A/N: Summer classes are ridiculous and my life has been nothing but chemistry for the past five weeks. Thank god it's almost over.

I'm putting out a fic for Kingdom Hearts and will most likely have the first chapter posted by tonight. If you care about that fandom at all, please feel free to check it out!

Thank you to my beta, xXLiquidSugarXx! You are truly invaluable!

~8~

The city of Heliord rose above the treetops, gleaming like a white tower in the grey morning light. The last time Yuri had laid eyes on this city it had been nothing more than a small cluster of buildings that lacked the protection of a barrier. He was shocked to see how quickly it had developed; the sheer height of the city was baffling. He had to admit that the Empire knew how to make a statement.

Humidity caused a thin layer of sweat to cover his body and his clothes to stick to his skin. The sky was an imposing grey, and the smell of rain was in the air. Repede padded silently next to him, his tongue lolling out in response to the oppressive heat. A few paces behind him, Raven was recounting a story of how he got mixed up with a pirate crew, and Karol was staring up at the older man with wide-eyed delight. Yuri was looking forward to sitting down in a less humid inn, eating food that hadn't been scorched over a camp fire, and sleeping in a room where he couldn't hear Raven talking incessantly.

"—and then this tidal wave just pops outta nowhere—"

Karol let out a squeak that interrupted Raven mid-sentence.

"What's the matter, kid?" Raven asked.

Yuri turned around to see that Karol had stopped walking and had his eyes fixated on the sight of the city rising above the trees. "W-we're not going to Heliord, are we?"

Yuri put a hand on his hip. "It's the easiest way to cross the river and get to Danhgrest. Don't tell me you'd rather go the long way and spend another week with a rock for a pillow?"

"B-But if we go there the knights will kidnap us and make us work until we d-die!"

"Those are probably just stories. 'Eat your broccoli or the knights will get you!'" Yuri smirked.

Raven huffed. "The kid's right, ya know. Supposedly they're gonna make everyone who helps build the city inta a noble, and all kinds a fools are slavin' day and night fer a bogus title. Us guild folk are smart enough ta see that fer what it is, so they gotta kidnap us if they want extra hands. "

The smirk slipped from Yuri's face. "They're using slave labor to build the city?"

"Which is why we shouldn't go there!" Karol's feet fidgeted as if he was resisting the urge to run away.

Yuri couldn't just walk away from this. He crossed his arms as tension spread down his spine. He could feel anger coursing through his veins, and Repede sensed it and stiffened beside him. Of course any marvel the Empire constructed had be done on the broken backs of the common people.

Raven straightened out of his slouch and tilted his head to the side. "What's goin' on in that city isn't our problem. You saw those shippin' logs, same as I did. The blastia don't stop there, they just pass on through ta Dahngrest. Which is what we should be doin'."

Yuri felt a wave of something not quite like disgust rise in him. Repede growled next to him. "How could you say something like that? They're enslaving people from the Union, and you don't even care?"

Raven's mouth turned downward into a frown. "Look—"

"W-wait!" Karol jumped into the space between Raven and Yuri with his hands held up. "Yuri, if you want to go that badly, w-we can go. Please, just don't fight."

Yuri scowled at Raven. His heart was beating wildly, and his annoyance only grew. Why did he have to be attracted to someone this shallow?

Raven sighed dramatically. "Alright. Just don't expect me ta stick around if the knights start ta get grabby."

He started walking towards the city, and when he passed Yuri, Raven looked him up and down with a sharp gaze that sent shivers running down Yuri's spine. Yuri glared at the back of Raven's head, and Repede snarled.

"Y-Yuri." He forced himself to look down at Karol, who gulped. "Come on, if we stay here monsters might attack us."

Yuri let out a long breath through his nose and rearranged his expression into one of nonchalance. "I'm lucky you're around, Captain. Without you, the old man and I would probably kill each other."

