Hey all! I apologize for the lag; life's been crazy this week, what with school, homework, a part-time job, and studying for one of those lovely life-deciding tests one must occasionally take, I'm a bit worn down. I honestly didn't mean to leave you hanging at a (as someone pointed out, a literal) cliffhanger. However, I managed to get this chapter done, which is an accomplishment I am proud of. Hopefully you'll all enjoy it!

Firstly though, much thanks must go out to LoneBoy7, flammula, Composer Gizmo-chan, Shinimegami7, b4k4 ch4n, Stellar Eclipse, DeNiSaY60, The Hollow Fairy Wolf, Kikurukina Bal Des'cagel, A-chan, infinityinmirrors, Caithdean, Arid Tundra, andhearts, Aindel S. Druida, Shukakku the adorable raccoon, Emerald Moonrose, Bane-Dane, Night's Mirth, , FlurryDivider, krad, Velvet Chaos, ooXloveXoo582, Dragi, and MadeInHolland! You guys can keep me going through my most trying times! ^^

O

Chapter 8

Not allowing himself time to actually think through his actions, Squall lunged forward, one hand just barely wrapping around the end of the piece of rope attached to Riku's harness. A sharp jerk shot through Squall's arm as he found himself falling as well as his other hand was torn away from his own rope. Desperately tangling his legs up in the line to keep himself from tumbling to the concrete below, Squall grimaced as it was pulled tighter than a tourniquet.

Panting for breath, he looked down at Riku and he saw actual fear shoot through the man's teal eyes. He thought they were both going to die. Steeling his resolve, Squall reached back with his free hand and once again grabbed hold of his climbing rope, breathing a small sigh as some of the pressure was taken off his legs. However, holding up all of Riku's weight with only his other hand was quickly becoming too much for him to bear, his skin beginning to sweat inside the leather glove.

Bullets continued to rain down on them throughout it all and Squall knew that one way or another they'd have to get to the ground as soon as possible. Zexion had continued on, though his eyes had never left his two comrades, and had now descended nearly to their position on the side of the building. Nodding for the man to keep moving, Squall grit his teeth as he struggled to hang on to both Riku and the rope. With only one hand to use, he wasn't going to be able to climb down so much as control their fall.

Squall heaved a shaky breath before loosening his grip holding the line just slightly, allowing the rope to slide through his fingers and using his knees to help hold on. The heat from the friction was intense, a blistering heat already beginning to pulse through the thick leather of his glove as the fibers of the rope scraped through. Wincing as a bullet ricocheted off of the concrete side of the skyscraper, Riku could only watch from below, unable to reach any sort of handhold, suspended a good four feet from the side of the building. Squall silently urged that the hitman not try to swing himself over. Any sort of pulling could knock him off balance and send them both somersaulting towards the ground.

Another sharp snap rent the air and Squall sucked in his breath, preparing himself for a fall. But it never came; instead, a loud shout split the air, Squall unable to help this time as Zexion plummeted to the earth, Squall looking away as he hit the ground with a sharp cry.

"Zex!" Riku winced, shouting over the continuing gunfire, "Zexion!" He let out a shout as Squall let out more of the rope, lowering them another few feet. "Zexion, are you okay?"

Squall focused on his task, every single one of his muscles screaming at him to just let go, and nearly had Riku on the ground when the silver haired man let out a sigh of relief. Glancing down, Squall saw that Zexion was stirring, his face contorted with pain, and gained a small burst of energy. Zexion had fallen about two floors, he could have easily split his head open if he had landed wrong. Allowing more line to burn through his fingers, Squall kept in a grimace of pain, releasing a huge breath as he heard Riku's boots hit the ground.

Releasing Riku's line, Squall didn't even bother keeping his grip on his own rope and let himself drop the remaining six feet onto the concrete ground in a crouch. Riku had moved out of the way as soon as he was released and had hurried over to where Zexion was still lying.

Squall unhitched his harness before wincing and pulling off his gloves, hissing at the red, raw skin on his palms. He heard Riku muttering to Zexion, receiving small moans in response. At least he was able to speak. That was good news…Pausing, Squall glanced over at them. That's funny; he could hear them from across the front of the building even though his ears were still ringing from all the noise…Noise. Looking up, Squall suddenly realized that the bullets had stopped. Which probably meant that the guards weren't on the roof anymore. They were coming down to finish the job.

Pushing himself to his feet, despite everything in him telling him to just stay on the ground, Squall ran over to Riku and Zexion, "We need to leave."

