A/N: What?

"I would have come for you. And if I couldn't walk, I'd crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we'd fight our way out together-knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that's what we do. We never stop fighting." Zayto sat across the room from him when he said the words, the two of them separated by a few feet of a hallway, and a grill of laser beams that would singe them if they tried to touch each other.

"I didn't do it, Zayto, I'm telling you, I didn't do it, I promise!" Aiyon was crying.

"I believe in you, Aiyon. That's why I stood up to Drakkon. You were with me when all this was happening for god's sake!"

Zayto and Aiyon stared at each other, bloodied, and broken beyond recognition; Aiyon couldn't even sit up straight, his insides still on fire, every bit of him crumbling and hurting, tearing apart at the seams. Zayto's injuries were physical, he was holding onto the bars, beaten up, flogged, burnt, and branded. A special rank of sentries especially trained to torture prisoners, so they could vomit up whatever information they knew, periodically, had been unleashed on Zayto and Aiyon. It hadn't even been an entire day, and without food or water to sustain them, the two felt like they were slowly inching towards an excruciatingly painful death.

What was worse, was that the two star-crossed lovers were going to have to watch the other, suffer and die, right before their eyes. Neither of them could know who would leave first, but it was going to happen, they were going to have to go through it.

"I'm sorry" Aiyon mouthed, "This is all my fault. You shouldn't have been in here!"

"No! I'm doing what I feel is right. I know you. You can lie to anyone, but you can't lie to me... right?"

"I'd never lie to you, Zayto..." he sobbed, and then crumbled to the floor, "I love you"

And the next minute, came the next set of their torturers...

XXX

Javi's heart came to his throat, when he saw the place he had once called home.

An old, abandoned, dilapidated house was what he had expected. The reality was so much worse, that Javi almost turned his horse around, with the thought that maybe they were at the wrong place.

But through the bombed remains of his childhood home, he spotted a little sofa, covered in dust and debris, but the wood was unmistakable. Teak, black and golden designs, that he remembered hearing his mom say, was inherited through generations. There it was, lying amongst things that he could barely recall. Three walls standing, no roof, the flooring of the first floor of the house had come down, in the back he could see a dilapidated staircase, that went up halfway to where it used to. Everything was broken and bombed, Javi's head was spinning... something felt so wrong, oh so wrong.

Amelia wouldn't know what hit him— almost as if he was bit by a rabid dog— after standing in shock for a little too long, he suddenly ran as fast as he could, to the couch-sofa, and started dusting it, pushing all the debris onto the floor, "sorry it's a little messy" he said, laughing nervously, "mom hasn't cleaned it, I guess. I'll talk to her, I'll, I'll—" he broke into fits of coughing, from all the dust, and took support of a chunk of debris, while Amelia rushed to him, rubbing his back, and helping him calm down. In that second, when he looked up at her, she saw so much pain buried behind those eyes, as he struggled for breath, and at the same time, looked as if that breath would do him no good.

Once he calmed down, he stared blankly at the debris of his house, and then at Amelia, "I'm sorry" he mouthed, not being able to think or say anything more.

"It's okay, Javi, it's okay." She pulled him close to her chest, hugging him as tightly as she could, and felt something in him breaking, in her embrace, and he broke down in sobs, shaking uncontrollably as she rested her head against his, continued patting his back, until he calmed down a little.

"Are you okay?" she'd just asked, wiping his tears with her magenta cape, when they heard a scuffling noise in the background, and stared at each other, Javi nodding that he was okay to go check it out.

Both of them drew their weapons, Amelia her bow, and Javi his rifle, and carefully edged towards the small patch of woods that was a little bit away from ruins of some more houses in the neighborhood, and seconds later, the two of them saw two figures emerge, one in green, one in orange, wearing hooded capes. Javi was about to press his trigger at them, but Amelia held up her hand, "I think I know who that is" she said, carefully moving forward, her footsteps not making a single sound as she glided across the courtyard, and waved to the two approaching people.

The figure in green suddenly darted towards them, gliding past Amelia in an almost dramatic manner, and was on Javi in a flash, pinning him to the floor, taking him by surprise, and Javi struggled for his rifle, and catching it, immediately brought his hands around the figure, resting the cool metal on the nape of the figure's neck.

He was about to press the trigger, when Amelia screamed loudly, "Javi no don't fire!"

