Flynn POV

"Alright, I'm stumped," Ty finally muttered when he stepped onto the porch of the house they were renting. Flynn shrugged and glanced over to Cole, who had been listening to Charlie ramble on for a good while now. By his face, he didn't seem to mind. His mind wasn't completely with Charlie, though. That was easy to explain, because over the few days Flynn had known the girl, he had found out that it Charlie liked to talk to the point of making peoples' ears bleed. Mainly that meant that if she was on a tangent, it was easy to zone out for a moment and come back, still understanding what she was saying. What was that Azori's mind on, anyway?

"He's acting really weird, huh?" Ty asked, and Flynn shrugged again. He had noticed that Cole had been changing slowly since he'd met Blaze. Though the Azori never showed it in his facial expressions, something had been different since the moment he had reconnected with him. The way Cole watched her soar, the way he didn't lash out when she woke him up…There was something special about the winged girl. Of course, Flynn knew she was something special since the moment he met her. After all she had been through, she hadn't let anything drag her down. To be honest Flynn had been more than surprised when he found out that they were traveling together. He had been worried that the darkness in Cole and his family would ruin Blaze, but it hadn't yet. Quite the opposite, it seemed. Before Blaze, Cole would have never given anyone a ride on his back unless they were bleeding out. Even then, he probably would have let them bleed if it were anyone other than Flynn, Ty, or Amalia. It seemed that Blaze had expanded his closed little circle and let some light in.

"First the sweets and then being calm when woken up…is Cole dying? Or did someone replace him with a clone?" Ty tried to wrap his head around it, and Flynn couldn't help but snicker. The boy was young still, or maybe he was blind when it came to his brother. Flynn shrugged with an innocent smile, knowing he wasn't going to be the one to tell him what was going on. It seemed that Cole wasn't quite aware of his feelings either. Maybe it was time to enlighten him.

"we'll have a guys day tomorrow and get it out of him," Flynn suggested with a sly look. Ty nodded in agreement, then yawned.

"Man, it's not even that late and I'm exhausted," they heard Charlie say from up ahead. Cole looked at her with an eyebrow raised as if to say, 'you sure about that?' True, Charlie never seemed to be sluggish or tired, but when she fell asleep, she was out like a log for the rest of the night. It was impossible to get her up that morning! Cole had ended up throwing the kid over his shoulder while she slept. Flynn had felt a bit betrayed by that, because it was his sister after all, and he should be the one making sure she got to where she needed to go. Even if she wasn't related by blood, she was beginning to feel like family to him. He couldn't describe it well, but he was a bit jealous when she chose to ride on Cole's shoulders and not his own when they were going to the rental house. She acted like such a child sometimes, but that didn't bug Flynn that much.

"Ya, I think an early night'd be good for all of us," Blaze suggested, and Flynn found himself feeling sluggish as well. Usually being on the sea and in the water kept him bouncing with energy, but he had been showing Charlie his gymnastic tricks and had challenged her to a sword fight (in actuality, wooden sticks, but they could pretend). He was ecstatic when he found out that he could still play with her like he had with Amalia and Cole when they were kids. Aside from Cole, Amalia was the only one he had ever met who could best him. Then again, that may have been because he had been distracted from the match when fighting her. Cole beat him quickly without a second thought. Fun wasn't something he knew how to do. Flynn hadn't seen him for years after they parted for the first time, and only on a handful of occasions did he get to spend the day with him. They were friends because of Amalia, and what a strange friendship they had. He tried to instill fun in the boy, but it seemed like a lost cause. That is, until Cole met Blaze. He joked more and didn't seem as stressed. He swore the girl was a beacon of good. Flynn looked on ahead to where she was leading the pack back to the house, her high ponytail swinging from side to side behind her.

Blaze POV

She hoped she hadn't seemed too eager to get back. She was very thankful that Charlie had voiced how exhausted she was. Now everyone would take an early night and sleep until late morning, most likely. That meant she could leave earlier than midnight for her expedition. She had worried about getting out of the house because Cole didn't sleep much, but from his rest on the beach she could tell that his body was more exhausted than he let on. She doubted she'd have much trouble sneaking by him. He may be silent on solid ground, but she could be close to silent in the sky. All she needed was some air under and above her wings and she was off, smooth sailing. After a shower, Charlie and Ty fell right asleep. They were both about fifteen, but they always seemed younger. At least they had made it to bed before they fell asleep. On the way out of the shower, Flynn had come dangerously close to falling down the stairs on the way to his room because he was tired. She made some tea for herself while Cole was showering, and waited downstairs for him to finish and go to bed. It was nine by the time everyone had retired to their rooms. It wouldn't make much sense for her to shower yet because she was going to be headed out soon to go to the institution. It wouldn't be too far of a flight, perhaps an hour at most. The building, according to her sources, was hidden deep in a forest, but visible from the sky. Only one road went through the area, but it was heavily watched. She had set up one of the allies, a woman named Felicity who she had been in contact with, as a driver to take them to a safe house after she broke the experiments free. Felicity's English was not very good but she understood the task at hand, as well as the risks. She would be a ways away, before the road split off for the institution. There was a few-mile-stretch in between the institution and the location, but it wouldn't take more than half an hour on foot if they walked at a reasonable rate.

