Sneaking around the fortress was absolutely not advised by anyone who had ever stepped inside. According to popular belief, if caught, it would be a one way ticket to hell, or worse, the deadlock.

And yet, as Javi Garcia, fully dressed in his black sentry uniform, tried to hide in the shadows, he noticed all sorts of night-time activities going on. This was the first time he was actually involved in dangerous activities— he had been a pretty straightforward sentry before that, retiring to his room, shared by two bunk mates, Aiyon and that absolute asshole Black Sentry Blair, after dinner, at nine, unless he had a night shift— and seeing the fortress after dark, and all the activities that took place under the curtain of the night, he realized just how much people actually defied Drakkon's rules in the little ways they could.

He spotted a couple he didn't recognise, sucking each other off in one corner, what looked like a girl high beyond reach over some stuff she must've gotten off the black market, and then someone who Javi was damn sure was not supposed to be in the castle, and was there for information... like his father used to.

Javi ignored every single one of them, and danced around the shadows to make sure they didn't notice him either. There were hushed whispers in the shadows that didn't sit right with him, and there were screams that Javi had never heard in the daytime before.

But just as he was about to swipe his ID on the lock to the files and records room, he realized if this was ever discovered, he'd be under the blade, and that would endanger Amelia's life too...

They had met quite a few times, since Javi had made his promise, be it Javi purposefully taking shifts near the woods, or known Coinless hideouts, or her straying to Sentry watch posts, and getting in trouble, so that when sentries shooed her away, not knowing she was a coinless, Javi could say he was going to check for more civilians, and clear them out, and then spend time making out beside a tree trunk, or talking over a bag of banana chips that always felt a little stale. Javi had promised Amelia information about her parents from the Fortress, but it took her a while to ease out her parent's names and descriptions from her Pop Pop. The process was slow, and it took about a month before Javi was equipped with enough information to actually start searching in the files.

And Skull's parting words still lingered in his head, all this time later, Don't go near the poisonous flowers, little nightingale, you don't know what falcons await, and he knew he was risking his everything for Amelia.

Javi immediately turned around, and traced his footsteps back to his room, and opened it to find his roommate gone... as usual... Aiyon's uniform was lying on the bed, probably taken off in a hurry, the helmet just lying there, discarded, and Javi was sure his ID was lying there somewhere too. Ever since Drakkon had used the morphin energy to dissipate suits and powers to the sentries, they had become more and more like military uniforms. The sentries didn't have morphers, they had small chips in their ID cards that could be used to access their suits and helmets. The same chips had various clearance levels, based on duties, that could be used to access files, records, and parts of the fortress that were usually not allowed access to everyone... due to sensitive reasons.

Aiyon had apparently left in a hurry. His ID, suit, and helmet, everything was lying there, just like that. He had probably left in civilian clothes, and Javi was sure it was definitely to meet Zayto. The black sentry knew he was going to regret what he was about to do, but he convinced himself it was Aiyon's fault for being so irresponsible. He quickly picked up Aiyon's ID card, and used it to unlock the zips of his suit, stripped his own off, and neatly tucked them away in a closet, keeping his own ID close, but getting into Aiyon's suit, and zipping up, locking it, the helmet coming up seconds later, he grabbed Aiyon's ID, and slipped out, and locked the door of their room. He'd be back before Aiyon knew, and return everything. No bad blood, right?

Amelia Jones.

Nothing.

Santaura Jones.

Access Denied. Damnit, it needed a higher level of clearance.

Tarrick Jones.

He waited, the computer seemed to take a while, but then a page popped up, and Javi's face lit up. Tarrick Jones was alive, and actually in the Fortress's basement. He swiped once again, so the file would show more than just superficial data, but nothing came up. "Access Denied", the computer told him, in a pretty voice, "higher level of clearance required".

