HIS LIMBS INFLATED till his fifteen year old bones and flesh met with the skin of the hostess of this body. Outwards he exhaled a sound barely audible to the human ears. His eardrums echoed a tingling beat in the back of his head, like a drum setting off in the deepest section of his skull.

It was like God had given him a new set of dark eyes. Eyes that belonged a few minutes ago to a fair lady he knew by the alias of Venus. Most days, for years in actuality that had passed, he studied the images she obtained through her pair of lenses like motion pictures in a cinema. How she had grown up, who she had acquainted with, what perilous journeys she took part in. He absorbed it all like a daydream too dark to become true, yet too true to become nothing.

Then it all came too soon. Like a father releasing his son on a bicycle too fast or a mother dropping her daughter off at school too early— he was both the son and the daughter. His mind was of a young male child, yet his new skin was of a teen female's. He felt guilty in his chest. His awareness of the explanation behind his existence made him feel very wrong to live in her body. Her skin could be worn by no one but her, not even the alters in her mind.

He was going to get caught. It wasn't like people didn't know of DID. The concern was, how many people would just accept your answer if you told them the reason why you were behaving differently in just a split second, was because you had multiple personalities?

No one would. People who did try to keep an open mind would always be skeptical and distance themselves. It was the natural response of humans to roam in the desert of 'same,' and dry out the oasis of 'different.'

He was the different that shouldn't be here. This wasn't and will never be his timeline. Those men in black uniform cocking their magazines in and firing ammunition blindly into the air shouldn't be his world. Unlike Venus who could lead a team on her shoulders, he would lead their whole system to the grave instead because of his incapabilities.

Fear and inexperience rooted his feet to the ground. The slippers' thin rods under the heel of his feet felt like it would pierce through his flesh any second. Forget trying to run away with these on, he'd literally break her waist and kill them both.

His eyes were ripped wide open when two bullets swirled through the air. One bounced off the other and deflected to the wall behind him. The one that served as the opposing force shifted direction downwards. In a blink of an eye, it cut deeply into his skin, spraying blood up like a blood bath.

Imagine waking up in the middle of the night with a psychopath in your room that already had his machete arched in your abdomen. That was what he pictured, because his eyes blurred everything else with the shortening of his breath.

You'd think that was the end of it. That it was expected he'd pass out and let fate juggle his survival card. But being shot at, even stabbed at, wasn't like that at all. The adrenaline from the sting and the reality and abruptness of the pain brought you to a state of mind clearer than the truth.

He suddenly had the will to live. Thoughts cycled through his mind millions by millions each millisecond. Biting down his lower lip to cover up the pain of his gash, he spotted a Japanese boy in the room as well that he was all but too familiar with. Someone who's history traveled four years back with him.

The twelve year old boy had a ghastly expression that clouded his facial features. His chest rose and fell rapidly like he had been talking too fast for too long. Only... it merely seemed like that, because while J.J. saw his friend's top and bottom lip separating and closing animatedly, there was no sound coming out.

Was this hallucination? Was he failing so bad at keeping conscious that he couldn't even hear someone closeby?

Asao set his face hard and paced to the nearest window in the room. He let down the wooden slat blinds before ripping a handful out of the horizontal pattern. He tore the lift cord out and used it to wrap his lengthy pile of wood as best as he could, turning it into a rundown version of a kendo stick.

The boy stood firmly before him and held the slats out like he was at the dojo in a duel. The suited men took him as a comical joke. Sure, they were impressed he could create some sort of defense weapon in under a minute, but the unusual sight of a twelve year old boy in a suit holding broken parts of a window blind looked extremely amusing to them.

The boy wiped the smile off their faces. He stepped forward and striked one in the eye, made another fall to his knees after being wounded in the neck, and another gasp for air after being stabbed in the guts by the sharp end of the wood. Others roared in pain when wooden pieces broke off his slats and projected into the air, raining down like hail that pierced their back, neck, and head.

One attacker managed to slip behind J.J. and pushed the muzzle of the gun to the back of his head. He wanted to live. Asao was too preoccupied to notice. Was there nothing he could do but stand there? All while everything was happening, there was a strange man on the ground with a stained area of his suit where his lower part should be, constantly bellowing out offensive words his way for no reason. He was the one ordering the attacker behind him to shoot.

"Pull that trigger, and I will kill off your whole generation."

