Bare feet hit the cold metal ground before sprinting into a run. Burning lungs screamed for air, heart pounding wildly in his chest. But Khun did not take a moment to rest, to breathe, or even think. He just continued running. The field was in sight, and with it, a forest and caves with tunnels. He could hide. He could regroup and see if his old team was still alive and functioning. After that, it would be a matter of finding out what the hell had happened since he had been imprisoned.

An explosion sounded off in the distance, and Khun gritted his teeth when he felt the heat on his back. His timing was a bit off, but he hoped that his attempt at a diversion would serve as a good distraction. At the very least, it should be enough to buy him some time.

He burst through the doors, sunlight nearly blinding him and leaving him momentarily lost. He blinked for but a moment before sprinting down the stairs. A few Regulars rushed by him, panicked with what they assumed to be an attack. None stopped to look at him, all too busy on the burning building and crumbling structure.

It was too good to be real. He was running across the grass, the base of FUG shrinking behind him with every step he took. He dared to smile, dared to hope.

The shinsu in the air became heavy. The sliver of hope that grew within him withered away. Rapidly turning, Khun brought his hands up in a desperate last minute attempt to salvage his escape. Ice burst from his hands. The grass beneath his feet froze, turning the area around him to ice.

The sky was blotted out as thick ice encircled and covered him. A blue dome was created, the thick ice sealing him off from the outside world.

Panting, Khun staggered back. The Firefish within him made quick work to heal the cuts and scrapes he had received, the sting of the pain burning away. Still, his gaze swept around him, trying to see his surroundings through the thick ice he had built.

He had backed himself in a corner in an effort to keep his pursuers out.

The cold bit into his skin, burning him in ways he did not know was possible. Shivering, Khun merely wrapped his arms around himself, though his body provided him with no warmth. The Firefish burned his heart, but he did not want to call on her for further aid. The feverish chills she wrought on his body would be worse than the cold. He could last against the cold for a while.

The ice dome he had built around himself kept him trapped just as it kept him safe. Even through the thick ice, Khun could see the FUG flagships hovering in the sky, now watching and monitoring him. It irked him that all his plans had gone to waste. But really, what was he expecting? He had been desperate, and plans made in desperate attempts usually ended in failure. Because of his recklessness, he had been cornered like a mouse.

Still, his pride was headstrong, and even if it was futile, he would not give in. FUG might just find themselves with a frozen corpse rather than a prisoner.

His eyes burned with frustration at the thought. To think he was reduced to this with death as his only way out. He blinked, surprised when he realized the burning in his eyes were actually tears falling down his cheeks, the only warmth he could feel.

Movement outside the ice prison caught his attention, and he straightened up. He knew he must look like a mess, but he was not so foolish as to remain off guard.

Something outside moved once more. Khun's blue eyes attempted to track the movement. His heart seized up, even as he tried to tell himself that no one could break through the ice. But that was a lie. He could count on one hand the number of people, all in FUG, who could break through his ice.

FUG's god was one of them.

Bam stepped forward. His image was distorted, much like Khun's current perception of him. But the one thing that remained consistent were his golden eyes that focused on Khun through the ice.

Bam raised a hand and placed it on the ice. "Doesn't this seem to be a bit overkill?"

Khun remained silent, his stance rigged.

Bam trailed his knuckles down the ice as if he were merely stroking something precious.

"Aguero, please, enough of this."

The shiver that swept through Khun's body was no longer from the cold. Golden eyes pierced through the ice to focus on him, and Khun found himself unable to move or even form words.

Bam raised a hand and rested it on the ice once more. "Aguero, this is pointless."

Khun only frowned. "Then let me go." The shinsu carried his voice through the ice, and with it, his desperation.

Bam looked hurt. "Go where? Away from me? You are only safe if you are with me. You continue to insist on putting yourself in danger. Even now," he knocked on the ice, "you are straining yourself."

"Bam, listen," Khun staggered up, resting his hand on the wall of ice. "We are in the middle of a war. Casualties happen. Lives are lost-"

"Not yours. Never yours." Bam's eyes were no longer warm, but a scorching inferno that could rip at his skin.