Javi sighed, apparently the Cell Number and other important information about Tarrick Jones resided in vaults that could only be accessed by Red Sentries. There was no way a Red Sentry would let him borrow his card like Aiyon did, but equipped with information that worked enough to probably let the Coinless know that Tarrick was alive, and Santaura too, probably in the Deadlock, because of higher clearance demands, and on the other hand, there seemed to be no data of Amelia, or her Pop Pop in Drakkon's records.

He quickly deleted his search history the best he could, and sneaked out of the room, hoping he wouldn't be noticed.

...

"They're... actually alive" she stared at the skyline, as if in awe of the universe, "I can't believe it"

Javi had been in the bazaar, technically, for official duty, a quarrel between a potter and a spinner had blown up, and he, along with a few of his friends had been sent in to control it, when they had realized both were equipped with machine guns. A lot of the coinless had also dropped in, making the best of the occasion, and attacking the sentries. Apparently, these riots were quite commonplace, and Javi and Amelia had found each other, unknowingly, and sneaked off to the top of the hill, with the barest minimum scratches, and a lot of blood on each of them that didn't quite belong to either. From the same rooftop, now, they watched further drama unfold on the scene, while he told her of his finds.

"Tarrick is in the basement. I don't know which cell, but maybe you could convince your people to break in? Or do it yourself?"

"That... could work" she nodded, "Javi they were actually Coinless, they were actually rebels, who fought, who wanted to take Drakkon down... you don't know how I'm feeling about this. I can't thank you enough, Javi, I really can't," she leaned in closer, "can I... do anything for you? To repay the favor?"

"Repay? Amelia you don't have to repay me for anything! I did everything I did because..." he trailed off, because I love you, the words seemed stuck in his throat, and so he just stared at the scene underneath them, more bloodshed that neither of them seemed too keen to be a part of.

"Because?" she pressured, but he shook his head, "I'll tell you when the time's right"

"Well... in that case, why don't you let me do something for you and stop making me feel like I'm using you to get to the Coinless?"

"Uhm" Javi thought about it for a bit, then he started, nervously "Not right now, but maybe on my next off day, when we were technically supposed to meet, and exchange this information... could you... maybe... take me to my house? The place where I was born and brought up. Sentries can't go there, we'd be pelted by stones unless we're in a battalion, it's near the outskirts of Pine Ridge. A little distance from here. Could you maybe arrange a ride, and lend me some coinless-looking clothes?"

"That's the barest minimum I could do, Javi" she held his hand, "I promise, I'll do whatever I can," she didn't add the part that included making the Garcia siblings meet, a plan that was now hatching inside her brain.

...

"He's your brother. Do you know what I'd do to have a brother who cares that much for me?" Amelia ignored Ollie's indignant coughs at her statement, focusing her entire attention on the girl with the curly hair, who refused to even look at Amelia, ever since the day she had found out that she was dating her brother.

"In Amelia's defense, he does feel like a decent guy. Even if he's a sentry" Ollie added, taking Amelia's side, and both of them sat in front of Izzy, like parents trying to counsel their child after a fight with her best friend.

"He became a sentry to save you. " Amelia explained, once again, as she had many, many times before.

"That's what he says! You don't know my part of the story! How I got out of that helforsaken place!" Izzy finally said, angrily, "and my 'brother'," she said, her fingers curling into air quotes, "had nothing to do with it"

"And how did you escape?" Ollie asked.

"I was trapped," Izzy growled, "and I chewed through my ropes, and I crawled out of the vent that my prison cell had. And I jumped out into the river. And swam to safety"

She watched Ollie and Amelia's expressions take ones of amusement, when she narrated, while she had expected it to be one of disappointment because her account would prove Javi had nothing to do with her release.

"Javi had nothing to do with it" she stated finally, when none of the older duo said anything more.