J.J. narrowed his eyes as he pondered on the hoarse and grungy tone of a voice that sounded like it hadn't been used in years. Asao's blatant threat for his age froze the guards in the room. They didn't expect him to know how to speak English.

"Did the child just threaten us?" a deep voice resonated throughout the walls. The others decided to lower their weapons a moment to engage in a collective laugh.

"I believe it just did."

"Ni how," the man behind J.J. randomly began speaking in a language he didn't know. "You know where your papa is? We. Will. Talk. To. Him. For. You. This child's father needs a lesson on raising his—"

The door flew apart. You could hear the spring in the gun recoiling from the other side of the room as quick as lightning. It was too fast to see, but a bullet had infiltrated the man keeping J.J. at gun point, and he dropped dead the next second.

J.J. and Asao both turned their heads to the four figures coming in with highly specialized assault weapons of their own. The fit man that had fired the first bullet, Beta, saw Asao and him on the opposite side of the room.

Beta ignored the chaos in the room and took long strides towards one individual shriveling up like a roach on the ground. He came up to him and kicked Nicolas in the face so violently that it seemed his head was going to fly off. He crouched down and swiveled his shoe on the injured man's face until he was gasping for air. "Throw a vase at Risa again, and I'll flatten your skull."

The man wriggled underneath the foot, pounding on the ground thunderously to be let free. It took the intervening of a man with dirty blonde hair, L01, to convince him to remove his foot. L01 spun his head and saw J.J.'s hand upon his neck.

"Is she bleeding?" he exclaimed.

A woman gestured violently towards him as guards fenced them in. "Risa, pull out your gun."

"I don't know where it is," J.J. interjected for the first time, grinding his teeth as his wound pulsated. "I can't fire a gun." Now he remembered what Risa's voice sounded like. He didn't want to use it, but now he had no choice.

A buff man, Arsomis, scrunched up his face in concern. "You don't know how to use a gun? What are you talking about?" Immediately, a guard came up to him and he was distracted as he engaged in a fight. The others spread out like a wildfire, guarding the perimeter. M&M cut the throats of the men by the paintings, L01 broke the arms of others by the cushioned seats, Arsomis knocked out four assailants with his fists, and Beta dislocated some jaws and sent them flying to the ceiling.

Asao seemed to have discovered J.J. was present. They both shared a silent glance before Asao grabbed his hand and leaned in to whisper, "You're not Risa, are you?"

With one hand trying to stop the blood from flowing out of his neck, he nodded shakily. M&M called out to Asao to give him instructions. "She's hurt. Take Risa and leave the palace. There're people outside that will take care of her."

Asao nodded and tightened his hold on J.J.'s hand. "Come on." The two dodged bullets and fists as they barely made it to the door. Just before they slipped out, J.J. remembered something.

"Beta, take Risa's purse in the corner. Asao was holding onto it." He nodded at T6's Commander.

Asao looked at him curiously before he too turned to his team. "He's right. Pierce, I'll leave it to you."

"'Beta?'"

"Why is she talking in third person?"

"Asao tal—"

They didn't linger around to hear the team's reaction. Asao expertly led him down a flight of stairs and into the main ballroom. J.J. was taken aback at where they were. The air didn't feel like the States'.

He was losing water as it sweated off his skin. He pleaded to take off the heels and Asao skidded to a stop real quick for him to kick it off and hold it in his hands. Meanwhile, the younger boy surveyed the ballroom in a silent and dark manner.

The guests had all evacuated. Only comrades and foes battled it out on the floor below. One misstep could cost you your life if you weren't alert while maneuvering through the mess. J.J. followed Asao swiftly. They tried making it out the front, but soon they were engaged in fighting. Almost.

L01 was ordered to follow them. He ran to the railings and aimed his gun downwards into the mass, sending bullets through the man trying to rip Asao's arm off as they tried to separate the two of them running away.

The earpiece in J.J.'s ear, which he wasn't even aware of, began to crackle and tickle his earlobes. A messy frequency paired afterwards with a soft, consistent buzz indicated that the line was connected to everyone else's with earpieces on.

"That wasn't Risa. Tell me through the earpiece, who are you?" Beta's authoritative voice demanded.

J.J. swallowed and submitted weakly, "I'm J.J."

"Who?" came Arsomis. "What's going on?"