Riku shot him a dark look from where he was leaning over Zexion who was still lying on the ground, "We're not going anywhere fast, take a look."

Squall glanced down, only to look quickly back up again. Zexion had clearly broken his leg in his fall, his fibula if Squall had to wager a guess. Either way, he wasn't going to be able to run any time soon, "Is his back broken?"

Riku shook his head but Zexion managed to answer back, his voice shaking, "N-no, my back is fine…Agh, I, just leave me if you must—"

"Don't be stupid Zex." Riku stood up, wincing as he rolled his shoulders, "Gods, I think my neck got messed up when I fell and the rope snapped."

Stepping forward, Squall shook his head, "We don't have time for this. Those guards are coming down to get us, we need to leave now. Riku, get on Zexion's other side."

"Hold on a minute, Leon." Riku did as Squall said and walked around to stand on Zexion's opposite side, "How do you know they didn't just give up?"

Squall looked over his shoulder, his worst fears confirmed as he was just able to make out figures storming down the stairs from inside the building, "Because they're coming." Bending down, Squall grabbed onto Zexion's arm and, despite the man's protests, hauled his to his feet while taking care to support him enough so that as little weight as possible was on his bad leg. Riku immediately got the gist of the plan and he and Squall both pulled one of Zexion's arms over their shoulders, acting as human crutches to allow Zexion to limp away.

"We need to disappear Riku."

"Got it. You're gonna need to hustle Zex, so just hang on, alright?" Sweat was pouring down Zexion's face but he gave a weak nod all the same, not wanting to be left behind. Hearing the guards at the doors, Squall and Riku half-walked, half-carried Zexion down the stairs, moving as quickly as they could towards the protective darkness of the surrounding buildings and alleyways.

They heard shouts and footsteps as a whole herd of guards thundered through the skyscraper's entrance and down the steps, the three thieves just barely managing to slink under the shadows. Knowing they weren't quite out of the woods yet, Squall allowed Riku to lead, the man hurrying them through a maze of twists and turns as they heard the guards scatter into the city to try and flush them out.

Riku seemed to know where he was going, the man not even glancing up at the street signs as they continued to run, Squall feeling Zexion begin to tremble in their hold. He also seemed to know which streets were likely to be deserted because they didn't see a soul, Squall loosing all sense of direction and time. Finally, it was clear that they needed to take a break, all three men gasping for breath.

Leaning up against the wall, Squall helped to lower Zexion to the ground before collapsing down beside him. "Riku, where, where are we?"

Riku nodded as he put his hands on his hips, his chest heaving as he tried to get air back into his lungs, "The train station's just a few blocks down."

"We can't take the train like this."

"Yeah…"Shaking his head, Riku pulled his gloves off before reaching into the small bag he had hung onto throughout the night and pulling out a handkerchief. Throwing it to Squall, Riku shoved the gloves into the bag, "Clean up your face. No one's going to let you on looking like that. And Zex, you're just going to have to suck it up for a little."

Zexion sent him a piercing glare in return, the look somewhat thrown off by the slightly glassy look in his eyes, "…I do not deal with pain well."

"I know, you have the lowest pain tolerance of any human being on earth but we need to get you back."

Squall glanced over at the wounded man as he scrubbed the dried blood from his face, "He needs to get to a hospital."

"Just take me home…"

"Zexion—"

"I said take me home!"

"Alright! Keep it down will you…" Sighing, Riku rubbed the back of his neck, his muscles clearly still bothering him, "Now that you don't look at a zombie anymore, let's get to the train station. Zexion, just, pretend like you're drunk or something."

Zexion couldn't even muster up the strength to roll his eyes as Squall staggered back up to his feet, he and Riku moving back to their old positions, each taking up one of Zexion's arms again.

By some miracle they made it to the train station without being questioned. Perhaps it was because everyone actually did mistake Zexion's sweat streaked face and inability to walk as extreme drunkenness. Whatever it was, Squall didn't bother to think on it too hard. He just focused on taking one step after the other. He let Riku do the talking and buy them their tickets, not even looking around as they shuffled Zexion onto the train. Moving down into a relatively unpopulated car, they dropped down into three seats, finally able to breathe knowing that they had momentarily escaped the Organization's reach.

Squall would have considered sleeping over the long ride back to Traverse if not for the fact that Zexion was in agonizing pain beside him. It seemed as if it was taking everything the man had not to cry out although his shaking had started again. He seemed to be going in and out of shock. Squall knew that they had to get him to a hospital, but they were only going to get Zexion there if he was willing to go.

