Asher had a strange dream, it was a loose copy of the dream Orion was talking about before he had fallen back asleep. Orion had woken both of them up in the middle of the night, it didn't happen too frequently. But when it did, Asher always struggled to fall back asleep.

White walls and being chased were the only things he could remember of it, which happened to be the only things Orion had really mentioned. Orion was there he didn't seem all that concerned though. Asher passed him several times while running before he finally stopped and asked why he wasn't trying to escape, but Orion didn't respond he just melted into a sad shadowy puddle at his feet. 

Asher tried to drag him along, but Orion wasn't moving. He kept trying to get Orion to move as the thing chasing Asher got closer, but he noticed they were both stuck to the floor with glue.

He woke up exhausted. It took him a moment to realize he was alone. Orion was already out of bed and making something that he would insist is breakfast.

“Good morning Orion.” Asher yawned taking a seat at the dining table.

“Morning Ash. Glad to see you're finally awake.” Orion called out from the kitchen.

“I swear every time you tell me about your nightmares I end up dreaming about them.” Asher mumbled under his breath before yawning again.

“Sorry about that. Anyway, breakfast is ready. It’s the-” Orion was cut off.

“The most important meal of the day, yeah, yeah. Just give me your shitty non-breakfast breakfast food already.” Asher teased.

“Breakfast foods expire too quickly. By the time I get to it, it’s always gone bad already.” Orion explained.

“You could at least have cereal or something.” Asher said stirring the cup of coffee in front if him. “I know you're still too paranoid to let me cook for you.”

“I don’t like the texture of dry cereal.” Orion sighed.

“Then put coffee in it? I don’t know, honestly anything is better than eating brownies.” Asher teased him.

“It’s about the same amount of sugar anyway. Freyaa always said it's better to eat something strange than to eat nothing. Besides I made real food this time.” Orion placed two bowls mac and cheese on the table.

“Oh. Well, that is a step up from the usual.” Asher shrugged. “Do you have to go to work today?”

“Yeah and I might not be back for a while. I was thinking-” Orion stopped mid-sentence squinting like he was trying to refocus his eyes.

“Thinking what?” Asher stood up and checked on him, but there didn't appear to be anything wrong. Orion stayed silent for a time. Asher tried to snap him out of it to no avail. “Hey, Orion?”

“What are you still doing here?” Katz eyed Asher in a way that made him shudder.

“What do you mean?” Asher glared back. “Orion? Or are you Katz?”

“I suppose this was an outcome, too. Hmm… there's too many variables right now, it's hard to tell what path we're on. Why do the others have to complicate things so much?” He muttered to himself with his hand over his mouth, he didn't seem to hear a word Asher said. He suddenly looked up again, “You should leave while you still have time.”

“Are you okay? Why do you… want me to leave?” Asher gulp down more of his coffee, he didn't want that to go to waste at least.

“Just leave already.” He paused putting his hand to his chin, “I have to figure out what path I’m on.”

“Can you stop being cryptic for once and tell me what the hell you're talking about?” He put the coffee down.

“I don’t want to involve you in this. It’s not worth it… too risky. Please just leave.” Katz explained urging him to the door.

“Alright geez. I’ll come back later when you've figured it out, I guess.” Asher replied.

“No, don't come back. I should've just left you out in the alleyway that night. It would've been safer for you than this.” Shut the door in his face and locked it.

“Are you kidding me? Safety? Is that what this is about? Can we just talk about this?” Asher unlocked the door unceremoniously. “If you wanted to kick me out maybe you could have tried to remember that you gave me a key, not that this door would be hard to pick if I had to.”

“How did you get that?” Katz snapped trying to flee.

“As I said, you gave it to me. I was going to just give you some space, but I think it's a bad idea to leave you alone like this. I don’t know what scared you but-” Asher chased him back to the kitchen.

“I’m not scared I’m frustrated. Why won't you just get out of here?” He growled.

“I’m not dumb enough to fall for that, you're literally shaking. Come here.” Asher pulled Orion’s head towards his chest and started petting his hair flat. Orion didn't have the strength to push him away.

“What are you…!?” He relaxed his shoulders.. “Oh… this is nice. You're very… warm.”

“I’m part demon I better be at least a little warm.” Asher remarked. “How about we just sit down and talk about this? Okay?”

“Okay…” Orion sat down and leaned his head into Asher’s chest.

“Can you tell me what’s so bad about your job that you had to freak out on me? That's what caused this thing right? Or was it something else?” Asher asked gently.

“You're going to die if you stick around me.” Katz warned him.

“I think you're going to die if I don't, honestly how did you even survive without me?” Asher laughed.

“I’m not going to die. He wouldn't let that happen. But you…” Orion trailed off.

“I won’t die that easily Orion. Besides don't you think pushing me away now would just put a target on my back anyway? I’ve already been with you despite the risks.” Asher continued to run his hand over Orion’s head. “What are you so scared of? It doesn’t have to do with the project does it?”

“I work for the syndicate.” Orion said as if he was revealing something important.

“That’s like. One of the first things you’ve ever told me, and I don't think there's a single person in a hundred-mile radius that doesn't know that.” Asher rolled his eyes. “You're going to have to elaborate on that a little.”

“I can’t really tell you much. What exactly do you want to know?” Orion asked.

“I dunno, maybe why you're the only person relatively intact being surrounded by a bunch of soulless husks and mind-controlled minions? That might be a good place to start.” Asher said trying to brush through a tangle in Orion's hair with his fingers.

“I’m the favorite.” He said in a dreadful tone.

“What does that mean?” Asher bit his lip.

“He wouldn't let something like that happen to me no matter how much I’ve tried.” He explained. “...And believe me I've tried.”

“Who?” Asher tried to make sense of the situation.

“The boss… I have to go now.” He shook his head and started for the door. “I’m late.”

“Wait, you haven't eaten anything yet.” Asher tried to stop him.

“I, oh.” He frowned grabbing a prepackaged brownie off the counter and shoving it in his face. “I don’t know when I’ll be back. But it will be a while.”

“Fine, whatever. I’ll have the most important meal of the day by myself then.” Asher tried to shake it off, but he was more bothered by what might be happening to Orion than he’d like to be. Asher pouted and picked up the bowl of mac and cheese.