There was a pause. "J.J.?" Beta repeated. "How old are you?"

"15, sir."

"When'd you come out?"

"In the room earlier. I'm not sure what happened to her, but when I came to, I was being shot at."

M&M's voice broke through. "Pierce, you actually understand what's going on?"

"'Her?'" Beta continued. "You're aware that Risa exists with you?"

"Yes, sir." He saw L01 coming down the stairs to join them on the sidelines. "But I might kill her if I'm out right now. I don't know what's going on."

"Cody, are you there?"

"Yeah," L01 responded coolly, coming to a stop right next to him as he stared him in the eyes. "We're not able to get out. There's guards barricading the door."

"Try kissing her."

The blonde man stumbled a step back and rubbed his earlobes with uncertainty. "W-What?"

"On the forehead, you idiot. It should calm her down."

"And how do you know?"

"Because I'm your fucking Commander."

"You use that excuse for everything!"

"Cody," M&M cut in. "Just listen to him. I don't know what's going on with her, but she needs to pull out that gun if she wants to leave. If you can calm her down then do it. Aren't you her best friend?"

L01 sighed and turned to J.J. The boy looked back with wide eyes. "Come here," the man gestured. When J.J. heavily hesitated, L01 grabbed his hand and pulled him closer to him. "It's the Commander's orders. Let me try it and bring Risa back."

Asao watched with a grim look, as if he knew the aftermath wouldn't be what they hoped for. And he would be right. L01 leaned in to kiss him on the forehead before they leaned away.

"I'm still a he," J.J. grimaced as the gash pulsated, a warm feeling spreading throughout his throat area.

L01 stabbed the earpiece in his ear as he exclaimed, "You really made me kiss her when it didn't do anything."

"It didn't work?" Arsomis asked. "Pierce, are you sure?"

Silence filled in the line. "It does work though..." Beta's uncertain voice replied.

"Lies," L01 huffed.

"Shut up. I'm thinking." The leader said, giving himself a moment before he spoke up again. "We're split up right now so I don't know where you all are. Whoever's closest, just get to her and try."

"A part of me still thinks this is a prank, but I'm coming downstairs. Wait a bit." Arsomis answered. L01 went to help out the guards that were on their side as M&M and Arsomis descended and walked towards Asao and him. They both tried it— tried a tiny peck on the head— but it didn't work.

He looked at them apologetically as Arsomis ripped a piece of M&M's dress like she instructed and gave it to him to contain his bleeding. Asao faced his back to them with his wooden slat stick pointing outwards to stand guard where they were.

M&M reached up to her earpiece with a shake of her head. "Pierce, it doesn't work. She keeps saying she's J.J."

Asao spoke up without turning his head. "It works."

Arsomis and M&M turned to him gradually. Their eyes were wide and they held their breath. It was the second time they heard him speak since they were all in the room. "What do you mean?" Arsomis asked carefully.

"Pierce has to do it."

"Asao, you're talking..." M&M's mouth parted warmly.

Beta came into the line. "I have to do it?"

That's when J.J. recalled a memory. Asao was right. The soft kiss on the forehead didn't work when other members, or anyone else for that matter, tried it. Asao had told him one time when they were alone when J.J. asked about alters and DID. The boy explained that Beta was the only one that had an effect on Risa, but because he was the only one that executed it when she dissociated, they misunderstood that it could be done be anyone.

J.J. decided to speak. "He's right. It doesn't work with anyone else. Only the Commander tried it in the past and it worked."

"Past... Commander?" Beta asked.

Asao joined in. "It's you, Pierce... not him. Come down."

M&M and Arsomis patted him and Asao on the shoulder before they joined L01 on the main floor to fight. Asao warded off a few suited men that discovered they were by the wall, sending their bodies to the ground like it had already been there with the rest of the fallen soldiers.

Beta emerged from the top of the stairs with his back facing them. He tossed a man off the terrace and the flimsy body landed on two other men on the ground, flattening them. To the assailants trailing him from behind, he jabbed the end of his gun into their eyes and sent them collapsing backwards with a punch each.

The leader came towards him in a blink of an eye and he squatted down, blood dripping down his suit, hands, and the side of his face. He tilted his head at J.J. and asked in a hoarse tone, "Are you afraid of me?"

"No, sir," he replied. "But a part of Risa is. She's Leigh. Asao told me I wasn't supposed to be out because Leigh was waking up."