Riku just stared out the window, outwardly unbothered as Zexion's knuckles turned white as he gripped his seat. Squall too kept a stoic exterior, all the while keeping watch on Zexion out of the corner of his eye. It would be a messy ordeal if Zexion were to fall completely unconscious; although their car was empty, there were still passengers on the train that would see them carry him off.

As it was, by the time they reached Traverse Town, Zexion was nearly nonresponsive and, if his expression was anything to go by, Riku's neck was continuing to bother him. Leading Zexion off the train was a bit of a challenge but they managed, Squall glancing around as they stepped off onto the darkened platform.

"What now?"

Riku huffed as he pulled Zexion's arm into a better position over his shoulders, "We should get him home; trust me, we're not going to be able to convince him to go to the hospital by ourselves…"

"How's bringing him home going to change that?"

"You'll see…I don't suppose you drove to the station?"

Squall shook his head, not liking where this was going, "I took my bike."

"How many people do you figure can squeeze onto that thing?"

Rolling his eyes, Squall started forward towards the parking lot, "Well if you don't mind letting Zexion sit on your lap, the bike should do fine under the weight."

Riku heaved a sigh, "The things I do for this guy…"

The neon lights of Traverse seemed so much softer than their Dark City counterparts as they made their way out of the train station, the town's streets abandoned at the late hour. Reaching his motorcycle, Squall dug his keys out and got on, trying to leave enough room behind him for Riku to slide on. The two of them somehow managed to wrestle Zexion on in between them so that he was riding side-saddle across Riku's lap. The man's eyes had flickered open during all the movement, a hint of annoyance somehow managing to shine through the glazed-over pain. Catching the look, Riku shot Zexion a glare back, "Hey, don't complain alright? Or we'll leave your ass here at the station for a cop to find tomorrow morning."

"…shut u-up…just—"

"I know, I know, 'take me home', we get it. We're going, you pansy."

Squall glanced back over his shoulder at the two as he revved the engine to life, "You know how to get there?"

"Yeah, head into the Third District."

Trying to keep relatively quiet on the way there so as to not attract any unwanted attention, Squall quickly drove them through town, glancing up only once as they flew through the Second District to try and catch a glimpse of his own house. The flash of a window he caught sight of was lit up; Sora had probably left the lights on for him again.

After cutting into the Third District, Riku directed Squall towards a modest looking apartment complex nearly directly across the central courtyard from the vacant house that served as their headquarters. It was so like Zexion to live in a place that allowed him to keep an eye on things 24/7. Hearing that Zexion in fact lived on the third floor, Squall gave up any pretentions of being able to support the injured man up all of those flights of stairs. Picking Zexion up bridal style, despite his weak protests, Squall motioned for Riku to lead the way up the metal staircase.

Climbing up to the third story, Riku continued down an exterior corridor, passing a number of doors before finally stopping at number 306, light blue paint peeling a little at the edges of the metal plaque emblazoned with the room number. It was only when Riku gave a firm knock that Squall realized that there was a possibility that Zexion had a roommate. Hadn't Riku let slip that Zexion was in fact seeing someone a few weeks ago? Did they know about everything that Zexion was up to? Otherwise, how were he and Riku possibly going to explain Zexion's current condition?

His thoughts were cut short as he heard footsteps approaching from the other side, the door opening to reveal the last sort of person Squall had expected to see, making him think for a few moments that Riku must have gotten the address wrong. It was a young man, probably around his age, dressed in torn jeans and an old band t-shirt, a few earring decorating his ears underneath what must have been the world's strangest hairstyle, some sort of odd hybrid between a mullet and a mohawk. Squall was immediately proven wrong though as the man's sea-blue eyes widened in shock, a cry escaping his lips as his eyes zeroed in on the man in Squall's arms, "Oh my god, Ienzo! What happened?!"

Riku let out a breath, "Calm down Demyx. I'll explain inside."

The man, Demyx, stared at Riku as if noticing he was there for the first time, his eyes flying back to Zexion before he finally nodded, stepping aside to allow them in. Squall stepped in to find himself inside a surprisingly normal living room, set up with a couch, TV, and a guitar propped up against the wall in the corner as if Demyx had just set it down. Pushing a stack of papers onto the floor, Demyx cleared a space on the couch long enough for Squall to lay Zexion down, Demyx's face paling several shades as he noticed Zexion's leg, "What happened to him?!"