"That's what happens in a war!" Desperation laced his tone. "Bam, this isn't you. Locking me up, confining me. You even took away my lighthouses. And what about the team? What happened to Rak and the others? You won't tell me what happened!"

Bam shook his head. "You'll never understand. That's why I can't let you go."

Khun's vision of Bam blurred, and for a moment, he thought that it was because the tears he had tried to hold back were blinding him. But he realized that Bam was the only one that was shifting out of focus.

He was moving. And Fast.

Khun only had a second to react before the ice above him began to crack. Khun's eyes widened when he saw Bam's form, black wings and flaming horns, fly overhead. His form was distorted as he punched at the ice.

Khun's arms were up in a desperate attempt to repair the damage. But Bam was faster than his forming ice.

The ice shattered. The crystalline daggers cut at his face, and Khun was quick to back up away from the gaping hole up above. His back hit the wall and he tried to track Bam's movements.

A hole was suddenly punched through the wall, centimeters away from Khun's head. Eyes widening, he scrambled to move back.

A hand shot through and grabbed Khun. The ice burned away as Khun fearfully looked into the eyes of FUG's god. Khun felt the pressure of Bam's grip on his arm tighten like steel, and it was all that kept him rooted in place as his vision swam with gold before it grew dark.

xXx

Khun awoke with a jolt. His hands clawed at the bed sheets as his last moments of consciousness caught up with him.

His ice, shattering into millions of pieces. A hand grabbing him, and gold eyes staring back at him.

That was it. It bothered him that he suddenly could not remember anything else.

Feeling a pressure on his neck, his fingers reached up to possibly feel the bandages. What had he done to warrant bandages on his neck?

His fingers brushed upon something smooth and cold.

He froze, eyes wide.

His fingers frantically searched his neck. With a sickening realization that he refused to come to terms with, he shakily felt the metal device. It wrapped around his neck, much like a choker necklace, like the ones he remembered his sisters sometimes wear. He could not find where the device snapped into place. The entire surface was smooth as if it was a part of his body; as if he were born with it.

His feelings muted all other senses. So much so that he did not feel the other presence in the room watching him.

"Oh, good, you're awake." It was said with such relief that Khun knew there was a smile on the speaker's face, but he could not bring himself to feel such joy or warmth in the moment.

Turning his gaze to Bam, Khun wordlessly stared. He could not form a sentence, could not voice his confusion. Why? Why was this happening?

Finally, he was able to speak, and it was only to say a name. "...Bam?"

Bam did not turn away with regret, even as Khun looked at him with utter despair. There was no sadness in his gaze, but only acceptance. His eyes fixed on Khun's hands where they were around the device. "I had no choice."

"Choice." Khun was nearly breathless. "What choice? To imprison me? To shackle me like I'm a...a slave?"

"You are not a slave-"

"Get me out of here." Khun rose up on shaky legs, pushing away from the bed. His hands had yet to leave the collar on his neck and he began to claw at it. "Get this off of me!"

Bam stood up and approached him. "Aguero-"

Khun felt a scream building up in his throat. His mind tried to comprehend that his best friend, his precious friend, had done this to him, had fitted him with a shinsu resistance collar.

Bam reached out for him, and in that moment, Khun felt something he thought Bam could never incur in him; fear. It was those hands that had chained him. Those hands had strapped this...this thing to him.

Khun bolted. His vision tunneled and he ran for the door. It did not matter if the door was locked or bolted. All that mattered was the promise of escape. But escape was nonexistent when the door would not open. He threw his body into the door, desperately trying to find a way out.

Arms wrapped around him. He struggled against the hold, kicking his feet even as his arms were pinned to his side. "Bam, let me go!"

"You're tired." A hand drifted up to where the collar was, and something in his ear clicked as the collar answered its owner.

Khun stiffened, the final nail in his coffin leaving something inside of him breaking. It was like a shattering glass. No, not that. Something inside of him was ripped away. Something he took pleasure in, something so precious, and it was cruelly ripped away.

He couldn't even summon the strength, the effort, to cry. His heart was already bleeding out.

His knees buckled as his vision swam. He felt sick and if it were not for Bam holding him, he would have crashed to the ground.

His friend, Bam, the boy he loved and cared for, had imprisoned him.

