A/N: Ah-ha! So, surprise, surprise... This is the last chapter that has content that earns this story its 'M' rating. I know. I can already hear you all winding up the tomatoes and the disagreements. Ah, but I still think you will be pleasantly surprised with it!

Chapter Sixty-Two

"We leave just after dawn."

Layle stood outside the apartment building he shared with Keiss. He only had a few hours before he had to go meet Clockwork for her final raid on the military's bases.

"I'll need to get ready-"

"That's fine. We need an Airship."

He reached into his pocket and squeezed the recorder as he made his way inside.

"Keiss has an airship."

He does indeed. They'd take the Acote, they had immediate access to it, and it would be easier to steal than trying to grab one from the military hangers.

The Clavat slowed his pace as he made his way up the stairs to his apartment. He could hear guards conversing on the floors as he passed by the exits. Clockwork had warned him, they'd given a good description of him to the authorities. He'd more than likely be wanted by morning.

"There's no way the price Spinosa puts on your head won't tempt him. So don't linger."

He hesitated listening to the soldiers to see if they were talking about him. But their conversation lingered on the last Kickerbaul game, and so he continued upward. He got off onto their floor and made his way down the hall to the apartment. He was looking forward to wearing his regular clothes. A suit and tie was just not made for running and fighting. He opened the door to the apartment and stood at the threshold waiting. For what, he wasn't sure. Layle stared into the apartment. All the lights were off save for one. He could see the light peeking out from under the door of Keiss' room.

"Villosie, about your grandfather's death… I have to tell you something-"

Layle walked in and carefully shut the door behind him. The usually soft, barely noticeable click seemed to echo in his ears tonight. He turned away from the door and made his way to his room, his dress shoes scuffing along the floor. He opened the door to his room, pressing his lips together when the hinges squeaked. He looked down the hall towards Keiss' room but nothing happened.

The Clavat went into his room and slid out of the black dress jacket and tossed it on the bed. He leaned up against his dresser and kicked off his shoes next before looking over at the open door. From inside his room he couldn't see the light under Keiss' door, but he felt like if he could, he'd be able to see a shadow now too. The shadow of the Selkie standing and waiting for him.

"We took something- something new… You should see it."

Layle shook his head and walked over to the door. He leaned out and glanced down the hallway. The light was still on. No shadow.

'Maybe he's not here?'

Layle stepped back out into the hall and walked towards the door. He pulled at the tie around his neck loosening it so that it hung around the collar of the shirt. He stood before the door now listening, expecting to hear Keiss talking to himself, or maybe talking to a soldier.

"-And you let him have it! What if he gives it to Spinosa!"

"He's taking it to Cid-"

"-So he tells you. You can't trust him, Layle."

"…" The Clavat knocked on the door. "Keiss?"

There was no answer.

He knocked again and spoke a bit louder, "Keiss, are you in there?" This time Layle tested the door knob. When the lock clicked he pushed it open. The Clavat held his breath, not sure what to expect. And angry Selkie ready to jump him? An ambush of soldiers lying in wait for him?

No. Nothing like that was on the other side of the door.

Keiss was there. But he was asleep. Face down across his bed, with his feet and legs over one side and his arms and head over the other. His dress jacket on the floor and shoes still on his feet. The blond smirked. It reminded him much of the night they crashed at that Moogle inn after running around the Mushroom Forest.

The lights were still on, and the two vials of silver fluid on the desk, sitting on top of a note.

Layle walked over and peered at the letter. It was addressed to Cid, with a request for information on what was in the containers as soon as possible. And a quickly scribbled addendum that Keiss would explain later when he saw him face to face. The Crystal Bearer ran his fingers over the vials and smirked; he turned his head to glance at the sleeping Selkie. Slowly Layle backed away from the vials on the desk next to Keiss' bed and made his way around to the other side.

He got down on one knee and leaned over to his side to inspect his partner.

Indeed, he was fast asleep.

"…Keiss?" Layle tapped his shoulder. "Keiss." He shook him this time. "Keiss!" The Clavat reached over and pulled one of the red head's locks, yanking his head to the side. Finally his partner awoke, with a shout. He pulled back from Layle and scrambled up to his knees on the mattress. He held the side of his head and looked around furious.

"Layle! Layle what the hell is wrong with you!" He scowled. "Can't you wake me up like a normal person!"

The blond chuckled and got up to his feet. "I tried that," he crossed his arms and smirked at him. "You must have drunk too much."

"…Never." He scowled at him as he fell back to sit on his legs. As the red head slowly regained himself and the night's events a glare came across his face. He turned his head and regarded the Crystal Bearer with caution. "What are you up to?"

"I'm not up to anything, Keiss," Layle moved closer to the edge of the bed and leaned over, putting his palms on the mattress. "I said I would see you, once I got in didn't I? Well here I am."