Karol looked horrified at the thought but nodded anyway. "Raven is pretty nice, compared to most people I know. You're really nice, too. I-I don't know why you guys keep fighting," he said as they started walking again.

Yuri could see Raven's purple jacket ahead of them like a beacon in the woods. "You think I'm nice? You hit your head or something?"

Karol turned bright red. "N-no! It's just," he paused for a long time, "y-you helped me when you didn't have to. Not many people would do that."

The anger roaring under his skin quieted down to a humming. He gave Karol a small smile.

Embarrassment still painted Karol's face as he smiled back shakily before bounding ahead to catch up with Raven. Yuri could hear him asking for more stories, and Raven started up another loud and ridiculous tale. He watched both of them walk through the trees. One he regretted dragging into this, but the other, well he'd like to think he didn't care either way.

~8~

Rain pattered against the window frame, causing blurry lines to run across the view Yuri had of the work camp. The camp was a sea of tents splashed with mud, and the constant thud of construction mixed with the sound of the rain. He was looking out the window of the inn, and the sounds were almost deafening in the silence. The inn was deserted, but the city was writhing with life. Even in the rain workers rushed back and forth with supplies carried on their backs. The people appeared underfed and exhausted, but they kept moving at a breakneck pace. Yuri imagined the knights that flooded the streets and watched over the camp had something to do with the fear and tension that permeated the air.

"Yuri!" Karol came running up the stairs from the lobby. "Raven talked down the innkeeper, he sold us two rooms for only 300 gald!"

"300 gald is still a rip off," Yuri scoffed.

Raven appeared behind Karol. "I got him down from 500 a room, so I think that's a deal."

Karol pulled one of the keys from Raven's hand and unlocked one of the rooms. He peered inside with wonder. "Everything is so new! It even smells like paint still."

He disappeared into the room, leaving Yuri and Raven alone in the hall. Raven was staring at Yuri, his expression amused, while Yuri attempted to drill a hole in the wall just to right of Raven's head. Karol poked his face back into the hall.

"Are you guys hungry?" He awkwardly looked between Raven and Yuri when he received no reply. "W-well, I'm hungry. I'm gonna go see if I can find lunch." Karol rushed across the hall and back down the stairs like he was being chased by a monster.

Yuri didn't have time to have a staring contest with some old man. He needed to find out what bastard was responsible for this gross mistreatment of the people and make them pay. He made his way to the stairs, but before he could start his descent, Raven grabbed hold of his arm.

"Ya can stop givin' me the evil eye, kid." The same expression of amusement littered his face in the slight upturn of his mouth and the crinkling around it, but his eyes were tired. "Ya think I'm some sorta villain who doesn't care about his fellow man, but that's not the case. Ya see, I do care, but I got a job ta do that doesn't involve savin' the whole world. I was under the impression ya did, too."

"Job? I'm not working for anyone, old man."

The pretense of amusement fell off of Raven's face entirely. "Oh really? Yer not wokin' fer anyone, even though ya been sneakin' around and riskin' yer life." He moved closer, his grip on Yuri's arm tightening. "Ya can't tell me ya just woke up one day itchin' ta stab a councilman," he whispered harshly.

Yuri pulled out of Raven's grasp. His heart was hammering again, but this time it was accompanied by a churning in his stomach. "What are you, deaf? I said I'm not working for anyone. I'm trying to help people. Do you think what was going on in Nor would have stopped if I hadn't intervened?"

Raven's eyebrows drew together and his mouth opened and closed a few times. "Intervened?" he said faintly. "Damn, kid, this whole time I thought ya were—" he cut himself off and slumped against the wall, his hand reaching up to cover his eyes. "That's why ya wanted ta stay here. Yer plannin' ta intervene." His dropped his hand from his face to let it hang limply at his side. "Ya got a death wish?"

"You better not try and stop me," Yuri said sharply.

"I'm just tryin' ta get ya ta see reason." Raven stepped away from the wall and back into Yuri's space. "Yer gonna try this with a Captain in his own city, surrounded by his loyal knights? Ya don't think that's a recipe fer disaster?"