Bam sank to the floor with him, still holding and running his fingers through his hair. "You're safe here," he murmured, and Khun could hear the smile in his voice. "Never again will you be put in danger."

Khun closed his eyes, silently begging, praying, that this was all a bad dream. But when he opened his eyes, he was still trapped in the nightmare, his jailer holding him in secure arms.

xXx

It was all for his own good. He kept telling himself that, every single morning, every time he looked into the mirror and repeated those words. It was all to preserve the friend he still had left. Still, he had not been prepared for the look of despair on Aguero's face. He had never seen his friend look like that...so lost.

But Bam had tried every other option. He had tried to keep his friends alive, but the Tower did not wait for him to get stronger before it picked everyone off one by one. With each death, every still face of his beloved friend's staring back at him, Bam felt a part of him break. Panic had welled within him, and as they drew closer to Jahad, Bam knew it was only a matter of time before he stood alone atop a pile of corpses.

He had not been strong enough to keep Rachel with him. If he had been stronger then, and not the weak boy that lived in the cave, he could have prevented her from leaving.

Except, Rachel was now a fleeting memory. All that remained present in his mind was the precious person on the other side of the door. He was no longer the weak boy from the cave. Not anymore.

Bam sighed and quietly twisted the doorknob. Peeking in, he saw that Aguero was awake, his back to the door and gaze focused on the window at his bed. Bam took the moment to observe him, noticing how quiet he looked, the worried creases on his brow gone as he no longer had to worry about strategizing. That was what FUG was for.

"Aguero?" Bam stepped in, his footsteps quiet on the carpeted floor. Aguero didn't even flinch or react to his name. Bam realized how small his friend looked just now, hugging his knees to his chest. So frail and lonely.

He had stopped asking about their friends weeks ago. Bam did not know if that meant Aguero had come to the horrible conclusions that Bam was unwilling to speak of.

Bam climbed on the bed with him. Sitting beside him, he pulled Aguero close. He didn't get so much as a small reaction. No twitch, sigh, or a protest. It was like holding a doll.

Bam ran his hands through Khun's hair, noting how the blue strands were now past his shoulders. It looked like it was time for a haircut. Just as the thought occurred to him, Bam wondered how his friend would look if he grew his hair out.

"Aguero, how do you feel about growing out your hair?" Bam guided his friend's head to rest on his shoulder. "I think I'd enjoy brushing it out for you every night."

He could feel Aguero's heartbeat from where his hand drifted over his chest. Aguero's pulse was warm, his breathing steady. Another reminder, a reassurance, that he was still alive. But there was no other response from him.

Bam sighed. "Aguero, please talk to me. Let me hear your voice."

This time, Aguero released a trembling breath. He squirmed in Bam's arms, and he loosened his hold on him for a small moment.

"Are you still mad at me?" He was referring to the shinsu restraint, his hands brushing against Aguero's throat where the collar rested. "I'm sorry, I wish that it didn't confine your ice. You would make such beautiful ice sometimes." He thought back to when Aguero would experiment and make figurines of ice, his blue lighthouse casting an intrinsic glow on the fragments. It was such a beauty that it took Bam's breath away. So beautiful, yet deadly.

This time, he tightened his hold on Aguero. "But it's too dangerous. I hope you understand." He continued to run his hands through Aguero's hair. "Please, say something. I miss your voice."

Another trembling sigh, then, a hesitant phrase, voice hoarse from lack of use. "Can I go outside?"

Bam frowned, and his hold on Aguero tightened. "I...I can't let you." Bringing Aguero outside was too dangerous. Bam understood that Aguero would seize any opportunity to run. Already, they had way too many instances where he had bolted, giving FUG agents a chase. It came to the point where only Bam could catch him, and even then, he worried that Aguero would fatally harm himself if he ever got the chance.

Bam couldn't recall the last time Aguero had been let outside. It must have been a long time for it to fade from his memory.

His hand drifted from Aguero's hair to secure his hold on his friend's hands. "Once Jahad is dealt with, it might be safer for you to go outside."

No response. Not even a blink. Already, Bam was realizing how much he had missed Aguero's voice, the snarky comments, the meaningful conversations, and the companionship. How had he lost it, this connection they once shared? How could he get that back?