Blaze sipped her tea, trying to stay rational about what she was about to do. She was in control and had worked everything out. The path that they would take was off of the road so as to not raise any alarms. She had mapped it out in her head and if she needed to, she could take to the air to get herself reoriented if they got lost. She had memorized the layout of the building from a stolen blueprint that had been sent to her via one of Charlie's contacts, Zachaariah. Charlie didn't know that she had contacted him, though. Zachaariah didn't seem too confident of her plan and begged her to stay safe, but he provided her with the materials she needed anyway. He also stated that he didn't want Charlie anywhere near all the commotion. It made sense, seeing as he felt responsible for her after her parents had passed away and her brothers had gone off in the world. Blaze assured him that she wouldn't be a part of the plan. This wasn't her fight. She had never been trapped by an institution that Blaze was aware of. The breathing underwater skills she had learned were due to a mutation in her neck, where her gills had never been reabsorbed into her body as an embryo. Having not been trapped in a place like that, the kid would have had no idea what to expect. Blaze didn't want her getting into any trouble. Not any real trouble, at least. Ty knew, but she wasn't about to pull him in either. He was exhausted tonight, and he had been through a lot with his family issues. She didn't know if he was mentally ready to handle something like this, as he had spent the majority of his teenage life attempting to be normal and forget about it all.

Blaze shook as she thought of the invasive procedures and the tests the scientists had run on her. She couldn't imagine what this branch of the institution had been up to. She held her tea close to her body in an attempt to warm her face and hands together. She wasn't cold, per say, but shivers came when she thought about what she had been through. When she felt a blanket wrap around her shoulders, she flinched, spilled a bit of tea, and spun around with her arm in the air.

SMACK!

When her hand met skin, she froze. Cole's face now had a pinkish mark on the middle of his cheek, but it was barely visible on his tanned skin.

"You'd better stay warm. Nights can get cool around here," he muttered, unamused by her reaction. Blaze stared at him for a moment, searching his eyes for any sort of surprise or anger, but there was none that she could find. He hadn't really reacted to getting slapped in the face, which didn't surprise her much. The fact that had walked in without her realizing it was what had set her on edge. What had he been doing up? Blaze realized that her hand was still in the air so she lowered it and took a step back, wrapping the blanket he had given her around her wings and shoulders. It was typical of him to make no noise when he walked around, but she must have been very lost in thought if she didn't see him come down the stairs.

"A lot on your mind?" he guessed, grabbing a dish towel to clean up the spilt tea. Blaze sighed and grabbed another one to help. She had spilled the tea on her hands and feet, and they stung a bit from the unexpected heat, but she flicked them as she walked to cool them down.

"I'm sorry for hitting you. I just didn't expect to see you down here at this hour. I mean, it's still pretty early, but everyone's going to bed," Blaze apologized, but Cole shook his head and tossed the dish towel back on the edge of the sink.

"It's fine. Sorry for scaring ya," Cole said, offering to get her more tea. As she handed him the mug, she frowned. He was wearing plaid pajama pants and a plain black t-shirt with sleeves down to right above his elbows, but she could still make out a dark purple mark on the underside of his arm. She remembered that he said it was injured, but she didn't get the story of how it had happened or how bad it was. When he handed back the mug, she took it and set it down, grabbing his wrist gently. His eyes narrowed the instant she touched it, but he didn't pull away from her.

Cole/Simon PoV

He knew she was going to ask about it the moment she touched his wrist. She had been gentle with it but he still had to control himself so that he didn't cringe away. Azoris did not feel pain. They did not run from harm. He had learned these lessons when he was very young and his brother held his wrist to a burner. They did a lot of things to toughen up the younger kids in the guild. It was a family, but they called themselves a 'guild' to sound more professional. And in truth, there were no alliances or brotherly love. They were expected to fight each other and train each other and get close to nobody. Azoris had no hearts.