"No sentries followed you, when you, a twelve year old, broke out of a prison where not even some of the oldest Coinless have been able to get out of? The prison which we're organizing a raid to, to break out Amelia's father?" Ollie laughed, "they obviously let you go, Izz, there's no way a tiny little thing like you could have made it out, with the amount of people there are"

"Be a little less condescending" Amelia pinched him, and he winced, and glared daggers at him, while Amelia turned back to Izzy, "Izzy, I'm not saying what you did, didn't take courage, but Javi had asked for your life, in bargain for becoming a sentry. That amounts to something, right? Even if it only meant that Drakkon didn't do anything to 'stop' you when you escaped"

"I don't believe Drakkon can be that forgiving. He'd have probably told the sentries to murder me" Izzy shook her head.

"On the contrary, he probably thought you were tiny, and a girl, on top of that" Ollie said, "he thought you were not a threat. Or maybe something he could use to keep Javi in line. Plus it wasn't like Javi was asking for medical treatment for his sick mother, or anything that would actually cost Drakkon anything. You get what I'm saying?"

"No" Izzy said, getting up, and storming off, while Amelia shouted, "I'm taking him to your old house, on Tuesday. If you wanna come along" but she was already gone.

"I don't know what to do" Amelia sighed, and Ollie placed a hand on her shoulder, "It's okay, sometimes, things just don't work out. I think she misses him, and doesn't like that he never contacted her"

"He didn't even know she was alive. You should see the way he talks about her, Ollie. It shows, you know, how much he cares about her. And it's really sweet." Amelia defended her sorta boyfriend.

"He's a genuine person, I've seen that much" Ollie nodded, with a smile, "and if his tip is right, I'm sure we'll find your dad too"

"I know we will. I know you guys will do something amazing" she grinned, "it's still surprising how easily they agreed to a raid right into the heart of the fortress"

"Zack and Trini said anyone who wanted to join in was welcome to do so. I think they agreed because it was just a bunch of over-enthusiastic newbies like you and me" he laughed, "I mean, our lives aren't half as precious as the oldies. If they expected the mission to be more successful, they'd have sent maybe General Bulk or maybe Carlos, to help us out"

She looked a little upset at the comment, but smiled through, "they let us do it, I think that, in itself, is an achievement. I just hope it goes well"

"If it does, do you wanna meet Javi before we go? I think he'd be thrilled to find you there" Ollie wriggled his eyebrows.

"Oh shut up" she punched him, lightly, "but... I could meet him... I mean, i'm already meeting him, but I wouldn't mind"

"You're rambling like a rambling rose, it's so adorable" Ollie's voice was high pitched, a broad smile, and stars in his eyes, "you're like a little fourteen year old after her first kiss. Positively giddy"

"Hey!" she, "don't you have your mom to annoy, or something?" she laughed, and pushed and punched him till he finally went away, and then she kept staring at the ceiling, wondering if maybe one day she could ask Javi here, maybe they could spend time together, without being afraid of being discovered together, and having to pretend to kill each other. The coinless were more tolerant than Drakkon, any day, but she wasn't sure how they would take this particular information. So far only a few of her close friends— Ollie, Izzy, Jane, and her Pop Pop— actually knew. But she suspected the higher-ups had a clue.

Especially when she saw Farkas Bulkmeier coming to sit by her side, "Fern is looking for Izzy, she's very worried" he said, in a sort of gruff voice, that he had been known for, ever since Kimberly Hart turned into the Ranger Slayer. He'd started doing it so his voice wouldn't break, and probably never could stop... or trust himself to talk in his normal voice again.

"Izzy's mad at me, so she'd probably be sitting in one of her burrows, steaming. Tell her to look over there" Amelia said, absentmindedly, still thinking of Javi.

"How does it feel, being in love?" He looked like a schoolteacher asking a kindergartener about her first crush in the world.

"I'm not in love" Amelia's cheeks flared up, stating quite the contrary, as she sat up, and stared at Bulk, "Absolutely not in love"

"With Izzy's brother no less" he nodded, solemnly, ignoring Amelia's reply entirely, or taking it in the opposite sense, "But I don't think that's what she's mad about"

"Is that what you're mad about?" Amelia asked, in a small voice, pulling her knees close to her chest, and Bulk understood, and he pulled her closer, and into a tight hug, "oh baby girl, no, i could never be mad at you"

"Then why have you been ignoring me for the past weeks? Yes, I noticed"

"I was worried, and I didn't know how to talk to you"

"I'm sorry for putting everyone in this situation," she said, her voice almost cracking.

