Chapter 19: Liar

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Aylin found herself suddenly plummeting through the air, her face stricken with horror, arm still desperately outstretched even as the distance became impossible. She heard herself scream and the sound was drowned out by the noise of rapid gunfire from above.

Falling, falling...until she felt a hard, stinging slap against her skin. Ice immediately encased her. She couldn't breathe. She sank further and further down, and it took her muddled mind a moment to realize that she was underwater. A mouthful of it invaded her nose upon her instinctual gasp for breath, causing her to frantically flail her limbs, propelling herself toward the surface.

She broke through, coughing between taking gulps of air and treading water as she swung her head left and right, searching the darkness.

"Roci!" She shouted, though her voice was drowned out by the sound of crashing waves.

He'd been planning to jump off after her, hadn't he? Aylin craned her neck upward, her eyes fixated on the cliff top. The last image of his sweet smile was stuck in her mind and she felt a whole range of emotions burn through her in a single instant.

Hell no.

She kicked off in an instant, furiously swimming for the shore. She had to get back up there. She couldn't let him face that group of bloodthirsty criminals on his own. That was insanity; what was he thinking? That idiot! Aylin clenched her teeth as she swam, ignoring the burn in her protesting limbs. If she reached the beach quickly enough, then surely she could dash up the shortcut they'd taken before.

Surely she could get there in time.

A dozen different scenarios flashed through her mind as Aylin's arms worked double-time to desperately drive herself toward land.

He couldn't…

She wouldn't let him.

Aylin was so focused on reaching the shore that she failed to notice the large vessel that now loomed over her. She would have swam right past it, had a rope ladder not fallen into the water beside her with a loud 'splash.'

"Wild! Is that you?" The outline of a man appeared, leaning over the railing of the lower deck. "Kaufman, she's alive! Hurry up and grab her!" He shouted, already halfway down the ladder.

Before Aylin could think to object, two pairs of arms were reaching for her. Kaufman and Warren each grabbed one of her arms, hauling her from the icy sea and up the ladder. They dragged her onto the deck of the ship, where she violently shoved them away as soon as she'd regained her bearings.

"Get off me! We have to go back up there!" They made no move to comply with her demand, so she grabbed Kaufman by the collar. "NOW!"

Warren pulled her off of the other man. "Hey, easy! You're injured as it is, and besides that, Denise has her whole group of Hive bastards with her up there! It's a damn miracle you even made it out of that mess alive! We're going straight back to the Syndicate to report this disaster!"

Aylin whirled around to shoot back, "The hell we are! Rocinante is still up there, we can't leave him to-"

"IT'S TOO LATE!" Warren snapped back. "You think anyone is walking away from that?! You're smarter than this, Wild, you know it's Goddamned hopeless! If you go back up there, you won't be coming back, and we need you here!"

Kaufman spoke up just then. "Guys! Hey! Something just fell off the cliff!"

The other two glanced over just in time to see the shape of a large, flailing figure flop into the sea.

Warren's eyes went wide. "Shit, was that him? He's a devil fruit user, I don't think he can-" His words were interrupted by a loud splash from the water directly below. Bewildered, he looked back toward the spot where Aylin had just been standing, finding it suddenly vacant. "THE HELL? WE JUST FISHED HER OUT!"

Down below, Aylin's mind was on autopilot as she swam for the spot where she'd seen the figure drop as quickly as her limbs could take her. He couldn't swim. She was determined to reach him before he drowned. If...if he was still alive...

The next few minutes passed in a blur. She didn't feel the cold of the choppy sea, didn't notice her muscles complaining of fatigue, didn't pay any attention to the way her lungs burned from exertion. She dove underwater without stopping to catch her breath, searching in the dark, reaching out for any sign of a body. Each passing second found her more frantic, and the panic building in her chest was accompanied by a worsening ache in the back of her throat.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, her fingers grasped wet fabric. Reaching down with her other hand, Aylin wrapped them both around an arm. Kicking her legs against the water, she pulled them both upward until they broke through the surface. It was only then that she spared a moment to make sure that she'd grabbed the right person.

He was still; his eyes closed, his expression blank. His sopping blonde hair stuck to his forehead in clumps as his head lolled back, marred with cuts and bruises.

Aylin felt her heart freeze in her chest. She threw one of his arms around her shoulders, nor wasting another second as she swam for the ship.

