AATS
Chapter 41
Paso Doble

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.

- Friedrich Nietzsche

"I think he'd be cute."

Virgil tore off a piece of meat between his teeth and chewed loudly. He took in a deep breath through his nose and propped his feet on the desk in front of him.

"A tiny Testament."

Virgil had shed his disguise. Most of the testing facility's employees were asleep. The door was locked tight. There was no real risk, not with Mr. Mantel by his side.

It appeared that whatever needed doing at Michtam had been put on hold. Whether it was something that required Albedo or whether Kevin had been curious enough to put it off wasn't entirely clear. Kevin hadn't said a word since he'd arrived. He'd simply shown up unannounced and locked the door behind him. Virgil didn't care. He was enjoying himself.

"What color are you thinking? We already have red and blue." Virgil shrugged. "Maybe a different shade? Kid's too fiery for anything soft."

Now that he thought about it, Virgil didn't remember picking a color. He didn't remember the specifics of becoming a Testament. He only remembered agreeing to it and even that memory was unclear.

"What makes you think he'll stay that way?"

Kevin's smooth voice pulled Virgil away from his thoughts.

"Voyager and Albedo were both cured when they became Testaments."

He nodded to Virgil.

"Even your scars aren't real. You choose to keep them. Why is that?"

Virgil shoved another piece of flesh into his mouth and turned away.

"Albedo likes them," Kevin said pointedly.

Virgil snorted. "He likes them because he can't scar. It'd break his heart if he found any on the kid."

It should have been easy to imagine an adult Jr. Albedo and Gaignun were the perfect templates, but Virgil couldn't bring the image into being. He could only see him as he was now. The size seemed to fit him. He doubted Jr. would feel the same.

Virgil had never imagined that this would be Wilhelm's end goal, but Albedo would still get his reward if Jr. accepted. The way he was now, Virgil had no doubt that he would. It was their only way out of this. Albedo knew it.

Virgil finished chewing and crossed his arms.

The two of them would be inseparable and exhausting. Albedo would fawn over him endlessly. Virgil imagined Albedo standing in Michtam, reaching through a hood to touch Jr.'s face, sweet nothings oozing out of him.

Purple, Virgil decided. His suit would be purple like Albedo's endless gaze.

Virgil questioned the wisdom of such a decision. Wilhelm had to know that they would get nothing done. Virgil doubted that Jr. would be willing to use his power against his friends.

The thought was electric. It coursed through Virgil, lighting up every neuron in one bright flash. Jr. wouldn't use his powers against his friends. Jr. was the rod, the lead, the bait. He wouldn't hurt them, he would reel them in. He could convince every one of them to join and cut their work short. MOMO, Ziggy, Jin, and Shion.

Shion.

Virgil jerked toward Kevin who looked away from the screen long enough to catch the surprise on Virgil's face.

"Rubedo!"

Albedo was a flat image shouting in the crystal. Jr.'s power had died down. He was no longer a screaming, raging red. Albedo had pulled him out of it with a pathetic and frightened,

"Rubedo!"

Virgil remained focused on Kevin. They had been so thoroughly outplayed. He felt betrayed but couldn't decide who the traitor was. Who was the victim? Where they all victims? Why did Virgil consider himself one?

Kevin turned back to the tragedy on screen.

"You're missing it," he said. Virgil saw the slightest hint of a smile on his lips. "Your favorite show."

She knew the name Sakura. It was hard-coded into her, a part of her, a name she had known before she opened her eyes or took her first breath. Her question was how the boy clutching her arms knew it.

"Please. He wouldn't abandon you. I know he wouldn't."

He was a small thing; terrified and filthy. His white hair was full of mud and dirt. His uniform had been ripped at the chest, and he was covered in blood, but she couldn't find any wounds on him. There was a particularly large smear on his left cheek beneath his eye.

She didn't know who Rubedo was. She had never heard the name before, but he kept insisting that she knew, that she had to know, that Sakura knew.

Sakura Mizrahi was dead.

She turned to her sisters. They stared back with lost amber eyes, just as confused as she was.

"I followed you here," he said. The terror in his voice shifted suddenly into something angry and threatening. "I know you're hiding him."

She winced at his grip.

"It isn't enough that he chose you? You can't keep us separated! I won't let you!"

He stood, dragging her to her feet in the process.

"If you don't tell me where he is, I'll kill you."

He was a simple, scared child, and yet she knew that he meant it. There was an immense power flowing inside him. Just when she was certain that he would make good on his threat and tear not only her but the sisters who had followed her to tiny pieces, he fell back onto his knees sobbing.

"I'm sorry, Sakura. Please. I can't feel him. Why can't I hear him?"

He released her and wrapped his hands around his head.

"There's so much noise. It's so loud! I can't find him."

"Hear him?"

There were red numbers on the boy's right hand: 667.

"A URTV," one of her sisters said. "Number 667. Designation: Albedo. Variant."

The URTVs. Bioweapons. They had been involved in Sakura's treatment.

"He has been infected," The other said, coming to stand next to them. "U-DO infection in URTVs leads to death and/or extreme psychosis rendering them unstable."

They had seen the massacre for themselves, through the eyes of the sisters who hadn't made it to the Song. There had been hundreds of blonde children slaughtering anyone within their reach, but this one was different. They could see the infection weaving into him, rewiring him. Their records of him stopped at variant. There was no data on how a variant would react to becoming infected, and it didn't list any special abilities that he might have had. The data was sparse and inaccessible; top-secret.

The boy, Albedo, looked up at her through watery purple eyes.