Suddenly, desperation took hold of Bam. "Please understand that I can't lose you. I've lost so much. I can't...I don't want to be left behind."

Because in death, Bam could not follow his friend.

He was unaware that he was holding Aguero in a crushing vice grip. Not until a whimper, a gasp of pain, emerged from his lips. Startled, Bam pulled away, but he did not break his hold.

He never would.

"Promise you won't leave me?" Bam searched his gaze, hoping for the reassurance he always found in his friend's gaze.

But Aguero would not raise his head. "I can't make promises like that."

Bam's grip tightened once more and Aguero tried to pull away in discomfort, but Bam was relentless. "You always talk about breaking the rules, defying fate, and setting your own path. Can't you set a path with me?"

"Bam...you're hurting me." Aguero twisted, finally looking up, and Bam saw with fascination as a tear fell from his eyes. Then another. And another.

Bam released him and watched as Aguero moved away until he was at the foot of the bed, rubbing his wrists.

He had always been aware of the gap that had begun to grow between them. He had watched it grow, and Bam felt like it was so easy to jump across it until he was once more at Aguero's side. A part inside of him urged him to show Aguero that there was no point in fighting against him. It was a horrible, twisted part inside of him that yearned to display his true power, the god that FUG worshipped and the demon Jahad cursed.

But he silenced that voice, even as it shimmered in his chest, waiting to be released, calling out to him like an echo. How dare he be defied? He watched Aguero rub at his wrists, unaware of the war raging within the Irregular. Bam could not help but feel indignant that he was still so powerless in this moment. He wanted to crush away any sense of weakness.

To crush. Destroy. Subdue.

Aware of these dangerous thoughts, Bam slipped off of the bed and stalked out of the room. He could not bring himself to look at Aguero, aware that if he did, the whisper in his voice would drown out all reason.

xXx

It was only a matter of time before Jahad's army took the fight directly to FUG's newest fortress. Khun just didn't think they had the manpower to break through the defences.

But they did. Khun could hear the alarms blaring, the sudden shouts of panicked FUG members rushing by. The rooms he was kept in were heavily fortified, yet a small part of him was curious to see how they broke in.

Jahad must be getting desperate if he was sending soldiers directly at FUG's base. For years the king had remained dormant, as if Bam were nothing more than a harmless fly buzzing in his ear. The only family leader that even took a small interest in Bam's activities was Gustang, and even he liked to take a backseat and observe the outcomes.

But now, Bam would no longer be ignored, and he was ripping the Tower apart as a result.

Looking away from his window, Khun stared at the impassive doors. His gaze was listless, expression containing nothing. Not a hint of worry or anticipation.

A nearby explosion shook the foundation. The glass of his window shattered, and Khun blinked as his eyes and face were cut. But the Firefish was active, the only source of his power that Bam did not imprison. Within moments, his face was healed, his eyesight restored.

The wind touched his face, and for a moment, he was taken aback. He had forgotten what it felt like to have the wind caress his body, its cold touch soft on his cheeks. With unsteady legs, he stood and made his way closer to the window. Ignoring the glass on the windowsill, he climbed up and looked down. The towering structures of the buildings broke through the fake clouds, hiding the ground from sight. The wind was now no longer gentle, but harsh as it tugged at his clothes and hair. For a moment, he wondered how long of a fall it would be. And if he did fall, would the Firefish be able to heal him?

Could he die fast enough, escape the Firefish's grasp, before her healing mended his body?

His thoughts were brought to a halt when his chamber doors burst open. Khun glanced back, peering through the smoke as two hulking figures emerged.

Hm, he could jump and avoid capture. But...there was a chance he would be healed.

His eyes fell on the large machete-like sword in one of the intruder's hands.

Or...he could wait for a different result.

He moved, jumping down from the window and near the bed, effectively catching the attention of the two Jahad soldiers.

"What? A boy?" the smaller one snarled, shocked. "With all of this security, I'd have thought they were hiding something special. Like a weapon or something."

The taller one strode forward, his black eyes surveying Khun. "He looks like he's from the Khun family." His eyes trailed down, and something in his expression changed. "And a slave."

