All things considered, when Senri woke up alone in his tent, he had a very bad feeling about it. Mostly, because since yesterday's trip to the void, his redheaded lover was acting strange. He put it down to the fact that despite their goal in entering the portal to the Thirteen, saving Unei and Doga, in the end they ended up leaving the royal clones behind – determined as they were to seal the contract of Xande with the Cloud of Darkness.

As much as he enjoyed that after returning to the camp – and his tent – his 'prince' pretty much pounced on him, somehow he couldn't resist the impression that throughout the night his lover's heated kisses tasted of desperation… which unnerved him.

So he definitely didn't take waking up alone entangled into the messy blankets for a good sign and after he dressed up in a hurry and went out in a search of his wayward redhead, to hear of some sort of commotion taking place at the crystalline structure… Well, when his heart decided to jump in his throat as that feeling of upcoming doom grew, without thinking he ran toward the Tower. And on the way meeting as stunned Cid, Rammbroes, Wedge and Biggs… by the time they arrived at the long corridor of the labyrinth leading to the crystal gate and he saw it slowly closing – something that felt very much like panic had his heart lose its rhythm constantly.

No wonder then that seeing the familiar figure of his redheaded Raha in front of the gate as it came shut had him pounce on him with a downright terrified whimper.

"Wha…? Snark?!" his lover flinched with surprise when he coiled his arms around his chest almost brutally, burying his nose in the soft, red hair.

"You… scared me," he muttered, trying to calm down, nosing against his lover's ear insistently, despite hearing his friends catch up with him.

"What's going on?" asked Cid behind him. "We heard you chased off all of our people, saying you're going to seal the Tower, G'raha?"

"I did," the redhead squirmed in his arms, tapping his hand against Senri's shoulder but he refused to let go, only tightening his grip around him. Finally Raha gave up with a sigh, only shifting sideways inside his embrace to look toward the engineer. "You must understand… It's far too dangerous technology to be set free, while ours is so much behind, Cid. One day, perhaps, but…"

"You should have warned us you're planning to do so, though," chided Rammbroes.

"I…" Raha started, but Senri had quite enough, cutting him off by putting his hand over his mouth while glaring daggers at his friends over his head.

"It is his inheritance, so if he says it must be sealed, I don't believe you're getting a say in that," he snapped aggressively, then ignoring the obvious surprise on their faces, turned his lover forcefully and nudged him down the corridor. He couldn't explain it, but under all the usual bluster he was a creature of instinct… and right now his whole being downright buzzed with the need to get his redhead as far away from this Twelve-forsaken gate as possible. "You can discuss that later, back at the camp," he tossed over his shoulder toward the stunned men, tossing Cid a warning glare when the engineer looked ready to protest.

"Snark… I can walk," his lover grumbled, giving him a narrowed, deadpan stare while he set his hands around his shoulders, pushing him forward and away from the crystal gate.

"Mhmm, I know," he nodded solemnly, pushing harder. "That's the only reason why I didn't yet toss you over my shoulder and carry you back, Raha."

For a moment – until they found themselves out of the earshot of the others – his lover didn't protest, to as soon as they rounded the corner, sigh patiently and he set his hand over the Warrior's on his shoulder, looking at him with an apologetic expression.

"I did not mean to scare you, Senri," he said quietly but he kept his eyes forward above his head, only narrowing his eyes and tightening his jaw. "Sen… Snark, look at me," he added, digging his heels in and forcing him into a stop. He turned around and fisted his hands in the front of Senri's shirt, tugging until he reluctantly looked down into his – now – pair of crimson irises.

"Then why didn't you wake me up?" he drawled through his teeth, dropping his arms to his sides and rolling his hands into fists. "Last night… Why were you so…" he trailed off, looking up again while feeling his temper spike something fierce.

