Axel threw a slim reference volume to the floor and sprawled out on Sephiroth's bed, his mouth twisted in distaste. "I can't find a single language that looks like this stuff," he complained. "Not Arabic, not Chinese, not Greek. We're wasting our time."

Sephiroth didn't look up from the books in his lap. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor, leaning against the bed. "Keep looking," he replied, comparing the strange symbols in the dusty Chronicles to other lines of text. "It has to be here somewhere."

They had managed to smuggle the secret book out of the library, along with numerous volumes on language and ancient cultures. With their weapons discarded in a pile by the door, the two Angels had been holed up in Sephiroth's room for hours, but hadn't gotten any further in discovering the source of the alien text.

"I still don't see why we can't ask Sora or Riku to help," Axel grumbled, flipping open another book. "Maybe they would recognize it. They've traveled more than anyone."

"No," the silver-haired man insisted for the third time. "This book has been hidden from us for a reason; either Yen Sid and Merlin knew about it and have tried to keep it from us, or there isn't anyone left alive who knew of its existence save you and I. Either way, it must contain something important, perhaps dangerous." He sighed and rubbed at his tired eyes. "I want to spare Sora and Riku that burden. We're on our own."

"Great. Just peachy," Axel muttered. He slammed yet another book shut. "Well, it's not Latin. We're running out of options here." He turned to his side and propped his chin on his fist, looking down at the top of Sephiroth's head. "Seph, what if it isn't a language?"

"What do you mean? Of course it's a language. It's written down right there." Sephiroth jabbed a finger at the tome's brittle pages.

"I mean, what if it's a code?" The redhead grabbed the thick book and paged through it, finally stopping at one of the colorful illustrations. "Look, right here," he said, pointing to its caption in triumph.

Sephiroth looked at the page that Axel thrust before his face. A picture of an outstretched wing lay across the page, with four strange symbols underneath it.

"Four symbols," Axel said slowly. "W-I-N-G."

"We can crack it," Sephiroth said, scrambling for a pen and paper from the floor. "We just need to find simple pictures that go along with the words."

"I'll start looking, you start writing down what I tell you," Axel said, his voice quickening with excitement. "Ready? Blue circle with four dots is a W. Red square with a cross is an I."

Sephiroth wrote, and before long the Chronicles unraveled before them. A few of the more difficult letters required some skill at fill-in-the-blank puzzles, but soon they had a working cipher.

"Fantastic work, Axel," Sephiroth said with a small smile. "You must have a brain somewhere in there."

Axel tapped the side of his head with his fist. "It kicks in every so often." He cleared the bed of the now-useless reference books and beckoned Sephiroth to sit with him. "Let's start translating this thing."

They began slowly, with Axel calling out the appropriate letter and Sephiroth recording the sentences bit by bit. With patience, whole stanzas appeared on their paper, and Sephiroth read the first of these aloud:

"To those of grace and with pure heart, look here no further for your part, but to protect you from a dark demise, it is certain: Angels must rise."

Axel blinked. "Okay." He tipped his head towards his partner. "Any idea what that means?"

Sephiroth shrugged. "I haven't the faintest."

"Looks like we have a riddle inside a puzzle," Axel sighed. "Well, let's keep at it then."

They continued decoding the ancient book, sometimes arguing over what symbol was actually there on the faded paper. After nearly an hour, only a slim portion of the pages were completed, and they were no closer to understanding the book's intent.

"Blah blah blah, blood and Darkness, hearts and Light, more stuff about kings and keys and castles…" Axel read in exasperation. "I can't understand a word of this frou-frou poetry." He picked up a page written in Sephiroth's neat hand. "Like listen to this: 'One being not, the other is right, naught of import is speed or might, for the protectors to rise in the clean blue air, those with new eyes must travel in pairs.' What the hell are they talking about?"

"Pairs?" Sephiroth's brow furrowed in concentration. "The Keyblade Bearers, perhaps?"

"Yeah, but with new eyes? Do they mean babies? That doesn't make any sense." Axel's wing shifted against his side, and a small shower of feathery down floated to Sephiroth's bed sheets.

Sephiroth watched the white wisps closely before glancing up at the wing that curved behind Axel's shoulder. The fire-maker's bright green eyes shifted up to meet Sephiroth's stare. "What?" he asked peevishly.