"What am I supposed to do instead, run away? The people around here look walking like corpses! I'm not going to stand back and let this keep happening!"

"Yer actin' like one guy is gonna make a difference. The system he's got goin' is workin'. Who's ta say his replacement doesn't just keep it up?"

"Then I'll make an example of him too until the idiots at the top realize they can't get away with abusing people," Yuri practically snarled.

Raven shook his head. "Yer really set on doin' this, huh?"

"Of course." Yuri crossed his arms.

Raven was staring at Yuri like he was a puzzle he couldn't solve. "This is somethin' I can't stick around fer. It's a suicide mission."

"Then go," Yuri said with ice lacing his voice. "No one's forcing you to stay."

Raven turned away and began to walk down the stairs with a deliberate slowness, and paused at the bottom when Yuri said nothing. "Ya know, people always tell me I got a flare fer the dramatic, and I think ya got a natural talent fer it with this crusade fer justice ya got goin'." Raven looked over his shoulder at Yuri. "I like ya, kid, and I don't want ya die. It would be a waste."

"There's nothing you can say to change my-"

"Well, ya don't gotta tell me twice. Just let me finish," Raven cut in as he turned to face Yuri. "Ya need information, right?"

"What the hell do you know about it?" Yuri uncrossed his arms and had half a mind to just knock Raven the rest of the way down the stairs. "I thought you were leaving."

"I know a lot more than ya." He made his way back up the stairs. "And I changed my mind. Figured if I told ya what I know yer less likely ta kick the bucket. That ain't allowed?"

Yuri's eyebrow twitched. "Not when it's in the span of thirty seconds."

"In that case." Raven threw his hands into the air and turned back around.

"Wait." Yuri grabbed his shoulder.

Raven glanced at the hand on his shoulder as a grin spread across face. "Well, if ya insist." He turned back around when Yuri let go of his shoulder. "I'll tell ya all about the man yer after, but we should probably talk in private." He held out the other hotel room key and jangled it at Yuri.

Yuri snatched the key and went to open the room. He felt off center. The fact that Raven thought he had been working for someone was setting off red flags. Who the hell was he supposed to have been working for? He unlocked the door and went to lean against the wall by the bed. Yuri tried his best to look composed. He knew that Raven was a guild agent, but what kind of game had Raven been playing this whole time?

The door closed behind Raven with a sharp smack, and he stopped right in front it. His grin disappeared again, and he stared at Yuri for a moment as if expecting him to say something. Yuri kept his mouth shut. He would let Raven tell him what he knew, and then he'd be on his way. He didn't have time to be distracted.

"The guy in charge around here is Dilan Rupertson, the twelfth Captain a the knights," Raven began after Yuri remained silent. "He has a reputation. He throws parties like nobody else and drinks like a fish. He lives in the largest mansion near the top a the city. Yer best bet at gettin' him is during one a his little shindigs. Do 'im in when he's so drunk that he can't walk straight. If I was crazy enough ta try this, it's what I'd do."

"I just need to figure out how to get to him undetected." Yuri stepped away from the wall and headed towards the door that Raven still blocked.

"Yeah, that's what makes it a suicide mission." Raven put his hand on the doorknob. "Ya want me ta keep an eye on Karol?"

Raven might have been playing a game that Yuri didn't understand, but Karol could not stay in Heliord while Yuri lied in wait to murder a Captain.

"That would be for the best," Yuri said with resignation. "I want him to get safely back to Dahngrest."

"I'll see it done. He's a good kid." Raven looked Yuri in the eye, and he appeared far more tired than he had at the beginning of their conversation. "Try not ta get killed."

Yuri forced himself to smirk. "Have some confidence in me, old man."

"If ya show up in Dahngrest without a scratch, I'll never doubt ya again."

Raven opened the door and the two of them were greeted by a squeak and thump. Karol had fallen over and was gaping up at them.

"I-I," he stuttered.