"You better live," she declared around the lump swelling inside her throat. "Damn it, Roci, you better Goddamn live! Please...please just live...!"

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oOo

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Rocinante felt like he weighed a thousand pounds. His skin felt tight, as though he were being constricted. When he managed to lift his head enough to look down, he noticed that he was fairly covered in white bandages. An IV line hung overhead dripped liquid into his right arm. His head felt so heavy that he immediately let it fall back onto the pillow.

What happened...?

The last thing he remembered was looking up at the rainy night sky as he fell from the cliff...the same cliff he'd pushed Aylin off of to save her life. But…there had been water down below; that was the only reason he'd pushed her. She wasn't a Devil Fruit User, so he knew she'd be alright. Rocinante, on the other hand... He shouldn't be alive right now. He should've sunk straight to the bottom.

Rocinante attempted to move each of his arms and legs just slightly to be sure he could still feel them and that they still worked. They did. He breathed a small sigh of relief, though even doing that much still hurt. He stared idly at the catheter in his arm and wondered just how long he'd been out. There were no windows in the room, so he had no idea what time of day it was. He felt desperately thirsty and noticed with relief a glass of water with some pain pills next to his bed. He reached for them with some difficulty, swallowed them down and then sighed, closing his eyes again for the briefest second.

Wait.

He knew this room all too well. He was back at the Syndicate headquarters! The next time he opened his eyes, the familiar face of Stokes was there, holding a pad a pencil and giving him a once over before moving to check his vitals.

"You sure have a penchant for trouble, Rocinante…"

"It's a gift," he responded weakly. "One of the reasons they hired me."

Stokes snorted softly. "In any case, Wild will be glad to know you're finally awake. You've definitely seen better days. Speaking of which, you've been out for about four of them now."

"F-four days?!" Rocinante let himself flop completely onto the bed, releasing the tension in his shoulders. "Wa-wait, you said Lin's name! She's…she's okay…?" A wave of relief washed through him.

"Yeah, she's fine. Few cuts and bruises, but nothing extreme. Surprisingly," he added dryly as his pencil scratched across the pad of paper, presumably jotting down Rocinante's vitals. "Had you woken up about twenty minutes ago, you would have seen for yourself. Practically had to throw her out of here before she agreed to go eat some damned food. I swear..." He trailed off, wearing an expression of annoyance as he returned to his desk.

A silence settled over the room and the next few minutes passed by uneventfully. Had he been at all confident in his ability to move his legs appropriately, Rocinante might have attempted to get up and run from the room in search of Aylin. He needed to see her for himself, to be absolutely certain that she was alright.

But he didn't need to. Moments later, the sound of the doorknob had his eyes snapping up toward the entrance. His heart practically cart-wheeled in his chest when he saw the familiar head of orange hair enter the room.

"L-Lin!" He called out to her as he weakly grinned from ear to ear.

Aylin remained at the door and didn't meet his eyes. Instead, she gave Stokes a look that he seemed to understand, because he nodded back and stepped past her to exit the room shortly afterward.

Rocinante tried again. "Hey...I'm so glad you're okay!"

She still said nothing. In fact, it was almost as if she was refusing to acknowledge him. She appeared to be staring at the floor, although he couldn't really be sure because her eyes were hidden by a curtain of hair.

His smile faded slightly. "...Lin?"

He heard her emit a barely audible sigh and she finally looked up at him. She wore a dark expression; a frown tugged at her lips and creased her brow. Her posture was stiff, and her hands clenched and then unclenched at her sides as if she were gearing up for something. Something decidedly unpleasant.

Oh, no...

Rocinante heard alarm bells in the back of his mind; if the incident from four days ago hadn't killed him, then she was surely about to do the job herself.

Aylin finally pushed herself off the door just then and stepped toward him. Her lips twitched as if she wanted to say something, but had decided against it as she slowly strode over to the cot he was laid up in. There had been thousands of things, in fact, that she had thought about saying to him over the past few days; they ran the gamut of "You idiot!" to "Oh, thank God!" And, of course, now that she could tell him any one of those things, none of them really seemed enough. After all, how could she possibly put into words what she'd felt when she thought she might have lost him?

As Aylin drew closer to the hospital bed he rested upon, all she could think about was the way he had looked at her before he'd pushed her off the cliff. It had been all she'd thought about while waiting for him to wake up. His face had haunted her dreams every night in what little amount of sleep she'd been able to get.