The smaller one spat. "Disgusting. Whatever, we either take him or kill him. If they're hiding him here, he's of value."

The taller one hesitated, and he looked at Khun once more. He must have seen something in Khun's dull eyes, because he sighed. "We won't get much from him." He adjusted the sword in his grip, and something in Khun's chest that was nowhere close to fear swelled up inside of him.

He stared up at the imposing being. For the first time in forever, he felt hope. Hope that this would end, hope that it could all be over.

As the sword was raised, Khun closed his eyes, ready for the final swing of death.

Something warm splattered on his face, and he opened his eyes to see the dead bodies of the intruders. Bam hovered in the air, breathing heavily from near panic.

"Aguero," he murmured, descending down. "Thank God I got here in time." Tears brimmed in his eyes as he embraced the still form of his friend. "Why didn't you try to move?" He had seen how Khun had stood there, waiting for the sword to strike.

Bam's trembling words remained in the still air. "Why did you want to die?"

xXx

The whisper in his voice was now roaring. On replay, the scene of Khun standing before those two soldiers, helpless, flashed before him.

Why? Why? Whywhywhywhy?

Why had Aguero stayed there? Why had he been so willing...so eager to let the weapon fall?

Even when Bam had flown with all speed until all he saw was red at the monsters that dared hurt his friend, he had caught sight of an expression he thought he would never see on Aguero's face.

It was not quite hope or happiness, but neither was it sadness or fear.

It was like...he welcomed the final strike.

And that scared Bam more than anything, because he could do nothing more if Aguero ran into the arms of death, waiting and goading it on.

Desperation filled Bam at that point. How could he fix this? How could he get Aguero to continue living, to return that spark of life to his eyes?

He had to return to the part where they were once before, a time when Aguero wanted to stay with him. A time when Bam was progressing so fast and it took all Aguero had to keep up, where he would willingly follow after Bam to be by his side.

Now, Aguero was fine with being left behind.

Bam clenched the edges of the sink, face dripping wet from the water he splashed on his face. It had felt so satisfying to crush those imbeciles who dared to lay a hand on what was his!

Then he had seen the look on Aguero's face. The blank look, void of nothing. While those intruders had pulled something, some emotion, from him, Bam could get nothing from Aguero.

His hands trembled, and Bam raised his gaze to look in the mirror. What was so different now? He still looked the same with the gold eyes and brown hair. He was slightly more mature. They both were. But what was he doing so different?

He had tried to explain to Aguero that he was doing this for his own good. Couldn't he see that? It filled him with so much frustration!

His fist smashed into the mirror, shattering it and cutting his hand. He panted, staring at his bloodied hand.

The door to the bathroom cracked open, and Bam glanced up with wide eyes to see Khun staring at him. His friend hid behind the door, as if using it for protection. His blue gaze flickered down to Bam's bloodied fist, and he moved forward.

"Stop!" Bam's eyes were wide and panicked, hands out as if to push him away. "There's glass!"

Aguero's gaze fell on the mess on the floor. "Oh." Then, Bam watched with horror how Aguero poked at a large shard with his toe.

"What are you doing?" Bam hastily moved forward despite the glass littering the floor. "You'll hurt yourself!"

"But you're hurt too," Khun pointed out. But he backed away, watching as Bam carefully made his way out of the bathroom. He took Bam's hand, examining the cut.

Bam released a shaky breath. Aguero was talking to him. Finally! He could not help but smile, even as the Firefish healed his cut. All of his worries vanished.

Until Aguero dropped his hand, the healing complete, and he moved back to the couch. He curled up in the corner, hugging his knees to his chest.

Bam moved forward to sit beside him. He ran his fingers through Aguero's hair, his nerves building up with the increased worry.

Then Aguero spoke. "They're gone."

Bam knew who he was talking about. Several smiling faces, warmth and laughter, invaded Bam's memories. "Yes."

Aguero stirred. "All of them?"

Bam's throat closed up as he thought about his old team. "All but one." He looked down at the small figure. "Now you know why I can't lose you."

Silence, then a small nod. "I do."

Bam swallowed, the feeling of triumph and relief absent. He felt as if he had just lost a battle, lost something precious in his friend with such a quick surrender to his wishes.

