"Hello, Eric."

A bolt of electricity ripped through Eric's chest at those words. He lifted his head and stared, wide-eyed, at the man who had said them.

The shaggy, brown hair had not changed, nor had the green eyes or the compact body. But the face, though unchanged physically, was of a man Eric did not know.

"You're probably wondering why you're here." Ruben chuckled. "You gave Jane quite a fight from what I hear. Always knew you were feisty."

Eric's skin prickled.

"I was so very surprised to hear you had joined up with Suoh's gang. Why? Didn't you miss us?"

Eric's hands itched for his knife. He balled them into fists, digging his nails into his palms.

"We missed you, Eric. I, especially."

Suddenly, it hurt to breathe. Ruben had missed him?

"Come back to us, Eric. Come back to me. What connection do you even have to that group? We're your family."

"Families don't chain their children up like dogs," Eric said. He had meant it to be cool and bitter, the way he truly felt. Instead, his voice came out uncertain, almost pleading.

"That was a mistake," Ruben said mildly, as though it were a minor transgression and perfectly normal. It wasn't normal. Fujishima had told him time and time again, it wasn't normal. People who care about you don't do things like that to you. "Falko has paid the price for it."

He gestured towards a man standing in the shadows, his face concealed. The man stepped forward, light falling across his scarred face.

Jane's birthmark was nothing on this. Falko had once been, not handsome, but conventionally attractive. His nose had always been a bit too large and hawkish. Now, with his lower lip permanently dragged downwards and molten ridges cut into his cheek, that beak was hardly noticeable.

"Suoh Mikoto decided to teach us a little lesson," Ruben continued. "When you were unsuccessful in killing him, he came to find us. We had to move our base of operations after his visit. Falko here was lucky. Compared to some, this is but a scratch."

Eric didn't remember Ruben being so verbose or so influential. Hikawa stood enrapt, flanking his sides but for Jane who stood ready to punish Eric if he tried to resist.

"Here, we'd thought you had failed and been struck down by Suoh. Come to find out, though, he had accepted you into his gang."

ØØØ

"Eric, Eric, Eric," Ruben crooned as he circled around him. "You were always so pretty and delicate." He caressed a lock of hair that had escaped Yata's beanie. Eric wanted to shy away from his touch. His traitorous body stayed firm.

There was a touch of insanity to Ruben's smile, reminding Eric of the Blue Yata always ran into. And wouldn't it be nice to have the hotheaded midget around right about now? Anyone from Homra would be nice right about now. Eric would take Dewa if it meant he weren't standing here alone with an absolute lunatic.

"I've missed you, Eric. It's been so long since I've heard your voice."

"What do you want from me?" Eric bit out.

Ruben's smile widened. It would have been comical if it weren't so terrifying.

"Why, I want you, Eric."

Eric's eyes widened of their own accord.

"What-"

Ruben cut him off with a low, dark, unpleasant sound Eric slowly realized was a chuckle. A long finger caressed Eric's cheek, making him shudder.

"Is it really so surprising? After all, you are very attractive. Not quite so pretty as your mother, of course, but you have your own charms. I'll tell you a secret, Eric." Ruben leaned forward, his breath tickling Eric's ear. "I think you want me, too. Don't you, Eric?"

Stop saying my name. Stop saying my name. Stopsayingmyname!

"No," Eric lied. His voice had become hoarse.

"'No'?" Ruben repeated, pulling back so that they were eye-to-eye. Ruben's were pale blue limned with black; the sort a person could get lost in. "What do you mean 'no'?"

"I don't want you."

Ruben huffed. "Of course, you do. Don't you remember who I am?" His eyes turned hard and his fist rose. Eric cringed, anticipating the blow. "I'm the one who freed you!" Ruben thundered. "If not for me, you would still be under Falko's thumb! Is that what you want?! Is it?! Because I can do that. Falko would be so glad to have you back. There's not a woman who wants to kiss that ugly mug of his now." Ruben took a breath and seemed to collect himself. His arm came down. He backed away. "Eric, baby, sweetheart. I didn't mean it. I would never give you to Falko. I didn't bring you all this way just to give you to someone else. Eric. Come on, I would never do that."

Slowly, Eric brought his hands down from his face. The pounding of his heart slowed, but something nagged at him, scratching at the back of his brain, and demanding attention. What was it? What bothered him? What couldn't he remember?

Ruben had switched back to English. To reassure him, probably, since that was the language he'd always used around Eric.