"Senri…" Raha sighed, then smoothed his hand up his chest and wrapped it around the black-haired Seeker's neck, pulling meaningfully until he gave in and closing his eyes, dropped his head against his lover's shoulder. Purring soothingly, the redhead wrapped his arms around Senri's head, rubbing his cheek against his lowered ear delicately until the Warrior felt his far too taut muscles relax slowly and almost reluctantly. He raised his hands hesitantly and somewhat gingerly set them on his lover's hips. "I was… After yesterday, I thought…"

"You were going to leave me," he whispered what had been the thought that had been rolling through his head since the moment he woke up alone. Earlier even, perhaps, since the royal clones' augmentation…

"I was," his lover breathed, tightening his arms around his neck when Senri instantly froze, and tiny, sad whine tore from his mouth. "I thought… I have to, Snark. The ancients… they wanted the Tower to become a beacon of hope instead of the mark of Allagan oppression and I thought that if I follow that wish… I can prove worthy of you," he whispered against his ear, loosening his grip to run his fingers through Senri's black hair soothingly when he whimpered, moving forward and curling his arms around him desperately. "To myself… mostly, because how can I ever deserve you…? You're the Warrior of Light and Champion of Eorzea… and I'm nobody…"

"You are… mine," he replied in a choked whine, tightening his arms around him possessively until his redhead gasped a complaint, struggling for a breath. He loosened his grip just slightly, burying his nose against his lover's throat. "You… promised, Raha… that you'll be m-mine…"

"I did… I am," his historian said quietly, then sighed and leaned away, forcing him to do so as well. And seeing his expression, Raha whimpered and wrapped his hands around Senri's face, rising in his embrace to brush his lips against the corner of his mouth. "Snark… I'm here, please… If you want me, I'm yours… but I need… needed to do something to… stay with you," he whispered, holding his confused stare and smoothing his thumbs over his cheeks. "Like I said, I thought I have to leave… Seal myself inside the Tower… until this idea struck me out of nowhere. A way… A better way for me to prove that you weren't… aren't wrong to love me."

"Is that really…? Why is that important?" he asked numbly, shakily curling his hand around his lover's cheek. "Why is it something to… prove, Raha? Isn't it my choice to make?"

The redhead stayed silent for a moment while his plush lips tilted into a such a sad grimace that for a second only thing Senri wanted was to apologize and assure him that all is alright and he understood and… whatever would make him smile again and bring back the shine to his expressive, soulful eyes, but that thought that he intended to leave him behind… it was not something that he could just discard and move on.

Not even for his Raha…

Without a conscious thought, his back straightened and while his muscles grew taut as he pulled his hand back, he felt far too-familiar mask reassemble itself on his face as something undiscernible inside him… curled into an eerie terror and chill of ice flooded his veins.

"No…" his historian said quietly, and his hands tightened around his head, fingers sinking into his messy hair right before he pulled him back with a downright shocking strength. Senri, however, didn't really had time to even blink with surprise before his lover claimed his mouth, filling his senses with his addictive flavor. He didn't want to, but could not help but simply melt with a choked whine, instantly drunk on his redhead's taste if with inhumane effort keeping his arms limply by his sides, no matter how his hands itched to reach for him and never let go. But he already offered him everything he had left inside him to give and yet… he wanted to leave him…

And that thought – bouncing mercilessly about his aching heart – had him wrap his hands around his lover's wrists and despite a painful tug on his hair, force his hands back, breaking the kiss and straightening to his full height.

"Snark, please… Don't," Raha whimpered sadly, trying to tug his hands free. Carefully keeping his gaze above his head, Senri shook his head, taking a deep, calming breath before he released his lover's arms, then took a big step back with a quiet, warning growl when Raha visibly tried to follow him.