Suddenly, his eyes widened when an idea struck him. He stood up, shaking Aguero's shoulder.

"We're going somewhere," he said with a wide smile.

Aguero did not even blink in surprise. He remained sitting where he was. Bam stood before him with a hesitant smile. Bam was careful when he wrapped his arms around his friend. Aguero didn't even stiffen at the contact, even as he was lifted up. However, his eyes did widen when Bam carried him up to the window.

Aguero latched on to Bam but looked at the wide sky with awe. Unbeknownst to him, Bam was smiling.

"Hold on," Bam murmured, and he leapt from the edge.

xXx

It was the first time Khun had felt the sun on his face. Soon, they left the fortress behind and landed in a meadow. Bam carefully lowered Khun down, and he felt the soft grass beneath his toes. The smell of the earthy air. He could hear the wildlife. Khun could only gaze at the scenery like a man starved.

Bam watched him with a hopeful, expectant expression. He watched as Khun took a few small steps forward before falling to his knees, his hands touching the grass.

Relief filled Bam. Perhaps this is what Aguero needed. He had deprived him of the outside world for so long. His friend was not meant to be kept in darkness.

He approached him, hesitantly. "Do you like it?"

Aguero's response was disbelieving. "I'm outside."

Bam did not like how his heart hurt. It meant that he had done his friend wrong when all he wanted was to do him right. "Yes. You are." Eager to preserve this moment, he picked at the flowers. "Look! These ones smell nice." He passed them into Khun's hands. "We can continue walking to find some more...or not. Let's do whatever you want." He watched as Khun simply stood there, as if unable to comprehend the freedom he was given.

The sun broke from the sky, and Aguero closed his eyes as it shone on his face. He laid down, feeling the soft grass and the sun. He still clutched the flowers in his hands, cradling them to his chest as the warm sun caressed his face. For the first time in what seemed like forever, Aguero finally smiled.

Bam's heart twisted. That smile was not for him. When was the last time Aguero smiled at him like that?

He settled down next to Aguero, watching him. "We can come out here whenever you would like."

Aguero opened his gaze, as blue as sapphires now shining. He sat up and looked down at their hands that were inches apart, but one distance he was unwilling to close. "Can we...stay like this?"

Bam blinked. "What?"

"You and me. Can we leave everything behind?" There was something in Khun's gaze, a little spark that Bam had desperately tried to bring back, and it brought him joy to see that ember of hope grace his friend's eyes once again.

But Bam had done many things to his friend he never thought himself capable of. He was not about to start lying.

"We can't." He was unwilling to let things between himself and Jahad slide. Jahad was relentless. He had tried to ignore the king, and he had lost so many friends. Aguero would only be safe if Jahad was dead.

With that, he watched as the small ember of light die away once again. Desperation clawed at Bam to restore that light.

"Aguero," he started. "Please understand that I cannot let you go. If I do, I fear that I will lose you."

Aguero sat up and fixed him with a gaze. "But isn't that what makes our time more precious? Wouldn't you want me to love you from afar rather than hate you when I am shackled by your side?"

His heart broke. "Do you hate me?"

"I can't bring myself to. But...you hurt me." His hand touched his chest, fleeting and soft. "I've never felt this pain before."

Yes, he knew he had hurt him. Only Bam was capable of inflicting such hurt on him. Still, to have Aguero say that…

"If I lose you," Bam's voice was a broken whisper, "...no, that's something I can't imagine."

"But you would rather see me like this?"

Bam's fist slammed into the dirt. The ground cracked, but Aguero did not even flinch.

"We've had this conversation before." Bam's tone was dark.

"No. You told me how you felt. I was silenced."

"You won't listen to reason!"

"Oh? So this is your manner of reason?" He tapped at the collar still at his throat.

"I had no choice!"

"This was your choice," Aguero's eyes flashed. "To imprison me."

Bam lurched forward, hands outstretched as if to grab at him. Aguero fell back, scrambling away. His arms were out as if to shield his face and chest, his legs pulled up and ready to curl into a protective position, and Bam stopped. It was almost as if...Aguero was prepared for Bam to hurt him.