"…Great. Now go away." The red head crossed his arms.

"Go away?" Layle shook his head, "That's usually my line after we have a fight, right?" The Clavat moved closer to him.

"This isn't like our normal fights, Layle," Keiss backed up as his partner crawled closer to him. "This is serious."

"Every fight we've had has been serious, Keiss." He followed the red head as he scoot backward. Keiss slid one leg off the bed and put his foot on the ground ready to get off. "How is this one different? Just because you say it is?"

"Yes!" he snapped at him. "Because I say it is. Because it is! This is important, Layle! I need to know if I can trust you!"

The Clavat stopped moving, "Don't you already feel I'm trustworthy, Keiss?"

"What?" The red head crossed his arms and looked away.

"I said, don't you already feel that I am?" Layle looked to the side and his eyes half closed, "You don't seem like the type who do all this with someone you don't already trust completely."

Keiss scoffed. He closed his own eyes and shook his head, "What? Sleeping with you? You should know by now that that's not trust- I mean, if I could get what I wanted by sleeping with someone I woul-"

Keiss' words were stopped when he felt the Clavat grab him by the neck of his dress shirt, He was yanked forward suddenly, and the red head put his arms out to deflect the Clavat. He smacked Layle's arm away and pushed back against him, causing himself to fall backward head first off the bed. He landed with a loud thud, one leg up in the air, the other still bent against the side of the bed.

"…Great…" Keiss looked up as Layle leaned over the bed and smirked at him.

"Then let's not, as a matter of trust," he watched as the blond swung his feet over the side of the bed. Layle used his powers to grab Keiss' body and slide him along the floor until he was laying flat on the ground. "Let's because I'm bored. Or because you're angry, and need to vent? Because right now, nothing else is moving forward- so we may as well pass the time until sunrise?"

Keiss lay on the floor looking up with a scowl on his face. "What's at sunrise?"

"…" Layle didn't answer him. Instead he got up from the bed and moved to stand next to the Selkie. Keiss looked up at him frowning.

"What's at sunrise?" Layle got down on one knee again and leaned over Keiss.

"…I'll tell you, when it gets here…Okay." The Clavat leaned in further until his lips were just inches away from the red head's. "Just trust me," he muttered before kissing him.

Keiss turned his head away, halfway through the kiss. He sat up and covered his mouth with the back of his palm.

"Layle," he looked at the Clavat scowling, "This is serious!"

The blond snorted and reached forward, grabbing his partner's shoulders. "And I am being serious!" The Clavat pulled Keiss' hand away and pressed their foreheads together. "Trust me. Maybe you do what you have to do to get where you want. But do I strike you as the kind of person that just goes into something- without trusting the other, first?"

"…You are to no account, backwater, brash, idiot farm boy…"

"Yeah, so…" Layle moved his hands up and held the sides of the Selkie's face, "That's all the more a reason for me to make sure I've got someone I can trust right behind me..." Once again he kissed Keiss. This time rolling his tongue over the Selkie's lips and forcing them open. He half expected Keiss to push him away again, but he didn't. Instead the Selkie reached up and grabbed the ends of the tie around his neck and pulled him closer. He met the Clavat's tongue with his own and closed his eyes as he tilted his head to deepen the kiss.

Though he was still angry, Keiss gave into his partner's advances. Maybe because deep down he knew he could trust Layle? Or because he was still sorting out how strong his feelings for the Crystal Bearer were? Whatever the reason, for now he told himself it was because of the pull of gravity itself, that made Layle irresistible.

He found himself leaning back again, as he pulled Layle back down to the floor with him, wrapping his arms around his neck. The Crystal Bearer grabbed hold of his sides and started to pull the white shirt he was wearing free of his pants and slide the fabric upward. Layle finally broke the kiss to continue placing his lips along the red head's jaw and down his neck. Keiss kept his arms wrapped around his partner's shoulders as he felt the other's hands slide up under his clothing and over his stomach.

Irresistible. An unmistakable pull. One that kept dragging him back when he was angry, fed up, and tired. He didn't hate him for tittering between his loyalty to Clockwork and himself. It wasn't hate at all. He felt more afraid about the uncertainty of it all.

Keiss was certain about everything. Every plan he made his entire life was just so.

Except for Layle.

He let out a gasp when one of the Clavat's hands found its way to his chest. The other had pulled loosed his belt and he could feel Layle's fingers pushing their way downward. He wanted to urge him to stop as it came to his mind that he wasn't in control here. When he opened his mouth to tell him to get off, all he could do was let out another gasp and a stifled moan. His hips raised up to meet the Clavat's touch. He was sure he heard the blond chuckle, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Keiss clawed at his shoulders as he lifted his legs. His entire body rose up for a moment, with just his shoulders and feet touching the ground. He opened his eyes, startled, and realized Layle was lifting him with his magic, just enough to pull his shirt off and down to his elbows. He let him fall back to the floor and sat across his waist with a smirk before leaning down and seizing his mouth again.