"I am…" he said quietly, in a carefully neutral tone, mask firmly in place and when he looked into the fiery irises, his pale eyes were as frosty as the chill filling his heart. "…sick of everyone assuming they know better than me what I should want, do or think. I thought… you're different, Raha, but…" he choked, then cleared his throat and fought to cover the slip with looking up over his head again, for once in his miserable life grateful for his height. "I have nothing more… to offer than I already did, and if that's not eno…"

"Listen to me, you…" he almost stumbled forward when Raha growled deep in the back of his throat, again fisting his hands in his shirt and pulling him toward him brutally. And hearing the material tear like paper… he gawked at his lover's now very infuriated expression. "…just listen…" the redhead drawled through his teeth, climbing to his toes until the tips of their noses met. "Because that is the main reason why I didn't do it, Snark. Because I do love you, more than anything or anyone else in this Twelve-forsaken world… But I can't stand the thought of being… a liability to you and your title. As much as I know how you hate it, Senri, you're the fucking Warrior of Light, and a nobody like me… like I used to be, would be nothing but a target for anyone who would wish to harm or use you. Because of all you offered, like you said, I can't be weak if I want to be with you…."

"…used to?" he repeated with confusion, hesitantly curling his hand around his redhead's wrist.

Raha took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly and nodded, then apologetically smoothed down the torn front of Senri's shirt, before carefully taking hold of both of his hands and lacing their fingers tightly as he leaned forward and rested his forehead against his chest.

"I thought that's – sealing myself away with the Tower – was the only way…" he said softly and despite how much Senri hated hearing that, hated the whole notion… he sighed and rested his chin on top of his lover's head, numbly staring at the ancient wall behind him. "Then, soon before dawn, when I almost resigned myself to that… I kept hearing this tiny voice in the back of my head, Snark, asking time after time… what if I have done that and woke up… to the world without you? What if… you died and I wasn't there to… What if by doing this… I would be dooming you… both of us to nothing but…" his voice cracked and Senri's heart trembled, his throat far too tight to breathe as he closed his eyes, unconsciously rubbing his chin between his lover's lowered ears. "And the more I thought of that… The more I considered… I couldn't stand it, Senri. And I hope… it's not only my heart's selfish desire… and delusion… but I think… I hope… I found a way to stay with you and… be your strength, not weakness."

"Raha…" he sighed patiently, involuntarily tightening his fingers around his lover's hands. "You aren't… wouldn't be… my weakness."

"Just let me finish," the redhead replied, leaning back and when Senri somewhat hesitantly looked into his face, it was set into a stubborn, determined expression. And despite himself he couldn't help but think that even like that… especially like that, with the blaze of flame in his fiery irises… he took his breath away. Made him want to burn… "And while I… well, agonized over this… I don't know how or why, but I had this thought… no, idea… that despite all they wrought once, the Tower and Allagan inventions could for once serve something… better. Could help me… be better, for you. Because to do all they did… they had to have a way to resist tempering," he added softly and Senri froze, blinking rapidly as he furrowed his dark eyebrows, trying to understand his meaning. And while he did, Raha freed his left hand from his grip, lifted it to his throat and tilted his head… letting the Warrior's confused gaze to get stuck on the unfamiliar sight he missed before: something that very much looked like a collar. Made of the familiar looking metal, with shinning lines of red and blue pulsing with a dim light, taking the place of his lover's usual white choker it looked beyond uncanny and beautiful. "Think of it, Senri…" his historian continued quietly when with his now free hand, Warrior brushed his fingers along the edge of the metal. "…to do what they did to Bahamut, I thought, they had to have something to… make it unable to affect them. So, trying to determine if my guess is a correct one, I snuck out, chased off the others – like Cid said – and checked the logs… And I found this collar, Snark, and if all I read is right… All I feel is right… In all but Hydealyn's pick, it should have work to make me like you… stronger, faster… my senses sharper… and immune to Primal's influence," he said, freeing his other hand and setting his palms around Senri's face when he gasped. And numbed by the thought of that, he didn't even think about resisting while Raha pulled his head down and his hot breath fanned his lips. "And I believe, Snark, that now… I understand more what you had been saying about the way you find my… scent irresistible… because you smell downright sinful…" his normally low, soothing voice rumbled with a deep purr and Senri shivered involuntarily as his eyes lifted and locked with the fiery irises darkened by desire while Raha's nostrils flared delicately.