"Love's a tough game.You really can't choose who you fall in love with" he looked like he spoke with experience, "Or what happens to them. Do you know Eugene Skullovitch?"

"I thought he was dead... I thought... were you in love with him? I'd always thought you had a thing for Kim?" Amelia asked curiously.

"We'll talk about that some other day" he laughed, casually waiving it off, but Amelia knew there was something he wasn't telling her. She let it fall, for now.

"Billy Cranston. The Relic is his Power Coin" Amelia nodded in acknowledgement, she'd known the little secret for a long time, "Skull was in love with him"

Amelia gasped, "but he... died?"

"Exactly. This is not a good world for lovers, Amelia, if you care too much about someone, you're going to end up destroying yourself, and them. It's even worse if you have children to take care of. I'm just saying... Take care. I know Javi is a good boy, he needs no character certificate, he has a heart of gold. But the situations the two of you are in, you might get hurt. Or killed. And I don't know if I can see that" his own eyes were glassy, "I've practically raised both of you since you were tiny"

"Why didn't you ever tell me about him?"

"You never asked"

"I never knew"

"Maybe it was better that way"
...

The next morning was their unit's off day, and Javi couldn't wait for the night to pass, so that he'd be able to meet Amelia once again, third time this week, and maybe confess some things that he had been feeling. He somehow wanted to take her to his childhood home, almost just as much as he'd wanted to visit the place himself. It had been three years since he'd stepped foot anywhere near the neighborhood, and he missed it terribly.

He was feeling so excited, practically jumping up and down, shaking as he ate his dinner— a meager stake, and some salad— and then rushed to his room, got his favorite pyjamas, slipped into them, and into his covers, for a good night's sleep... and then found that he couldn't. He just kept staring at the ceiling with a goofy grin plastered to his face.

Aiyon called out that he was going off again, and once again, he left his clothes and things on his bunk, just like he had, the other day, and sprinted off in a cream colored t-shirt, and a pair of black shorts.

Javi didn't think much of it, just kept tossing and turning in his bead, until he realized he'd had enough, and there was no way he was getting any sleep. He climbed down, and pulled out his trunk. A guitar with a couple strings coming out, and a lot of bruises rested in there, between his clothes. It had seen better days, but with the no music policy that Drakkon followed, owning something like this was a risk in itself. But Javi was addicted. He needed music to soothe himself, and his, and a couple other rankers' humming in the laundry room could only do so much to help him. This was his safeguard, when he was feeling especially jittery, he made sure no one was around, and locked himself in his room, and strummed the strings ever so slightly.

Staring at the line of polaroids he had put up in front of his bed for no reason other than having something to look at, he plucked the metallic strings, and hummed a soft tune he remembered people humming when he was a kid. It was from that movie Titanic, or something? Javi had never heard it, but the lines of the song still haunted him, because his father used to hum them while he picked Javi up on his shoulders when he was a child.

He hadn't expected to be interrupted, when he made it through most of the chorus, and the knock on the door came as a surprise, and Javi immediately jumped to his feet, hid his guitar behind his pillows— taking this much time to answer a knock could be counted as suspicious, if he wasn't careful enough, and he yelled, "One se— ouch" pretending like he fell off the bed to buy himself more time. Then shoving his trunk back under the bed to make some banging noises, Javi looked around the room one last time to make sure nothing was wrong, and then opened the door, hoping desperately that it was Aiyon.

It wasn't.

Instead a black sentry stood in his doorway. She said, in a carefully controlled voice, "There has been a break in, in the fortress. They are breaking out prisoners. A large number of guards have already been deployed"

Javi felt his heart racing, and he could hear sirens, firing shots in the background, even screams, "Am I on the backup list?"

The sentry barged into the room, pushing past Javi, and he stared at her, surprised, "what?"