Well, no more of that. She was through with thinking about it. Aylin reached his bedside and both hands shot out to grab the collar of his shirt. Rocinante winced slightly, bracing himself for the blow that he knew was coming.

Instead, she shocked him when she pulled herself closer and crushed her lips against his.

The kiss that was fervent and forceful and quickly became insistent. Rocinante was so dumbfounded that he couldn't move at first, but her lips were warm and inviting and he found himself succumbing to her urgency, losing himself in her as he managed to pull her as close as possible.

This was what he'd been wanting all those months. He could hardly believe it was actually happening.

An indeterminable amount of time later they both pulled back with gasps, out of necessity more than anything else, their faces still close together, breath intermingling and foreheads touching.

Rocinante's face split into a ridiculous smile. "You liar…" He managed to get out as he pulled further back to meet Aylin's eyes as his hand lazily threaded through her hair.

She looked as though she were biting back a smile at that reference to their last argument, though she was unsuccessful as it tugged persistently at her lips. "Shut up," she retorted half-heartedly. She recovered quite quickly, giving him her best glare a moment later. "If you ever do that again..."

"What, you mean save your life?" He grinned cheekily at her before pulling her onto his bed and holding her close, pressing several soft kisses to her mouth. "Stay with me?"

She snorted softly. "Why not? I've been here for the past four days. You were lousy company, all unconscious," she teased as she curled up against him, one hand finding its way into his hair and absently stroking through it.

Rocinante sighed happily under her ministrations. "Don't worry, I'll make it up to you. At this point though, I'm not even going to ask; as soon as I'm out of this bed and back on my feet, I'm taking you out for a nice dinner."

For once, she didn't object. He pulled her in for another long, lingering kiss, thinking he'd never tire of the feeling. He gently wrapped one of his arms around her as he drifted off again into a peaceful sleep.

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oOo

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As Rocinante soon found out, news of Denise's betrayal had spread throughout the Syndicate headquarters like wildfire. There were whispers in every corner and suspicions arising between the associates, causing much disarray among the ranks. If Maynard's treachery had been a blow to the organization, then this new threat surely posed the risk of unraveling them entirely.

Aylin filled him in on most of the details. While he had been unconscious for four days, everyone in the building had been scrambling to pack up all the valuables from every vault. Locks had been changed, passwords had been updated and security had become so tight that nobody was allowed in and out of the building without explicit permission and a member of the Inner Circle present. All assignments had been put on hold for the moment and there was talk of the entire operation being relocated. It certainly wouldn't be the first time, Aylin had noted, never guessing that Rocinante was already aware of that fact.

She remained busy herself; the mini den den mushi she had been given in the wake of the incident never seemed to stop ringing, and she was constantly being pulled from the medical bay to perform various tasks demanded of her. It left Rocinante with little to do other than stare at the ceiling and eavesdrop on whatever conversations he could hear happening outside of the door. Stokes in particular was a mumbling mess, scurrying about to box up all of his medical supplies. Soon enough, Rocinante found himself laying in the midst of a large, mostly empty room.

After about three days of enforced bed rest, Stokes finally cleared him for light activity, stressing that this only meant walking from point A to point B. However, it seemed that Aylin wasn't the only one waiting for Rocinante to get well. Mere minutes after Stokes had exited the medical bay, another man entered.

Rocinante noted the dark clothing and the trademark silver ponytail, and immediately felt his stomach twist into a knot.

Trying to hide his unease, he gave the smaller man a grin. "Fancy meeting you here, Clarke."

The comment was met with a grunt. "I take it you can walk alright?" Clarke asked as he eyed the tall man's dressings. "This isn't a conversation we can have here."

Rocinante nodded to the man and stood, following his lead, albeit more slowly than he would usually walk. He couldn't afford to let his clumsiness hinder the progress of his recovery. Another fall would jostle some of the already numerous wounds. Rocinante found himself grabbing at corners, door frames, whatever he could get his hands on in order to steady himself.

Again he was led deep underground into the Inner Circle's most secret room, the same place where he'd been appointed both Escort and Scout. He hadn't been able to give a report yet due to both the failure of the mission and the unfortunate circumstances that followed. Even the Inner Circle's room was nearly empty. It looked like the entirety of the Syndicate would be able to move at a moment's notice.