He really wasn't in control here. And as his hands reached up and undid the buttons on the other mercenary's shirt his mind asked him if he ever had been. After all, was it not he that said gravity controls everything in this world? There were no exceptions. Not even him. When the kiss broke again, Layle kept their foreheads together, and Keiss opened his eyes.

His red ones met the Clavat's slate coloured gaze. His chest was heaving as he breathed through his mouth and ran his fingers over the blonde's chest.

There was no way to control gravity.

Keiss reached up and around his partner, his thumbs snagging into the belt loops of his pants and pulling downward in haste. Layle responded by grabbing his shoulders and squeezing them as he put his lips on the Selkie's neck and pulled the skin up with his lips and tongue. Again the red head gasped and groaned. His absent thoughts harassing him to try and maintain some control over the situation. Over Layle. Over himself.

However when he felt the Crystal Bearer's palm sliding up against his lower body and his fingers digging into his flesh, those thoughts faded away. The deeper he felt Layle's fingers working, the less and less he thought about the overall situation, and the more he focused on the other young man in the room.

The smell of his hair. The sound of his voice. The taste of his lips. It had all been out of control since the day he met him.

He was nothing but trouble.

"Layle!" Keiss finally managed to say something. His fingers and nails dug into his partner's shoulders as he felt the Clavat's tongue on his chest. Layle didn't respond to his cries. He continued to twist his tongue over the nub and send chills down his spine. It made every inch of his skin tingle. He'd learned before Layle's sharp tongue was good for more than his snide comebacks. The Clavat's other hand grabbed his hip and held his body steady; to keep Keiss from continuously rocking upward into the palm of his hand.

The red head shuddered with distress at his inability to do anything. His heart was racing, and it was becoming harder to breathe. He could feel two of the Clavat's fingers now, buried inside him, twisting and distracting him. Again he thought he felt his body rise up; the lower half this time before he fell back to the floor.

He was falling a lot lately.

This time he felt Layle withdraw his fingers and his hands grabbed the Selkie's knees from the underside and pulled his legs apart. Keiss lifted his head and pushed himself upward onto one elbow. He didn't say anything to Layle, not that he could. He could only watch as the Clavat leaned over him again, his desire to tell him to stop or to try and take control was gone. The thought of it exhausted out of him. Keiss clenched his hands tight, balling them into fist as Layle thrust forward. The red head let out a second cry, and clenched his eyes shut.

He opened them again when he felt something hot and sticky press against his forehead. He opened his eyes to see Layle was back in his face once more. He'd leaned forward to meet his forehead, as he continued to roll his hips, driving himself deeper into the Selkie.

"….Look… at me…" The Clavat gave the command between gasping for breaths.

Keiss looked at him, mouth slightly open as he tried to breathe steadily. He reached up with one arm and held onto Layle to steady himself as he felt the other move deeper into his body. He kept his forehead pressed to the Clavat's as his body moved faster; Keiss' own rose up to match his movement. He kept his eyes locked on Layle's, not so much because the Clavat told him too, but because he couldn't look away if he tried. He watched him, every gasp and every moan, every time his gaze faltered off the Selkie's face and returned. And in turn Layle watched him do the same.

The Selkie's head was swimming. His body strained for air, and his mind strained to focus as the nerves in his body lit up. He could swear his senses were telling him he was falling. That gravity had given way and his body was falling along with the Clavat's. Even though he felt the carpet scraping and rubbing along his elbows and back. Even though he still had his eyes locked on Layle's, and could still feel his lungs filling with air as he gasped.

When he reached his peak and closed his eyes, it felt like he was falling.

Like every plan and thought he had spiralled out of control, leaving him fearful and worried.

Keiss felt like he was completely at gravity's mercy, and falling hard for the Crystal bearer that controlled it.

Layle sat on the end of the bed looking up at the window. He could see the first few rays of sunlight peaking up over the city's skyline.

He sighed. He looked back at Keiss, who was now tangled up in his bed sheets. He'd only fallen asleep a few hours ago. But Layle stayed up and waited for the sun to come up. He got to his feet and stood next to the bed. The Crystal Bearer was already dressed, ready for his last mission.

"So, it's sunrise…" He dug into his pocket and pulled out the recorder. "And I wanted to tell you this, just in case I don't come back…" He turned and looked at the nightstand with the two vials on it. Layle reached squeezed the recorder in his hand and nodded. "-It's kind of important, so, you'd better understand."

