Only one living being other than himself knew Skeed's terrible secret and that being was a young teenager by the name of Folon. Now fifteen – one year younger than Lyude and seven younger than Skeed – Folon had been an orphan living on the streets of Azha until about a decade ago, when Geldoblame had bought all the street urchins to use as guinea pigs for scientific developments by his top researchers. Of the twenty or so taken from Azha, only two had survived the tests to be drafted into the army – Folon himself and a dark-skinned girl named Ayme.

Put bluntly, Folon fascinated Skeed. The teen's skin was a strikingly pale blue thanks to the chemicals he had been forced to ingest during the testing he had undergone and his hair was a rich royal shade of the same colour, with flecks of bright crimson. The ordeals he had endured had unhinged him significantly. Thus he was a member of the special forces directly below the Emperor himself; no one else could control him. He wore armour that was a size or two too big for him, making him seem frail and scrawny, even for his age.

Skeed had originally taken Folon home for some quick and guiltless sex. He had never meant to get attached, but, having threatened Folon and having the teen sneer back in his face, he had asked how one so young could be so fearless and so jaded. Upon hearing Folon's sad story, he had realised how similar they were, and, instead of sex, they had spent the evening talking. Skeed had slowly grown to love and need his little blue-skinned companion even more than he loved and needed Vallye, and Folon cared about Skeed as someone who understood and sheltered him. Yes, they had sex, and frequent sex at that, as each was as insatiable as the other when it came to domination.

Neither of them minded the age gap; Folon enjoyed having the older man over him and sometimes even beneath him, and Skeed was simply amazed that one so young could so skilfully bring out such tenderness from deep within him – this being the tenderness he would show to Folon and Vallye, and no other - and harbour such a control over him.

One day, before Lyude's exile, Folon had been asking why Skeed hated his little brother so much. Skeed had, after a while of coaxing, told the teen his terrible and heartrending secret. Folon, who took pleasure in causing pain, had been violently sick at the very thought although it was impossible for him to sympathise and, in a moment of complete loss of control and utter vulnerability, Skeed had broken down and wept. After hearing that story, Folon never once questioned Skeed's motives for abusing Lyude so much again.

But now Lyude was gone for good, and, for some reason unknown to Folon, Skeed was suffering from unusually frequent bouts of depression and ire. Vallye was away on some business with her unit of the army, so it was up to Folon to do what he could to console Skeed when these attacks struck.

"Someone's being strangely melancholy…" The teen brought the subject up one night while he was sitting with Skeed in the living room of the latter's family estate, a glass of rich wing in hand – blood red, just as he loved it – and the fire in the grate roaring in the background. Only the trained eye would have noticed Skeed shifting uncomfortably in the large plush armchair and bristling slightly at the words, his actions were so slight.

"Ah, my devil, little devil…" The burgundy-haired man sighed out, eyes washing over Folon, the fire reflected in their depths.

"What's wrong with you, Skeed? You really miss your redheaded whore that much?" The alcohol was swirled in the glass and then downed in one. Though, by law, Folon was too young to drink alcohol, Skeed felt that they had committed so many taboo acts already that another wouldn't make much of a difference. Besides, Folon was so much more flirtatious when he was drunk.

"It's rather disconcerting." The officer spoke after a moment's pause. "I've always had him handy so I could take my revenge on him, it's rather strange now that he has left."

"Move on." The blue-haired teen set his glass down, rising and taking Skeed's from him, setting it on the table with his own. "The people from Diadem will have killed him by now anyway. Your job will have been finished for you. There's no need for you to worry your head over it any more."

"What right have those barbarians to do that?" Skeed's hand automatically moved to stroke across Folon's ass softly, absently, as the teen crawled over him, straddling his lap. "I stopped them from executing him not only because our family name would be ruined and disgraced beyond redemption but also because I myself wanted to finish the job!"

"Let it go." Folon sounded remarkably sane when he spoke; that was yet another of the qualities that Skeed succeeded in bringing out of him: whatever sanity he had remaining. "You've avenged her. Don't dwell on the past."

Skeed nodded. Under normal circumstances, or when anyone else was saying 'don't dwell on the past', he would snap at them or maybe worse. Yet… Folon had had a hard life of his own, and thus, in Skeed's books, he was allowed to talk about not dwelling on the past. After all, the blue-skinned teen didn't dwell on the past, so, Skeed reckoned, he should be able to find the strength within himself to let go after all these years.