Beta frowned. "Asao did?" He turned to the boy who just nodded at him and resumed back to guarding. Beta peered at him in the eyes. "Why?"

"Because I remember your past," J.J. replied truthfully. "Alters usually don't share memories, but Asao shared everything with me in the past. I know why Risa developed DID and who Leigh wants you guys to find."

All of a sudden, Beta glanced over his shoulder and shot a man dead square in the heart, making J.J. flinch before he went back to listening. "I need Risa out right now, but I also need to hear what you know."

J.J. smiled weakly. "You don't need me. Asao remembers everything. He can talk now so he'll be able to tell you. I'm not supposed to exist."

"Don't say that," Asao stated firmly, turning around. He had a dark look on his face, and Beta noticed. The man gently put his hand on Asao's shoulder and asked, "Can I put your friend to sleep?"

Asao looked at J.J. and smiled, "Nice meeting you again. Even if this isn't what we're used to playing when we get together. This is... the reality of T6's world."

"Glad I was able to at least see it for myself," he replied back grimly. "I have much respect for Risa after what I experienced in this short time."

Beta nodded and tilted his head down, touching his lips to J.J.'s head for a moment longer than the rest of the team. He closed his eyes in acceptance and readied himself to disappear again.

In a minute, he opened his eyes. Expecting to be back in the headspace. Expecting to be engulfed by darkness again, yet back to the comfort of seeing everything through her confident lenses. He instead saw Beta staring at him with furrowed brows.

J.J. felt frustrated. "It didn't... I'm sorry... I tried... I..."

... False alarm.

—
—
—

—
—
—

My neck was on fire. I felt it pulsating wildly like I had poison running through my veins. My temperature was rising irregularly as I placed a hand to my neck and winced. I looked forward and saw Pierce waiting for me to speak with a creased frown. I copied his expression and reached to stroke the side of his face with my free hand.

"Pierce," I let out softly. "I don't remember why we're here. I saw us moving , but I can't... I don't remember, I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, you need to get outside, now." He told me as he held my hand by his face. "It's past midnight. Remember the guards coming in the room with you and Asao? That's where we left off."

I stayed silent. Then a thought came to my mind. "Do I have..."

He got up and gestured towards Asao, who I didn't even know was standing next to me, and told the boy to watch out for me. I straightened up and held his sleeve with narrowed eyes. "Pierce, I think I have—"

"You do." He answered me, not dodging the matter. "But it won't be a problem from now on. We'll talk when we can regroup. Go get bandaged."

My eyes were dead. I hadn't even thought of the possibility of having a disorder. Did I really? Stumbling, I reached for my firearm and reloaded it as I stared blindly forward. Pierce and I parted. I did my best to focus just enough to get outside and have the night over with.

Then I could let my mind run.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

K2 met us in the helicopter parked to the side of the palace. His medic team tended to the wound on my neck that they told me was caused by bullets. Asao kept me company. He hugged my torso and rested his head against my body. I gently rubbed the boy's back as I waited for the team.

In an hour, they all came outside and hopped onto the aircraft. K2 explained that his subordinates were going to stay back and take the second flight, but that we had to go. No one voiced any objections.

Pierce ripped off his bloodied earpiece and threw it into the bag that K2 brought. The rest of the team was exhaling loudly, blood from other men and women dried up on their skin and suit.

K2 was the first to touch on what happened tonight. "Anastasie can't be trusted anymore. We took her into custody and she'll be going on the second flight. As for Nicolas and his father, we're turning them into French authorities. It was a violation to do any type of information exchange regarding T6, so they'll be reprimanded fairly. My team also broke ties with your organization. We killed most of their strongest men tonight, so they won't be hunting us down anytime soon. Any questions?"

"The rings. Where are they?" Osias asked.

Pierce shifted and brought out his right hand, and they all saw the gold loop attached on his fourth finger. "I had to put it somewhere it wouldn't fall."

Asao reached into my purse and got the silver ring that he retrieved. He twirled it in his palms, mesmerized, before he handed it to me. I took it silently and stared at it, expressionless.

K2 spoke up again. "Then if there's no other questions, I suggest you all rest and we'll travel back to the penthouse—"

"No," I started, getting everyone's attention. I turned my head to the director and shook my head. "Take us to Serenity."

"Serenity?" Cody jutted in, running a hand through his hair. "You're in no condition to go."