"It's us." Sephiroth was too eager to register Axel's disbelief. "Come on, we need to go upstairs," he said, standing swiftly amid the flurry of papers and pulling Axel along by his wrist.

At the top of the tall parapet, they could see the entire castle below them with workers rushing across the courtyard, stringing tiny lights in preparation for the ball. Beyond the castle walls, the countryside lay quiet and misty, even at the noon hour. Sephiroth faced that direction, leaning out a narrow window to gaze at the ground far below. Axel watched with an unimpressed expression.

"So we're the pair? With new eyes?" he asked.

"We are. Observe." Sephiroth turned and shut his eyes tight, and when he opened them, they glimmered all-green and alien. "Your eyes now look the same," he informed Axel.

The redhead took a peek in a half-filled bucket of water that some servant had left at the top of the stairs. His bright all-green eyes reflected back at him.

"Neat trick." Axel shrugged. "So what?"

Sephiroth reached out and touched Axel's shoulder lightly, and the light in their eyes abated, returning to normal. "I think it means we're connected," he said.

Axel nodded and spun his hand in a circle in the air, a motion for Sephiroth to explain further. The silver-haired man sat upon the narrow window ledge.

"We're going to fly," he said with a smug grin.

Axel waited a moment before laughing. "Here's a quick physics lesson," he chuckled. "One wing cannot a full-grown man support." He flapped his appendage in demonstration, lifting only a foot from the ground before dropping back down. "We can glide, maybe jump a little higher. Hell, maybe with a few Aero spells we can stay aloft for a minute. But fly?"

"One on the right," Sephiroth pointed to Axel's wing, "and one on the left." He pointed to his own over his left shoulder. "Together, we make a set. We can fly, but we have to do it together."

Shaking his head, Axel muttered, "You're crazy. This is crazy."

"Please trust me," Sephiroth said softly, extending his hand out to Axel.

The redhead rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'll trust you, but I'm not going to jump out of a— Whoa!" Without warning, Sephiroth had grabbed the other man's arm and fell backward out the window, bringing Axel with him.

They fell, the ground rush up to them, and Axel couldn't seem to stop shouting "SHIT!" above the whistling wind.

Sephiroth kept a firm grasp of the other man, wrapping his arms around him. "Flap your wing!" he ordered. "On my count. One! Two!"

Axel had his eyes squeezed shut, but did as he was told. After a few tries, they began to match in rhythm and their descent slowed before stopping altogether. Still clinging to Sephiroth's arms, Axel chanced a peek at the grassy field only a few yards below them.

"That was close," he sighed. "Did I mention I hate heights?"

Sephiroth smirked, though it was hidden against Axel's neck. "Then you'll be pleased to know we should try climbing higher. Come on."

"I. Hate. You. So much," Axel said, gritting the words out of his teeth with each synchronized flap of their wings.

"Calm down," Sephiroth huffed. "See? It's working." They rose slowly, gaining speed until they were far above the castle's turrets.

Axel couldn't help but look down at the world far below in wide-eyed amazement. "We're so far up," he breathed. "How do we, um, land?"

Sephiroth couldn't help a small chuckle that bubbled in his throat. Axel only tightened his grip at the unexpected sound.

"Don't fucking laugh at me! This is serious," he yelled.

"We heal with incredible speed," Sephiroth reminded him. "You don't have to worry."

"Okay, fine, super healing is great." Axel pushed away from his partner's chest to glare at him directly. "But how about death? Can we die? That's probably something we should have looked up in your Big Book O' Angels before we attempted this."

"We'll be fine," Sephiroth assured. "As long as we stick together. Travel in pairs."

"Right," Axel snorted. He started as Sephiroth slowly began to release his grip on Axel's arms. "What are you…?"

"Watch," Sephiroth said, and let go of Axel's right hand so they were side by side, still holding fast to his left hand. Their wings beat in time, and they flew through the air like a giant bird.

Axel's shout of surprise morphed into one of hysterical joy. Sephiroth looked over at the other Angel and saw that the fast wind had brought tears to his eyes. "I can't believe this is working," the redhead shouted above the rush of air. "Woo hoo!"

