A massive thanks to Shishou for betaing this chapter!

In retrospect, Twilight supposes that it should've been obvious that Yor wasn't exactly a normal Ostanian citizen. From her inexplicable skill at martial arts to her frankly disturbing-at-times knowledge of the human body, there were countless little signs that perhaps she wasn't what she had claimed to be.

One such sign was Yor's tendency to produce no discernable noise as she walked. He had originally noticed it in the tailor shop where they first met when she was able to sneak up on him completely undetected, and since then, despite his best efforts, he never once managed to sense her approaching. It was as if she was a ghost, effortlessly gliding through the air without a sound.

Until now.

Twilight tenses up as he hears Yor's footfalls echo through the abandoned building. The implications don't paint a pretty picture. The only reason why she isn't concealing her presence is if she's too enraged to care.

This is both good and bad for him. Good, because it will be much easier for him to manipulate her into turning him over to the Garden. Bad, because there is a good chance she'll turn him into paste right then and there. If he wishes to succeed, he will have to play this conversation perfectly.

He adjusts his body language, puffing out his chest and leaning back in his chair to produce an air of arrogance, and plasters a smug, almost sinister smile on his face, just in time for Yor to stride into the room. He quickly casts an analytical glance at her and inwardly lets out a sigh of relief at what he sees. It is clear that while she is still furious at him, she's calmed down enough that he isn't too worried about becoming a splatter on the wall.

"So you've returned, Thorn Princess," Twilight smiles, taking the initiative and setting the pace of the conversation. "Welcome back."

Yor doesn't respond. She only levels an indecipherable stare at him that he honestly finds rather unnerving. He is used to Yor wearing her heart on her sleeve, so seeing her like this... It's not a good feeling. However, he forges on.

"I've been thinking about your words, and... to tell you the truth, I believe you," Twilight says. He sees Yor's eyes flicker at that, a spark of hope entering her gaze. It's a pity that his next words are carefully designed to utterly snuff out that spark.

"And I must say," Twilight's smile disappears as his eyes harden, "it's pathetic. Betraying the organization you dedicated your life to, for a man who isn't even your real husband?" He shakes his head. "You lack loyalty to your cause, to your comrades, to your country."

Yor is silent for a moment. "How would you have acted, then?"

"If WISE ordered me to kill you and Anya, I would obey without a moment's hesitation," Twilight says nonchalantly. "The number one rule of a spy is to never form any emotional attachments. You must've missed that lesson – though then again, you are an assassin and not a spy."

Strangely, Yor's expression doesn't change much, but her aura seems to darken by several degrees. He half-expected her to outright attack him, but she merely slowly walks forward, closing the distance between them until she's standing right in front of him.

Twilight chuckles, seemingly unafraid as Yor looms over him, staring down at him with an icy expression on her face. "But I digress. Haven't contacted your superiors at the Garden yet? Unless... don't tell me." He smirks. "You still feel affection toward me, don't you? You Ostanians are all the same. Far too sentimental and weak – "

He stiffens as Yor steps forward and slides onto his lap, straddling him, her face mere inches from his as she leans in. The metal chair beneath him shifts slightly from the sudden added weight. She is close, far too close, closer than she's ever been to him before. Even through the cloth, he can feel her warmth as she presses against him, her legs to either side of him like a pincer. He is utterly trapped.

"Was it truly all a lie?" Yor asks, her voice impossibly soft, her crimson eyes piercing into his. He feels cool metal brush up against his carotid artery, a golden gleam in his peripheral, and she idly caresses his face with her other hand, sending jolts through his skin at the contact. "Did... Did I mean anything to you? Anything at all?"

If she believes she will be able to destabilize him like this, then she is sadly mistaken. His pulse remains steady and his breathing is measured, and while he cannot prevent his pupils from dilating, it is nowhere enough to give him away. Against a lesser spy, this tactic may have worked, but unfortunately for her, he is Agent Twilight, the single best operative WISE has ever produced.