Simon sighed and allowed Blaze to turn his wrist to the side. He remembered the lie he'd told Viera about killing Safi and her sister. He remembered the lie he told Flynn about why he had been shot twice in the arm. And he remembered the lie he'd told Veira again about the girl having cat claws so she wouldn't know that he had lied to her the first time. It was a lot of hassle to go about not killing the two kids. It would have been a lot easier for him to have just killed them—so why hadn't he? He had thought about it during his shower after he removed the bandage Flynn had put on to keep everything together.

As Blaze ran her fingers gently up the stitches, he had to do his best not to react to her light touch. Her fingers were a bit cold, but that was a good thing because the cold soothed the pulsing ache down his veins and muscles.

"How far does this go?" she asked, pushing slowly at the edge of his sleeve. He caught her hand and pushed it away from his elbow, back down toward his wrist. He didn't want her to worry. Wait, since when did he care if she worried? He was tasked with killing her. He had to keep his head about him. No, the reason he didn't want her to pry was because he didn't want to have to come up with another lie that could make her distrust him. Or he could tell her the truth. He could tell her all about Veira and what she was going to make him do. What she had done in the past. They could run, they could fight her together. And together, they could win. He felt his heart beat speed up a few paces as he watched her inspect his arm. According to the records Veira provided him with, they had once been on the run together. Damn the 'Curse'. His memories off the drug were a bit hazy when he was on the drug, which meant that it was harder for him to act like he had when he was originally with her because he didn't remember what he was like. It would be difficult then to win her trust if he acted like a new man.

"what happened to you?" Blaze asked with a whisper. Simon blinked, knowing that he needed something that wouldn't come off as a straight lie. He considered telling her that he cut it deeply when he was jumping over a fence on his way back from dropping the girls off at the allies' house, but he doubted she'd believe that. She didn't know that there had been bullets involved, and it was probably for the best that she didn't know he had shot himself. Twice. He could barely think with his heart beating like it was.

"I was on my way back from dropping off the girls and—" he began, almost telling her the truth. No, he couldn't do that. He was on a mission. He was tasked with killing her. Did he care about her? All of his care had been sucked up by the Curse. So then why was he feeling like this? He pulled his arm out from her grip and pulled it to his side. No, he shouldn't be feeling anything right now. Maybe he needed another dose of the Curse. Or the 'Awakening'. Whatever she had given him, his body was hooked. He had just had it, though, with Veira. At least, he'd had something that worked to the same effect. Why was it wearing off so quickly? He was due back to get another shot in the next few days, but he found himself impatient.

"-and I walked past a dealer in an alley. They recognized me as an Azori and came after me with a knife. He caught me off-guard," he finished the sentence, his head hung, not meeting her eyes. He could act ashamed enough that he wasn't able to defend himself—she had seen him fight only a handful of times, and that was against people who were trained to go after Blaze. That, he remembered. In particular, he remembered the night at the farm where she had been attacked.

His heart raced as he realized that the footsteps were not Blaze's. They were way too heavy. His heart was beating so heavily as he fought, but he didn't believe for a moment it was a rush of adrenaline from the thrill of the fight. It had been beating harder since the moment he realized she was in trouble.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there earlier," he remembered saying. As if he could be there all the time to protect her. He had been, though, since she had spoken to him that one day at the Backstreets. He had seen her before, but he didn't speak to Talia, Tony, Blaze, any of the youngers, or anyone else for that matter. The feeling he had felt that first day, he had felt again when he was blocking the guy from getting to her at the farm.

His eyes widened for a moment as his heart pounded harder. I guess the memories do have the ability to come back. And at the most inconvenient of times too, he thought. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears. That wasn't normal, was it? What was happening to him? Maybe Ty was right. Maybe he was dying. He had heard his brother earlier. So he was acting out of character, huh? He'd have to correct that soon. Blaze was making it hard to do that, though. How could he be so careful about how he was supposed to act when his victim was standing in front of him?

Simon flicked his head up and caught a glimpse of her reaction. It seemed she believed what he was saying. Well, to be fair, it wasn't a complete lie. In this situation, Veira was his dealer. And he had been in an alley when he had to shoot himself. Around the stitches, the skin was purplish green and tender, but at least it was clean. She was standing close to him now, such that he could feel her breath as she looked up at him. His heart was racing now faster than it had before, and suddenly there was immense pain in his head. It was more intense than when he had seen Ty again after landing in London. It caught him by surprise and it made him feel like falling to his knees and holding his head. But no, he couldn't do that. It might let on that he wasn't himself. He was tasked with killing Blaze. So why couldn't he just do it and be done? Because Veira some hatred or vendetta against the girl and wanted her to suffer in more ways than one. She wanted Blaze to feel alone, helpless, and betrayed. How could he betray Blaze if she didn't trust him? Damn Veira and the chemicals she'd injected him with. They were doing something weird to his brain chemistry so that not only could he not feel, he wasn't allowed to. What was he supposed to not be feeling? He didn't understand why there was pain in his head right now. He mentally pulled himself together, took a breath, and looked back to Blaze.

