PoisonousDemon: Yep, and it's late too

AliceXxX: lol.

I accidentally deleted this. So pissed! But I have it fixed now.

Love, Keta.

Chapter 10: Ballad of the Beloved

Mirror I am seeing a new reflection
I'm looking into the eyes
of He who made me
And to Him I have beauty beyond compare
I know He defines me (Yeah)

Who are you tell me
that I'm less than what I should be
Who are you?
Who are you? (Yeah)
I don't need to listen
To the list of things I should do
I won't try, no, I won't try

-Mirror (Barlowgirl)

The frigid air turns their breath into frosty crystals as they walk towards the Antarctic facility, determination set into their faces. Allen looks especially so, his only thought being of Rex, even though his friend only volunteered to protect his existence. The conversation with the guards at the entrance is short, but the walk to the storage room isn't. So his mind wanders restlessly.

He imagines what he would do in a life without Rex; he knows he would survive, but he wouldn't want to. He had contemplated suicide before, but Neah stopped his hand. This time though, if he were to lose his second most favorite person in the world, no one would be able to stop him. He knows that he couldn't live with that hanging over his head forever. He would lose his will to live and love ever again. His thoughts are intruded as Breach and he are given access to the long, bleak walls of the Antarctica facility, but they quickly slide back into place the longer he walks in silence. As his hand wraps around the canister of nanites, a sense of relief fills him, and then dread follows. 'What if this doesn't work?' he thinks. 'What if they kill Rex instead?'

Breach seems to know what's on his mind as one of her four hands finds his and squeezes, telling the albino that all will be well. So Allen gets himself into that unfamiliar, optimistic mindset and follows her back to their part of Providence, the science wing, and she leaves the teen there with his mother and Rex's unmoving body, silence ringing out as Holiday works.

Eventually, Allen can't contain himself and whispers, "he'll be alright, right?"

"I think so," Rebecca answers. "He's got a nanite similar to yours to help him control his nanites."

Confusion makes him look at her with wide eyes. "What do mean?"

The brunette woman barely looks up from her work as she says, "we needed to find a way to make nanites bond to you properly, so we made a nanite that would allow it. Rex has one like it too; his is just... different. That's why your powers are alike..."

'Allen, you shouldn't be so silent.'

'I have nothing to say, Neah.' The albino merely goes back to watching the world then, trying to ignore the anger that's building up to cataclysmic proportions. 'I honestly have nothing to say.'

'Other than that you want to rip Van Kleiss's head off.'

'I thought that was a given.'

'It is, but I'm stupid, so you know.'

Allen smirks at that and retorts with, 'I'm well aware.'

'You don't have to be so mean.'

'Yes, I do.'

'No, you don't.'

'Yes, I do.'

'No, you don't...'

The not-quite-an-argument argument continues for what seems like forever, but by the time they're finished, Allen's laughing louder than Neah. They're happy, and for a moment, that's the most important thing.

It's early in the morning when Rex wakes up, and at first, he doesn't understand where he is, until he sees Allen's sleeping form curled up in Holiday's desk chair. "Why am I in here?" he murmurs, racking his brain until the memory comes forth at last. "Oh, hell!"

Allen's startled awake by his cry, and he immediately leaps up, ready to attack. Then he sees his lover's amused face. "Good morning, sleeping beauty. How was your nap?"

"Terrible."

"That's your problem, not mine." He walks up to the Hispanic teen and nearly presses their lips together, just to torment the other.

"It'd be better if you were napping with me though," Rex croons cheekily and pulls the albino over top of him so that Allen's straddling his waist. "What do you say to that?" Allen's answer isn't in words; instead, he leans forward and captures the older male's lips, drawing him into a heated kiss. Rex's hands wander down his sides and legs until coming to stop at the whitette's ass, and a small squeak leaves his plush mouth when those groping appendages squeeze. His squeak quickly becomes a soft moan as his cheeks are kneaded, making his face flush slightly with desire.

He pushes back from Rex then, trying to catch his breath, and says, "we should stop there..."

"Why?"

There's a small glint of guilt in his silver eyes that Rex immediately picks up on as the albino murmurs, "I'm not ready to be intimate again... It's not that I don't want to but..."

The darker E.V.O. stares at him, not quite comprehending what he's saying at first, but when it hits him, all he can say is, "you and Spyder had sex?"

The whitette's blush is telltale enough, but he still makes himself answer. "Yes... It was a long time ago though. I'm not ready to do this again."

"That's fine."

"One day, I'll be ready." He flutters his long eyelashes and murmurs, "I promise."