The soldier quaked, blood and fear staining his clothes. "Please!" he sobbed.

He screamed as another bullet pierced his leg.

Blanca caught Ash's arm. "Ash, enough. He doesn't know anything."

Ash looked at Blanca with a glare and raised his gun again.

The man's cry of fear was cut short as the bullet cracked into his skull.

Ash kicked the dead man's leg angrily. He growled in frustration, then turned to the last man.

The soldier's wide eyes stared at his dead companions, his face white with terror beyond reckoning. He looked up as Ash turned to face him. He looked into the barrel of Ash's gun and his eyes rolled back in his head as he fainted.

Ash shook his head in disgust and tucked his gun back in his belt. He looked up to find Blanca staring at him.

"What?" Ash snapped.

He hated the look of pity in Blanca's eyes. He would have rather seen fear or hatred or horror.

Ash growled and snapped a bullet in the last man's brain.

"He wouldn't have known anything anyways," Ash said. "You've done worse. Stop staring at me like that! If you have something to say, say it."

"Eiji wouldn't have wanted this."

Ash froze.

Blanca reached towards him. "Ash, I-"

Ash jerked away from him. "Don't touch me. Don't talk about him like he's already dead."

Ash whipped away and stared down the dark alleyway, grasping angrily at the last vanishing threads of hope and rebellion.

"He's not dead," Blanca said quietly. "But he won't be the same. Fox has had him too long, Ash."

Ash stared into the darkness of the city night, his shoulders slumping tiredly. "I'm going to him," he whispered.

Blanca shook his head. "Ash, you can't."

"Eiji was willing to risk everything for me," Ash said. "Why shouldn't I do the same for him?"

"You'd only be working for a man who's worse," Blanca said quietly.

Ash groaned and pressed his hands against his eyes in grief and frustration. "I can't just leave him there. I can't…"

Ash faltered and leaned back against the wall heavily. "Blanca, I can't anymore. I'm out of options."

"If you go to Fox, you'll be nothing but a pawn on his chessboard," Blanca said. "Everything Eiji was willing to give his life to protect, you'll be helping that man destroy."

"But I will save him."

Blanca looked at him quietly. "And what if there's nothing left to save?"

Ash looked at his gun and loaded two new rounds into the chamber solemnly. "Till death do us part."

Ash kept his hands on the back of his head as the two masked sentries walked him to the door. He glared at Fox, the guns of the two sentries poking painfully into his back.

Fox shook his head and grinned, "Ash Lynx. I was starting to think you'd never make it."

"I was busy."

"I know," Fox laughed. "My boys have started to get a superstition around you. The ghost that picks off soldiers in the dead of night. I'm impressed, really. My guys aren't easy to get the drop on. You'll have no doubt found out by now that they don't crack easily, either."

"They don't crack at all," Ash said lowly. "No matter what I do to them, they're more terrified of crossing you than they'll ever be of me."

Fox grinned. "They know I'd follow them to the gates of hell and drag their loved ones down from paradise. But you've already had a taste of that, haven't you? And now you're here, ready to sell your soul."

"I want to see him," Ash said.

Fox clicked his tongue. "What? You don't believe that I kept him alive for you?"

He considered it a moment then shrugged as if it was a fair point and stepped aside to let Ash cross the threshold. The two masked guards kept their rifles pressed into his back as they followed him into the mansion.

The iron door swung open with a low creak. Ghosts of pain flickered through Ash's body as he stepped back into the pit. The dark eyes of the windows above stared down at the body that hung limply from chains in the center of the room, as if he hadn't been moved since Ash last saw him.

Ash ground his jaw so hard he thought his teeth would crack. He turned to Fox and his voice was steady and quiet in rage. "I accept your deal. Take him down."

Fox's eyebrows knit in confusion. "Our deal? Oh, yes! That was so long ago I'd nearly forgotten. My, how time does change things."