Hikawa's members had always been primarily Scandinavian immigrants and foreign residents. Japanese was spoken, but never to the higher ups, certainly never to Boss, whose grasp of it was shoddy. Out of necessity, English was sometimes used for dealing with suppliers and clients. Boss didn't speak a word of it. Ruben did, but Boss didn't.

Eric frowned. But why was that important? What had he forgotten? It had something to do with English and something to do with-

There. That was it.

"When you called me," Eric said, almost faltering before regaining his resolve, "why did you want to speak in Japanese? Anyone could have overheard me." Someone did overhear me.

Ruben appeared to think that over. He scratched his cleft chin before grinning. He must have thought it was reassuring. It wasn't.

"That's a strange thing to remember, don't you think?"

"No."

"You know, Eric, I'm not sure I remember doing that. Maybe you have it wrong."

Eric didn't have it wrong. Fujishima was nearly failing English. He had overheard Eric. He had known Totsuka was Eric's target. Because Eric was speaking Japanese.

"You're lying," Eric said.

Ruben tutted. "Don't be rude, Eric. I might be mistaken. I would never lie to you."

"You're lying," he said again.

"Fine," Ruben huffed. "You want to know the truth?"

Eric didn't nod, didn't do anything. He locked eyes with Ruben and kept them there. He wasn't going to back down. Ruben was lying to him, and he wanted to know why.

"There was no way you were going to survive. At least, no way if you had done as you were told. I gave you a way out, but you didn't take it. I thought you would have been smart enough to run and not come back.

"Oh, I know you had no money and only a knife and a phone, but you could have gone to somebody; gotten help. If you had kept quiet about where you came from, the government would have taken care of you.

"Instead, you actually went through with it.

"You went to Bar Homra and you met Suoh. He knew your face, and he nearly killed you. My father didn't want you back anyhow. He told me to take care of you for good."

"Your father?" Eric asked.

"The Boss," Ruben replied, an odd look in his eyes. It was equal parts disgust and long-suffering. "Surely, you knew that, didn't you? How else could I have become the next boss of Hikawa?

"Anyway, he was the Boss and I was just his brat. I had to do what he said or risk losing favor. I didn't want to lose you, but-" Ruben shrugged. "You were already lost to us. I thought I'd cut things short for you."

"You were trying to kill me," Eric finished dully.

"Don't say it like that, Eric. We were all under orders to not let you come back. After what your mother did, it was shocking the Boss kept you around for so long. If it hadn't been for Falko, it's likely you'd have been dead ages ago.

"But. I never wanted that. And now I want you to come back home." He spread his arms wide and smiled, showing too many teeth. "Don't you want that, Eric?"

Eric wanted to turn and run far, far away from this facsimile of the man he had once trusted. Fear locked his legs in place, though. He couldn't move or speak, only stare at Ruben with eyes made wide with fear.

"I don't suppose Suoh would miss you too much. After all, your blood is in Hikawa. We could call him and you could tell him yourself that you want to leave his pitiful Clan. After all, you have everything you could want here."

"There's a Mark," Eric heard himself saying, "on my shoulder, like a brand. He put it there."

Ruben tutted. "That won't do. We'll just have to cover it up, then. No matter. I had a collar specially made, so everyone will know you're mine. We can put it on you now, if you'd like." From a pocket, he produced a black leather collar. Dangling from the center was a silver tag with his name inscribed on it in block letters. Eric felt sick. More than that, he felt afraid.

Ruben was going to chain him up again. He was going to be stuck here, with Hikawa, and there would be no Fujishima to save him, no Totsuka who could overlook a serious attack, no Mikoto to avenge him. He was just going to disappear again, into a room where there was never enough light and never any love. There would be no escape because the person who had let him out before was the one who wanted to keep him contained now.

How could he have been so wrong? Ruben Vestergaard was nothing like Fujishima Kosuke. Ruben wanted to take his freedom away.

Fujishima wanted to give it back.

ØØØ

The first few weeks after Eric joined Homra had been especially hard. In the Red Clan, the levels of authority were twisting, turning, and yet never changing. Kusanagi was in charge of the bar (food and shelter), King was in charge of big things but would back down if Kusanagi objected, Totsuka didn't seem to be in charge of anything (Eric didn't know it, but he had been generally ruled a special case who was not going to be allowed time alone with Totsuka for a very long time), Kamamoto was pretty low on the chain of command but he provided food, too, so Eric thought he was okay, and Yata was too reckless to be in charge of anything (vanguard, please). Doll-like Anna had no authority, but she was beloved and protected, and apparently a Strain with vast potential. On top of that muddle, there were the five soldiers who hung around the bar and the dozens who didn't.