"I have to, Cody," I stated in a hoarse tone. "We're meeting fake Beta there. If we go now, we'll make it."

They had all forgotten about that. About fake Beta and how he'd been invading their privacy and possibly sending the assailants after them one by one. About how Asao and I discussed he could be tracking K2 and not them. But it didn't matter anymore.

"K2, tell me the truth." I started, putting the ring on my left hand absentmindedly. "What's wrong with me?"

They all frowned and glanced at one another. K2 furrowed his brows. "There's nothing wrong with you, sweetheart."

"If there's nothing wrong, then why are we in this mess?" I choked out, feeling my head spin.

"What do you mean, Risa?" Kenya leaned forward and placed her hand atop mine in reassurance. "You're fine. There's nothing wrong with you."

Asa stopped us and asked if he could speak. They had forgotten he could speak, but it was my first time hearing it tonight. The boy explained to us our past. He touched on a past Commander, and I found out that that was what Pierce had been dreaming about on the jet ride to France. We learned that I had something called Dissociative Identity Disorder.

I learned that there were two others living in me. Someone named Leigh, and another named J.J. They all watched me carefully, observing how I'd take in the information. My fist clenched as I remembered something amidst everyone's conversations. "I'm going to shut my eyes for a bit."

K2 nodded and told everyone to do the same. "You guys haven't slept in hours. I'll wake you up when we get back to the States."

We all settled into our seats. Pierce and I sat in the back and the team slumped into their chairs before us, all as exhausted as I was. Pierce turned to me before he slept, and I returned his gaze. We stayed like that for a long moment. I could see it in his eyes that he was worried. Something wasn't going to go well.

I managed a sly smirk at T6's Commander. "What's with that look in your eyes? I'm fine."

"You're not," he replied, knowing me after all this time. "After you found out about DID, you've been quiet."

I laughed lightheartedly. "If we don't bicker, is that automatically a red flag for you?" I quieted down and looked down at the hand that he held out before me.

"What's this for?" I asked amusedly, but I already knew what I was going to do.

He didn't rip his eyes from me. "I'm afraid when we wake up, I'd lose you again."

"You're the biggest softie in the world!" I nudged him, earning a roll of his eyes. "And I'm kind of bummed that the team's sleeping and they didn't witness this."

K2 coughed from the front and stared at the two of us through the head mirror. "I know y'all didn't just forget I still existed. Who do you think was flying this helicopter this whole time?"

"Autopilot exists," Pierce and I answered bluntly, earning a scoff from the older man.

"Your dramatic ass getting all meshy-mushy over my child," K2 shot Pierce an evil eye. "She's not going to just disappear out of this helicopter. I think I'd know if a body went missing out the window."

I held back a snort as Pierce geared up for a verbal battle now that the team wasn't awake to hear. "DID. ANYONE. ASK. YOU. YA. OLD. WARTY. FART?" The man next to me over-enunciated each word so that K2 swerved the whole helicopter to the side, making me knock into Pierce.

"Sir, I'm trying to keep my head intact by next morning," I grunted, still in disbelief that he did that, and still in disbelief that it didn't wake the team one bit.

"My bad," the Director smiled and ruffled his hair coolly, checking the head mirror again. "Slip of my hand, you know. Since I'm old."

"I have a lot to put about you on the headstone." Pierce scoffed.

"I love how you already decided you'd die."

"I was talking about your headstone."

I shook my head with a smile and picked up Pierce's right hand with the ring on it, placing my left hand into his. He raised his eyebrows and looked at me.

"Let's sleep, okay?" I tilted my head. "I won't go anywhere. If I do disappear, at least you're coming with me." He smirked and closed his hand over mine, not forgetting to shoot K2 a glare that I didn't see before we settled back into our seats and shut our eyes. The two of us drifted off together.

K2 looked into the mirror one last time to check up on the pair in the back. His eyes landed on the intertwined hands, especially the hands that both Nicolas and Anastasie's rings were placed on.

"Those losers," he muttered under his breath. "Should I break it to her that she fell in love with the same man twice?"

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

M&M: So does that mean that she never had feelings for our past Commander?

RSMS: Give me a T. Give me an E. Give me an A.

L01: Do they know we were actually awake though?

Pooh: Shh.

Minna: By next update, I'm going to be a year older! Ancient and extinct.