"What?" he shouted back, realizing the figure was not just hooded, but also masked, and Amelia, and the person in orange came running towards them, just as blood began to color the blade of the green one's knife, and his finger on the trigger tightened, ready to pull, only holding back because of Amelia's words, his eyes searching the eyes of the hooded and masked person, half wondering why they hadn't done away with Javi already— they'd had enough time for it. Then suddenly, the person in orange tackled them, throwing the green-caped Coinless away from Javi, and Javi found Amelia sitting on top of him, "Javi, calm down, calm down" she pressed her lips against his, and he felt himself losing the coherent thoughts of threat and panic.

When she removed herself from him, and smiled at him, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, her face red, he was breathing heavily, shocked beyond words.

"iWere you trying to kill me, Amelia?" he asked, and she could hear the betrayal in his voice, but shook her head firmly, "look who that is"

Their heads turned to where the other two figures sat, watching as the girl in orange pulled down the girl in green's mask down, revealing her face, and then bringing their lips together in a gentle passionate, kiss, no doubt, to calm her down, just as Amelia had calmed Javi down.

"Is that..." Javi gasped, and then looked at Amelia, and she smiled ruefully, "if you'd pressed that trigger, you'd have regretted all your life" Javi nodded, understanding the dept of the situation, and grateful that he had not fired upon his sister.

"Y- yeah" he stuttered, and looked at the two girls to their side, "Izzy..." he asked, his mouth dry, lips hanging open, unable to say anything more, while the girl eyed him almost looking feral.

Fern looked composed, Amelia noted, the fear she'd seen in her eyes when she had seen Izzy tackling Javi, subsiding now, and she held her girlfriend close, and then smiled at her, her face was uncovered, as was Izzy's now, "you okay, honey?"

Javi recognised Fern. She had been a child, much like Izzy had, when he had left their home. But seeing this little interaction, it occurred to him that they had perhaps grown closer over time, something he, as Izzy's brother, had failed to do.

Amelia held Javi's hand, and made him sit down, amidst the debris of his own house, while they waited for Fern and Izzy to calm down, and come talk with them.

"I told you, we shouldn't have followed them" Fern quietly said to Izzy, "you're still hurt"

"I AM NOT HURT!" Izzy spat back, obviously hurt.

"Sure thing, honey" Fern dug around in her satchel, and pulled out a little bottle, and handed it to izzy. Izzy stared at it in discontent, but then sighed, and took it, drinking two gulps from it, and handed it back to Fern, who replaced it in her bag.

"Better?"

"A bit" Izzy sighed.

"Are we going to talk to them now?"

"No."

"Then why are we here?" Fern knew how to handle Izzy, she knew how to get the girl in green to say what was really on her mind, even though she didn't need to.

Izzy and Fern had been best friends since they were six years old.

Carlos Garcia had always encouraged Izzy to pursue running, and javelin throwing— her favorite sports— in a world where sports and such competitions had no meaning. He had a vision that it would help her survive, once he would be long gone. He had perceived, with the line of work he was in, that his two children would need support after he was gone. And even though he tried to get Javi into such sports as well, the boy was clumsy at best, and all he could actually do was climb trees, and that too, quite slowly. Nevertheless, he figured, if either one of the siblings would be able to defend, the other could take up the softer tasks, such as making money and getting groceries.

The two wouldn't fall prey to Drakkon's forces, or starvation and hunger. (Little did he know how cruel reality was to be, to his family, and his children)

Initially, Fern had watched Izzy, then she had taken permission from her mother, who worked with Lani Akana in the science wing of the Coinless, if she could also train with Izzy— and slowly, the two had built up a strong relationship. Fern rarely ever saw Izzy's brother, though. The boy preferred to stay holed up in his room, or cruising the woods with some musical instrument, or the other. But she knew him well enough to make one opinion about him, when he turned to Drakkon's side: he hadn't done it on purpose; he hadn't sold off his family for one chance of glory, as Izzy thought, he hadn't turned them in, and he wasn't sentry blood.

When Izzy had come back, after escaping from Drakkon's prisons, she'd ran up to Fern's house, because there was nowhere else she could go.

Covered in blood, and absolutely furious, Izzy had narrated everything to Fern, and cried and cried for hours. For the many days to come, Fern had taken care of Izzy, they had shared warmth, moments of hurt, moments of comfort, and finally, Izzy felt, she had found another home.

But she never stopped believing that her brother had betrayed them. Not after she had joined the Coinless rank, and on her very first mission, spotted Javi, with a Sentry Rifle, and a handsome black sentry suit, manning one of Drakkon's outposts.