It had all been very confusing and disconcerting, even with Fujishima to help him along. Though he hadn't been too helpful in clearing things up at first, since Eric had thought he'd expected a reward and Eric only had one thing he could give him. After a series of misunderstandings that would probably look hilarious thirty years from now, if he lived so long, Fujishima made it abundantly clear he did not expect Eric to spread his legs or any other body part as payment for Fujishima being nice.

Eric had been insulted by the refusal (he'd done that kind of thing before, he knew how to do it, and he was good at it), causing Fujishima to drag the blond to his house and plop a three-legged kitten in his lap, as though that would solve everything. Fujishima's earnest yet slightly sad face filled Eric with so much guilt he finally lifted a hand and began petting its soft fur.

"If I expected to get back everything I give out, I'd be sorely disappointed," Fujishima said, scratching the kitten's rump. It began to purr. "It's a good thing I'm not calculated like that."

Eric looked at him unblinkingly.

"If someone or something needs help, I give it, simple as that." Fujishima removed his hand from the kitten and bopped the top of Eric's head gently. "Maybe you'll understand someday."

ØØØ

The collar chafed more than any had ever before, the feeling made worse by the heavy weight of the padlock Ruben had slipped through the holes to keep Eric from removing it. Dull with the knowledge that there was no escape, Eric hadn't struggled as Ruben placed the collar on him or attached the leash to a steel loop imbedded in the wall at a height that forced him into an awkward crouch. His thighs barely felt the stretch. The muscle memory, he realized sullenly, hadn't left him.

It might be for the best. No one had come for him before. Who was going to come for him now? Had he really walked right back into the situation he had barely escaped?

Fujishima had promised he would never be chained up again, but Fujishima wasn't expecting Eric to be stupid enough to fall for Hikawa's- no, Ruben's bait. There was nothing Fujishima could have done. Or could do. Eric was truly alone. Shimizu had disappeared, and Dewa was almost certainly not coming to find him. That would be madness. Dewa wanted him out of the way. Ruben wanted him here. Homra's Clansmen were safe for now. King would come, when he found out. There was no reason for anyone to look for Eric just yet.

He wrapped his arms around his legs and wondered how he had ever had the gall to accept Suoh's offer of freedom.

ØØØ

It took hours for anyone to come check on him. They knew he couldn't escape and that he was too stubborn to kill himself. So they left him alone.

Until now.

It wasn't who Eric had expected to come, and yet, truthfully, he couldn't say he was that surprised. He was surprised, however, at the man's actions. The visitor knelt behind Eric and unlocked his handcuffs. In complete silence, he undid the lock holding the collar together, letting it fall to the ground. Their skin touched, and Eric flinched.

"Why are you helping me?" he asked, looking the man full in the face. Eric's wrists stung and he felt a thousand pinpricks in his legs when he tried to move them, but he wasn't afraid. There had been so many years of brutality, so many horrid games, and, yet, what he felt was not anger or fear, or even burning hatred but an almost pity. A little satisfaction, even. None of his emotions seemed to be right in this place.

At least you never lied to me. The thought flashed unbidden through Eric's mind. At least I always knew what your intentions were. I got out, and you stayed here through everything that followed. Now, look at you. All because of me.

A desolate smile, made twisted and horrible by his scars, tugged at Falko's lips. He didn't answer.

"Once you're out the door, take the first left, then the door at the end of the hall. Open it and you're outside."

Eric didn't want to go outside. That would undo everything he had done so far. He was exactly where he wanted to be, if not how. If he could just-

Falko must have thought his blank expression was a question. If he had been the type, Eric would have laughed bitterly. Falko had never understood him even when there had been nothing to understand.

"We're going to die today. That's why you came looking for us." Eric didn't answer the question Falko wasn't asking. "Death will come sooner this way."

Falko helped Eric to his feet, a fact that made Eric's insides clench together. If his limbs weren't so stiff… but they were and he needed the help. They hobbled towards the door.

Eric paused in the doorway. Surely, Falko didn't think helping him had made up for all those years. Nothing could make up for that.

"This doesn't change what you did to me."

A ghoulish smile played on Falko's ruined lips.

"Did I ask for redemption? Now go, before Ruben realizes you're gone."