Yuri's first instinct was to demand how much Karol had heard, but he reined it back. If Karol knew what he was going to do, the boy would undoubtedly want to be as far away from Yuri as possible.

"You're traveling with Raven now," Yuri said firmly. "I'm sorry I couldn't get you all the way to Dahngrest."

Karol scrambled to his feet. "W-wait!"

Yuri stepped out of the room and brushed past Karol as he made his way to the stairs.

"Yuri, don't go!"

"There's no stoppin' him, kid."

Before he started to walk down the stairs, Yuri glanced back. Raven had a hand on Karol's shoulder to stop him from running after. Karol's brown eyes were filled with a familiar fear and hurt, and they were quickly filling with tears. Yuri turned away and resolutely began his descent.

He stepped out of the inn and into the rain. The drops were ice cold compared to the burning guilt that covered his entire body. In the end, he'd done Karol no better than the guild that had abandoned him in Halure.

Something nudged Yuri's leg, and he looked to down to see Repede staring up at him. The dog barked, and Yuri answered him: "Come on, old friend. Let's make this bastard pay."

~8~

The clouds ate up most of the sunlight, leaving Yuri the benefit of traveling in the cover of rainstorm gloom. He was uncomfortable and smelled of wet dog, but he wasn't trying to impress anyone. He was going to scout Dilan's household, and do some digging to find out when the man was going to throw a feast. Never mind the convenient fact that Raven and Karol would be far away by the time he got back to the inn.

The alley Repede and him lurked in was dirty and deserted. They had managed to sneak up a few levels of the city, but they were still a ways from the top. Most of the knights had seemed more concerned with controlling the workforce than looking for suspicious characters and had paid the two of them little mind. The way Raven had spoken, Yuri would have thought there would be more resistance. This wasn't much more difficult than sneaking around Zaphias. Yuri's mind began to stray towards his questions about what Raven's agenda was and his doubts about parting ways with him and Karol.

"Dammit," he mumbled as he forced himself to focus. He could think until he was blue in the face, but that wouldn't give him a visual layout of Dilan's mansion. He had work to do.

Repede snarled, and Yuri's heart flew into his throat at the sight of a half a dozen knights at the end of alley. He spun on his heels and took a few steps in opposite direction before stopping short. Another group was coming in from the other direction, effectively surrounding him. Yuri straightened out his stance and didn't draw his sword. He put a hand on Repede's head to quiet him. There was a good chance that he could talk his way out of this. Lurking in an alleyway wasn't technically illegal, and he hadn't entered the higher reaches of the city yet.

"Can I help you guys with something?" Yuri asked casually.

"Is this him?" a tall knight asked in a rumbling voice. He pulled a fat man from the midst of the group with so much force that he fell onto his knees in front of Yuri.

"Y-yes. That's the one that was with those guild people."

The tall knight nodded and the others began to move in. Yuri's hand flew to his sword, and Repede lunged at the throat of a nearby knight. The fat man scurried away with a cry as Yuri drew his sword and disarmed a female knight. He had hardly a moment to breathe before he had to jump away from a strike from one of her companions.

"Come quietly. We only need to ask you some questions."

"Yeah, right!"

Yuri wacked a helmeted knight across the face, and his helm rang as he stumbled. Repede had diverted four knights to him, but Yuri was still overwhelmed. He dodged again and sliced at a weak point in a knight's leg armor. He went down with a cry. Yuri's heart almost stopped when he heard Repede whine in pain but couldn't get to him to help.

Pain spiked at the back of his head as a knight's gauntleted fist connected with his skull. He lost his hold on his sword, and the world spun as he was thrown against the alley wall.

"Hurry up and cuff him!"

The spinning only got worse and the last thing Yuri felt before he lost consciousness was cold metal locking his wrists together.

~8~

Quick note: Do not despair! Raven and Karol are not leaving for good. Yuri is just being his usual "I'm a lone wolf I can't drag anyone else into my shit" self.