Aftermath

Rating: K+

Summery: It's after battles, after the end, and they're both still alive. Sort of. Liam/Break. Switches, changes, and speculation. Highly AU in said speculation.

Characters/Pairings: Liam/Break, and in passing: the Will of the Abyss, Jack Vessalius, Oz, Sharon.

Comments: This started as a fairly small oneshot around the time the manga had got to Liam beginning to face off against Lily and morphed into a monster oneshot that I'm not quite sure what to make of. But since this was written before the most recent chapters of Pandora came out there are a few discrepancies but we're in the land of AU so I'm too worried. This is different from anything else I've ever written, so let me know what you think, please review.

Spoilers: Chapter 51 onward and general series spoilers.

"One of these days letters are gonna fall from the the sky,

Telling us all,

To go free."

(Letters from the Sky, by Civil Twilight)

1-Now-

The smaller figure held the hands of the taller figure and led him carefully out onto the balcony, walking backwards so as to watch each step the taller one took, concern on his face.

"Watch out, there's a bit of step down as we go through the doorway."

"I remember that at least. This mansion isn't that much changed since-" the taller figure broke off as the step came sooner than he expected and he stumbled against the shorter one who caught him against his own body and held him there until the other had gained his sense of his balance back.

"Are you alright?"

"You must have asked me that a thousand times already."

"Well, are you?"

"I'm dealing with it. It's just… it takes some getting used to."

The shorter figure took the taller by the hands again and led him to the table set on the balcony. After nudging the chair out with his foot the shorter figure sat the taller in it, easing him gently down. He sat on the edge of the table, ignoring the other chair in favor of being closer in case the taller man needed catching.

Reaching behind him he located the pot of tea he knew would be waiting -Sharon had made sure to tell the servants to have this table ready and then tactfully made sure she and everyone else were elsewhere- and poured a cup of tea.

He pushed the glasses farther up his nose and then took the taller man's hand.

"Liam, here's some tea; it will be good for you."

The taller man looked up at him -looked with being able to see, he knew- and met Break's eyes with one red eye that focused on nothing and one vacant socket.

Break almost fumbled the teacup but then controlled himself and pressed the teacup into Liam's hand. He was unused to being stared at by his own eyes, well, eye technically, and it kept taking him by surprise at odd moments.

"The tea's probably hot, don't burn your mouth."

"Xerxes, I never thought I'd hear the day you mother hen me."

"It's not mother henning." Break said defensively. Then he noticed the ripples in the tea from the slight trembling of Liam's hand and his voice softened. "Besides, you just woke up this morning. You should be more careful."

"I feel stronger than when I woke already. All that time healing did do some good, you know."

"Then at least give yourself time to get used to not being able to see."

"I've dealt with being half blind without my glasses for most of my life; it's not that hard to adjust to being fully blind. By the way," he added in a lighter tone, "Have you broken my glasses yet?"

Making a face Break pushed the lenses further up his nose again. "They remain fully intact, no worries. Hmmm, they don't suit me very well; perhaps I'll spend some of that Pandora bonus and buy another pair. These look better on you."

"I don't need them anymore. Besides, those are my spare ones so they might not be as sharp as the ones that were broken when I… in Isla Yura's mansion when they were broken by the Baskerville that… attacked me there."

"I'll have you know I made her pay for what she did to you."

"You murdered her? Xerc, she was just a little girl."

"Liam," Break frowned at him. Reaching out he steadied the teacup in Liam's hand with one of his own as the shaking had gotten serious enough to cause large ripples on the tea's murky surface. "Liam," he repeated gently, unsure if this was the time to say what he knew he had to. "She… she killed you."

"I know. I… remember."

"You… do?"

"Parts of it. It took… some time until the end."

"That's what I… thought. I was the one… I found you, in the mansion that night. Or, what was left…"

Liam turned one of the hands on the teacup and held Break's for a moment. "That couldn't have been easy."

"I made sure I avenged you." Break said flatly.

"I didn't want to be avenged."

"When have I ever done what you wanted me to?" he asked lightly.

"Never." Liam muttered darkly, shooting a glower in his general direction. "And, after that… you brought me back."

Break shrugged. "I granted the Will of the Abyss's wish. It was the least she could do in return."

"What was that wish? You never told me."

"To have Jack Vessalius returned to her. So we found all the pieces of his body and then Oz released his spirit. Somehow," Break went to make a gesture and then stopped when he realized that Liam wouldn't be able to see it. "That equalled enough of a person to return him to something like life. I still don't quite understand it and I've been trying to work it out for weeks. Anyway, he returned to the Abyss with Her."

"But first you asked Her to bring me back."

"Yes." Break said, and left it at that.

2-Then-

"Wait!" he yelled after the two figures disappearing into the darkness that was spilling out of the Abyss.

