Sylis walked down the street. It was early in the morning so no a lot of people were awake and the stars were starting to disappear, but a crowd of people had huddled behind the reporters who were making stars off their own using flash. Sylis was just walking on the other side of the street near the parking lot. The people were surrounding Lilin's apartment. That fact made Sylis' stomach churl. He knew that he should probably stick around and try to get information from the officers at the scene, but he didn't want to see the corpse because of who it might be. Also, Das was waiting for him at the agency was new information and that was more important than who died.

Right?

Sylis sped walked to the building and took the elevator up. It was a short trip but made longer by his sickening stomach. Maybe he should do to the doctor and get it checked out. The door slid open and he found Das talking to a few of his other co-workers. They paused when they saw Sylis. The undercover spy who had a legend as a detective didn't know this, but he had growing circles under his eyes.

"Sylis Penn Youngblood, you're here!" Das walked over to him and they walked back to the small group of other detectives present. "We were talking about the new evidence that we found. You can look at it now."

Das led the way to one of their meeting rooms, but they were not there for a meeting—not exactly—in the middle of the long table was a clear bag and it reminded him of a sort of centerpiece that he would have on his dining table. Das, Sylis, and the other two men crowded around the long table. Sylis and Das were on one side and the others were on the other.

In the middle of the table was a single bullet case. "It's just your average 9mm bullet casing, but we believe that the killer is using a gun that takes those types of bullets." He smiled, the feeling of accomplishment radiating from his bare teeth.

One of the other detectives picked up the bag of evidence and sneered. "Even if this bullet casing in from the shadow case, that does not help us all that much."

"Yes. If the shadow killer is multiple people then they all can use different weapons, same if it were just one person." The other one finished their little statement as if the two were twins.

Das frowned and looked at his shoes. "I know it is not a lot, but I thought this new evidence will up us in the long run." He played with his fingers, a frown evident on his face.

This was when Sylis stepped in. "Any information on the shadow case is important and useful-" he looked at Das the intern. "-no matter how insignificant it might first seem." Das looked at Sylis with a slight hopeful gaze. "You cannot just dismiss evidence like that. If you are like that then you should not be in this profession. We are here to protect people and to do that we must catch the killers of the world." Sylis' words were heated and he remembered why he became a spy in the first place.

Sylis turned around and started walking to the exit. "Pardon me," was all he said before he left the room and went to the elevator. From there he made his way to his car, to his house, then and to his bedroom. He seemed to be staying there a lot. Never sleeping, but instead laying down waiting for something to happen.

His thoughts were the ones that caught his company. He thought about the past few weeks, their events slipping in and out of his mind. He did not focus on one particular one unto he reached the second phone call and what he said earlier to the detectives. Protection. He had to do what Lee Little said. He had to protect Lilin and Piper, protect them from the many people trying to hurt him and them. That's why he had to separate from them, right?

It didn't matter that Lilin Cozbi—if that was even her real name—had lied and deceived him right in front of his face. We're those tears real? We're those guilt-wrecking sobs even real? The stories? Her personality? The fake-love?

He looked down at his little ring. Like stars, the gemstones twinkled in the growing moonlight. Diamonds meant forever, right? The past, the present, and the future? What did it mean for them? What would happen if he didn't find out from Piper? A future of lies?

A question weighed in his brain. It sank like a thousand pounds, but hurt like a gunshot to the heart. He couldn't ask it, but the thing was begging for him to voice his query.

"Would I have accepted her if I knew?"

Spies and assassins, one would think they were not that different, but they were. A spy was someone who collected information. One could describe them as scouts of sorts. They were sent into the field under the shade of some kind whether that be darkness or a fake identity. Yes, sometimes they were forced to injure and sometimes kill people that get in their way, but the knowledge was that important and was bodyguarded by many people. Everyone knew that they were disposable and dependable tools but always thought 'it's going to be the other person, not me'. Sylis was placed on the Shadow case to solve it because the person or persons were a threat to their country and was thought to be an assassin of some kind.

Assassin—he despised the word.

Assassins killed people, but this was different. They killed important people. People who could really change the world for the better; someone like a political or religious leader. Most of the time it was because someone didn't like them or what they stood for. Sylis liked to believe that everyone was good, but assassins were just cold, hard killers.

He stood up and walked to his bedroom door. He needed a glass of water to cool down. As he walked down the stairs, he caught sight of the bag of peanuts that he bought from Oliver. It made him think back on the few weeks that he received that weird phone call. Oliver had been so adamant about selling him a pack of peanuts. Like he would care about that sort of thing, he had better things to focus his mind on...like Shadow.

But what about that other phone call he got in the early hours of the morning? That lady—what was her name—Little? Yeah, Lee Little, what an interesting name. She wanted to sell him house insurance. What an interesting name for an interesting lady.

Sylis sort of chuckled as he popped a few peanuts into his mouth. At this time, he was close to the refrigerator as he entered the kitchen. He grabbed a glass and went to the water dispensing part of his fridge. Slowly the water came in a stream pole-like stream as it collected at the bottom of the cup. It only wavered when a realization came to the spy.

"Lilin and Piper are leaving!"

Crash.