AN: You wanted a quick update; it just so happens that I am able to give you that. :)

Cloister Twelve

"How long has it been since we met?" Beclem asked one day as he lay on the cold floor of Via Infinito, his head tucked comfortably underneath Isaaru's chin.

Beclem's lover paused for a moment as he thought.

"Two months?" he guessed, "and it's been exactly one month since we first kissed."

"When we first met," Beclem continued. "Did you ever think we would have ended up like this? I wouldn't have; not in a million years."

"I've told you," Isaaru sighed, playing with Beclem's hair. "I didn't even know this was a possibility before I met you. I am so glad that I did though; so wonderfully glad that you came into my life."

"Me too," Beclem sighed.

They moved their heads closer to one another at the same time; their lips meeting softly in a now familiar bliss. So far today they had done nothing but talk and hold one another, but now the fire returned.

Isaaru's hands moved to rest on Beclem's hips. Beclem snuck one hand up beneath Isaaru's shirt to caress the skin beneath, making them both smile into the kiss.

Yuna paused at the entrance to Via Infinito, double checking to make sure that her ammunition was ready. It was an odd time to continue her exploration of Via Infinito, but she hadn't been able to sleep.

The other members of the Gullwings didn't know that she was down here. She had only told her lover Tidus, and all he knew was that she needed to think, and she was gradually coming to realise that she found it easiest to think while she was ridding the world of dangerous fiends.

There had been a series of strange deaths in Bevelle, and the Gullwings had been asked to help discover the reason behind these deaths. As far as Yuna was able to guess, the deaths seemed to be fiend related, but she was beginning to wonder if she would ever discover anything more. It seemed that lately as soon as anyone had even the smallest problem, they turned to Yuna and the Gullwings for guidance. She didn't mind helping out, but there was only so much one woman could do, and she was afraid she was about to reach breaking point, hence why she was now travelling to Via Infinito.

Travelling to the lowest levels of the labyrinth would be dangerous by herself, so when she stepped onto the transportation glyph she placed one foot slightly backwards, aiming to start again from Cloister Zero.

She strode confidently down this particular chamber, knowing that there were no fiends to be found in the first Cloister. She passed the familiar crossroad, glanced over casually, and screamed.

Beclem and Isaaru immediately pulled apart when they heard a scream echo throughout the chamber. They looked around to see the High Summoner Lady Yuna staring at them as though she was only a couple seconds away from fainting.

"Lady Yuna," Isaaru tried to talk to her, but she was gone before he could say anything else, fleeing out of Via Infinito.

"Damn it," Isaaru cursed as he got to his feet, readjusting his clothes as quickly as he could. "Lady Yuna!"

He stopped as he realised there was no chance of catching her, and glanced back sadly at Beclem, who was still sitting on the floor, doing up the various buttons and buckles that Isaaru had been undoing only a few seconds earlier.

"What do we do now?" Isaaru asked Beclem.

"We run."

"But they can't be," Maroda objected as he ran towards Via Infinito next to Baralai. "My brother isn't like that!"

"Trust me," Baralai told him. "They are. If you can't accept that then I feel sorry for you."

"In Yevon's name," Maroda gasped. "You're not planning to arrest them at all, are you Praetor? You're planning on helping them to escape!"

"That's why I have to reach Via Infinito before any of the guards," Baralai insisted.

"I can't let you do that," Maroda argued.

"For Spira's sake!" Baralai cursed. "He's your own brother Maroda!"

"I have to know whether or not it's true," Maroda said. "I have to be able to believe that Isaaru's innocent and I need to hear it from his own mouth."

"You call being in love a crime!"

Maroda didn't answer; just kept running towards Via Infinito.

They reached the entrance to Via Infinito just as Beclem and Isaaru appeared on the transportation glyph. Maroda stared at their intertwined hands in shock and disgust, knowing now that everything Lady Yuna and Lord Baralai had said was true.

"Maroda. Praetor Baralai," Isaaru exclaimed.

"News does travel fast," Beclem commented, drawing his gun from its place on his hip. "I will use this," he said, his voice holding not quite as much conviction as he would have liked. "I will kill for this."

"Beclem," Isaaru pleaded, placing a hand on his lover's shoulder.

"Think Beclem," Baralai said softly. "The entire Palace has heard about this by now. You won't achieve anything by killing two people."

Beclem lowered his pistol, but kept it ready to fire if he needed it.

"Besides," Baralai added. "I'm here to help the two of you escape. I won't be able to defend you at all as things stand now. No-one will stand for it, but if the two of you lay low for a while I may be able to gather some support. These laws have needed changing for a while after all."

"Isaaru," Maroda cried. "Please tell me this isn't true! I don't care if you were holding hands before, or what Praetor Baralai said he saw. Just tell me that this isn't true and I'll believe you."

"I'm sorry Maroda," the older brother said, linking his hand with his lover's once more. "But I can't."

"Why?" Maroda screamed. "If you had to be more forward thinking about one thing, then why did it have to be this?"

"Sorry Maroda," Baralai told the Captain of the guards, "but I can't let you tell everyone how these two escaped."

"Take care of Pacce for me," Isaaru asked of his younger brother, right before he felt a sharp pain in the back of the neck and everything went black as he was forced into unconsciousness by a well-aimed knock from Baralai.

Baralai pushed the door to the secret pathway open, ushering the two men through.

"As you know," he told Isaaru. "This door can only close from this side. I'll take care of that for you. You can climb over the walls by using the vines if you're careful. Travel towards the back of the Palace. It will be difficult if the plants have grown over the gap between the buildings too much, but I'm sure you'll be able to make it. Take the first path on your right that you come to. You'll only just fit through there, but if you follow that for long enough, then you'll come to a wide space at the back of the Palace.