The image was still burnt into her mind, and when she looked at Javi, she immediately seethed with anger, recalling that moment. Recalling that day.

...

The three Musketeers, Adrien called them. He had been a childhood friend of Izzy and Fern, his parents also allied with the Coinless, and this , had been their first mission.

Adrien was still grinning like a baboon, "I can't believe my first mission is with you two! My best friends! My gay gal pals!" He excitedly kicked his feet in the air, "it's perfect!" He gestured around wildly with his hands, and received a punch in the gut by Izzy, "stop making so many sounds!" She hissed, "you're gonna get us killed—"

"Nobody's gonna get anybody killed" Fern started, forever the voice of reason, "keep your eyes on the mission. We have to kill those guards, and infiltrate that outpost, and mark territory"

"This sounds like one of those wars we used to read about!" Adrien whispered, receiving another punch from Izzy, this time in the shoulder, "this is real life, doofus."

Izzy had already escaped from the Fortress once, she felt it would be a piece of cake. All she had to do was kill some guards, right? It wasn't like she hadn't killed people before. Once, when she was eleven, her and Javi had been surrounded by a bunch of Coinless guards, and she'd managed to get every single one of them under her javelin, and successfully get her, and her brothers out of the situation. She hadn't told anyone about this story, except the Coinless leader Zack, so he'd allow her into the Coinless ranks— and with one small test, here she was, determined to make the mission a success.

And then they'd spotted Javi. He looked just like she had always seen him looking, except his hair were a buzz cut now, and he had a slight stubble— and that smile on his face was no more.

"Is that your brother?!" Fern asked, horrified, as she too recognised the black sentry, but Izzy shook her head, "I don't know who that man is. My brother is dead." To m e, the unsaid words still echoed in her head.

"Nah, man, that's your brother. That's like, a hundred percent, your brother! Maybe he's a spy! Maybe he'll let us into the outpost without a fight! Maybe the Coinless sent him there to help us—" Adrien started, and with the biggest smile on his face, emerged from behind the rocks they were on, and waved to Javi, "hey Javi—"

He started making his way towards the black sentry, even with Fern's warnings to not get too close, but he paid no heed. He was convinced that the guy in front of them was their friend. Izzy still wasn't sure what was even going on, but she knew approaching a sentry stronghold without proper precaution... could prove fatal.

And it did.

Because Adrien couldn't even complete his greetings; Izzy saw Javi, she watched him not even looking up at Adrien to determine whether he was friend or foe, just pick up his rifle, and shooting right into Adrien's heart.

And then he turned around, didn't even inspect his kill, and walked back into the outpost.

At that moment, she knew Javi had sold them off to Drakkon. He had turned traitor to the cause their parents had sacrificed their lives for.

But Izzy wasn't going to. She was going to kill him, her brother, if need be.

Adrien would be avenged.

...

The moment almost felt like a scene out of the climax of a Shakespearean play when they saw him enter. The forever shady figure, sometimes a savior, sometimes the person who delivered people from their pain.

Zayto and Aiyon hoped he was there to do the same for them.

Broken, bloody, lying on the floor, on their stomachs, with no coherent sense of anything remaining, except a cosmic connection with each other, experiencing each other's pain, along with their own, they saw him walk in. He was alone.

The red sentry, shoulders hunching a little bit with his gait; Zayto had had a chance of knowing him more than other younger sentries had. Skullovitch had been one among the squad of three sentries who had found him frozen in his Rafkonian ranger form. After coming back to life, he hadn't found out what had happened to Solon. He had wanted to know, but he'd always been a little afraid to ask. But on Drakkon's wishes, he was brought back, and given the position of a sentry, where he quickly climbed the ranks due to his prowess as a knight of Rafkon.

Finster had kept shouting and yelling that he wanted to conduct tests on Zayto, but Drakkon had simply said 'no', not because he wanted to save Zayto from becoming a live mutated specimen of Finster's lab, but because he had been... annoyed... at best, at Finster that day. Zayto's lucky day.

Then Zayto had been part of the three squad team that had found Aiyon. And he had quietly killed off the other members of the squad, and never let anyone find out exactly how he had found Aiyon in the bottom of the sea, only that the other sentries drowned, and Aiyon was one who 'saved' him, and that had been enough of a reason for Drakkon to say 'alright, get him in the ranks.'

