Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations all characters end up in. Everything else belongs to someone else and that's the way of it.

Price To Be Paid

Eggsy ached both physically and mentally as the hot water from the shower beat down on his bruised and slightly battered body. The Kingsman suit might have stopped the few bullets that had come whizzing in his direction during the fight, but those pieces of lead and the blows he'd taken had still left their mark in the discolorations decorating his arms, legs, and torso. His face a little too, mostly around the stitches where a gash had opened up courteous of the large ring worn by a little old lady bent on ripping his face off. A woman old enough to be his gran, Eggsy thought as he pictured her perfectly in his mind's eye, who had crumbled when he'd clipped her as gently as he could to knock her out. Someone's grandmother, maybe, who'd died mere hours ago. He'd found her dead in the aftermath, someone else had finished her off after he'd moved away from her limp form to face the opponents that had kept coming at him and Harry in waves. Or perhaps he'd killed her without realizing it, like he had the man whose wife had screamed over her husband's corpse once she'd come back to herself and found him amongst the dead and wounded.

He hadn't meant to kill the man whose name he didn't even know. He'd simply thrown the American off him when the older man had tried to tackle him. Fuck, he could still remember the cracking sound when the poor bastard had hit the pew wrong, snapping his neck before tumbling to the floor like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

Wrapping his arms around himself for comfort as the echoes of the man's death rang in his ears even now, Eggsy stumbled back against the far wall of the shower, sliding down it as his legs gave out on him.

Bringing his knees up once his arse hit tile, Eggsy gripped them with his arms and lowered his head to stare sightlessly down, his mind waffling between remembering every moment of those horrible minutes when he and Harry had struggled to stay alive and the Statesmen had struggled to turn off Valentine's death remote, and reminding himself that Harry was alive. Was in the same building he was in, in fact, probably still talking to some of the Statesmen since there was a lot of posturing going on as to who would take permanent custody of Valentine and head the mission to free all the hostages the bastard had stashed in his mountain lair. Eggsy wasn't a ranked member of Kingsman currently, so he'd been dismissed by the head of Statesman and told to go clean up and wait for Harry in this suite they'd been given for the time being. Harry hadn't liked that, but Eggsy had told him it was fine, and he had wanted to get out of his suit and into the shower.

Now that he was here though Eggsy thought he'd give his left nut ta have Harry with im.

Shit. How could it be real?

He could almost believe it had all been a bad dream if not for his physically reminders, though in an odd way the pain felt good because it helped him justify what he'd done. Reminded him that he'd been hurt too. Had fought back to defend himself and Harry. He hadn't wanted to hurt anyone. Valentine had made him. Made all of them.

Today he'd killed at least one person, maybe more. He didn't even know. How could he not know?

He had fought to incapacitate and disarm. The desire to kill…we'll he'd felt that too, especially towards those who had attempted to harm his mate, but even then he'd reined himself in. Had gotten the majority of his bruises and such because he'd gone too easy or hesitated too much. Not like Harry. Harry had mowed through the members of the church like they were dominos for him to knock down at his leisure. All the stories he'd heard of Harry's skills, his mate's strength and prowess on the battlefield…fuck, they might have underplayed just how lethal Harry was. Or maybe there just weren't words to describe how unbelievable Harry was. Eggsy could believe that. Was having a similar problem, trying to put his own thoughts and feelings into words.

All Eggsy knew for sure was that he had never wanted to kill someone more than he wanted Valentine dead. Not even Dean.

Lifting his head to rest it against the tile, eyes closed now as though he could close his mind just as easily, Eggsy struggled to shift his thoughts away from that and failing completely as he choked out a sob that brought back the taste of vomit to his mouth. A reminder of how he'd thrown up everything in his stomach afterwards, once they were out of the church and he hadn't had anyone or anything to distract him from what had just happened.

Couldn't have helped his cred with the American werewolves, that, but fuck them too. They hadn't been in there. They hadn't seen and done what he and Harry had had to. Though if he was looking for a sliver bloody lining at the moment, and he'd take what he could get at this point, Eggsy figured that he could at least be grateful that he didn't have nothin left in his stomach to throw up. And had no plans to put anythin in it any time soon.

And he should get to his feet or at least turn the water off since he was just sittin here, Eggsy mused absently to himself, water conservation and all that shit. Though of course that reminded him that Valentine had apparently cooked up this whole fucked up scheme of his to save the planet, which in turn made Eggsy want to go out and fuck with the ozone layer or something as a fuck you to Valentine before he killed him. Or before someone a fuck ton more vicious and knowledgeable than him killed the fucker, because Eggsy wanted him to suffer. To know fear and pain and bear the sort of mental scars that everyone in that fucking church would bear for the rest of their lives.