"There was an accident at work. We tried to get him to go to the hospital but, you know how he is…"

Crouching down beside the couch, Demyx pushed Zexion's bangs out of his face causing the other man to open his eyes again, "Ienzo! What did you do to yourself?"

As his vision focused on Demyx, the pained expression that had twisted up Zexion's face for the last few hours was momentarily replaced by a soft look Squall hadn't thought Zexion capable of making, "…you say that as if you think I, I meant for it to happen…"

Demyx sucked in a breath, tears beginning to well up in his eyes, "You, you're, you're such a dumbass! You weren't even supposed to go out today, we're supposed to spend weekends together, but no, you had to go out and get yourself hurt!"

The snarky reply Squall had been expecting never came, Zexion instead letting out a small grimace, "…I apologize…"

Shaking his head, Demyx pushed himself to his feet, a few tears escaping as he stood, his voice shaky but firm, "I'm calling an ambulance, you're going to the hospital!"

Zexion tried, and failed, to push himself up onto his elbows at the news, twisting his head to watch as Demyx marched over to grab a cell phone sitting on a side table, "…Wait. Dem, it is imperative that you not contact—"

"Shut up Ienzo! This is for your own good!"

Riku's eyebrows rose, a grin slipping onto his lips as he murmured to Squall, "Ooh, he's mad."

Overhearing the comment, Demyx threw a teary-eyed glare back at the two of them who had remained standing near the door as he picked up his cell phone, "You too! You should have taken Ienzo to the hospital right away, Riku and…whoever you are."

Squall frowned, "Leon."

"Right, you too, Leon." Dialing quickly, Demyx pulled the phone up to his ear, turning his back to the three as his call was transferred to the emergency operator.

Glancing back, Squall looked back at Riku, "So I'm guessing that he's not always so forceful?"

"That's the understatement of the year. He's usually the most easygoing guy around."

"Does he know about—our job?"

Riku shook his head, his arms crossing at he looked back at Zexion who had buried his face into the arm of the couch as if trying to suffocate himself, "Not really. I'm pretty sure even he's figured out that it's not exactly legal but it doesn't seem to bug him. For whatever reason, he apparently likes Zexion too much to care. Although, honestly, I don't know what he sees in him."

Squall glanced back at Demyx again as the man gave the operator his street address, "What does he do?"

"He works at a music store during the day and plays in a band most weeknights but gets weekends and Mondays off. Why do you think Zex doesn't have us work those nights?"

"Figures…" Squall eyed the silver-haired man for a moment as a wince slipped across his face, "You know, when Zexion goes to the hospital, you might want to think about going too if your neck's still bothering you."

Riku frowned, a hand automatically moving to massage the back of his neck, "Maybe…I wonder if that receptionist is on duty; she probably wouldn't be suspicious when I forge the paperwork."

Riku was cut off as Demyx spun back around, clearly finished with his call as he snapped his flip phone shut, "There! They'll be here soon." The man's shoulders sagged as he looked down at Zexion, padding over to kneel down to the side of the couch so that his nose was nearly touching Zexion's forehead, "Hey, don't be mad, okay? This, this is all I can do to help, you know?"

Heaving a sigh into the fabric of the couch, Zexion finally lifted his head up, his expression made of equal parts pain and exasperation, "Demyx…you are going to be the death of me."

A small grin tugged at the corner of Demyx's mouth, "And yet you can't stay away, huh?"

"…What a pathetic thing love is…"

Demyx's smile widened just a bit and leaned forward to press a kiss against Zexion's forehead. Averting his eyes, Squall spent a moment examining the carpet. Your basic brown, probably came with the apartment. Riku, however, had no problem with interrupting and noisily cleared his throat, "Hey Ienzo, we're still here, remember?"

Zexion froze as Demyx pulled away and stood up with a sheepish grin, "Oops. Forgot about you guys for a minute…"

"Yeah, I figured."

Eyeing the tower in front of them, Cloud chugged the remainder of his coffee, tossing the empty Styrofoam cup into a trashcan on the way inside. Pushing through the glass doors, Axel pulled off his sunglasses and gave a light whistle, "Nice place. The M.O.'s totally off though. They sure these were our guys?"

Cloud nodded and reached in to the inside pocket of his suit jacket to pull out the memo that had been left on their desk that morning, "Says here that about five guys actually got a look at them this time. Leonhart definitely matches the description of the third thief."