Keiss woke up to the sound of banging on his front door. The Selkie grumbled and lifted his head in a haze.

"…Layle?" He ran his fingers through his hair and looked around confused. "Layle?" He looked over his shoulder; his room was empty.

The banging was coming from the front door. Keiss yanked his sheets off and groped around his floor for a pair of pants before stumbling to the front door. He rubbed the back of his neck looking around his apartment as he made his way to the door.

"Yeah, yeah- I hear you…" He reached the front door and looked back at the empty apartment frowning. He opened the door and turned the doorknob ready to greet his noisy visitor. To his horror the door burst open and Lilty soldiers poured in. The moment they did, the previous night came flooding back to him. "Whoa! Hey! Hey!" he put up his hands expecting to be arrested but they ran past him and began looking through his apartment, flipping over tables and kicking open doors.

"HEY!"

"Quiet, Selkie." Keiss turned his head to see Regal standing in the doorway with his hands behind his back. "Where is the Crystal Bearer?"

"What makes you think I know, Rosebush!?"He snapped at the Lilty before turning around at the sound of something breaking. "Will you stop that!"

One of the soldiers came running back to the front door and saluted Regal, "Sir, the Crystal Bearer is not here."

"No shit!" Keiss shouted at him.

"Hpmh… Fine. We'll search elsewhere."

The soldiers came running back and Regal stepped to the side to let them past. Keiss scowled at them as they ran by. "You mind telling me why you're invading my home first thing in the morning?"

"Selkie," Regal glared at him, "The Crystal Bearer is wanted in question with a murder. Specifically the murder of Dr. Oides." Keiss continued to frown, but clenched his jaw tight. "If you should see him, and aid in his capture- or hand him over yourself, Lieutenant Spinosa has a reward for you."

"…Oh yeah?"

"Yes. He will personally recommend you for a position in the military." Regal watched as Keiss raised an eyebrow. His expression seemed to lighten up a bit. "But if I find him- you get nothing, but tossed out on your ass. Understand?"

Keiss watched as the Lilty turned on his heels and walked away. The Selkie closed the door rubbing his neck. Regal seemed more uptight than usual.

"…Okay, Layle, wherever you're hiding you can come out now!" Keiss turned around and shouted into his apartment. But no one responded. He walked forward shouting again, "Layle? …Layle!"

He poked his head into the Clavat's room, then into the bathroom. He looked around his destroyed kitchen, but he knew there weren't that many places for the Clavat to hide. He stood in the doorway of his bedroom scratching his head and looking at the mess.

"Where could he have-" He stopped and looked out the window, "It's sunrise… He was supposed to tell me-" Keiss walked forward and stopped at the nightstand next to his bed. His papers were scattered everywhere and for a moment his heart skipped a beat.

"He wouldn't!" The Selkie started to shuffle through the papers in a hurry, his heart racing and cursing himself until he heard a clink. He let out a sigh of relief as he lifted up a sheet of paper and saw the two silver filled vials still on his desk. But now there was something more.

Keiss picked up the little black cylinder shape, squinting at it. And for a moment he recalled seeing it in Clockwork's hands when she taunted him in Bridgetown. He pressed the play button in a hurry and listened to the recording.

It was choppy and the quality was low. But he recognized his voice and bits and pieces of an old conversation cut up and retold.

"Oh no…" He backed up from the nightstand and sat on the bed. "Oh no…no…no…." He rest his elbow on his knee and let his head drop into his palm. "Clockwork! What have you done-"

"So, its sunrise…" Keiss lifted his head and looked around.

"Layle?"

"And I wanted to tell you this, just in case I don't come back…"

Keiss got to his feet looking around confused. And then realized the voice he was hearing was from the recorder. He held it up to his ear and listened.

"-It's kind of important, so, you'd better understand… Keiss, I trust you. Maybe you're having a hard time trusting me, or figuring me out… But I know you. I'm not worried about the decisions you're going to make. Or any risk you're going to put me in. I think after all this time… You and I have got it figured out right? So… I'm going on ahead. Clockwork is going to Kilanda. I'm going to go and try and stop her. The military will be looking for me- since I'm the Bearer. So you can move freely without me... We'll get there before you, so go see Cid and figure out what that stuff is the doctor had. And…hopefully I'll see you at the volcano…"

The Selkie lowered the recorder and sighed. He smiled for a second and looked at the vials.

He had to get to Cid's and fast.

"Oh yeah," the recording continued, I also borrowed the Acote. Hope you don't mind!"

Keiss looked down at the recorder in his hands and cursed. He hurled it across the room and into the wall.

"He's nothing but trouble!"

A/N:Ah-ha~ So, did you enjoy the last time that will be written out? the next ones are longer... But it's going to be story heavy form here to the end!