Neal Caffrey put an end to his persona of Bryce Larkin after the second time he died. Being Neal Caffrey had always been better, anyway. From time to time, though, Neal'd really prefer if he could deal with things like he did as Bryce.

This is not a story, but rather a collection of one-shots all revolving around the same theme. It could probably be read as a discontinuous story, Neal hiding a part of his past, but it isn't in that because something happened in one chapter hasn't necessarily happened in the others. You could see this a serie of what-if? moments where canon could hav eturned around but didn't, I suppose.

Keller was there, taunting him, and Neal really wished, for a moment, that the man would stop. White Collar, season 1, ep 12

Remnants from another life - Aces

Neal starred at Keller, gritting his teeth in anger as the man taunted him about his deal with the FBI, about his restrained freedom, about Kate. Matthew Keller definitely wasn't his favorite person. Hadn't been for quite some time, now.

Long ago, Neal had kind of liked Keller, when the both of them were newbies – talented ones, obviously, but newbies nonetheless. Keller had yet had to become the bastard he now was. He hadn't been a murderer, for one thing.

Then again, Neal had to admit his own hands weren't exactly free of spilled blood. He had killed more than once, not that anyone knew, and certainly not Keller. If the other criminal had known, he might not have been here, taunting Neal just to see how much would be too much.

If Keller had been aware of Neal's persona of Bryce Larkin, the one who had no qualms about killing those who deserved it, he certainly wouldn't be relying on Neal's perimeter to keep him safe either. "Bryce Larkin" had been very good at hacking things and making programs which worked for the official stuff. It kind of had been his job, as a scientist working on the Intersect, to handle difficult informatic code. Breaking into the marshals' secured network without the proper tools had taken time, yes, but it wasn't that impossible.

As had been writing unconspicuous code to undo the three miles perimeter while making it look like everything was normal to anyone who would want to check where Neal Caffrey was, so long a they weren't actually looking at the code with professional eyes.

No, Keller knew many things about Neal Caffrey, but he certainly didn't know a thing about Bryce Larkin. Or else he wouldn't be here, testing him for a reaction. Keller wouldn't risk it if he knew the exact extent of Neal's skills, the real limits of what Neal was willing to do.

Neal Caffrey was non-violent, except when it came to that particular alias. Bryce Larkin, former CIA scientist and field agent, currently believed dead. Neal didn't like violence, but his time as Bryce had taught him it could really be the only valid solution in some circumstances. Saying violence wasn't the solution only worked so long as you opponents didn't believe in killing hundreds for their own benefits.

Afraid to do the necessary? Certainly not. But perhaps Neal's and Keller's defintion of necessity weren't quite the same. Neal valued human lives over what he could gain from a con. But he did not value one life over hundreds. Being a criminal wasn't a problem for him, being a killer, he could deal with, but being a murderer? Never. Neal had always drawn the line there. For himself as well as for the CIA.

He tried not to fall into violence easily. Of course, when it became personal, it wasn't that simple.

Not that Bryce Larkin had ever had many attachments. It wasn't as if the alias had been real.

Neal, on the other hand, had friends. People he cared for. People who weren't always aware of him, too, for the simple reason they didn't know he existed. They knew Bryce, Gary, Steve... But not Neal Caffrey. It hurt to think some of his friends weren't friends with him for all that.

He'd still defend them with his life if needs be.

It wasn't surprising, though, that taunting him with people who actually knew Neal Caffrey would get a rise out of him, more so than with anyone else. Taunting him with Kate of all things, when she had left him, basically gone missing while implying someone had leverage over her...

Keller was lucky that Kate knew him beforehand, Neal thought sarcastically. She'd have told Neal if Keller had been the one to threaten her. Because if the two hadn't known each other, if Kate had had no means of identifying Matthew Keller... Neal might have believed the other criminal was the one behind it all.

And let's say it wouldn't have ended well for Keller.

Keller said one more thing, one too many about Kate, and Neal took an angry step towards him. His tracking anklet went off, alerting him that he was at the end of his allowed perimeter, and that he should really step back if he didn't want to end up back in supermax.

Keller smirked, intent on continuing his taunting, as always. Had Neal not been this angry right now, he might have sneered back at the man. Keller really had no idea who he really was, did he?

Neal didn't stop. The anklet went back to green as his program took over. Keller's smirk faltered.

"Be very careful, Keller. You believe you know all my aces... but obviously you don't."