"Awesome. Hey, look who it is…" Axel's voice trailed off as they caught sight of a man walking down the stairs, the tall blond looking casually sophisticated as always. Exchanging a look, Cloud and Axel walked forward to meet him in front of the elevators. Detective Luxord Downes was a member of the Dark City Police Department and was their general contact in the DCPD. However, it was a relatively well known fact throughout law enforcement that the man was being paid off by the Organization. It wasn't any big discovery though; nearly all of the DCPD was on the Organization's payroll. All in all, Detective Downes was usually good-natured and cooperative, and was a damn good detective besides when he cared to be.

"Ah, Detective Strife, Detective Flynn; how was the drive from quaint Twilight Town?"

Letting out a sigh, Cloud gave a tight smile back. A reason he and Axel didn't get along too well with Luxord was the man was constantly acting like they were a pair of country hicks. Honestly, Cloud had grown up in Midgar, a city just as big as Dark City. And Axel—well, he actually seemed to be more accustomed to bustling urban centers than Twilight Town's suburban neighborhoods. "The drive was fine, if you don't count the whole having to leave the office at six in the morning thing. What's the situation?"

"The situation, my good fellows, happens to be that a massacre occurred in one of my buildings and the blame for it belongs to miscreants spilling over from your territory."

Axel shrugged, "Hey man, they're just as much your problem as ours. Take us to the damage."

"Very well. Let's take the lift; I've had my fill of stairs for today…" Cloud and Axel followed the man as he led them into an awaiting elevator, waiting for more information as the man pushed the button for floor 5. "I'd rather just skip the formalities, if that's alright with you gentlemen."

"That's fine." Giving the man a grin, Axel leaned against the elevator wall as they began to ascend, "It's way too early for rules anyway. Just tell us what's up."

Luxord raised a brow before his expression sobered a bit, "'What's up' is that six men are dead, apparently in an effort to try and stop a robbery in progress. Now, I won't even bother pretending that this has nothing to do with the Organization, but I'll warn the both of you to simply focus on the case at hand and not stick your noses out too far into places they don't belong. Your criminals seem to have been unaware of the nature of this establishment and are undoubtedly going to have a rather hard time because of it. However, I will say that they must be every bit as skilled as you claimed over the phone, to have been able to escape with their lives, if only for a short while."

Cloud started as the elevator gave a sharp bing as they reached their floor, having focused all his attention on Luxord's words. As the platinum blonde detective led Cloud and Axel out of the elevator and through a series of halls, it started to become clear that Leonhart and the others had gotten in way too deep.

Bullet holes littered the walls, blood spatter occasionally flung across the walls clearly indicating when a bullet had landed in human tissue instead of plaster. Dark City Crime Scene Investigators were everywhere, tagging everything and anything that could be considered evidence, a coroner pushing his way through between Cloud and Axel to hurry ahead. As they rounded the corner, Cloud understood his rush. Ahead of them was one of the most brutal crime scenes Cloud had ever seen in his career. The bodies of six guards, guessing from their uniforms, were strewn on top of a puddle of blood, a clear indication that they had bled out before any help could be brought in by survivors. They were oddly positioned around one office door that was wide-open, four different CSIs crammed into the tight space to work.

"What happened?"

Pulling out a notebook from his pocket, Luxord flipped through a few pages before clearing his throat, "Let's see here. From the initial investigation, it is appearing that the guards and the thieves had a bit of a standoff at this location, the thieves managing to gun down the guards and make their escape before reinforcements could arrive."

Axel frowned incredulously, "Let me get this straight. Those six guards cornered three guys in a dead-end and all six of them managed to get themselves killed while not even injuring one of the three? Seems a little farfetched."

"I never said that the thieves were uninjured."

Cloud's eyes narrowed, praying that Luxord meant what he thought he meant, "How do you know they were?"

"We found blood spatter inside the office as well. Although not in such large quantities, at least one of the thieves seemed to have sustained some sort of damage, although he was still able to escape by climbing down the outside of the tower from the roof, so he couldn't have been that incapacitated, now could he?"

Blinking, Cloud tried to focus on the blood first, "I hope you collected a sample of the blood for DNA analysis?"

"Of course. We'll enter it in to the national database within the week--"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Waving his hands, Axel broke into their conversation, "Go back a minute. Did you say escape by climbing down the outside of the building?"

Luxord gave a stiff nod, "So it would seem. The second wave of guards apparently caught up with them and shot out two of their ropes but by that time they were already close enough to the pavement to be able to escape before the guards were able to get down to the main floor. The guards suspect that at least one of them had an intimate knowledge of the City, because they were somehow able to avoid being seen. It is possible that they are still somewhere in Dark City, but I suspect that our perpetrators managed to slip out before we were able to get any checkpoints set up. They've played the game quite well."