"Sakura?"

"Don't worry," she said. She placed a soft, cautious hand on his shoulder. "I know it was scary outside, but you're safe now. We- I will take care of you. You don't have to be afraid."

"But...Rubedo..."

Unit number 666. Designation: Rubedo. Variant.

"I'm sure he's fine."

It was a lie, but she felt that the boy needed the lie.

"We can look for him together. Come with me."

Albedo could see everything. He was everything. He was new and perfect and complete. He had always been complete. He was never a mistake, an anti-existence. He was perfection and he could see it all. He could hear it all; a million voices all screaming and yelling and whispering endlessly.

U-DO was evolution. Albedo was evolving. U-DO was the end. Albedo was the truth.

These pathetic people who were always around him, always caging him, testing him, wary of him, were afraid to see it. He was impossible to control, and yet they kept trying to contain him. When his powers burst out of him in new and unexpected ways, they scattered and ran only to return and call him "monster". Albedo was a god. What mortal creature didn't fear God?

Albedo was a fragmented mess. His mind was like millions of shattered pieces in constant, various states of change. Those pieces reformed and reconnected only to break apart and start over again. The infection attempted to destroy him but Albedo's body refused and instead transformed it into something useful, into something more.

Dr. Sellers was a witness to it. He couldn't help but be fascinated by it. He watched as Albedo flitted from one extreme to the next. Albedo was made manic by the transformation. Albedo was exhausted by it. Albedo was inhumanly powerful. Albedo was a terrified child who couldn't recognize his surroundings and cried for his brothers. Everyone else viewed him as something to be feared, controlled, or eliminated. Sellers saw greatness. Albedo was a caterpillar dissolving in its cocoon. This was a metamorphosis. Sellers wanted to see what would emerge.

Albedo emerged painfully slowly. His violent outbursts left him feared and hated by all around him. Even the domineering Margulis, after several failed attempts to bring Albedo into the fold, avoided him unless absolutely necessary. As Albedo grew older and the initial fear of Margulis faded away, he began to look forward to his visits. He saw Margulis as a challenge. He loved to watch the disgust etch into his stone-cold expression and took any opportunity to slither near him and flick the round hilt of his sword.

"Enough," Dr. Sellers would say. But it was never a true command. It was always said as if it were a suggestion; a tired and defeated one. And if it were Sellers, and only if it were Sellers, Albedo would saunter away, purple eyes shining with dark mischief.

Dr. Sellers was a man interested only in his own survival. He had formed no true attachments. He promised safety to no one. He didn't lie or deceive anyone into thinking that he could or would save them either. Albedo could respect that. It was a sort of truth. It was a truism that few of his kind shared. Theirs was always for the greater good or for a higher power, but for Sellers it was simply for the ability to live.

He never called Albedo a monster. He had good eyes and good sense. He could see Albedo for what he truly was and feared Albedo for the right reasons.

They would drop Albedo on him when they had no one else who could or would handle him. Albedo himself had sought him out a number of times when he was younger for no other reason than to escape from the rest of the ship or station or where ever it was that they had placed him next. Dr. Sellers would always sigh at his presence, but he always left him to his own devices. Even when he arrived covered in blood or furious at some injustice set upon him by a soldier or scientist and slam himself into an empty chair, Sellers never stirred. He would continue with his work with no more than a slight glance over his shoulder. He had learned long ago that silence from Albedo wasn't a bad thing, at least where he was concerned.

When Sellers gave Albedo the Song of Nephilim as a base it wasn't out of any perceived kindness or fondness. It was payment or perhaps more a bribe. If Albedo had his own base, a place he could operate out of, somewhere to call home, then the risk of Albedo slaughtering soldiers, scientists, and sinking space stations would lessen.

It was a smart move and Sellers was more than relieved when Albedo took it without protest or ceremony. He was old enough to be on his own anyway. It was one of the first, clear memories Albedo had.

Albedo's youth was messy. His memories of it were dull and inconsistent. He couldn't remember when Sakura finally began to fade into the 99-series. He remembered meeting Sakura in the core of the Song. He remembered seeing multiple Sakuras. They would sprout from the first one in hallways or in his room, all trying to help him. She would sleep beside him when he was younger because he was terrified of the dark, of being alone, and she was the closest thing to Rubedo he could manage. Albedo thought for a long time that Rubedo would find them. He wouldn't leave Sakura. Even if he had abandoned Albedo, he wouldn't abandon her. But he couldn't remember why Rubedo had abandoned him. When was the last time he saw Rubedo or Nigredo? How did he get here? Why couldn't he feel them?

Albedo couldn't say whether the Kirschwassers had intentionally kept Sakura's form or if the madness had finally begun to quiet, but it never bothered him. He adapted to it quickly. The knowledge that Sakura was dead, that he had witnessed that death himself and that he should have never seen her in the first place, didn't matter. That phase of his life was simply over, and he was left with his dolls.

His Kirschwassers followed him everywhere. The more time they spent with Albedo, the more they began to abandon tasks just to be near him. He never understood it, but they were useful little things, so he never sent them away.

The 99-series had never been especially emotive. Their smiles were wrong. Their eyes always felt empty and their voices flat. They never asked for maintenance or complained of any illness or loss of function. He liked their muted expressions. Albedo was always overflowing and overwhelmed with emotion. Their steadfast stoicism was refreshing. They were never surprised by him. They never feared him. They took him in stride. They gave themselves to his every whim, as if they had been created only to placate and comfort him.

