Aki watched Aiden with burning eyes.

He watched Aiden always, and today was no exception. Aki watched as the woman pleaded for her life, begging on her knees. He still watched as Aiden pulled the hammer, aimed the gun and fired. And still, he watched, as the colour drained from that woman's face and spilled onto the ground.

He just watched. There wasn't much else he could do. Sometimes, he thought of intervening and preventing their untimely deaths. But he was too afraid that Aiden would end up turning the gun on him.

Disturbed by the thought, he reached for Aiden's hand. "Did you have to kill her?" he asked softly, like every other time.

And like every other time, Aiden hesitated. "Yes," he breathed. "She—"

"What bad thing did she do?" Aki stared at the woman. He stared at her limbs, twisted in an unnatural way. He stared at the pooling blood, at her stained shirt, at her face forever frozen in horror. He stared at her and felt nothing.

Aiden took a deep breath, his mind racing and his heart thumping. He had done this time and time again, but still, he could never get rid of that feeling. 

The I just killed someone feeling.

"It doesn't matter," he said softly after too long. "You don't need to know, okay? Let's go, Mara is probably waiting for us." He started to walk out of the dark and narrow alleyway, gently pulling on Aki's arm.

Aki didn't move. He just looked into Aiden's eyes, searching, searching for something. His lips parted slightly, and he said a tiny word, a word so tiny it was lost under the sounds of the city.

"Ignis."

It never started off slow. Aiden knew the feeling all too well, but he could never get used to it. It was as if someone threw him into a pit of fire and he was burning to death. His head pounded and throbbed. His mind crumbled to dust, shattering into millions of pieces. Memories that weren't his flashed before his eyes.

Screams.

Pain.

Tears.

His ears started to ring, his vision blurred and he was suddenly gasping for breath. He clutched his head with one hand as the world began to spin. His knees turned weak, barely able to withstand his weight. He put out his hand to steady himself on the wall.

"Aki," he managed to choke out. "Aki, stop."

Aki blinked and Aiden felt an immediate wave of relief. He took a few shaky breaths, trying to calm his racing heart. It had stopped as quickly as it had started.

"I had to," Aki started, tripping over his words. "You never tell me anything, Aiden. So I..."

Aiden squeezed his hand gently. "You don't have to worry about me. I'm the one supposed to be worrying about you." 

Aki cast his eyes downward. He nodded, his hand tightening around Aiden's. "Sorry," he said, the word bouncing off the walls. 

There were no other words left to be spoken. They walked away from the pale corpse.

※ ※ ※

For any Blank, the Council's lobby would've been a grand sight. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling. During the day, light entered the lobby through huge windows that lined every wall. The floor was made of polished marble. There were two flights of red-carpeted stairs on either side of the glass elevator.

The front desk was about two metres long, with species of all kinds talking on the phone and signing people in. Species — as in vampires, werewolves and fairies. Nothing out of the ordinary.

In this world, 'normal' meant you were a freak.

To Aiden, the lobby was boring. There were more important things to worry about than a shiny lobby. Like bills and taxes and washing blood stains off your shirts.

As Aiden and Aki walked in, they earned a few stares from people. Aiden looked down at his shirt, splattered with blood. He coughed and buttoned up his jacket, walking up to the front desk.

"Good morning, Nissa," he said, leaning against the counter.

The new witch secretary waved shyly, then scrambled to pick up her pen. "Good morning, Mr Michel, Mr Raine." She scribbled into a book, her cheeks a light pink.

"You look nice today, Nissa," Aki chirped.

The witch perked up, losing her grip on the pen. It bounced around in the air for a while before she managed to catch it. "T-Thank you, Aki— I mean, Mr Raine!" She shifted her glance to Aiden before burying her face into the book and continued writing. "Mr Michel, you have an appointment with the Boss scheduled in five."

"Thanks." He smiled at her and walked over to the elevator. He paused before walking in and turned to Aki. He knelt down in front of him, placing his hand on his shoulder. "I don't want you getting bored in Top Office, so you can go to the staff room and maybe find Kit and Leo there."

Aki shook his head, holding onto Aiden's arm. "I want to come with you. Please?"

Aiden smiled sympathetically. "I don't know if the Boss will let you, if I'm completely honest." He leaned in closer, a playful smile on his lips. "Here's what you can do. You can find Mara and try to get her to get me a coffee."

Aki's eyes widened, clearly excited by the prospect. He giggled. "She's going to be so mad at you."

"I trust you to defend me, my knight in shining armour." He patted his shoulder and stood up.

"Knight?" Aki laughed, hands on his hips. "I'm a king." He saluted and ran off.

Aiden saluted back and walked into the glass elevator. He leaned against the wall and watched as he passed different floors. He drummed his fingers against his leg and waited for the doors to open.