Cloud's frown didn't fade, "You almost seem to be enjoying this."

"I enjoy the challenge. Of course, this means that it will be up to you to try and find them before I do."

"This isn't a game. They're criminals who need to be stopped. Their crimes are beginning to escalate and they're probably getting desperate since their last two known strikes have been botched."

"Ah, Cloud. Everything is a game. And to the victor go the spoils. Which, I suppose in this case would be fame for capturing some of the most daring criminals of our generation. It would sound nice on a resume, don't you agree?"

OoOoOo

The ride back into Twilight Town was silent except for Axel's occasional outburst about certain DCPD detectives, Cloud allowing the redhead to rant as they drove down the highway. After their short conversation, Cloud and Axel had both conducted a personal investigation of the scene and found it to be very much as Luxord had said. They even went up to the roof to check out the pieces of rope still hanging off the edges of the building.

It was nearing late afternoon when they got back to the station, Roxas sitting up at his desk as they walked in, "So, how was it?"

"Aw, was my little Roxy bored without me here to keep him company?"

"Well, it was a lot quieter, but I don't know if that's a bad thing…" Turning to his older brother, Roxas leaned forward to dig through Cloud's front pocket, victoriously extracting the notebook he knew would be there. "Ah-hah!"

"Hey! Does confidentiality mean anything to you?"

Shooting him a grin, Roxas flipped open the notebook to skim through Cloud's scrawl, "Who do you think keeps track of all your stuff while you two run off to the City? Me. Therefore, I get to snoop." Flipping another page, Roxas made a face, "Gods Cloud, your handwriting sucks. I mean, not as bad as Axel's but still…you should consider a penmanship class, seriously."

"Only after you take a course on manners." Snatching his notebook back, Cloud tucked it under his arm.

Roxas grin floundered, "What's wrong with you? Did something come up?"

"Yeah, Luxord did." Axel waved for Roxas to follow him back into their office, Cloud bringing up the rear and closing the door behind them. Sitting down at his desk, Axel reached over to boot up his computer, "Apparently Detective Downes has caught whiff of our case and wants a piece of it. Actually, the guy wants all of it, thinks he can bring the perps in before we can."

"Huh. How was the crime scene?"

Cloud sat down at his own desk, "You don't seem to be taking Luxord seriously."

"I just know how much you already know about Leonhart and everything, there's no way he'd be able to catch up. Now tell me about the crime scene! I'm always stuck here, I don't get to do anything cool, so the least you can do is tell me about it!"

Rubbing the back of his neck, Cloud let out a sigh. He really wasn't legally supposed to be discussing the details of the case to anyone except for Axel but he knew Roxas wasn't going to spill information to the media or anything. "It looks like our guys were caught in the middle of a robbery and had to fight their way out of the building to escape. We even might have gotten a blood sample out of the deal too."

"That's awesome." Roxas's excited face fell after a moment, "Do you have anything to compare it against?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, it won't do you any good if you don't have a DNA sample to compare it to, right?"

Cloud fell silent and Axel couldn't help but laugh, "Well, looks like we forgot a step, huh?"

"Dammit…" Resting his chin on his hand, Cloud leaned over his desk, "I don't think any of them have DNA entered into the system, and we only know where to find Leonhart. 'Riku' and 'Zexion' are out of the question…"

Straightening up in his chair, Axel leaned forward, "Hey…wasn't Luxord saying that one or two of them were injured?"

"Yeah, but we only have one blood sample."

"I know. But if they're injured, they're going to need medical attention, right?"

Catching on, Cloud nodded, rolling his chair over so that he could look onto Axel's screen as the redhead's fingers began to fly over the keyboard and he began to enter in data, "We could send out a notice to all the hospitals and doctor's offices in town. Send them through Dark City and Traverse Town as well, since we don't know where they ended up."

"Already on it. If these guys show up or visited within the last twenty-four hours, we'll know about it soon."

"Good. Hopefully when Luxord publishes his report we'll have a more precise idea about what sort of injuries they sustained, but a general sweep will have to do for now. In the meantime, I'll see what I can do about getting a DNA sample from Leonhart. I'm sure the boys up at processing managed to get his home address off of his identification…"

Axel paused in his work to give Cloud an oddly smug look, "Aw, you miss him already?"