"Aguero...I would never…" Never what? Hurt him? Isn't that what he had done? He already had. He had hurt him in a way no weapon could.

"Aguero, please look at me," he pleaded. He couldn't reach out to him, knowing that if he did, he would be breaking another line, after he had broken so many.

Aguero let out another shaky breath, an attempt, Bam realized, to calm himself down. Finally, he lowered his arms and looked at Bam with an unrecognizable gaze. He did not reach out to Bam, as he so often used to do.

Bam trembled, and he lowered his head until it was pressed into the dirt. "Don't ever argue or say that again. I...I don't know how to control this feeling inside of me. It's impulsive. I can't control myself, and it scares me. I look at you, and it's so infuriating and frustrating that you just won't listen. After all I am doing for you."

He looked up and Aguero was staring at him unwaveringly. Bam reached out for him and when Aguero did not shy away, he held him.

"You're all I have," he whispered. "I only ever think about keeping you, how I can keep you here with me." And they both knew he would succeed. Even now, that ugly twisted thing inside him screamed with satisfaction that what was his was eternally in his grasp. Who dared to defy him? To deny him what was his?

His arms tightened around his friend, possessive and relentless.

Except, Aguero had willingly given himself to Bam. Maybe not at first. Not in that field when they first met. But he had willingly followed him. Given himself, his everything, for Bam's well-being. That devotion was built, like it was placed in Aguero's heart. When had Bam lost that? The moment when he thought that what Aguero had so freely given needed to be caged, locked away, and abused?

The beauty he sought to protect was now lost to him. The harder he tightened his grip, the quicker it slipped away. It was so easy, in the uncertainty of the world, to notice the beauty of what was precious to him. Now, in his attempts to preserve and covet that beauty, he was destroying them both.

He felt Aguero tremble, and then a small cry escaped his lips. Resigned to his fate, to the fact that he would never be free, Aguero rested his head on Bam's shoulder.

The voice, the urge, in Bam's head was suddenly silent, as if satisfied at the broken friend he held.

Bam acted on a whim, an impulse. His fingers explored Aguero's neck and he touched the shinsu resistant collar. At his command, it fell away.

It took all Bam had to weakly push Aguero away, even as the animalistic beast in him screamed to never let him go. "You need to run." His voice sounded like another. He did not look up to see Aguero's wide gaze. If he saw those eyes again, Aguero's fate would be sealed. "Run before I change my mind."

Aguero did not speak. Which was good, because if Bam heard his voice one more time, he would have lost all manner of reason.

He heard Aguero's quick footfalls, his presence leaving Bam's empty shell of an existence. His mind was blank, not fully comprehending what he had done, even as his heart bled from the loss.

Bam dug his fists into the moist dirt, bowing his head as he sobbed. He could not bring himself to look at his fleeing friend, lest he lose control. If he did, Aguero would never escape him.

It was horrifying, to realize he was the worst thing that ever happened to him, that he was a threat to Aguero.

xXx

He left him. He left him!

The heart that continued to bleed now cried out in memory of the promises he had made to the boy he had met in the field. The promises, the reasurances, was it all for nothing? Even now, he was breaking that promise as he fled, the branches hitting his cheeks, adrenaline nearly leaving him blind.

A part of him whispered that he should go back. He squeezed his eyes shut momentarily, feeling his own tears leak through as Bam's sobs faded away. He should go back. After all, nothing else mattered but Bam.

Except...that wasn't Bam. Not his Bam. He refused to believe it.

As the sun faded away as he continued to run deeper into the wilderness, his eyes and heart hardened. No, that was not Bam. His friend had been warped, changed, just as Jahad. Just like his father.

But if he toppled the Tower, would that restore his friend?

His eyes narrowed. Then...he would simply have to climb, faster than his friend. With all their attention on Jahad, he should be able to slip by and reach the top.

Was this how Arlene felt? When she had to abandon her friends for her life? After all, the boy that he promised to take up the Tower was no more. Tears fell down his cheek even as the mournful cries of a beast tore through the air. The shinsu shattered and trembled in the wake of the rampaging god. Bam had only been able to hold out for so long. Now he was coming.

But Khun knew where to go. He would not waste this chance. Determination set in as he ran.