The ones that were still alive, that was.

Whacking his head against the tile as he mentally repeated the F word over and over again in his head, Eggsy kept it up until the sound of the bathroom door opening reached his ears even over the sound of the shower. His wolf hearing, Eggsy thought absently as he opened his eyes and turned his head in the direction of the doorway, knowing who it was even before he saw him.

"Oh, Eggsy."

His mate's long legs ate up the space between them in a finger snap, Eggsy dropping his arms away from his knees and started to rise as Harry threw open the shower door and reached down for him. Then Harry had him and somehow Eggsy ended up in his mate's arms, wrapping his own around Harry's neck when he was told to. And he held on tight while he buried his face against the side of Harry's neck, needing every breath he took to carry his mate's scent. Needed to hear the air Harry was inhaling and exhaling, feel the warmth of Harry's arms and breathe on his skin. He just plain fucking needed this more than he needed to breathe or anything else.

Proving his strength by holding up Eggsy's weight with just one arm for a moment, Harry quickly turned off the water and then stepped out of the shower in one smooth motion, carrying Eggsy with both arms now across the room and through the doorway to the bedroom they'd been given.

With the shades drawn very little of the bright sunshine outside came through the windows as they headed straight for the bed, Harry reaching down to jerk the bedsheets aside with one hand before taking a seat on the mattress, pulling the blankets out completely before jerking them over Eggsy to keep him warm. And in some part of his brain Eggsy knew he should be pointing out that both of them needed to dry off before the drenched the bed, but he couldn't be bothered to care at the moment as he just cuddled into Harry's body and lived in the moment.

"I'm so sorry, Eggsy. I shouldn't have left you alone."

"It's fine. I'm alright."

Eggsy appreciated when Harry didn't contradict him about that, especially given their current circumstances. Fighting was the last thing he wanted them to do, after all.

"We'll be leaving here in a little over an hour." Harry said after a few moments of quiet contemplation. "We'll both do better at home."

Breathing a sigh of relief, he never wanted to see the state of Kentucky again even if their food was brilliant, Eggsy nuzzled his face against Harry's jaw as he asked the most important question, which was if Valentine and his stooges were coming back with them. The idea of being stuck on a plane with Valentine and not being able to kill the fucker made his blood boil.

"No. The Statesmen are claiming jurisdiction there, and since Valentine is an American citizen, on top of his most recent terrorist attack happening here, it's been decided that they can have them while Kingsman oversees the rescue and release of his prisoners. Merlin and other Kingsman are already in the air and on their way."

Under ordinary circumstances Eggsy would have been disappointed that he wasn't going to be a part of that rescue mission, especially since it would have been his chance to meet some royals and maybe even get a kiss from a princess or two for rescuing them, but at the moment Eggsy was just relieved that no one was waiting on him and Harry to get back. He'd had enough fighting and brushes with death to last him a while, thank you very much.

"It wasn't the time or place earlier, but I want you to know how proud I am of how you conducted yourself." While Harry's one arm remained tightly wrapped around him, his mate's other hand came up to pet his head in short, loving strokes. Likely in response to the way he'd tensed up. "I know it probably doesn't seem like it right now, and we'll both have nightmares and bad moments in the future, but you stayed with me, Eggsy, and managed to keep your head even in a world gone mad. Merlin was impressed too."

Vicious, uncalled for responses whispered through Eggsy's mind, his stomach turning at the idea of being in any way praised for what he'd done, but he was too exhausted to speak them, settling for a sound of disagreement.

"You might have just saved the world today, Eggsy. You do realize that, don't you?"

"Did not."

"Did too." Harry resorted in an equally childish tone. "You were the one who realized King was compromised. And you were the one who insisted on coming with me, who made us look for traps beforehand. You can't begin to imagine the sort of damage I could have unleashed on those people if I'd been as mad. Most would be dead right now, instead of the eleven who died today. And as for myself, I'd have had all those deaths on my conscience if I survived the massacre Valentine had planned. Though I very much doubt that was part of the plan."

Eggsy couldn't argue with any of that, especially since his mind couldn't even begin to wrap his mind around the idea of how much worse things could have been if he and Harry, with all their training, had been under the influence of Valentine's machine. Or even just Harry, since his mate certainly wouldn't have needed his help in killing every person in that building if he'd been driven to it. It was hard enough to believe what he'd seen with his own eyes, watching Harry in that church earlier. If Harry hadn't been holding back….

