I love you. No matter what.

Any other moment of his life, those words would warmed Naegi's heart with joy. Knowing he was loved, knowing that his own deep well of feelings were returned, knowing just how much Byakuya cared for him… no matter how dark the past had been, it had never failed to brighten his world. Naegi would have sworn that there could never be a time when he wouldn't smile to hear it.

Until now. Until Byakuya looked down at him with empty eyes, and mouthed the broken shells of words that represented something far more terrible than their literal meaning. Naegi didn't know what was happening in his boyfriend's head… but he recognized the darkness that stared out through his eyes. He'd seen it time and time again in the faces of people in the world outside as they finally lost their battle with despair.

Was Byakuya walking the same path as the other people who'd been hurt by the Tragedy? Was he racing headlong into the same nightmarish end that had already claimed too many others? Was he going to slip away, right here and now in front of Naegi's eyes, just moments after they'd found one another again?

"No!"

The shock of his own voice jolted through his ears before he even knew he'd meant to speak. He'd wanted to interrupt so many times, wanted to object, to argue, to plead for his beloved friends to see the truth — and even so, he hadn't been able to bring himself to even part his lips. The arguments with himself had swirled round and round in his head, swallowing any speech before it could start.

But now, staring up at the emptiness in Byakuya's eyes, any self-blaming arguments fell away. Byakuya needed him.

And his baffled, mind-wiped boyfriend didn't even know it. Byakuya jerked back from the wheelchair, wide-eyed with as much shock as if he'd been slapped. Naegi wasn't entirely sure what twisted distortion of devotion Byakuya had been trying to promise him — but he clearly hadn't so much as considered that Naegi might reject it.

"No," he said again, softer but no less determined. Guilt twinged in the back of his mind at the hurt he could see he'd caused, but he couldn't let that stop him. He had to speak now, before Byakuya could gather his thoughts enough to argue back. "I don't want you to say that. I don't want you to think like that."

Byakuya watched him with more caution than he should ever need, just to look at his boyfriend. He shouldn't look that way, not if he'd understood what Naegi had been trying to say.

"I mean that if…" Naegi groped for words, trying to figure out how to explain a belief he'd never thought too hard about. "If you think you love someone no matter what… and if nothing they do can change it… then that just means nothing about them matters to you. None of their thoughts or decisions or words can touch you. I don't want that."

Was it working? Were his words reaching their mark? He couldn't tell, staring up into Byakuya's eyes and willing some spark of life to show that his meaning had gotten through whatever darkness had ensnared him. "I… I'm glad you love me. I am. But… I want you to love me because of me."

Pale eyebrows knit together, though little more than gleaming threads showed in the dark trial room. But that hint told him enough — Naegi knew his boyfriend's expressions well enough to see the look on his face even when it was hidden. "You're saying… that what I told you… wasn't what you wanted."

A faint sigh of relief escaped, and some of the tension eased from Naegi's shoulders. He'd tried to be as clear as he could, but even so, he hadn't been sure that Byakuya in this state could understand him. "That's right."

"You… don't want me to say I love you… no matter what you do." Byakuya stumbled over the words, concentrating as though he were trying to sound out a foreign language that he'd only seen written.

Naegi's heart ached to see his confident, brilliant love reduced to such uncertainty, but he forced the pain aside to give Byakuya a reassuring nod. "Yes. If I really were pretending to be someone else, and you said 'no matter what' like that, then you wouldn't be saying that you loved me at all."

Creases gouged their way across Byakuya's forehead, dark trenches of shadows on top of shadows as he tried to pick apart the words. "You want me to love you… because of what you've done."

Naegi frowned, not quite sure why Byakuya kept asking the same question. He'd answered it twice now, and it seemed like Byakuya had heard enough of the meaning to be able to repeat it back to him… so why wasn't it sinking in? Should the idea really be that complicated for his quick-witted boyfriend to grasp?

No — that wasn't fair to think that way. Not when he could see Byakuya struggling so hard with the concepts. He ignored the twist of nerves in his stomach, certain they only came from an unwarranted impatience, and gave the softest smile he could muster. "Right, Byakuya. You understand. You wouldn't want me to claim I loved you because of something that wasn't real, right?"

And Byakuya had already begun to shake his head, even before Naegi finished that sentence. "No. Not if…" His voice dropped, low enough that Naegi could barely hear it. "Not if you really do."

Shock dropped Naegi's jaw, and he could only stare at his boyfriend in horror. "Of course I really love you! I would never lie to you about that!"

"All right." Byakuya closed his eyes as he took a deep breath, exhaling so slowly it almost looked painful. "All right… then I'll do it. If that's what you need from me, I'll do it."

He opened his eyes again… and fathomless emptiness stared back from his face. "I'll love you because you're the mastermind."