"Why are you always following me?" Albedo asked suddenly. His current shadow had followed him into his room and the question had all but fallen out of him. None of them had ever given him an reason and he was intensly curious as to what her answer would be.

The confusion in her voice was clear when she answered him as if it were obvious, as if anyone with eyes could see it.

"Because you need us."

Albedo gave them purpose. They loved him for it. They didn't care what happened to them as long as they were useful to him. They didn't even ask for his love in return. They knew they would never have it. Albedo only loved one person.

That one person came to him in dreams. Those dreams were ones of grand escapes. Rubedo would find him and rescue him from this dark place with these stupid, insufferable people and take him home. The years dragged on and Rubedo never came but the dreams persisted. It didn't matter how far they had been separated, they would find him.

Albedo began to remember. The infection kept him in pieces. He hadn't been able to keep those pieces together long enough to find Rubedo or Nigredo. It took years before his body finally acclimated to U-DO. As it digested it brought all the shifting, scattered pieces of Albedo together, and he was finally able to recognize their link. The memory returned angrily, violently. It was a merciless reminder of what he had done to earn the silence at the end of their spiritual link.

Rubedo wasn't coming to save him. Rubedo wasn't looking for him. Rubedo didn't care if he was alive or dead. Rubedo and Nigredo didn't want to be found. The realization was worse than the initial loneliness. He used that darkness and unleashed it on any Ormus member brave enough to goad him into revealing their location.

Ormus was a bastion of refuge for any lost soul. They weaponized the poor, the hungry, the abandoned, the ostracized. They preyed on the desperate who prayed at their altars and gave what they had of their miserable lives to their God. Ormus lived off the backs of the powerful, the unstable, and the fragile. They wanted more recruits like Albedo, but Albedo was not a pawn. His brothers hated him. Ormus was out of carrots. They were out of sticks.

Albedo slaughtered any believer foolish enough to tempt him with the promise of his brothers. He had murdered a dozen before Sellers finally put a stop to it.

Albedo's dreams of Rubedo began to change. They were no longer ones of rescue but ones of violence. Rubedo would find him in dark hallways or metal catwalks or the darkness of his room and tear him apart limb from limb. He would regenerate and Rubedo would start again until they were drowning in Albedo's blood.

Albedo would awaken from those dreams sweating and terrified with U-DO pounding in his veins. These dreams consumed him, made him even more unpredictable. Albedo's body could function without sleep but the lack of it made him erratic and extra violent. He preferred that to the hatred in Rubedo's eyes as he tore into his chest to pull out his heart.

"You need sleep," Sellers said to him one night. It wasn't a command. It was more of a suggestion or perhaps a plea. Sellers was never able to find rest when Albedo didn't sleep.

His back was turned to Albedo, as it always was if he could help it. Albedo was a sullen shape in one of the empty lab chairs. It was just the two of them. Albedo had ordered his little shadow to leave him. Realians needed sleep. They were useful little things and Albedo wanted them to function correctly.

"He haunts me."

"Who?" Sellers asked, curious at the quiet, vulnerable tone Albedo had taken. He couldn't imagine anyone being able to slide under Albedo's skin.

"Rubedo."

His curiosity couldn't be contained any longer. Sellers turned away from the light blue glow of his screen to find Albedo in the darkness. He was slouched in his chair. There were tears in his eyes, sparkling in the thin light that managed to seep around Seller's form. Sellers had grown used to Albedo's loud, sobbing outbursts when he was younger. He was almost sixteen at the time and still living on whatever station Sellers happened to inhabit. Sellers had never seen him so sincere.

"Ah, your brother. So you have found them."

Albedo would have taken that as a threat if it had been anyone else. Sellers had no particular interest in the other URTVs. What small interest he'd held at all had been reserved for Albedo and his infection. He'd learned far more about them than he'd ever intended. Sellers had never worked personally with Dmitri Yuriev, but he knew of his work and had quickly filled in the gaps after discovering Albedo. It was impressive (if unethical) work. He understood their physiology and their spiritual connection without Albedo ever having to explain it. It was yet another reason why Albedo was fond of him.

"What's the problem, then? You miss them, don't you? I assume the three of you would be happy to reunite."

"They hate me."

Albedo's head dropped into his hands and he screamed as if his chest had collapsed inward, "Rubedo hates me!"

His body bowed in the chair as he sobbed. "I can feel them but they won't speak to me. Rubedo lives in my dreams. He destroys me every night. I can feel him tearing me apart in my sleep."

Albedo's hands wrapped around his biceps as he cried.

"He sends you these dreams?" Sellers asked.

He brought his chair closer to Albedo. His presence wasn't intended to be a comfort. It was more of an inspection. Sellers was first and foremost a man of science and Albedo, despite his drawbacks, was a marvel.

"I don't know," Albedo confessed. "I don't think so."

"Despite your inability to die these dreams frighten you? I've seen you reduced to nothing more than a finger. You are virtually indestructible. If there was a way to create others like you...well, no one would stand against an army of that caliber. You, an accident of science, are the end goal of countless attempts at immortality and yet you're frightened by something as simple and impossible as a dream?"

"Have you ever felt true hatred?"

Sellers tried not to flinch when Albedo stood.

"No. You have never felt the sting of hatred or even the warmth of love. You, pathetic creature, have been met with nothing but indifference. Your work and your life lie in the shadows of giants. Dwarfed by these monoliths you toil in obscurity and for what?"

Albedo slammed his hands down onto the controls of Sellers' hoverchair. It sputtered from the force, flickering like warning lights in the dark room.