"No," Twilight says, his expression unchanging and his voice even. "You and Anya were both nothing but tools to me." His voice becomes hard. "And I don't make it a habit to care for my tools."

Yor is silent for a moment as she scans his face, intently examining for any cracks in the surface. She finds none, and anger fills her expression. "You're despicable."

Twilight doesn't refute it, even as his heart twists painfully. "For what it's worth, it's nothing personal," he says before pausing. "So, now that we've established that, can you get on with it and hand me over to the Garden-?"

He cuts off abruptly as Yor's eyes narrow, so cold and clinical that he unconsciously swallows, and for an instant he thinks he's facing imminent death. Until he hears her next words.

"Even now, you're still trying to lie to me."

Twilight blinks. "I'm sorry?"

"You care," Yor says, firmly and simply, as if it was a fundamental fact of reality. He's honestly amazed by her sheer conviction – he's known fanatics who believed their own words less than she does. "I know you do."

Twilight laughs. "You're still going on about that? Come, now. There's a fine line between being naive and being delusional."

Yor hums lightly. "I confess, at first I could only feel anger toward you. However, something was able to snap me out of it, and it got me thinking." She tilts her head. "Your words and actions don't line up, Twilight. You claim that you only regard me and Anya as tools, but I don't believe that. From the very beginning, you treated Anya like your very own daughter."

Twilight scoffs. "That's what you're going with? It was all for my mission. Playing the role of the perfect father was my job."

"I don't believe that," Yor challenges. "When you rented out that castle and called in WISE agents from all over Ostania for no other reason than to make Anya happy... that was part of the job description?"

He hesitates. "How do you know they were WISE agents?"

"Who else could they have been?"

"Fair enough," he concedes. "And yes, it was necessary. I doubt Anya would have studied and worked as hard if she didn't see me as a true father. The more attached she becomes to me, the better. After all," he ignores the sick feeling in his stomach as he utters his next words, "it would act as effective motivation for her to excel, lest I abandon her back at the orphanage I found her at."

He fully expects Yor to punch him at that, so it's a surprise when she merely narrows her eyes slightly.

"What about all the times you spent hours helping her study?"

"I needed her to earn Stella Stars."

"How you always reassure and comfort her whenever she's feeling down?"

"She will perform better in school if she has a better mental state."

"Taking her out for fun excursions even when it's not necessary?"

"Needed to keep up the appearance of a good family." Twilight raises his eyebrows. "Are we really doing this? Just face it. Everything I did, I did it for the sake of the mission."

He has her beat. No matter what she says, he can easily counter it. She's desperately trying to cling to her image of him, so he'll just have to shatter it as thoroughly as possible –

A gleam appears in Yor's eyes, dangerous and predatory, as if she's about to deliver a lethal strike to her target.

"Then tell me," she says, a curious lilt to her voice that sends his instincts flaring. "Back when we were being interviewed to get into Eden... when you punched the table and walked out of the meeting because the headmaster made Anya cry... when you jeopardized your mission because her feelings were hurt... you expect me to believe that it was a lie?"

He freezes.

She leans forward, her red eyes boring into his own. "You see, there is no reason for you to have done that. If it weren't for Headmaster Henderson, your mission would've ended in failure before it even began. There were no advantages, no benefits, no gains. It was illogical and irrational to the extreme. The only – the only – reason why you would've reacted in such a way... would be if you truly, genuinely, cared for Anya."

He... may have miscalculated. She's correct, after all. Logically, he should've just let Anya cry and suck it up, and continue on with the interview. But he had let his emotions get the better of him when he saw her tears, and it nearly caused him to fail then, and it's certainly causing him to fail now.

"You care, Twilight," Yor smiles. "And nothing you say can convince me otherwise."