"We're searching your room for any hidden members of Coinless, or other prisoners" she said, in a gruff voice, and Javi shook his head, a search of his room meant his guitar could be revealed, and while it wouldn't have much severe punishment, it could lead to confiscation, and Javi wasn't sure he could deal with that.

"Nuh uh" he pretended to be casual, "it's just me. Me and my broken heart here. No prisoners, no coinless"

"No coinless? Are you sure of that?" she was now inspecting Aiyon's helmet, and Javi was wracking his brains for any idea of who she might be, the black suit, and the voice didn't seem to match any girl in his ranks, that he recalled, and then she turned around, and took her helmet off, and Javi almost gasped.

Amelia Jones.

Dressed in a black sentry uniform, with a loaded rifle slung across her shoulder, and a helmet in her hands, standing in front of him. He knew he was gaping, but she looked a little too... hot.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice awfully high pitched, as he slammed the door behind him, and finally allowed himself to relax just a little.

"Like I said, the Coinless are carrying out a raid! They're breaking my dad out of prison. Well they already did, and most of them are trying to run away now" she chuckled.

"And shouldn't you be with them?"

"Shouldn't you be in the uniform and not PINK pyjamas?" she eyed his bottoms, and he felt blood rushing into his cheeks and ears.

"I— It wasn't my shift" he shrugged, "I was just trying to sleep"

"I wanted to spend some time with you before I left"

"That's so risky, Amelia! You do know we're meeting again tomorrow, right? If you get caught today— no, no, no, no, it's too risky" he shook his head, "I'm sorry, it is. You need to go"

"I can't," she wasn't joking anymore, "I need a hiding place. Not for long. Only enough time that everything outside calms down... and you don't seem to have a roommate... so..." she looked hopeful.

"I don't believe you one bit, if Ollie and others can make it out, so can you"

"I don't wanna leave you, Javi, who knows what will happen once Drakkon actually discovers everything that happened?" she said, plopping down on Aiyon's bed.

"Come up here" Javi shimmied up the ladder to his own bunk, and held a hand out for Amelia, who didn't take it, but climbed up on her own.

"You're so dramatic," she said, settling onto his bed, and taking in the surroundings around her, "and a complete marshmallow— is that a picture of a field of flowers?" she pointed to the polaroid right behind her, and leaned against the metallic wall, pulling her legs close to herself.

Javi looked at her, as if she was absolutely hopeless, and then nodded, "my mom clicked that when we had gone camping, like ten years ago"

The answer was as mundane as the question had been, but something passed through between the two of them, as they sat and stared at each other, Amelia looking just a tad nervous, and her smile spreading to Javi, contagious as it was, who looked disapproving at first, and then finally giving in, as he settled onto the bed cross legged, making sure no one else— not even Aiyon— could enter the room.

"I love you" she mouthed cheekily, and he laughed, "you're an idiot"

"An idiot in love is worse than just your normal idiot, by the way" she added, "do you love me?"

"Why else would I be worried sick?"

"I wanna hear you say it"

"I love you too, Amelia. And you look hot in that suit" he said, pretending to fan himself with his hand.

"And you look so cute in those pink pyjamas. Pink's my favorite color, you know?" she asked, eyeing the checks, "and black's mine. But I don't like that uniform all that much" he winked.

They sat there talking for a while, how the plan had been carried out, how many prisoners had been broken out, and stuff, until Javi finally made sure that yes, yes Amelia was okay, and she had an escape route all planned, if she wanted to get out, even in the morning. The black sentry suit had been procured for her by Bulk, and all the other Coinless had been in their usual gear, so they didn't have time. She felt she was immune.

Once their conversations about this was over, Amelia and Javi talked some more about Pop Pop, and how he felt about things, Ollie, and then finally Izzy.

The conversation with Izzy ended with Javi sighing, and staring at Amelia, hopelessly, he didn't know what he could do for his sister, to make her hate him less.