"To understand me is to understand a greatness that you will never attain. Minuscule and lame, you are nothing, and you know nothing of me, of Rubedo. How could you?"

Sellers adjusted his glasses and ran a shaky white glove through his hair. Albedo was looking for a reaction; fear, terror, anger, anything that would justify an attack. Sellers had done well to avoid any harm, but he had come close a number of times. He always found the proper words to win his escape. As Albedo's fingers glowed with their familiar and dangerous dark purple, he found it.

"I know enough," he answered confidently. "I think that perhaps he could kill you."

Seller's tapped the back of Albedo's hand. "U-DO is a part of you now. There is no denying that, but if you think about Rubedo, you must think of him now not as your ally or brother or whatever loving way you may describe him. He is your antithesis."

Seller's fingers moved across his hoverchair and the large screen behind him lit up with an image of Rubedo. It was the first time that Albedo had seen him since their separation. It was a static, stale image taken by someone from the Yuriev Institute but in Albedo's mind, it moved. The Rubedo on the screen would blink, would breathe, or sigh or move its eyes around the room. It commanded his attention.

"Consider these nightmares a warning. You've told me before that U-DO speaks to you. You would do well to listen to what it is saying."

Albedo moved around Sellers' hoverchair to step closer to the image. Sellers turned to follow him, always studying him.

"He was created to destroy U-DO. Now, with it so crucial to your makeup, if he were to use his power with the proper amount of force he could destroy you."

Albedo spun around to Sellers. His eyes were wide and intense. The fear and sorrow were gone. He stared at Sellers in wonder, as if he were a prophet.

"You are U-DO. There is no way to separate you. He is the only being in existence who could destroy you."

Albedo slept and his nightmares no longer terrified him. He welcomed them. Albedo drank in Rubedo's hatred and the pain. Rubedo would save him but it wouldn't be from the dark ships of Ormus. It would be from his greatest fear. Albedo could stomach that hatred, could even nurture it if it meant escape.

Albedo's mastery of his madness matured as he grew. Sellers had been right; there was no way to separate them. It wasn't until his meeting with his vampire that he truly began to blossom. Ormus had given up on enslaving him and began to use him as a tool, one used sparingly and with great caution.

Albedo saw little of Sellers after his move to the Song of Nephilim. He was under Margulis' command now, as much as he would allow himself to be commanded. Albedo was a contract mercenary and was rarely stationed in one location for any length of time. He worked out of the Song with his devoted little Kirschwassers, eagerly awaiting the next phase of his vampire's plan.

Albedo had only been working for Margulis for a little over a year when he was assigned his first partner, Commander Amory Scott.

Amory Scott was one of the youngest wing commanders to serve in Ormus. He was a few years older than Albedo and extremely well-liked. He was handsome, vibrant, and unbelievably friendly. He was confident, self-assured, and made for an excellent leader. Albedo had heard his name in passing, and it was always spoken with praise and admiration. He was a true believer, a devout Ormus dog. Albedo hated him instantly.

Albedo couldn't imagine that this Amory would want to work with him either. Albedo was certain that he'd heard the rumors about him. The space station where he would find Amory was exactly where his vampire requested he go next, so Albedo decided not to argue.

Amory was waiting for Albedo and his Kirschwasser when he arrived at the space station Entia. He waved to Albedo as they exited. Albedo smiled in return; an ugly, contemptuous thing. Amory didn't seem bothered by it. He extended his hand to Albedo in greeting.

"You must be Albedo," he said. He was even brighter than Albedo had been led to believe. Albedo looked from his gloved hand upward to the helmet obscuring his face. He was taller than Albedo expected. Albedo had been looking forward to towering over him, but it turned out that he was an inch taller. That extra inch was infuriating.

"Oh, sorry," Amory said, embarrassed. He pulled his hand back to take off his helmet and Albedo was shown instantly the reason behind their partnership. Amory Scott wasn't only handsome and an excellent leader. He also had a head full of red hair and a pair of icy blue eyes.

He looked nothing like Rubedo. The features they did share weren't even the correct shade. But they were enough. Albedo's mind was already working out the flaws and adjusting them to be what he needed them to be.

"That was rude of me. I forget I have the damn thing on. I'm Amory Scott."

Albedo raised his hand mechanically. Amory took it firmly as a large, glowing smile spread across his face.

Albedo couldn't explain how it happened. He could only remember following Amory around in a daze. Amory talked incessantly. He explained to Albedo once that he disliked silence. It made him nervous. He didn't seem to mind Albedo's silence, but Albedo did notice how he fidgeted when their work required quiet. It never seemed to hinder his focus. He was as skilled and perfect as the rumors claimed. He mastered things easily. He always had a solution to any problem.

"I'm not supposed to tell anyone," Amory had said one day as they exited their A.M.W.S. "But the guys upstairs are working on a new type of mech. An E.S., they call it. Or 'the relic', whatever the hell that means. We're known for our pilots here on the Entia and I've sent in a few suggestions, but I'd think you'd be great. If you're intere-"

Albedo slammed him against a wall, pinning him there with a forearm. For a brief moment, Albedo saw the glimpse of something like fear in his eyes. They had been working together for about three months and Albedo had been strangely obedient and completely unlike whatever reports Amory had been given. Albedo had rarely spoken. He took direction extremely well and was incredibly efficient. Even this outburst seemed different and unlike the horrific violence, he was known for. Amory didn't feel like he was in any real danger.