"Don't even go there. I just want to jump start this before Luxord gets a lead."

As Axel shrugged as if unconvinced, Roxas leaned over on top of Cloud's desk, "How are you going to get a sample? He seems like a pretty smart guy, I don't think he'll just spit into a cup for you."

"…I'll try to think of something."

Flicking the bathroom lights on, Squall leaned heavily against the tiled counter. Reaching up to push his bangs out of his face, a gash was revealed cutting across his forehead, the skin around it beginning to bruise after a few hours. A heavy sigh escaped him; he had had worse, but Sora was bound to ask questions. As soon as he had gotten home he had cleaned off the rest of the blood, drenched it in antiseptic, taken a pain killer and collapsed into bed. When he had woken up, Sora had already left for school, leaving a note for his older brother to find on the refrigerator.

Crawling into the shower, Squall took the hottest shower his skin could stand to try and get his muscles to relax. He had been unbelievably tense all night; the only reason he had been able to sleep was the fact that he was just so worn out.

Squall emerged from the shower a little more refreshed, resisting the urge to fall back onto his bed as he went back into his bedroom to change. Just as he had finished towel drying his hair a loud knocking echoed out from the front room. Frowning, Squall dropped his towel onto the bed, combing his fingers through his hair to try and brush out the tangles as he stalked towards the living room, grabbing his pistol off of his bedside table as he walked out. He wasn't expecting company, and after what had happened last night he wasn't going to take any chances.

Holding the gun behind his back, he peered out through the peephole in the front door. The first thing that caught his eye was a shock of golden blond hair and a flash of blue before Squall connected the face to a person. It was that detective from Twilight Town. Rolling his eyes, Squall opened the door, slipping his handgun under his belt as he spoke up, "Detective Strife, how did you get this address?"

Detective Strife's eyes immediately focused on the firearm, "Expecting someone else?"

"What are you here for?"

"I assume you have a permit for that."

Squall leaned up against the doorframe, "I do. It's SeeD issue. Now, answer my question."

The detective's eyes flickered back up to meet his and, as always, Squall couldn't help but be shocked at the color, "Just to talk."

"About what?"

"I think you know, Leonhart."

"Do I need a lawyer?"

Cloud shrugged, "I don't see why, we're just talking."

Narrowing his eyes, Squall eyed the man in front of him. He didn't seem to be too much of a threat. "What would possibly be in it for me?"

"Free coffee? I'll even buy you lunch if you want."

"What is this, a date or an interrogation?" Detective Strife scoffed, the sound bringing a small smirk to Squall's lips, "Coffee's fine. But don't expect anything from me."

"We'll see. Are you free to leave now?"

Squall glanced around, smirking again as he noticed his gun was still tucked into his belt, "Let me go put some things away. Stay here."

The detective gave a nod and Squall disappeared back into his bedroom. Dropping off his weapon, he grabbed his wallet and keys and hurried back to the door, not comfortable leaving Detective Strife waiting at his open door.

"Ready?"

"Let's go."

The detective watched as Squall locked the front door on his way out, the two walking side by side as they stepped out onto the street. They fell into silence for a few minutes before Detective Strife looked around the city, "Do you know a good coffee house?"

Frowning at the small talk, Squall gave a small grunt, "There's a place around the corner that's pretty decent…prices are reasonable anyway."

He felt the officer's eyes on him but didn't glance over. He didn't know what the other was looking for but he certainly wasn't going to give anything away.

Reaching the small café, Squall took a seat at a small metal table set out on a patio as the detective went in to put in their orders. Squall's order: black, no cream, no sugar. After being in SeeD, he was fine with anything that didn't taste like used dish water. A few minutes passed before Detective Strife returned, a cup in each hand. Setting one of them in front of Squall, he took a seat across from the soldier.

Taking a sip, Squall set it back down on the tabletop to cool. "Alright, let's just get down to business. What exactly are you here to talk about?"

Detective Strife raised his eyebrows, Squall watching the man's face closely as he took a moment to collect his thoughts, "Alright…I'm here, to give you another chance to cooperate with the law. If you cut a deal, you still might be able to get out with only six months in prison."

Giving the timing, it was pretty obvious that the Twilight Town PD had already been filled in about their burglary attempt in Dark City. It didn't seem like they had much though. Otherwise, Detective Strife would be arresting him right now. "Thanks, but I'm still not interested."