Either way, his expression finally melted Amelia enough for her to crawl closer to him, in the bed they were sitting on, and ask him, "is it unorthodox to kiss a guy in the middle of the night, on his own bed?"

"A bit" he said, but leaned in, and pressed his lips against hers anyway. His hands wrapped around the metallic clasps of her belt, and he pulled her closer, and she adjusted herself, so she was sitting on his lap, her arms wrapped around his neck, her hazel hair falling like a curtain around his face, entrapping him in a world that was just her. Her tongue slipped past the barriers of his lips, and deeper, his hands moving downwards, exploring her body once again, over her stolen uniform. She pushed him back, making him lie down partially, over the bed, and straddling him, "Javi... I..." she was breathless, when she broke away from the kiss, her entire face red, "Javi..." she moaned, and he breathed, his expression the same as hers.

"We're alone" he said, "and no one can interrupt" he knew he was being awfully forward, when he placed the suggestion on the table, but he wanted it so bad.

" Yes " her voice was hot and heavy, beads of sweat clinging to her brow, "I can't get you out of my head, Javi, sweetheart, you're already in my veins" her voice was a bare whisper, and it was turning him on even more.

With one swift move, Javi turned the two of them around, so her back was on the bed, and Javi on top of her, "Are you sure about this?" he asked for her consent one last time, and she nodded, "I want you, Javi. I need you"

He placed his lips against hers once again, and while the kiss was softer, his hands struggled against the metallic clasps of her belt, and pulled it off, along with the utility kit strapped to it, and shoved it below, onto Aiyon's bunk. Amelia's fingers slid under his sweatshirt, feeling his bare skin underneath, while he undid her shoulder pads, her neck brace, and freed most of her top, tossing all the objects to Aiyon's bed, so they wouldn't interrupt the two of them. Amelia pulled his top off, making him bare above the waist, and he helped her, by discarding his pyjamas, so he was only in his boxers, while he respectfully undid her boots, and then finally, came onto the final top and bottoms of her spandex.

She was lying naked in front of him, and he realized her body was just as scarred as his... with marks in places that he could relate to those of his own. Marks, and scratches, and wounds that he knew could only be made one way.

"Did you..." he couldn't complete the sentence, he gulped, "for the sentries?" she nodded, then laughed, as if it didn't kill a part of him to see her scarred like this, "they were brutes"

"Give me a name, I'll kill them" his voice was a hoarse whisper, but his tone told her he wasn't kidding, and she shook her head, "look at yourself, Javi... you've gone through just as much as I have..."

"I'm a slave, Amelia, I do as I'm told... why you? " His voice was filled with fear and horror, and he stared at her directly in the eye. She looked away, unable to look him in the eye as she told him of her dark past, "pop pop... he's old. He gets sick. And medications are expensive. Even on the black market, even with stealing. And..." her voice dipped, "Coinless don't have the best doctors."

"So you..." he couldn't bring himself to say it, he fought back tears, and felt her arms around his neck, "Javi look at yourself. You've gone through worse than I have... at least mine was with my consent"

She stared into his eyes, and he felt himself bushing away the tears, "you're so beautiful" he couldn't help himself, and she smiled, "you're not too bad yourself" his body was filled with just as many scars as hers was, but she didn't care for them. Javi was hers for the night, and she intended to enjoy every bit of it. She gripped him by the shoulders, and pulled him in for another kiss, now her hands exploring his back, while his fingers penetrated her in places she hadn't been touched before.

Wrapped up in each other, Javi and Amelia didn't part before the next morning.

...

There was a moment, right at the crescendo, when the shooting stars were at their brightest. Right before they fell, and disappeared into the night.

That was when you were supposed to make your wish.

Amelia Jones didn't regret anything she did that night one bit. Especially when she realized this had been their peak. Things started rolling downhill the next morning onwards, and never quite came back up. Even with Drakkon gone, her and Javi could never get back on track. And she knew she had herself to blame for that too, but out of all the things that led them down that road, that one night in his room wasn't it.

She just regretted not making any wishes that night.