The air changed and Ash moved with the speed of lightning. He grabbed a gun from one of the sentries and wrapped an arm around the man's neck, taking him hostage.

Fox put his hand up to stop the other guards from following as Ash kept his gun pressed into the man's head and backed towards the center of the room.

Ash risked a glance at Eiji. His face was drawn and pale and his eyes were closed in a fitful sleep.

"Eiji, wake up," Ash hissed.

Eiji's eyes opened at the command, but his eyes glazed and unseeing.

"Eiji, it's me," Ash said urgently.

Eiji's eyes shifted towards the sound of his voice, dully trying to focus on Ash's face.

Ash forced back angry tears. He glared back at Fox, tightening his grip on the guard and pressing the gun against his back.

"Release him," Ash growled.

Fox walked to the wall and flipped a lever. The chains suddenly went slack and the shackles released. Ash shoved the guard forward quickly and grabbed one of Eiji's arms to keep him from falling. He shifted the gun in his hand, keeping it trained on the guard's back.

"Now," Ash growled. "Unless you want a new hole punched in your man's chest, you'll-"

Fire leapt from Fox's gun and the guard toppled to the ground, clutching his chest in surprise as blood gushed between his fingers. Ash looked down in shock and horror.

Guards rushed forward and seized the other sentry, forcing the man to his knees.

"You think I wouldn't recognize my own men?" Fox growled.

He turned to the kneeling man and pulled the mask from Shorter's face.

Shorter spat at Fox. "Bloody bastard!"

Fox smiled. "You're the traitor. One of them at least. Who's that one then?"

Writhing on the floor, Alex ripped the mask off his face desperately, suffocating as every breath pumped more blood into his lungs. He looked up at Ash wildly and opened his mouth to speak, then his breath left and his eyes went dark and slack.

Ash stifled back a sob.

"Huh," Fox said. "I would have thought you would have brought Blanca. Oh well. Take his gun."

A hand gently pulled the gun from his grasp. Ash looked back in surprise at Eiji as he pulled the gun away from Ash.

Ash grunted as men rushed in and grabbed him, separating him from Eiji.

Eiji stood there and watched as Ash was dragged away and chained, numbly trying to register the situation.

"Eiji?" Fox called sweetly.

Eiji winced at the voice and looked at Fox with pain and fear flickering in his eyes.

Fox held out his hand. "Hand me the gun."

Eiji handed it over wordlessly.

"Good boy," Fox grinned.

Fox looked at Ash and smiled. "I told you, I know my men. And they would all rather die than cross me." He patted Eiji's head and Eiji flinched under his touch. "All of them."

Fox emptied the magazine and put one bullet back inside. "But perhaps you don't believe me."

He handed the gun back and Eiji took it hesitantly.

Fox plopped in the chair next to Eiji's chains. "A demonstration then. Eiji, shoot yourself."

Eiji looked up at Fox fearfully.

Fox nodded and put two fingers to his head.

Trembling, Eiji raised his hand and put the gun to his own head.

"Eiji! No!" Ash gasped.

"Wait," Fox said.

Eiji stopped, his finger on the trigger.

Fox studied the dirt beneath his nails. "I changed my mind," he said casually.

He pointed at Ash. "Do you recognize him?"

Eiji lifted his eyes uncertainly and looked at Ash.

"You do. Good," Fox smiled. "Shoot him."

Eiji looked at Fox in surprise.

He looked at Ash and met the clear, green eyes that haunted his dreams.

Eiji looked at the gun in his hand and then back at Fox, a flickering trace of defiance flashing through his eyes.

Fox raised an eyebrow. He leaned back in his chair and opened his arms invitingly. "Come on then. Get to it."

Eiji looked back at the gun, fighting against the pain and demons inside his head.

"Come on, Eiji," Ash breathed. "Shoot him."

The internal struggle suddenly gave way and Eiji raised the gun.

Ash's eyes widened in surprise.