Months passed, this was perhaps the longest relationship Asher had to date. He was safe, well fed and lacked nothing even if all he really wanted was halfway decent partner and a good couch to sleep on.

 Asher didn't really bother with whatever was going on with the syndicate. Orion didn't talk about it so he tried not to care what Orion was up to outside their relationship, or he didn't at first. He continued to find himself caring more and more.

“This might sound weird considering how long we've already been together this long. But I think… I think I’m actually, like, in love with you. I’ve liked you from the beginning but like… Is that stupid? I’m the one who’s supposed to be seducing you, right?” Asher asked, then realized he wasn’t getting a response. "Hey Orion? Are you even listening to me?...Orion?"

Orion was deeply focused on the book in front of him. His eyes were narrowed at something on the page, something Asher had come to associate with the part Orion referred to as Katz.

"Hmm let me guess, Katz?" Asher asked playfully.

"Huh?” Katz jumped in his seat. “Oh. Don't do that it makes me uncomfortable."

"Sorry. You weren't responding so I just thought... I didn't mean to scare you." Asher explained.

"No, it's not your fault.” He shuddered. “How did you even figure it out? Geez, You're worse than Imani."

"You're the easiest one to figure out, you tend to squint more for some reason.” Asher said imitating his expression. “Who is Imani?"

"Huh? I... hold on let me think about this…” Katz struggled to remember, “She's someone I worked with… at Spectra.”

“Spectra, right. So, you're some kind of secret agent. Is that how you ended up here?” Asher asked.

“Something like that…” Katz thought about it carefully. “How do you know about Spectra?”

“Ah- I- I know some things.” Asher waved him off, “Is Claire also from Spectra?”

“Claire… How did you know about Claire?” Katz narrowed his eyes again.

“You talk in your sleep a lot. Like you're trying to give her updates. Thought she was your therapist or something to be honest.” Asher admitted.

“She's not she's… she is, she was the leader of our team. If they were smart they would’ve withdrawn completely when things went awry and cut off anyone who remained, like me.” He looked back at his book. “Otherwise, they're probably all dead.”

“Oh… Um… Let's change the subject to a lighter note, hopefully.” Asher paused, “How come you're the only Orion with a different name? And where did that name come from anyway?”

“I’m not, technically. But I don’t remember what the rest go by. My name came from… a cartoon actually.” He admitted.

“Oh, weird… what cartoon was it?” Asher asked.

“I can't really remember, I know it had a dog in it.” Katz rocked his head a bit as he tried to think. “I got nothing else.”

“That describes most cartoons if I’m being honest.” Asher sighed.

“Sorry, that’s all I got at the moment.” Katz laughed.

“Well aside from that, like, what's your deal anyway?” Asher asked casually.

“What?” Katz asked.

“Do you have like, a role or something?” Asher tried not to be too invasive about it.

“I never really bothered with stuff like that. I didn't find labels like that very useful. But I think the only thing really specific to me is high pain tolerance.” Katz shrugged.

“Is that why I see you more often when you're sick?” Asher questioned.

“Yeah, I guess.” Katz said.

“I am curious about that actually, why are you sick all the time?” Asher asked.

“The project I’m working on is utilizing dimensional energy to generate something to fight the distortion.” He paused realizing he might need to explain further. “I have to use my body as a conduit for the energy used in the project, so what I’m experiencing is something similar to radiation sickness.”

“Normally, I would think all of that was absolutely bullshit. But I swear to god I saw you glowing blue the other night.”

“It's not impossible.” He laughed.

“So, is this distortion stuff really that serious?”

“Yeah, it's like apocalyptic level stuff, The distortion is like, a thing that forms from the dimensional collapse or other dimensional abnormalities it’s destructive and all that…” Katz explained. “I can't really say much more about it. Not that it really matters anymore but it is technically classified information.”

“Are you sure it's not just because you can't remember?” Asher teased.

“Oh hush. Just take this and quit distracting me.” Katz tossed something over to Asher.

“What's this?” Asher asked barely managing to catch it.