"Whoa," Amory said gently, trying to keep calm. He'd let his guard down and knew there was nothing he could do to defend himself if he was wrong and Albedo decided that he wanted him dead. "Was it something I said?"

Albedo held him there for a few more minutes, eyes searching Amory's face. The silence dragged on and Amory opened his mouth, unable to stand the quiet. When he did Albedo leaned up and crashed their lips together. Amory froze, completely surprised by the unexpected attack.

"Shut up," Albedo snarled against his lips. "Stop talking."

His forearm pressed hard into Amory's chest as he pushed away. Amory stayed against the wall, unable to move as he watched Albedo continue down the hallway without him.

It had been Albedo's first kiss. His violent dreams of Rubedo began to twist into something more sensual. Albedo took out his frustrations on Amory who slowly (painfully slowly) gave in to him.

"I'm not into men," Amory protested weakly in the dark as Albedo's hands moved deftly through the buckles at his waist.

"I am far more than a man," Albedo replied as his warm fingers found Amory's skin. "Would you like to see?"

Amory was more experienced than the younger Albedo, but he was always the one brought to his knees, completely entranced.

"I'm going to ask him to marry me," Amory announced to his friends.

They were in the Entia's cafeteria. Amory's table was always crowded. He was very friendly and welcoming and never turned anyone away. His spontaneous announcement turned every head at his table. Someone at the far end choked on their water.

Albedo had never asked Amory to keep their relationship a secret. Everyone on the Entia knew about it. Most of the people at the table had tried to discourage it.

"You're...kidding, right?"

"He's a mass murderer."

"We're all murders," Amory replied easily. "Not one of us at this table can pretend that we haven't killed anyone. Pascal, you assassinated a powerful Leftherian diplomat just last week."

"Yeah, sure," Pascal replied. "But I haven't slaughtered my own brothers."

"He kills us for sport. Heard he killed a researcher just for asking a question."

"Don't bother him," Amory replied with a lift of his shoulders.

"Amory, come on."

"He hasn't killed any of us since he's been with me, has he?" Amory asked. He looked at every face at his table, daring them to object.

Finally, with a defeated sigh, someone at the far end said, "No."

Amory clapped his hands in victory. "No. Exactly."

"Commander Amory, I don't understand. I've known you since we were kids. You've turned down every guy who's ever asked you on a date, but you hop into bed with this serial killer? And even worse, you say you want to marry him?"

"Must be pretty good in the sack. The crazy ones always are."

"Come on guys. He's not what you think he is. Help me. Some of you are married. We're still doing rings, right? Stahl? You've got a wife. Itsuki? Oh! Mariska!"

The woman passing by their table stopped at her name and turned to Amory.

"Mariska, you married that Alviss engineer a couple of months back right? What was her name?"

"Melia," Mariska answered. "And yes, why?"

"Commander Amory's thinking of proposing."

"To Albedo."

Amory waved them off and leaned around Pascal. "I heard you proposed. You used a ring, right?"

"The problem isn't the ring, Commander. It's the person."

"Monster."

"Albedo isn't a monster!"

Mariska saw her exit and took it swiftly.

"What's so great about him, then?" Itsuki asked, returning to his food. "What kind of ring would you even give someone like that?"

Amory sighed in frustration and leaned forward onto the table. He shoved some food into his mouth and glowered at his friends.

"Speak of the Devil."

Amory raised his head and turned around to find one of Albedo's Kirschwassers leaving with a bag held tightly in her small fingers.

"Hey little lady, is Albedo back already?"

The Kirschwasser paused for a moment, capturing Amory in her wide golden eyes.

"Yes. He wants to be left alone."

Someone at the table snickered.

"He likes to read while he eats," Amory said defensively.

"Read what? The Marquis de Sade?"

Amory shoved Pascal hard enough to flip his chair backward. He hit the ground hard, slamming his head onto the floor. An instant hush fell over the room as everyone turned to Amory in shock.

"I'm serious about him."

Amory's eyes swept over everyone at the table.

"And I'm asking for your help. If you don't have anything useful to say, you can leave."

Pascal was the first person to speak up.

"Alright, I'm sorry."

Pascal collected himself from the floor. He felt a growing lump on the back of his head and hissed when he reached back to touch it. He brought his chair back to the table.

"So he likes to read. What else does he like?"

"Besides slaughter," Itsuki muttered. Pascal elbowed him hard in the ribs.

"Music," Amory answered. His voice took on a dreamlike quality as he spoke. "Orchestras. Symphonies. Real Old World stuff. He even has this old..."

Amory moved his hands in a circle as he tried to find the words for Albedo's device.

"He called it a...gramophone. It's giant, and it sits in the middle of his room. You have to crank it to get it to work."

"His room?" Itsuki interrupted. "You've been to the Song?"

Amory's hands stilled, and he looked at Itsuki curiously. "Yeah. I go all the time. Why? Is that weird?"

"It's the Song, Commander. They say it's madness itself."

Amory shrugged. "It's just like any other base. His Realians take care of the upkeep, but he only inhabits a small part of it. I don't even think it works or if it does, he doesn't use it."

Everyone at the table exchanged glances. No one had been to the Song since it had been given to Albedo. If Albedo was welcoming Amory into his home maybe he was serious too. Amory had survived this long and no one at the table had heard of anyone taking Albedo to bed before.

"You two are a little young to be thinking of marriage. You're only twenty-two and Albedo's...how old is he?"

"Nineteen," came a voice at the end of the table. Amory caught a glimpse of blonde hair beneath a hood. The person was unfamiliar and pulled out of his sight as he leaned forward to discover who they were.