It seemed as if Axel had overcome his initial anxiety about flying, and soon he was turning in wide barrel rolls, skimming the low-hanging clouds, and swooping down over the castle, all with Sephiroth in tow. There was no need to verbalize a change in speed or direction; their wings knew, as if their pounding pulses set the pace for them.

"I think I got the hang of this," Axel said with delight. "Want to try for a landing?"

Sephiroth dipped his chin towards the roof of their tower. "Let's."

They were slow and careful, and not as graceful as Sephiroth would have liked, but he knew it was only their first try. They would get better, and soon flying would be as natural as walking. Sephiroth's bare toes touched the rough shingles of the roof first, and Axel stumbled to the ground after him. The redhead lost his footing on the slanted surface, and since his hand was still clasped in Sephiroth's, they went down together.

"Fuck!" Axel cursed, digging his heels into the roof to stop their slide. They froze a few feet from the edge, with Sephiroth pinned under Axel's weight.

"That was wild," the fire-starter crowed with a grin that stretched his face and the small black tattoos there. "You okay?"

Sephiroth wiped stray feathers and strands of silver hair out of his eyes. "Very well, thank you," he said dryly.

Axel gave a shout of laughter and gazed down into Sephiroth's face. His smile stayed for a moment before fading into a more introspective look. Sephiroth squinted in the bright sun, but Axel's face was covered in shadow. The quiet lasted longer than normal, and Sephiroth shifted uneasily under his friend.

"I suppose we should—"

He wasn't allowed to finish the thought. Axel bent forward a mere inch, his eyes fluttering shut, and pressed his lips to Sephiroth's. The silver-haired man's protests were muffled by Axel's mouth as the redhead refused to retreat. He brought his hands up against Axel's shoulders and pushed, but, remembering their precarious position on the rooftop, did so only feebly.

"Stop this," Sephiroth gasped, tearing his mouth away from the kiss. Axel ignored him, nuzzling the skin on the side of his neck and biting down on his earlobe. The action sent a jolt of pleasure dancing up Sephiroth's spine, but he closed his eyes against it. "Axel, stop," he repeated.

"Don't care," Axel growled in his ear. "Don't care who you're in love with. I want to kiss you."

"Axel—" Sephiroth was silenced once more by a harsh bite to his throat, and his breath escaped in a hiss. He pushed again, harder this time, and managed to flip their positions, slamming Axel a little harder than necessary against the shingles.

He slapped the redhead hard across the face, the sound ringing out like a gunshot in the quiet air, and Axel's head jerked to the side with the force of the blow. "Control yourself!" Sephiroth roared.

Axel slowly faced forward again, the bright red mark plainly visible on his right cheek. His eyes glowed brightly, completely consumed by the alien green, and Sephiroth realized that the glowing must be a reaction to extreme concentration.

"I spent all of my life under control. Always someone else's control," Axel said in a low voice. "I'm sick of it, and I'm sick of you."

He lunged forward with a snarl, and Sephiroth couldn't help but be overbalanced by the tackle. They flipped over and then flipped again until they were rolling out of control down the roof and, finally, over the edge.

It was only by chance that Sephiroth had the wherewithal to grapple for Axel's hand in midair and extend his wing enough to slow their fall. They ended up slamming into the hard packed earth of the courtyard in a disorganized jumble of limbs.

"Holy crap," Axel moaned, watching his snapped wrist knit itself back together.

Sephiroth shoved the other man off his chest and held a scraped hand to his quick-healing ribs. "I cannot believe you would act so irresponsibly," he hissed.

Axel wiped a trail of blood away from his mouth and growled. "Hey, I'm not the one that—"

"Seph?" a quiet, low voice called.

Both Sephiroth and Axel squinted up at the newcomer clad in black, standing in the grass. A blond head tilted slowly to the side, taking in the entire scene.

"Are you okay?" Cloud asked.

Sephiroth opened his mouth, but no words seemed ready to step forward. His eyes were trained on the blond and the figures of Leon, Aerith, and Cid in the corner of the courtyard, conversing with Sora. Yuffie appeared from behind Cloud's shoulder and clapped her hands in delight.

"The gang's all here for the big party!" she exclaimed. "Official representatives of Radiant Garden, woo hoo!" She paused, frowning at Axel. "Who's the redhead?"

Sephiroth closed his eyes and sighed, wishing for a fleeting moment that the fall had actually killed him.