"Cole….you're….you're bleeding," Blaze took a step back. He frowned, checked his arm, then looked back up at her. The stitches were holding, what was she talking about? When he turned to look in the reflection of the glass window, he could see a line of red coming from his nose. Shit. How was he going to explain this?

"Hell. Must've been from the brownie I ate earlier," he muttered, and she raised an eyebrow.

"Joking. It's a joke that Azoris are allergic to anything sweet," Simon shook his head. Well, maybe he was. Maybe he was allergic to Blaze. There had to be a connection between the pain in his head and the nosebleed. The only time he'd had a nosebleed was when he'd been punched in the face by one of his brothers when he was younger.

"It's probably the change in pressure and temperature here. I've been feeling off all day. I think I'm going to clean myself up then hit the hay. See you in the morning, Blondie," Cole shrugged, touching her shoulder to let her know he was fine before turning and heading upstairs. After washing the blood off his face, he slapped himself a few times to get a grip. He stared at himself in the bathroom mirror.

I'm an Azori. Azoris don't have hearts. We don't feel. I am tasked with a mission. Veira told me to kill this girl. I don't particularly like Veira, but I am my father's son. I don't have a choice. She is employing me. I can't ruin our reputation by going against what she demands. She and I are partners. Not me and this blond girl, Simon told himself. He thought this over and over until the pain in his head subsided and his heart was back to beating normally.

He lay on the bed that had been provided for him, but then switched to the floor. He still wasn't accustomed to sleeping in a real bed, anyway. He preferred the harder surfaces. As he was pulling a blanket down from the bed, he saw a shadow outside. Silently and carefully he grabbed his knife and crept to the window that lead to the small balcony. He saw large wings first, then a girl soar up into the sky. Where was she going?

"Survey her every move. My client believes she might try something while here in France," Veira had told him with the glass of wine.

"Like what?" Simon asked. According to her friends, this was supposed to be a time to relax and enjoy some time off from their work. Work that apparently her client did not approve of. However, he was only tasked with killing the winged girl. She was the masthead of the operations, so they believed that without her, the movement would fall and crumble. That might be true, because she did do most of the work. The others answered questions from time to time, but it was her that spoke to the political leaders and diplomats.

"Break into an institution and steal experiments and data as proof of malpractice," Veira specified with an eye roll. She didn't enjoy it when people asked her questions. She just wanted them to do, not to think. Though, Simon was to be her partner from here on out, so she had to treat him like an equal. That would be difficult. He sighed and shook his head.

"She wouldn't try that alone. She's tough, but she's not alone anymore," he pointed out. He wasn't sure why, but that seemed to strike a nerve with Veira. Maybe she was jealous that the girl had friends and all Veira had were her underlings…her henchmen. They didn't care much about her from a personal standpoint as much as a friend would. Most feared her, and they never had to take care of her. They dared not step out of line or say anything that would anger her. As potentially her one equal she'd found in life, Simon could see why she had become so obsessed with the idea of becoming partners. He wasn't scared of her.

"Regardless, you have your orders. You have to end her before she returns from France. When she does go to the institution…it might be an opportunity to betray her there. Play it by ear. My client would not be amused by losing many valuables," Veira pointed out.

After quickly rewrapping his arm, he pulled on regular black slacks and a black long-sleeved button-down. It was the way his father dressed while he was doing work, and it was how all Azoris were expected to dress while on the job. They blended into the darkness more easily that way.

Well, it looked as if she was heading out alone. Perhaps he had won her trust, but that would be broken soon enough. He strapped his knife to his belt and jumped from the balcony, landing on his toes and absorbing the impact with his ankles and knees. He remembered his first leap from a building ledge. How his father had looked on, impressed. He had been the youngest of the Azoris to make the leap in history. Most of the time there was a certain age one had to pass before making the first jump because it could prove fatal if one landed incorrectly. He remembered looking over to his father, but not for validation. He was looking at him to tell his father that he was more capable than he thought. That the test was a petty one, and that he would be able to take him on one day.

Simon found a motorcycle a few houses down and nabbed the keys from the open garage. Their fault for leaving it open. That, and he was much less comfortable driving an actual car. With that, he headed out into the night to follow his winged target.

((R&R please! Look forward to writing more soon!))