"Looks like we got another Albedo-obsessed idiot at the table," Pascal said, playfully punching Amory. "Too bad no one stands a chance against you."

Amory caught sight of Albedo's Kirschwasser as she made her way past the long windows that lined the entrance of the cafeteria. She was watching him, no doubt recording everything he'd said. She was an observational Realian. He wondered how clearly she could see from that distance and if she could read his lips.

"You don't get married right after the proposal, idiot. They can wait a couple of years."

"That is if he even says yes."

"He will say yes. You don't propose unless you're pretty sure that the other person's going to say yes."

"Well for better or worse, the Commander's made it clear that he's in love with Albedo," Pascal said, downing the rest of his drink. "So what do you think?"

Amory felt Pascal's hand on his shoulder and found his friend smiling at him.

"You think Albedo's in love with you?"

Albedo wasn't in love with Amory. He wasn't Albedo's only lover. He wasn't even Albedo's favorite. He was simply the first in a long line. The discovery destroyed him. Albedo watched as he crumbled.

"What did you expect, Toy Soldier?" Albedo asked with a sneer.

Amory had found Albedo in his dark creeping lair at the center of the song, sitting on his headless statue, cleaning a bloody short sword. Albedo couldn't even be bothered to raise his eyes from his work. Amory wasn't important enough.

"I love you!" Amory shouted.

The outburst earned Amory a reaction, though not the one he was looking for. When Albedo finally abandoned his weapon to lock eyes with Amory, they were sparkling bright and full of humor. Amory was a joke and this encounter the punchline.

Amory grabbed Albedo by the collar, uncaring of the sword in his hand, and ripped him up from his seat.

"Do the others love you?! Have they ever looked at you the way I do?"

He grabbed both sides of Albedo's face and kissed him with a savagery and desperation that Amory hadn't known he held within him. It held his very soul, all that he was. Albedo laughed when Amory pulled away. Albedo laughed and laughed; a horrific, frightening thing that turned his stomach.

"Who is he?" Amory shouted, but it came out as more of a scream as if the question shredded him on the way out. "If it isn't me, then who is it?"

"Rubedo."

They both turned to find Albedo's Kirschwasser standing in a dark corner of the room.

"Who?"

The Kirschwasser blinked wordlessly at Amory.

"Rubedo is the one my master loves. He is the only one my master loves."

Albedo laughed. He shoved the sword into the shoulder of his seat and walked over to his Kirschwasser. He patted the top of her head fondly as if his touch were her reward.

"Oh, what fun," Albedo said, bending down to take her hands. "Who is Rubedo?"

There was the faint sound of music from somewhere in the darkness. Albedo swayed his Kirschwasser back and forth to the tune.

"Is he man?" Albedo asked her. "Or is he beast?"

He spun her around and dipped her backward, bending with her an action that should have been awkward with their height difference but was performed elegantly and effortlessly, as if the move were practiced, as if they did this often.

"Destruction itself? Perfection in its purest form?"

The Kirschwasser's bright empty gaze bore into the Amory. Her long hair was like a silver waterfall pooling at Albedo's feet.

"And the smoke of their torment goes up," she whispered. "Forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever received the mark of its name."

Amory saw it now. The fog of intense infatuation had finally been lifted. This was madness. The entire place and everyone in it was insane. Had he never noticed the broken statues of women with their limbs shattered and scattered throughout the dark room? The portraits that hung on the walls had large, panicked eyes wrapped in dark, slithery shapes that seemed to pulsate; intestines impatient to absorb the frightened eyeballs. The music continued and the vocals were airy and haunting like a cry for help.

The horror tried to wrap around him, to grab him by the shoulders and force him to look and see what Albedo truly was but as Albedo brought his Kirschwasser to her feet, all Amory could think about was the feel of the music as it reached towards him.

It must have come from the gramophone. The corridor to Albedo's room also lead to his lair but Amory hadn't known that the sound could reach so far a distance. It sang in his cells - a ghoulish melody. The heartache and sickness that enveloped him were fed by the sound, twisting them like a knife in his gut.

It reshaped his torment and as it did, as it scorched the name Rubedo like a caustic disease into him, he wondered about other names. Who were the others? Whose names had been whispered in the dark halls of Albedo's Song?

The identity of Rubedo didn't matter. The fact that Albedo loved him above all else didn't matter. Rubedo was at the top of the list. Amory needed to start at the bottom and work his way up. He knew exactly where he needed to start.

Amory slaughtered his entire fleet. Every man under his command, every friendly face, anyone who had ever uttered Albedo's name in his presence had been killed. He returned to the song after his massacre covered in their blood as if it were proof of his devotion. Albedo was genuinely surprised to hear that he had returned. Amory was a wanted man in the one place he was unwanted. Despite what his outer appearance would suggest, he wasn't violent. He'd stormed in with a confidence he had lost during their last encounter and had thrown a collection of dark metal squares at Albedo's feet. He knew what they were before his Kirschwasser had retrieved them from the ground.

"Lando Pascal," she read, turning the squares in her small fingers. "Itsuki Ito. Matthew Stahl..."

They were dog tags. They belonged to all the men in Amory's squadron. Albedo's surprise twisted into a black smile as his Kirschwasser read the names. She finally made it to the end of the tags and Amory straightened up as if awaiting a reward. The brightness that had so defined his character, had faded. He didn't glow, he didn't smile.

"Who is Rubedo?"

"And what would you do to him," Albedo asked, leaning back and crossing his legs. "If I were to tell you?"