He wondered what the point was, if this was what it had to come to.

Well at least they'd made up for their past, though.

"No one's gonna cry for you, if that's what you were hoping for" Same dry remarks, from the same dry Eugene Skullovitch, as he leaned over the two, separated by the bars of their separate prison cells, which were specially designed to pain them, because they were only six feet apart from each other.

"WHAT'S IT TO YA—" Aiyon shouted in pain, irritated.

Eugene sighed, and then sat down, cross legged, between the two of them, a little further, though, so as to not block their view of each other.

"I wanted to ask you something"

"Not torture us?"

"Well, technically it is my shift, but Drakkon is sleeping behind those cameras, and I doubt he'd wake up anytime soon, because his sleeping pills took effect two hours ago," Skull shook his head, "so, I think I can spare some time for chitchat"

Death is here; a bellowing elephant, a popped black balloon, a creaking wooden swing, a soldier's limp hand smeared with mud.

That was what Zayto heard, a lyric from a childhood nursery rhyme he'd heard, back on Rafkon; somehow, all the nursery rhymes had a morbid theme, and they seemed to come back and shunt you in your last moments.

Hearing the tone in Skull's voice, Zayto felt fairly certain that Skull was here to give them relief from their pain and from this world.

"Kill us please" he breathed, gaining Skull's attention, " please."

Skull closed his eyes, as if in great pain, "I know you didn't really do it. I also know who did"

"What?" Aiyon looked up, with a little hope, "do you think—"

"Can you save us?" Zayto asked, completing Aiyon's question, and watched Skull's expression change. He looked like a man who had seen his share of the world, he looked like someone who had to bear the weight of the world on his shoulders, and that the world he was carrying had thorns that dug into his back and drew out blood. He looked like he had been doing this for a really long time. All alone.

"I can't, because your perpetrator has already left." Skull sighed, "And he's not coming back"

"What do you mean—"

"This is Drakkon's world. If you get out of it now, he's just going to get you in for something else. Just out of the spite that he crucified the wrong person."

"So... you're really not going to do anything? At all?"

Skull let his hands fall back, so he was half lying half sitting on the floor, "you two were lovers, if I'm not wrong?"

"We still are," Zayto replied, failing to understand how that fit the conversation they were having at that moment.

"Well, don't you know, falling in love is the gravest sin, here, in this world?" They watched tears rolling down Skull's cheeks.

"Falling in love isn't a sin. It's the most liberating feeling in the world"

"And yet, here you are" his voice was barely a whisper. "Every lover has paid the price for falling in love. Either with their own life, or that of their lover. Sometimes, with a fate worse than death."

"What can be worse than death?" Aiyon asked, feeling enraged; here the two of them were dying, and here this red sentry was, narrating strange riddles and metaphors.

"If the two of you die together, it's bliss" he said, sighing, "one of the lovers dies, the other remains on earth to atone for his sins? That's pure pain. Imagine being without the other? Imagine knowing you could've done something to save him, and you didn't? Because you were ignorant?"

There was no reaction from the Rafkonians, "but yes, the guilt does help you live. Because then you know you have sins to atone for. But what about helplessness? What if you're both alive, but he's in a condition where you can't help him? Where he's not dying, and you know the only way to relieve his pain, is to kill him? You're helpless, otherwise. The only thing you can do is kill him, but you wouldn't kill him, because you love him. Making that choice? And living with it for the rest of your life? Aren't both of these better than death itself?"

"So you're trying to say we're getting off easy?"

"You're paying for the wrongs of someone else, Aiyon. Zayto, you're paying for falling in love. I think it's a fair bargain." he shrugged.

"What are you here for? Some kind of euthanasia therapy or something?" Aiyon spat blood at him, and Skull tilted his head, "do you want us to thank you for killing us?"

"No, I want you to be sure that you want me to kill you."

"Kill us, please"

"NO—"

Zayto and Aiyon both had different opinions, and Skull sighed, "think about it, and let me know. I'll be back at the same time, tomorrow. If you survive till then."

...

"I tried, Javi. I tried to save you" Amelia would sob, looking at him, as he stirred in the night. They had been like stars, counted in the brightest, blazing away with no qualms; they had collided. They had fallen. And now, here she was, that dead star, which borrowed light to survive.

Had their story really been written in the stars like that?

Were they really never meant to be happy? 

A/N: If you squiiiiiint a little bit you can spot the ending of the story in the conversations....