A small shiver ran through him as Folon nipped at his ear, and he barely heard the young assassin speaking: "… I'll take your mind off it…"

"Hm… you do that, Devil." Skeed's hand slid down the back of the trousers he had loaned the teen so the latter didn't have to wear his army uniform. "So much more attractive without that cumbersome armour…"

"So much more attractive without that gaudy suit you wear…" Folon retaliated, grinning inanely at Skeed, who was dressed in a black shirt and some casual trousers.

As the blue-skinned boy crawled over his older partner, the scent of fine wine was obvious between them. It drove both of them wild when their lips met in a fierce and passionate kiss, each fighting the other for control and domination, and that same aroma, which hung pleasantly on the air, calmed them both when they pulled apart. The tang of the wine was mixed with the unique fragrance from each of them. Skeed's of sandalwood and exotically expensive and refined spices, Folon's the enticing smells of violence, wine and flowers from the desert – poisonous flowers.

"I hate it when you're depressed." Folon stated softly. "Your sex is crap when you're depressed."

Skeed smirked in response to the remarks from his impish, devilish little teen, suddenly sliding his hand around to grip the blue thigh painfully hard. Folon gave a pleasured little gasp at the feeling of rapid bruising at the contact points, so hard was Skeed's grip, and revealed at the same time another of his little foibles that enchanted the officer so – his love of pain, whether he was causing it or suffering it. Skeed supposed that was from the horrors he had seen in the lab; it seemed logical that, to cope with the pain suffered after being used as nothing more than something to test dangerous chemicals and conceptions on, the younger male would force himself to like and enjoy the agony.

To Skeed's immense satisfaction, Folon had grown hard as a result of the pleasurable hurt in his leg. The dangerous light of lust gleamed in the mad eyes of the assassin as, once again, their lips met with enough force to bruise both. In a deft movement, Folon was pressing a hand to Skeed's crotch, sneering once he thought he had control over the man, who had jerked and given the smallest of noises, but, in a turn against Folon, Skeed raised his knee to press it right up between his younger lover's legs.

Thanks to that move, Folon was instant putty in his hands, though not compliant putty, nothing like Lyude. Not at all; controlling Folon was like attempting to control an earthquake: both impossible and perilous. It was yet another of the reasons that Skeed enjoyed Folon so much – the blue-headed teen was a genius in his bed, a challenge to overcome, a writhing and kinky slave of blood and sex that Skeed just couldn't get enough of.

"Shall I let you be on top today, little Folon?" He murmured, giving another press upwards with his knee. The responding growl of desire was slightly breathless as the other agreed eagerly – Skeed mostly fought for control; he was loath to give it up for anyone. But, when he consented to Folon, it was enjoyable for both of them, most enjoyable indeed.

And thus they played, and they played and played until both their bodies were gleaming with sweat, their torn clothes in a heap on the floor and they were left panting in a tangled mess of limbs, one on top of the other, though both seeming to be underneath. Both gave a final moan of lustful pleasure as they, at the same time, released their essence, before they paused in their movements to catch their breath.

"Ah, little devil, as fulfilling as always…" Skeed murmured, watching Folon pull out of him. Every time he allowed the other to be on top, Folon always surprised him with a new game or technique or position… he was like a goldmine of kinky.

"And was little Lyude ever as good as I am for you?" Folon asked, beginning to tease Skeed's chest with his teeth, leaving bleeding bite marks around the tender tan skin of the older man's nipples, eliciting a quiet gasp from his twitching lover with each nip.

"Not at all, I never let him have me. I never gave him pleasure, well you know, I only wanted revenge for what he did." Skeed spoke resolutely, a small inhalation following as Folon licked down to his navel, dipping his tongue in. "Ah… damn…"

"Might have to go away for a while soon. I'll see you straight before and straight after, though. For a goodbye shag and a welcome back fuck, you know?" The blue and red hair tickled Skeed's bare skin in the most irritating yet provocative way.

"Oh? You finally have an assignment?"

"Not sure. Possibly. Depends on what Geldoblame gets round to."

"Hm…" Skeed threaded his fingers through the odd-coloured hair before him, teasing it gently before pulling Folon's head back roughly and stealing himself a kiss. "You can't run away from me, my little devil boy… so you'd better come back. You hear?"

"Mmm, yes… and if I'm late, I'll expect a beating…"

And Skeed smirked at that.

"Deal."