So this started as an outtake from "Second Best". I worked up a little more material around it. One more thing, what I rate "M" is, based on the actual guidelines given on this site, on the strong side of PG-13. This chapter is already dedicated to a real survivor who introduced me to this franchise.

Nightfall dreamed, and she knew it was a dream. As usual, she was married to Twilight. They were in the kitchen, preparing an anniversary dinner. She nodded along to his deep, pleasant voice without following the words, as the sensations seemingly channeled from her ears directly to her pelvis. She heard the babbling of their baby as she put the pheasant he had carefully prepared in the oven, then picked up a carving knife she had been using. As she cleaned it, he brushed against her as he moved to wash his hands. He gave a pleased grunt at the spontaneous sensuality, and gripped her hips as he pushed her against the counter, leaving fingerprints that would be wondered at. Their eyes met, and he smiled at her reddened face… not registering that she was flushed not with lust, but pure rage, made hotter still by the urging of her traitorous loins to have her man then and there.

If she had deliberated for as long as it would have taken to shift the knife from one hand to the other, her libido would have won and her husband would only have found himself brought happily down to the floor. But the blade was already in her right hand, and so as he reached for the faucet, she drove it into his back. As she thrust home, she screamed, "You aren't Twilight!" She immediately let go and drew back, leaving the knife embedded. That gave him room to whirl around, and she felt no pain as the knife he had drawn tore through her throat. She saw that her husband was not Twilight, but Yuri Briar.

They stared at each other, as shocked and innocent as children who had broken a favorite toy they had fought for. She mouthed a plea for forgiveness, but she had no voice left to form the words. He opened his arms, and she threw herself into a final embrace, onto the point that already protruded from between his ribs. As they sank down, he brushed his fingers through her hair, murmuring comforting words that did not matter. They settled with his back against the fridge and her chin resting on his shoulder. Before the final darkness, she tilted her head up… and found her younger self staring down.

The young Nightfall stood in the same kitchen, holding the fussing toddler that a male agent had instinctively placed in her arms. Mercifully, the child preferred to remain wrapped in the blanket that covered her face. She looked down at the legendary Solstice and Sagittaria, still embracing each other. It was Sagittaria who stared up, her piercing eyes still open. The stains made it clear what had happened, from the smudges on her hips to the bloodstains that streaked her long, dark hair. "He went behind her," Twilight said. She turned her head to find him at her side. "He was trained in the military, not intelligence, or he wouldn't have done it. For a soldier, someone at your back is security. For a spy, it's a threat... and disrespect. He knew that… but he was going to forget."

"What really happened?" Nightfall wondered. "I mean… how did they even get together?"

"Easy… honeytrap mission," Twilight said. "I was with him, that night. It was 6 years ago, to the day; this was their anniversary dinner. We came up together, when WISE was forming. They sent her to learn his secrets. She was a street whore that the Secret Police recruited. They all were, then, theirs and ours, but she was something special: She had killed her pimp and started looking up some of their customers. She got the Ostanian ambassador and two of his bodyguards before the SSS brought her in and laid out a deal. We knew about her all along, but they ordered him to go along with it. He was gone by morning, but he had her by the time they left; I could tell. They ordered him to liquidate her 6 months later, the first time. After 18 months, they both received orders to marry to stop the scandal. They did, eventually, I was a witness, but they never let them know."

The child began to cry. Nightfall tried to comfort her, with no success whatsoever, until Twilight took her. "I can understand him," she said. "But how did it happen to her?"

"Easy," Twilight said as the child quieted. "It turned out the one thing she wanted was a man who was strong and good. When she found one, she never let him go."

He sighed. "Remember them, when you get your first honeytrap mission. You will, soon. Kill your emotions… but don't use that as an excuse to deny them. Above all, hope that they assign you to a bad man. If you ever figure out they sent you after a good one, give him a kiss on the cheek and tell him to go home. Trust me, it will be easier."

And Nightfall gasped as her eyes came open. A pair of arms encircled her, with a steady pressure that had been comforting but now left her gasping for breath. "Too tight!" she panted. "Too tight, too tight, dammit, too tight!" She managed to plant a hand on the chest of the man beneath her and pound at his ribs. Finally, the enfolding arms relaxed. She looked up into the fluttering eyes of Yuri Briar.

"Did… did I do that again?" he said. "Oh, I'm so sorry; look, maybe you should…"

"It's fine," Fiona said. She slid to the right, and guided his hand to her hip. "It wasn't even that, really, just… the dream."

"Which one?" he said. His eyes were already closed.

"The one where Twilight kills me and I die in your arms." He nodded, and his lip twitched in a hint of a smile. She gazed at him intently, long after his chest had settled into the gentle rhythm of sleep.

"You know something, Twilight?" she murmured to the dark. "I found one better than me."