The doors did open, but around twenty floors early. A young man carrying a bouquet of white roses entered. He looked around Aiden's age. He had dark hair that swept across his forehead, hidden under a hat. He had a sharp jawline and his skin was tanned and smooth. His emerald green eyes reminded Aiden of himself and he consciously looked away.

The man smiled at him. "Did you order a bunch a' flowers, sir?" he asked with a slight accent.

"No," Aiden replied slowly, trying to figure out where his accent was from. It didn't seem to match up with his appearance, but then again, there were exceptions. "I'm heading up to the Top Office right now. I can ask for you if you want."

The man didn't stop smiling. "That would be jus' splendid."

They fell into a comfortable silence. Aiden avoided eye contact with the delivery man.

The man walked out a couple floors later. He turned to Aiden and tipped his hat. "Thank you, sir." His green eyes twinkled, his smile still plastered on his face.

Aiden considered telling him to wait until they got at Top Office so he could help. He decided too late — the man walked away.

The elevator stopped. 'Top Office,' the monotonous female voice said.

Aiden stepped off and looked around the big, spacious office.

It was more like a living room than an office. There was a desk at the back, along with two white swivel chairs. A bottle of red wine stood on the mahogany. The floor was lined with walnut wood planks.

There was a glass coffee table in the middle of the office, surrounded by white sofas. Red cushions gave the whole room a pop of colour. A huge window took up the whole of one wall. Aiden constantly got the idea that the Boss was obsessed with glass. The Top Office and the elevator were good evidence of this.

It was empty, silent. The Boss wasn't there.

Aiden sighed and walked around the office. He had to admit — the Boss was good at interior design. He went over to the desk and picked up the wine bottle. "Cheval Blanc, 1947. That's some rich stuff." He popped the cork off and took a whiff of the scent. "Strong too," he murmured, a smile tugging on the corner of his lips.

He put the bottle down and glanced out the window. The sun was beginning to sink, shades of red and pink spilling over the horizon. He ran his fingers over the smooth glass of the window. His hands tingled, his mind going to his camera.

If only he hadn't lost that stupid thing. Then maybe he could be up in the Top Office, taking pictures of a view he could only dream of. He scoffed.

Instead, he was taking countless lives.

He resisted the urge to punch the glass. Where was that stupid camera anyways? It felt like he had lost it so long ago, yet he could remember taking pictures just a month or two back. When did he lose it? When was the last time he touched it?

His hands tingled again. No matter how many times he called his camera stupid, he missed the thing. It was one of the only things he still had from his childhood. A really blurry childhood. 

He rubbed his temples, a sharp pain running through his head. "I could really use that coffee right now," he hissed under his breath. His gaze fell on the wine bottle. He smiled. One glass couldn't hurt, right? It didn't seem like the Boss wasn't coming any time soon.

The elevator dinged and he whipped around to face the opening doors. Immediately, he knew there was something wrong.

"Aiden! Everybody... everybody has done bad things!" Aki gasped, clutching his tiny chest as he exhaled. The extra sweet coffee Aiden asked for was all over the expensive carpet. It sloshed around Aki's shoes.

"What do you mean...?"

But Aiden knew perfectly what he meant. He'd been doing this for months, for years even. Maybe it was that tiny optimistic side of him hoping that he meant something else. But of course, it wasn't. Aiden knew perfectly what he meant.

Bad things meant death in Aki's dictionary.

Aiden shook his head, grabbed the small boy's hand and pulled him to the emergency stairs. He ran down, two steps at a time. Aki stumbled after him, tripping over his feet.

"Quick, Aki," Aiden snapped. "Who did you see?"

"A man... with a hat." Aki rushed to get his words out. "His Guardian was... um, a flower. Yeah, a flower. I think."

Aiden's headache grew worse with each step he took. "Hat. Flower. Delivery guy." Aiden cursed and Aki's eyes widened at the forbidden word. "No. White flowers. No, white roses. That's innocence. Innocence and... silence. Silence." He turned sharply and jumped down another flight of stairs.

Aki frowned. "Ignis," he whispered under his breath, though the word didn't go unnoticed by Aiden.

It was less intense than at any other moment, but still fierce. His headache got stronger, his heartbeat spiked. Sweat dripped down his forehead and he nearly fell down the stairs a couple times.

Aki took a shivering breath, releasing his Ignis spell. "It's not your fault, Aiden."

Aiden slowed down as he reached a door. He paused, glancing at him briefly. "I know it's not," he lied. He gave him a small smile and knelt down in front of him. He placed his hand on Aki's blond head and ruffled his hair. "Stay safe."

Aki nodded, a tear escaping from the corner of his eye. He wrapped his small arms around his neck, burying his face into Aiden's shoulder. "You too."

The duo split ways.