"It's as overgrown as everything else, but from there you're pretty much free to go wherever you want. It's fairly easy to get to Macalania Woods from there, or you can hide out in the lower parts of the city. After that, you're on your own. I think I should be able to talk some sense into your brother."

"Thank you Lord Baralai," Isaaru said. "I don't know whether we'll ever to be able to repay you for this kindness."

"Just stay alive for a little while longer, all right?" Baralai said, sliding the door shut behind them, just as a battalion of guards rounded the corner.

"They knocked Maroda out and then disappeared back into Via Infinito," Baralai lied, his voice a lot more calm than anyone would have expected. "You can follow them if you like, but I myself am rather disappointed that I was woken up for something as ordinary as this. They're not about to kill anyone, so I say we leave them be for now."

Beclem grunted as he hauled himself over the top of the wall and fell to the ground on the other side. Isaaru jumped down beside him, and the two of them stared at the path in front of them.

Not only was it completely overgrown with plants, but here and there were patches of enormous white sacks which resembled a cross between sacks of spider eggs and dandelions.

"Baralai didn't say anything about those being here," Beclem commented.

"What are they?" Isaaru asked, as he poked at one experimentally.

"I don't have a clue, but I say we leave them alone," Beclem decided. "Whatever they are, they don't look healthy."

They continued along the path, but soon found it blocked by an enormous clump of the strange white spheres.

"Don't worry," Isaaru said, as he brought his hands together and cast a fire spell on the blockage.

The white spheres exploded as soon as the fire touched them, bursting into a rain of white powdery spores. Isaaru covered his mouth with one of his long sleeves in an effort to make sure he didn't breathe any of the white substance in.

Beclem accidentally caught a breath of them though, and began to cough. He immediately turned pale. Isaaru held his breath as he paused to tear a strip of fabric off one of his sleeves and passed it to Beclem so that his lover could use it as a mask.

They forced their way through what remained of the spheres, their eyes watering due to the thickness of the white powder in the air. Eventually they came out of the largest mass of them, and soon found the tiny pathway Baralai had told them about.

It was as small as they had been warned. They would have to shuffle sideways to get through as the walls were so covered in plants and vines. There were still some of the white spheres, but these ones were only small, and Isaaru only had to destroy a couple of them for the two men to find the end of the path.

They both breathed a sigh of relief as they came to the open area. A couple of hundred metres away stood the edge of Macalania Woods, but one look at Beclem told Isaaru that they were in no condition to be travelling into the woods at that point in time.

Beclem's eyes were red, and he was sickly pale. He pulled the strip of fabric away from his mouth and smiled weakly at Isaaru. His legs began to shake, and Isaaru managed to wrap an arm around his torso to support him just before his legs gave out. Isaaru moved them both onto the ground, so that Beclem's head was resting in his lap.

"Don't feel so good," Beclem muttered.

"You don't look so good either," Isaaru joked, brushing Beclem's hair out of his face. He pulled his hand back as he realised how hot Beclem's forehead was.

"You're burning up," he told the other man. "Those white things must have been poisonous. I'll see what I can do to stop the illness, but I can't promise anything."

Isaaru closed his eyes, and began hoping that he could heal this strange poison which had entered Beclem's body. He had just begun to channel healing energy when his concentration was broken by a roaring noise above them.

"This is the Celsius," a voice coming from the large red ship above them announced. "You guys need a lift?"

"What happened to him?" a dark-skinned Al Bhed that had introduced himself as Buddy asked as he and Isaaru carried the now unconscious Beclem to the nearest bed.

"There were these strange…" Isaaru began. "I am not sure what I should call them. When they burst they let out a white powder. I am afraid that Beclem may have breathed some in."

They placed Beclem very gently onto a bed, and Buddy moved over to a small bar, and began talking to one of the strange blue creatures known as a hypello. Isaaru kneeled down beside his lover and began stroking Beclem's forehead softly. The man frowned in his sleep, and moaned softly.

"It's going to be fine," Isaaru said, more to himself than to the unconscious Beclem. "You are too strong to be beaten by something like this."

"So," Buddy started, as he returned to the bed, holding a small bottle of some sort of liquid in his hands. "Is it true? Are the two of you lovers?"

"Yes," Isaaru answered sadly.

Buddy shrugged.

"Seems like a pretty stupid reason for all those guards to be after you," he said, shaking the small bottle up and down. "You Yevonites have some pretty strange laws if you ask me."

Isaaru just smiled at the Al Bhed, knowing that he couldn't argue with the man's statement.

"Give this to him," Buddy told Isaaru, handing him the bottle. "It's nothing that powerful, but it tends to clear the body of most of the poisons we've come across."

"Thank you," Isaaru said.

"How's he doing?" a feminine voice said from the direction of the door Isaaru and Buddy had entered by.

Isaaru looked towards the door to see none other than Lady Yuna. He thought to scowl at the woman that had discovered their secret, but then he saw the sorrowful look on Yuna's face and smiled in greeting instead.

"He should be fine," Buddy answered for Isaaru. "An antidote and a bit of sleep and he should be as good as normal tomorrow."

"I find that warmth usually helps speed up the process as well," Yuna added with a smile. "I'm sorry about what happened," she told Isaaru. "I just saw the two of you and was well… a little shocked. I didn't realise it would have caused you so much trouble."

"I forgive you," Isaaru told her. "Beclem however is not usually so open to forgiveness I'm afraid, but he is getting a little more sociable and friendly, so who really knows?"

Yuna nodded and left the room.

"Well then," Buddy said as he jumped to his feet. "I'll leave the two of you be."

"Thankyou," Isaaru told the Al Bhed.

Buddy nodded, walked to the door and then turned around.

"And by the way," he added. "Welcome to the Celsius."