"You're mistaken – " Twilight begins but stops when she leans in and brings her arms around him. For a second, he thinks she's hugging him, until he hears a small snip. The ropes binding his hands behind the chair fall to the ground and he stares at her, stunned, as she sits back.

"What are you..." he cuts off as she gently takes his right hand and presses her golden weapon into it. Then, she firmly guides his hand until the sharp point is resting right against her carotid artery. He goes very, very still. All he has to do is apply a little pressure for her to bleed out within seconds.

"But I know you're going to continue to deny it, because apparently lying is the only thing you know how to do, so I'll prove it with your actions instead. Here's the situation we are in right now," Yor says, not a trace of fear on her face even as she's mere centimeters away from death. "You, Twilight, have been captured by me, the Thorn Princess. However, because I'm sentimental and weak, I'm giving you the chance to end me, right here, right now."

"You–"

"The logical course of action here is, of course, to just kill me before I change my mind and hand you over to the Garden. I'm the only one aware of your secret identity and I'm the one who's holding you captive. If I truly am nothing but a tool to you... then now is the perfect time to discard me."

It is rare for Twilight to be struck speechless, but she definitely managed it. He gapes at her, mind completely blank at the sudden escalation of events.

"Oh, right," Yor says. "I forgot. Your file indicated that you preferred to avoid killing if possible, didn't it? Very well, I'll make it easier for you."

His eyes widen in pure shock as her grip around his hand tightens and she begins pressing the dagger against her own neck. His reflexes kick in and he tenses up the muscles in his arm, halting the dagger in place.

"What are you doing?!" Twilight snaps, his voice strained as he uses all his might to prevent Yor from impaling her own neck, managing to yank the dagger away. "Stop this insanity!"

"Not until you stoplying to me," Yor returns calmly. "I know you, Twilight – no, Loid Forger. I've seen the way you interacted with Anya. With me. You may be the best spy in WISE, perhaps even the best spy in the world... but no spy is that good to be able to fake everything."

"What if you're wrong?! What if I am just that good?!"

"Then I guess I'll just have to trust you."

And her strength seems to increase tenfold, and despite his muscles screaming out in agony, Yor slowly but surely brings her golden weapon back to her own neck. For a split second, he thinks she's bluffing, but then he looks into her eyes and sees the adamantine resolve within them, and he realizes that she's doing this for real.

"Fine!"

Yor pauses just in time. He can see a bead of blood forming, and sweat trickles down his face at just how close it was.

"Fine-?" she asks but is interrupted by him.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Twilight asks, anger and frustration in his voice. "Let's say for the sake of the argument that you were right and I truly did grow to care for you over the span of my mission. Even if, even if that were true – why in the world would you go so far as to nearly kill yourself for a man like me? A spy, a liar, who manipulated you and deceived you and used you?"

Yor regards him. "Isn't it obvious? It's because even though you may have lied to me, even though you may have manipulated me, even if you may have used me…" She smiles. "I still care for you. You're worth it to me."

Twilight stares at her for several long moments.

Then, he sighs.

"When I first came up with this plan, never once did I consider the possibility that you would be able to outmaneuver me like this." A resigned, almost rueful smile spreads across his face. "You win, Yor. I admit it. I care for you and Anya both, more than you could possibly imagine. So please... just let go."

Yor does, her grip loosening around the dagger. Immediately, he flings it away. It strikes the wall and clatters to the ground noisily. Neither of them seem to register it.

"This isn't some trick?" Yor asks. "You're telling the truth?"

For a brief moment, Twilight considers improvising another lie. But… he's tired. He's tired of never being honest with anyone, of always having to hide behind a mask. He doesn't want to keep lying. Especially not to her.

And so he smiles at her. Not one of his practiced and rehearsed smiles, but a genuine one. And funnily enough, it's the exact same smile that's always on his face whenever he's with Yor and Anya.

"Yeah," Loid says. "Yeah, I am."

Yor beams.

Thanks for reading!