"It's… true?" he breathed barely audibly, feeling the chill in his veins melt away in the inferno of the instant, painful arousal. And as if to confirm it… Raha's lips tilted into a devious smirk, his hands fell against Senri's chest and before he knew what happened, the redhead with that shocking strength again pushed him back against the wall behind him. When he gasped with surprise, his lover fisted his hand in the hair at the back of his head and pulled him down into an almost brutal, painfully delicious kiss. And despite all the questions rolling around his scattered thoughts – all the implications of it – he couldn't help but gave in with a quiet groan, returning the kiss with equal fervor.

So soon, it wasn't enough, and without a thought, Senri spun them around, hooked his hands under his lover's thighs and unceremoniously lifted him between himself and the wall, pinning him to it with his weight. He swallowed Raha's gasp and purred involuntarily when the redhead wrapped his arms around his neck and his legs around his waist tightly, devouring his mouth with growing ferocity, he more than eagerly matched.

Then, too soon, they ran out of breath, pulling apart reluctantly and burying his heated face against his lover's throat, he moved his hands greedily to his ass, helplessly trying to relieve the painful tension against his hard body, rutting into him slowly. And arching between him and the wall with a choked groan, Raha curled his hand into a tight fist in his black hair, tightening his legs around him possessively and undulated to match his desperate movements.

"I love you," he breathed against Senri's ear and he whimpered needily, drowning in painful arousal as his heart skipped a beat, then resumed its insane rhythm. "I'm yours, Senri… always."

"I love you… too…" he stammered, then leaned away to look into the crimson eyes. "Raha… Don't ever leave me…"

"Never," his lover growled, then pulled him into another scorching kiss… and for him, Senri chose to believe it.

And drowning in his taste, he didn't even feel the pull…

"A collar…?" Ares chuckled fondly, and his Ancient-bright, sky-blue eyes shone with humor when Allagan-crimson eyes blinked open and full, bruised lips tilted into a far too-familiar, devious smirk.

"I thought you would appreciate that, Azem?" his husband wiggled his dark-red eyebrows at him funnily, with obvious pleasure running his long fingers through his ink-black hair.

"I do, don't get me wrong," he grinned toothily, then lifted his hand to curl his palm around his lover's heated cheek. "Does it actually has any specific function, though?" he asked with unbidden curiosity.

"Nah," Damon shrugged carelessly, then chuckled when Ares snorted a laugh. "It's just a useless accessory, pretty much… but quite perfect to work as the cover for your Ward, love. Though, to be safe, I could use it if you would put on our body a compulsion to… ah, be 'normal' if Raha happens to take it off."

"As you wish," he nodded, then whispered against his cheek for a moment in their native language while his husband waited patiently, entertaining himself by playing with his hair. Clearly, more than enjoying the fact that they were longer than he was used to. Or so Ares assumed, considering that Damon had kept doing that since he woke up – last night.

They didn't really plan it, but apparently, the moment Raha's blood was augmented and the Tower connected to him right after the boy and his own host exited the portal to the Thirteen, it was rapidly, greedily – after millennia of stagnation – draining the overabundance of Damon's aether. A few bells later, his husband woke up… giving Senri quite a scare, honestly.

Luckily, with his talent, it was easy to make both of their hosts unaware of it, and then, as the circumstances changed… they adjusted, shifting their plans. For now, choosing to keep their boys unaware of them, Damon, with usual glee, came up with a way to… alter his host's ideas – and destiny.

And considering what he – Ares – saw since he woke up, he was quite… relieved with this shift – and even more grateful for his husband's company in what was bound to happen… even if, for now, they were bound to sneak around behind their hosts' back.

But, well… that's how their best schemes always worked – and considering the enormity of their task, and its stakes…

"Ready when you are," he whispered when done, then brushed his lips against his lover's.

"Let's the play begin," Damon winked at him, then they exchanged amused, gleeful grins and at the same time slipped back into their respective hosts' minds, hiding their presence completely.