Amory motioned toward the Kirschwasser and the bloodied trophies held in her small hands.

"Add his name to my list."

Albedo's terrifying laughter filled the dark room. He wrapped his arms around himself and rocked with laughter.

"And how would that serve you," Albedo asked as he pushed to his feet. He walked up to Amory until their chests were almost touching. Albedo was glad to see that he had grown that last inch in their year together. "These deaths you've lain at my feet, the pathetic trinkets of your proposal, are meant to change my mind?"

Albedo moved in slow, measured circles around Amory.

"A rabid dog presenting corpses to its master."

"Do you really think he loves you?" Amory snapped. "Or if he does, will he once he realizes what a shameless whore you actually are?"

Albedo knocked him forward onto his knees.

"The fragility of the insignificant. A villain looking for purpose in his own villainy."

Amory tried to raise up, but Albedo slammed a hand against the back of his neck, forcing him down until he mirrored Albedo's broken woman. Albedo crouched over him, pressing the weight of his body onto his back. "If I were to undress you right now, would you resist me?"

Amory shook beneath him.

"How far does that dogged loyalty of yours go, Toy Soldier?"

"He works for the Kukai Foundation, doesn't he?"

Albedo stiffened and Amory let out a hateful, victorious laugh.

"You think I don't track you? You've visited the Kukai Foundation fourteen times in the past year. The only missions there have been reconnaissance and none of them have been assigned to you. No one comes back with any concrete information. Whoever he is, he must be high-profile."

Albedo's weight had forced him onto his forearms and he strained to keep off the floor.

"He's using you, can't you see that? He just wants their information protected. He doesn't love you. He'll never love you. You're nothing to him."

Amory turned to look over his shoulder, trying to catch Albedo's eyes.

"If he loves you so much why are you still here? Why aren't you living on the Kukai Foundation with him? It's because of what you are. Your reputation would ruin them. You'll never be what he is because you're not one of them. You'll never be one of them. You're one of us, and you know it."

Amory pressed his forehead to the cool floor.

"I love you, everything about you. I don't care what you are, you're everything to me. You're the only one who matters. I'll kill him for you, and you won't need a collection of lovers to keep yourself distracted. You'll only need me."

"What is it that you think I am?"

Albedo flipped Amory over and found him desperate, confused, and terrified; weak. There was no fire or fight in him. He was pathetic. Albedo couldn't remember why he had debased himself with such a creature.

"What is a man?" Albedo asked, stretching out above him. "Diogenes said it best; a dog who fawns upon those who give him anything and barks at those who give him nothing and bites at those he considers rascals."

Albedo wrapped his hand around Amory's throat.

"But what is a rascal? The men who served under you was their only sin that they also..."

Albedo leaned down to smile next to his ear, "...served under me?"

Albedo grabbed Amory and dragged him from the floor by his throat.

"How fickle, how foolish a man truly is! A miserable pile of salt with thoughts and bones. Where's the sense of it, of you? These people you call friends, comrades turned to monsters in your halls and yet you welcome a monster in your bed, and you call it a victim. I am no victim."

Albedo's hand tightened dangerously around Amory, readying to crush him.

"I bask in the glory of Rubedo's cruelty. I never said he loved me."

Amory ended up like all the others; drunk, love-crazed, and ultimately lifeless. They were little reflections of Albedo, minute instances of loneliness reaching for self-worth and reassurance; for someone to make sense of their world, but he never realized the connection. He only saw Rubedo in their smiles and their expressions and remained blind to their true reflection.

Amory had served his purpose. Albedo was now the only pilot left suitable to test the efforts put into the E.S. Simeon. The Patriarch fought the decision at first, declaring Albedo an ungodly deviant. Albedo never disputed those claims, but he couldn't contain his laughter at this joke of a man with his sunken eyes and gray, undead skin pulled tightly over his skeleton. Who was he, with his pinhole preachings to lay judgment on anyone? It was one thing he and Margulis could agree on, perhaps the only thing.

Albedo's worth was measured in the impossible feats he accomplished, not the soldiers he slaughtered, or the ships he destroyed. He was unstoppable, but it was better to suffer his insanity than to have it turned against them. When he claimed full ownership of the E.S. Simeon, they tried to stop him, and so he took it by force. He brought the Alviss down with it, along with their most promising young inquisitor.

Albedo had his own agenda. Margulis had given up on trying to decipher any meaning in what Albedo did or didn't do. Albedo was nothing but madness but even the uncertainty of insanity could be useful. Albedo always accomplished his mission. The means by which he was able to accomplish them didn't matter much.

Albedo bore the stupidity of Margulis and Ormus at large for their usefulness. They had things that he needed, things that his vampire needed. Every step he took, every order given to him by his vampire, every person slaughtered in his name took him straight to Rubedo until finally, they met.

"Please spare me any trite lines like 'You're still alive'."

He'd said it as if he was bored as if the two of them met like this every day. As if always had the luxury of Rubedo's fury.

But oh the sight of him. The pain, the pleasure, the wonder and relief. His Rubedo. For a moment no one else existed; not the sweet little creature in his lap, the Y data, or the ragtag crew rushing in behind him. There was just Albedo and Rubedo and the past his beloved dragon had tried so earnestly to hide.

Why wouldn't he? Why shouldn't he? Rubedo and Nigredo had been raised with steady, guiding hands, with people who nurtured and protected them. They were raised with warmth and understanding. They were raised together! They were always together!