The officer's expression didn't change; apparently he had been expected to decline the offer, "Suit yourself." Setting his coffee cup down, Detective Strife reached into his jacket, pulling out a small leather bound notebook, "How about you tell me where you were last night instead?"

Raising an eyebrow, Squall shrugged. He had seen the question coming a mile away, "I was at home, asleep."

"Can anyone verify that?"

"I got home after my brother fell asleep and I don't sleep with anyone so, I guess not."

The detective's eyes flickered up and Squall kept his expression steady. He knew he was treading a fine line and would have to watch what he said but, besides that, he was almost beginning to enjoy this little cat and mouse game Detective Strife was setting up. "Not a very tight alibi."

"Next time I'll have to make up a better one then."

"Are you incriminating yourself?"

"No. Just responding to your remark."

Detective Strife frowned, his lips pursing into a line before he nodded towards Squall, "Are you going to tell me what happened to your forehead?"

"An accident."

"What kind of accident?"

"The type where you injure yourself."

"What'd you do? Fall, get hit by something, smack yourself in the head while opening the fridge door?"

Squall nearly choked on the sip of coffee he had just taken, hiding his laugh in a cough. He wasn't sure if the other man was trying to lighten the situation or play to his pride to try and make him let something slip, but he had a feeling the latter option was the most likely. Clearing his throat, he downed the remainder of his drink before looking back at the detective, "Out of those three, it's definitely not the third."

A small grin slipped onto Detective Strife's face at the reaction, Squall blinking in confusion as the man's gaze focused for a moment on his coffee cup, the smile falling. Noticing that he had been caught staring, the detective motion towards it with a quick flick of his pen, "You done?"

"Yeah."

"Me too." Pushing his chair out, the blond put his notebook away, "I'll throw it away for you if you want."

Squall's eyes narrowed thoughtful, not trusting the oddly intent look the detective was giving him. It was like a switch had been flipped in Detective Strife's demeanor, the man suddenly giving off a much more authoritative vibe. What was the big deal about his coffee cup? Ah…Zexion had warned him about this while he was being loaded up into the ambulance last night. He wasn't supposed to throw anything out that would have any traces of his DNA on it, including the Styrofoam cup in his hands.

Squall looked up at the detective whose hand was still outstretched invitingly. He had almost fallen for what had to be one of the oldest tricks in the police handbook. Shrugging, Squall stood up and grabbed his cup off of the table, "Don't bother."

A hard look passed through the other man's neon blue eyes as he realized his plan had been uncovered. His hand quickly retracted to slip into his pocket as he turned, following Squall as he slowly began to walk back up the street towards his house, "What? You're going to carry your trash home?"

"I'm carrying this possible piece of evidence home. Thanks for the coffee though."

Squall could just imagine Detective Strife cussing him out in his head though the man outwardly stayed remarkably composed. He was silent for a few moments, perhaps to mentally compose himself, finally speaking when they had walked halfway back up the block, "If you want to be proven innocent, just give me the cup so we can run the DNA through the system. If not, I'll just be back with a court order and get a blood sample."

"You get your court order then."

That smug comment was apparently the last straw for Detective Strife's patience, the man throwing his arm out, his palm slapping against the wall of the building they were walking along and stopping Squall in his place. "Look, if you don't start cooperating, I will personally make sure that you receive the maximum jail time when you're finally convicted!"

Taking a breath to calm himself, Squall stared right into Detective Strife's eyes, a jolt running through him as they stared each other down, "If I'm convicted. So far, the police haven't come up with enough evidence to so much as hold me for questioning."

The detective bristled, "Don't think it's going to stay that way! You and your accomplices killed six men last night! You're all going to be put away for life, like the murderers you are!"

That was it. Stormy eyes flashing, Squall's emotions slipped out and in one motion, he grabbed the detective's arm, throwing him back against the wall and trapping him there, holding a wrist in each fist as he pinned the blonde's hands on either side of his head, "Don't talk as if you know who I am! You don't know what kind of hell I've been through, what I'm going through! Do you think I wanted those men dead?"

Detective Strife didn't struggle against his hold, but simply glared straight back at Squall with a determined look, "We won't know unless you decide to talk. It's up to you."

The lack of a reaction brought Squall back into his right mind, blinking as he realized how close he had gotten, his face inches away from the other man's. The bastard really did have a beautiful face…Shaking his head, Squall pushed away before his rage could be replaced by other emotions. Checking that the now crumpled up coffee cup was still in his hand, he let out a heavy breath, "You won't get anything from me. If you want to solve your case, find some evidence."

"You can count on it."