Instead of the table and chairs from the last time, everyone was merely standing in a semi-circle as Clarke lead him to stand in front of them. Rocinante bowed carefully and clasped his hands behind his back, waiting to be addressed.

"Rocinante." Scarlet was all business as usual when she spoke to him, not a single note of sympathy in her tone. "We've been awaiting your report. As the Scout accompanying De LaCroix during her recent...abandonment of responsibility...we're all very eager to hear your account."

The tall man nodded and began to describe the incident to the group, down to even the most minute detail he could remember...well, except the accidental kiss that had happened between himself and Aylin upon first discovering that Maynard was a traitor. He figured Aylin would prefer that stay between the two of them and, after all, it had no relevance to the mission whatsoever.

He gesticulated animatedly as he spoke, nearly falling over at one point and grimacing as he pulled one of the wounds in his side. He recounted the tale all the way up to the point where he'd fallen off of the cliff at Raven Rock Cove.

"…and the next thing I remember is waking up here, in the med bay. There was no indication from Denise at all. I was completely shocked when she showed her true colors, she never gave any type of warning signs or bad behavior. She always had a really wide network at all the functions we went to, which seemed normal to me for someone in her position."

He flushed slightly upon remembering how Denise had spent the night at the Pritchard Mansion and shown up looking like she hadn't slept the next morning. Rocinante was sure she'd had some ulterior motives by doing that as well; Leblanc wasn't exactly what you could call a lovable guy, but who knew? Denise could be up to anything. She could've given away any amount of intelligence to their rivals. He could see why they were so desperate for any kind of information.

The looks on their faces were stone cold and unmoving. It must be difficult to hold up such a façade, Rocinante thought, but he supposed that's why they were the Inner Circle. He took care to memorize each face, repeating their names to himself over and over while they debated. Even though he'd given them full disclosure, it looked like there was more they had to say.

Finally, Clarke spoke up. "And what of your partner, Aylin Wild?"

The look of surprise on Rocinante's face prompted another man to elaborate. "We can't be too careful in the wake of such a devastating betrayal... Not a single soul had suspected Denise of this treachery. Surely you've noticed the increase in security all around you. We must all be careful with whom we place our trust..."

"Mind you, following De LaCroix's lead would be a very, very foolish thing for anyone to do. Particularly for Ms. Wild," Scarlet added. "I would hate to hear that our beloved Red Fox had made the mistake of placing her loyalty elsewhere..." She stared hard at Rocinante, her eyes boring into his from the other side of the circle.

Rocinante replied without a moment of hesitation, "She is completely loyal to the Syndicate. I've no doubt about it in my mind."

He sincerely hoped that they would take his word and not question him further lest his own allegiances come under scrutiny. His first loyalty was to the Marines, of course, but now he felt a deep loyalty to Aylin as well. The very thought of her sent a rush of warmth through him.

Scarlet nodded, appearing to be convinced by his utmost sincerity. "Good. See to it that things remain as such. Keep a close eye on her in the meantime. It would be a shame to have to tell Blackburn that our grand plans couldn't come to fruition." She allowed the barest hint of a smirk to stretch her lips, and then gave him a nod. "That will be all for now. We will contact you again soon. In the meantime, I'm sure you've been made aware of the preparations the organization has been making. I trust you'll help as much as you are able."

"Of course…" Rocinante bowed again before turning and leaving with Clarke who once again guided him out of the deep Labyrinth that was the Inner Circle's domain. He wondered if they'd be able to find a similar place at the new base of operations, but he figured they must have safe houses like this all over the world, remembering the hidden Society place they'd been to. And if not, he was sure they would build one on the backs of the grunts of the organization.

The way Scarlet had referred to Aylin worried him, though. Sure, it was a reasonable thing for them to ask in the grand scheme of things, but there seemed to be something more to it that Rocinante wasn't aware of. He wondered if he should bring it up to Aylin… then again, she didn't know about his new secret position so he'd have quite a bit of explaining to do.

It was certainly something to think about.

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Notes: We're back and we come bearing a new chapter! Apologies for the unannounced hiatus; unfortunately life happens and steals our time and motivation now and then. BUT rest assured, we have no intention of abandoning this story whatsoever. Things are moving along, but we've got quite a ways to go yet!

So please let us know what you think! We truly love and value feedback, and to be perfectly honest, knowing that we have readers enjoying our writing definitely inspires us to churn out chapters much faster.

As always, thanks for reading! 'Til next time! :)