a blanket. "I don't care about Ceres either. Let it burn."

xxx

"Enough. You heard me. We leave the jeep here." Raoul climbs out of the vehicle and stretches his long limbs before turning to stare at Kiri, wedged between his two minders. "You, move."

The men shove Kiri out. He drops to the ground with a hard thump, scrambles to his feet and stumbles towards Raoul who watches without pity, his shadow long in the glare of the headlights. Dust is drifting past, specks of ash and soot, like snow in summer. Kiri's features are shiny with sweat and he is shaking madly. Raoul hands him a paper bag. In it are a gun, a syringe and an ampoule. "Go on." He looks on as Kiri hastily draws up the liquid and slides the needle into his vein, without tying or tapping it.

Kiri sinks to his knees, and for a moment there is pain on his face before he relaxes. His expression turns blissful, then blank. He pulls the needle out and drops it and gets up, the bag with the gun in his hands. The shaking subsides, and he blinks away from the light.

Raoul nods at the dark road before them. It smells of baked dust and damp ashes. "Walk," he says, stepping towards Kiri. "Find him."

xxx