“A key. You're bound to get locked out again if I don't.” Katz mused, “For the record, I don’t think it’s stupid that you took this long to fall in love with me. I struggle with that myself. While it's mutual, I do think it’s stupid that it was me specifically you fell in love with.”

“Look, I know I have bad taste, but you don't have to put yourself down like that.” Asher teased, “Say, why don’t we go out or something later?”

“We can just go now, I’m tried of looking at this anyway.” Katz sighed.

“I thought you said you didn’t want to be distracted.” Asher said.

“Well, maybe I want to be distracted now.” Katz smiled. “What day is it today, Saturday?”

“It's Tuesday.” Asher said.

“Perfect.” Katz said. “The bar down the street is decent enough.”

“A bar? It's like 3 in the afternoon. Are they even open?” Asher asked.

“I technically own the place so it would be fine even if it wasn't.” He said grabbing his coat and heading for the door. “Besides there will be live music so it'll be fun.”

“Ok sure why not.” Asher followed along.

It was hardly a block away. When they got there the place was barren save for a bartender cleaning and setting up. There was a small stage on one side with a few instruments set out and what looked like a karaoke machine on the side.

“Why is this place so empty?” Asher asked. “I thought you said it was open.”

“It's still about an hour or so until the live band shows up. No one really comes here for anything else.” Katz said.

“Are they any good?” Asher asked

“I’d like to think so.” He smirked.

“What do you mean?” Asher raised an eyebrow.

“Just give me a minute.” Katz hopped on stage and started messing with stuff.

“Are you the live band?” Asher said unenthusiastically, “there’s no way.”

“I don’t think a single person is a band per say.” Katz said grabbing a nearby guitar.

“You've got to be kidding me.” Asher shook his head. “Even if you're serious, you couldn't even remember what day it is, how could you possibly have a gig?”

“I’m only half joking, it's Tuesday so it's karaoke night which does in fact start in an hour. But since we're here early we might as well have a little fun.” Katz strummed the guitar made a sour face, “Hmm… I can't remember how to play.”

“You can't remember how to play?” Asher laughed, “How do you forget something like that?”

“I forget my own name sometimes are you really surprised?” Katz laughed.

“I guess not.” Asher shrugged.

“I only know like 3 songs anyway.” Katz clicked a button on the karaoke machine next to him and music started playing. Katz very obviously pretended to play along to the song with the guitar even though there weren't any guitars.

“Wait I know this song.” Asher paused, “Hey! Did you really do all this just to rick roll me?”

Katz smiled deviously and began singing with extremely exaggerated tones as one would expect from karaoke. Asher couldn't tell if there were actually any guitars in the audio that was playing but Katz continued to pretend to play regardless.

“Encore! Encore!” Asher laughed.

“No, that's enough, people should start coming in soon. The bar should be open now, I’ll be right back.” Katz said heading toward the bathroom.

Asher walked up to the bar and was greeted by a short muscular woman with an impressive tattoo sleeve.

“I haven't seen you around here before. What’ll you have?” She asked him.

“Oh, I’ll have some water for now.” He said.

“Are you sure? Anything you want is free if you're with him.” She said.

“It's too early in the night for me to drink.” Asher insisted.

“Alright let me know if you need anything else.” She said placing a glass in front of him and returning to the countertop she was cleaning before.

“Thanks.” Asher took a few sips and pondered what song he'd be willing to do karaoke for if he got a chance later.

It was still quiet and peaceful. Asher could hear a few people walking in but didn't bother to look and see who they were.

“I’ve finally found you, again.” A familiar voice called out to him.

“Wh- What are you doing here Vance?” Asher asked nearly dropping his drink before placing it down.

“I lost a lot of money because of you.” Vance pushed him.

“What do you mean? I paid you back. I gave it to Alec like I promised.” Asher explained.

“I’m not talking about that. You should be dead right now.” Vance said.

“I’m not going to die that easily.” Asher said.

“No. You were dead.” Vance glared at him.

“Well, I’m not dead now. Why don’t you fuck off?” Asher snarled.