They had buried him with their past. Albedo had clawed his way out of the grave they had dug for him like a bleached, vengeful skeleton ready to remind them both of what they truly were.

"Does she know that we're monsters, both you and I?"

Do you know? Do you remember, Rubedo?

Jr. broke away from Albedo, eager for air. He turned away and slammed both hands against the crystal, shivering violently. He felt dizzy and unstable. He swayed slightly, unable to fully compose himself. He was coming apart. Jr. was losing himself. Little by little, in microscopic pieces, he was losing himself.

"Rubedo?"

Albedo's hands were solid anchors on his arms. Jr. jerked away from him, unsure of his touch, unsure of anything. Albedo's memories and emotions lingered within him; raw and unfettered. Jr. could feel Albedo's stress as if it were squeezing his chest and clamping around his stomach. Jr. couldn't find himself in the feeling. Where did he stop and Albedo begin? This horrific longing and the aching, visceral madness...couldn't belong to anyone else. He couldn't remember a time when he hadn't felt it. He couldn't remember a time when he hadn't been consumed by these emotions.

"Rubedo."

Jr. wasn't like Amory. He'd always known what Albedo was. He'd never entertained the idea of him being anything other than a monster. Albedo haunted him in his reflection, in his shadow, in the soft darkness just before sleep. He had never chased Albedo, the way Richard had, the way so many of them had. How many times had he hoped that Albedo was dead? How many times had he been tempted to check? How many times...had he felt Albedo searching for him?

Albedo was a monster, but he wasn't just any monster. He was Jr.'s creation. He was Jr.'s monster.

Jr.'s reflection stared back at him, wide-eyed and horrified. Albedo's hand reached out for him with a gentleness that Jr. knew he'd never offered anyone else.

"It's my fault," Jr. whispered, as Albedo's fingers met his shoulder. "Everything that's ever happened to you...all the pain and suffering that you've experienced, that you've caused...it's my fault. I did this."

Jr. turned to Albedo, grabbing the hand on his shoulder.

"How can you love me, after all, I've done? I didn't just abandon you...I... You thought I was coming back... Why didn't I just come back?"

Jr. lowered his head and shut his eyes.

"You were right; I was selfish. I can't stand this...pain..." Jr. raised shaky fingers to his chest. "How could anyone?"

"Sweet Rubedo," Albedo said. He tried to pull Jr. into his arms, but he resisted.

"Cruel," Jr. corrected. "I've always been cruel."

"We were made for cruelty," Albedo replied soothingly. The hand on Jr.'s shoulder moved to his back. The motion was an apology. Albedo had never meant for Jr. to know him so intimately. He'd always known what it would do to him.

"That's an excuse." Jr. ripped his eyes away from his reflection and set them firmly on Albedo. "We're more than weapons. We're better than that. We're...you're..."

"Evolved."

Albedo cupped Jr.'s face between his hands.

"Rubedo...it's time to go."

"What?"

"It's not safe. You can feel it too. You are fading. If you don't leave soon-"

"You think I'm going to leave after...after what I just...after what we just-"

"I refuse to be the reason-"

"Oh, you refuse, huh?" Jr. shouted back. He grabbed Albedo's wrists and jerked them away.

"You don't get to refuse. You wanted me so badly that you tortured countless people to get here. You don't get to change your mind. I'm here now. I won't- I can't leave you again."

Their link seemed nonexistent in this space. It wasn't one long red string that connected them. It surrounded them. There was no thought or emotion lost between them. Albedo was consumed with a complex, unbending fear that twisted and turned until it was almost impossible to understand. It surrounded Jr. like water, just as Jr.'s self-hatred and guilt flooded Albedo. They were drowning in each other, in their misery, and in the mistakes, they could never erase. Somewhere in the flood, Jr. realized that he never found the identity of Albedo's vampire. He smiled bitterly. Albedo's distraction had worked. It had worked so well in fact, that Jr.'s powerful connection was slipping away from him. Albedo had deconstructed it piecemeal and Jr. couldn't make sense of it. He couldn't remember how he had blown through their connection or even what had occurred before he had tried his reversal. It was all a blank; useless occurrences lost in the madness of Albedo.

Jr. rubbed his thumbs along the bones of Albedo's wrist as he tried to think of a way out of this. They were drowning but Jr. couldn't think past Albedo's ocean of fear and doubt. He was determined to push Jr. out. How backward and insane it all was.

"Would you abandon me?" Jr. asked. He couldn't look at Albedo. He kept his eyes on Albedo's hands, on the place where his numbers would be. "I deserve it."

Jr. felt his confusion like gentle waves lapping against the back of his neck.

"It's...hypocritical of me to ask you not to, but I can't go back. You know I can't. I'm not like you. I'm not that strong."

He squeezed Albedo's wrists and took in a deep breath.

"So...go ahead, do it. I'll be back. I'm not giving up. I'll find you, no matter what it takes. I'm bringing you home. Even if it's in pieces. Even if I have to fight you again and again. I'll bring you home."

Jr. looked up, heart in his throat. Their eyes met and the energy was kinetic. The feeling shot through Jr. and their ocean of misery and for a moment he couldn't breathe again. But he would find his breath again, and he would say it because Albedo needed to hear it.

"I love you."

He raised up, wrapped his hands in Albedo's hair, and said once more, against his lips.

"I love you, Albedo."

A/N: Sorry about the slower updates here at the end. It's been a struggle and this guy's a little rushed. Trying to get it in before a giant workload. I hope it came out the way that I imagined and not as a complete mess. I'll see you next time in Testament. Stay safe and healthy!