And then Harry's hand slipped out of his hair and was cupping his cheek, Harry's voice soft as he asked Eggsy's to look at him, please.

He didn't want to, he wanted to continue to hide from not just the world, but the realities Harry was no doubt trying to make him face, but Eggsy also knew that Harry wouldn't let him hide from this. And he knew, just as well as Harry did, that there were just some things you couldn't hide from forever. So better to face them before they just got worse in your mind.

So Eggsy shifted in Harry's lap so that he was straddling his mate, facing Harry with eyes that struggled to meet his mate's even as Harry's beloved, callused hands came up to frame his cheeks between his hands.

"Eggsy, Valentine intended to unleash untold horrors on the world with those phone devices of his. He would have made parents turn on their children. Best friends, couples, complete strangers. They would have all done their level best to kill each other in the most brutal of fashions with whatever they had on hand. And what chance would Daisy have stood, Eggsy, if your mother had come after her? And what would it have done your mother if she'd lived to know she'd viciously murdered her own child? What wouldn't you do to stop that from happening?"

Silence reigned as Harry's words hung in the air as Eggsy's brain struggled to process them and the images and ideas they put into his head. And then it did, and Eggsy's found his anger and fury.

)

"Christ. Jesus fucking Christ, Harry!" Exploding with feelings now, as well as pushing up and off Harry's lap so that he could pace and work some of his sudden energy off that way, Eggsy's started spewing everything that had been churning in his gut like the most lethal of acids. "What the HELL? How could-he was gonna either kill us or drive us as fucking mad as he must be! I mean it's one thing ta wipe people out, I mean hell, who hasn't thought this fucked up world we're living in wouldn't be better with most of the arseholes in it, but this! SHIT! He was gonna wipe out the elderly, the littlest sprogs, people who wouldn't have no clue what they were dying or killing people for. People they probably knew and maybe even loved! How could anyone…How the fuck could he justify this bullshit, Harry?!"

Remaining on the bed Harry shook his head at him. "I have no answer for you. I've faced evil far too many times in my life, but this…there are no words for what he meant to do. To explain how Valentine could have come to see this as the only way to save this planet."

"Save the fucking planet. The fuck with that! My sister ain't done nothing ta hurt the fuckin planet! She's a goddamn baby!" Eggs wanted to put a fist through a wall just thinking about it. "And fuck everyone who was gonna go along with this too! Valentine hand pickin the ones that get to stay safe in their bunkers or locked up till it's over…and ya can bet the bank that a fuck ton of them did plenty more ta fuck with this goddamn planet than you or I ever did! And how the fuck did they think they was gonna get by without us plebs, anyways? People ta do all the menial stuff people like King think they're too good ta do? Who was gonna clean up all the bodies, fix the damage, come up with a way of justifying this ta their children and their children's children?"

"Those in power will always rewrite history to suit them."

Knowing Harry was right about that just made Eggsy that much angrier.

"And they'd just live with it, wouldn't they? Live with knowing millions, if not fucking billions of people were dead and maybe they could have done somethin ta stop it. That they caused the remaining people who weren't chipped or protected ta suffer from PTSD for the rest of their friggin lives, like they were from 'The Walking Dead' or somethin. I mean have you seen how more fucked up the human survivors are with every season? And for that matter why the fuck did Hershel ever think it would be a good thing if a fucking cure was found that could turn the zombies human again? I mean seriously, how did he not think that one through?" And Eggsy was babbling now, but he couldn't stop himself as he ranted over something that was only sorta related, but was somehow seriously important to keeping himself from slipping further into the insanity of it all. "I mean they'd come back to rotting fucking bodies that probably wouldn't work for shit, and if they did work than they would have ta live with the fact that they spent MONTHS fucking EATING people. I mean fuck! Wouldn't you rather just be put down rather than live with that? Cause I sure as hell would. And what the hell was up with-"

The hand Harry placed over his mouth muffled him, which Eggsy shot him a grateful look for.

"Breathe, Darling. Just breathe."

Blinking at the endearment, Eggsy belatedly realized that he'd been ranting and raving while bare arse naked. And that he was being a serious arse seeing as he was throwing a temper tantrum and blathering on like a complete prat while Harry had to be as sore, tired, and stressed as he was.

A muffled 'shit' against Harry's hand summed up Eggsy's feelings on that, and then he gently tugged Harry's hand away from his mouth so that he could be understandable as he turned his attention to taking care of his mate.