“The Lucidians paid a lot of money for your corpse. You escaping has become a big problem for me. You’re coming with me.” Vance snapped. Asher tried to get away but Vance pushed him into the counter.

“You again.” Katz stepped in.

“You’re not getting in my way this time.” Vance pulled out a gun and tried to shoot Katz.

“Not this again.” The bartender sighed. “Where did I put it?”

Katz’s shadows defended the attack effortlessly. “Are you stupid? Did your friend not warn you about me?”

“What the hell are you?” Vance growled grabbing Asher by the arm.

“Let go of me!” Asher tried to yank his arm away but couldn't. Vance gripped him tighter in response. “Ouch!”

“Don’t touch him!” Katz snapped. His shadows cut into Vance’s arm, and he released Asher.

“Fuck.” Asher rubbed his arm where he was grabbed, “that shits going to leave a bruise.”

He shot at Katz again to no avail.

“I didn’t think I’d get the hang of using shadows offensively. But it seems to be going smoothly now.” Katz said releasing his shadows for another stab into the man.

“You fucking monster!!” Vance kept trying to shoot him, but he ran out of bullets. A gun shot came from behind the counter he dropped dead. It was the bartender holding a small pistol and baring a disgruntled expression.

“Sorry about this sir.” The bartender said hoping the counter. he quickly started to drag Vance away. He whistled and another person came and started cleaning the floor. “The bouncer is going to have an earful after letting in someone with firearms again.”

“Uhh…? Don't worry about it. I feel like this was going to happen either way.” Katz turned to Asher. “Are you alright, Ash?”

“Let’s just get out of here.” Asher pulled Katz away.

“Is something wrong?” Katz asked him. “Aside from the whole… whatever just happened?”

“He said I was dead, that he sold off my corpse. What do you think he meant by that?” Asher quivered.

“Well, you’re part demon so maybe they just got confused.” Katz reassured him. “I vaguely knew there was a market for… secondhand bodies among Lucidians, but I didn’t think they would be trying to get them like this.”

“Am I dead?” Asher looked at him.

“No, I don’t think so. You look pretty alive to me.” Katz tried to wrap his head around it. “Do you remember dying?”

“I don’t think that's something someone would remember.” Asher said quietly, “You said secondhand bodies, what exactly are they using them for?”

“Normally when Lucidians are about to die, they just make new bodies and install their consciousness in them. But it's expensive.” He explained. “So, some of them get bodies second hand and well, I imagine that has now escalated to include human corpses.”

“That's gross...” Asher looked at the ground. “Wait, what if I’m a Lucidian and that's why I’m still alive.”

“You don't have white pupils, so you can't be a Lucidian.” Orion explained.

“Oh.” Asher breathed a sigh of relief. “That's right, yeah, I’ve seen them before, I just thought it was a medical condition.”

“Why did you think you might be one?” Orion asked.

“Just the dysphoria. I just couldn't help but wonder if maybe I really am in the wrong body.” Asher shrugged it off. “Do you get what I mean?”

“Yeah, I wasn't always a shapeshifter, I developed that later and even now I’m not great at it. So definitely understand that feeling.” Orion explained.

“Would you still love me if I wasn't who I think I am?” Asher asked.

“Of course, I’m not even who I think I am half the time and you still managed to fall in love with me.” Orion smiled.

“Would you-?” Asher was cut off.

“Before you ask. Yes, I would still love you if you were a worm.” Orion wrapped an arm around Asher’s shoulder.

“That's not what I was going to say.” Asher pouted.

They remained silent for a moment.

“Hey, are you okay?” Asher asked.

“Why wouldn't I be? It didn't hit me.” Orion replied.

“No, I mean, that guy just died in front of us, did that not bother you?” Asher looked at Orion carefully.

“Is this about my aura being innocent or whatever? I’ve had to kill people before you know.” Orion stared back at him.

“Sure, sure.” Asher teased. He didn't doubt that, but he couldn't help but worry about Orion. Even if it was only because he didn't want to worry about himself, and the anxiety that was creeping up in the back of his mind.