He sensed the Will of the Abyss turn and regard him with curiosity. "Is there something you wanted, Mad Hatter?" Her little girl's voice echoed through his bones with power.

"I granted your wish. I returned your Jack to you."

"And I granted yours, Mad Hatter."

"No." he said. "You changed time for me once, but I've changed since then, my wish has changed."

"Why should I grant your wish again?" The Will of the Abyss asked coyly.

"Because… because you know what it is like to loose someone you care deeply for. You know what that pain feels like."

The girl's expression might have softened, he couldn't see, but Jack Vessalius chose that moment to put a hand on her shoulder. "Alyss." he said, in a cajoling tone, "Surely…"

The Will of the Abyss tisked with annoyance and said, "Fine, fine. You want something, Hatter?"

"Yes. I…" Break felt his shoulders slump as the last of his strength left him. He ignored the feeling of the stares of the other and faced the girl, his hands spread with the plea. "Please. Bring him back."

"Hmmm," the Will of the Abyss tapped her chin thoughtfully, "I could change-"

"No." he interrupted her. "Don't change time. That didn't work last time and it won't work this time. Just bring him back."

"There'll be a price for that. One you might not like. Are you ready to accept that?"

"Yes." he said instantly. "Whatever it is, I don't care. Just…"

"It's done."

A searing pain through his head drove him to his knees, he almost screamed as it tore through the rest of his body, clamping his hands to his eyes where the pain was the worst. There were hands that grabbed him, keeping him from falling anymore. From the strength in with which they pulled him back upright he dimly, though fogs of pain, realized that it was Gil, Oz had had all his strength drained from him when he released Jack and Sharon had never had that kind of power in her arms.

Gil was shouting in his ear, "Break! Break! What happened? What did she do to you?"

"Open your eyes, Hatter." The Will of the Abyss's voice had a laugh in it, as if she thought he was being silly. "Come now, open your eyes!"

He did as she told him. Eyes open, eyes closed, it hadn't made much of a difference for some months but this time the world greeted Break when he opened his eyes. A fuzzy and indistinct world but a world all the same.

Slowly he raised a hand and for the first time in a long time watched it's progress. Blood dotted his palms, but not very much.

"Break!" Sharon grabbed his hand and he reveled at being able to actually see her again, "What hap-" she broke off and stared at his face in what was clearly horror -this close her expression was crystal clear. "Your eyes are… that color…"

Gil caught a glimpse of his face and let go of his in shock, actually moving a few steps back. "Those are… were…"

But Break had seen something over Gil's shoulder that made him shake off Sharon and push Gil out of his way. There was something lying on the ground, it was roughly human looking from this distance. And it had not been there before.

Staggering forward, he fell, barely catching himself on his hands at the last moment, at the side of the body that he would have been able to recognize even without sight; after all he had been there when it had been buried, some time ago at a solemn state funeral.

With a trembling hand he reached out to brush the hair from Liam's forehead. His skin was cold and he was still in the clothes he had died in -not the ones he had been interred in- but he was not quite as he had been when Break had found him that night.

The Bandersnatch had played with the body long after it had died, probably long before too, and had done some amount of damage that was no longer there. The arm that had been ripped away had been returned, even the fingers and the nose were back, most of which had been missing when he found the… body.

But there was no spark of life in the body and Break thought for one terrible moment that he had not been specific enough in his wish. Had 'Bring him back?' been taken as-

Then Liam coughed blood and opened his eyes.

"Can't… see…" were the words that Liam finally managed to choke out.

"What?" Break bent anxiously over him. The single eye that stared up at him was red, the other socket held no eye at all. The empty socket was bleeding down his cheek, painting red lines through grime.

"Those… those are my eyes." Break whispered.

"I did mention a price." The Will of the Abyss said. "And his wish lined up rather nicely with it and yours. So happy birthday! Two wishes!" she laughed, a sound powerful enough to make everyone wince.

"You…" Break couldn't take his eyes off… his eyes but in another face. With shaking hands he wiped the blood from Liam's lips. "You… put him back together."

"Only a little. I put some parts of you together too. You'll find you might have longer than you thought left."

"That's- you-"

But the Will of the Abyss just shook her head and, laughing, turned to catch Jack Vessalius' hand. "Have fun with life, Hatter! Especially now that you have the one you care for again!"

Together the two vanished into the darkness of the Abyss. The entrance closed behind them and the Abyss sealed for the last time.

3-Now-

"Yes. I asked her." Break said. "And she said there was a price. But she never said you would have to pay it too."

"Considering the many alternatives I believe this situation is the one I prefer."

"Are you sure? Are you truly sure? You don't have the Mad Hatter chain to help you sense things like I did; you don't even have the March Hare anymore. You're going to be completely blind."

"I'll learn to work around it, there are methods for those who can't see to read, I remember talking about them with you. Pandora does have a few systems."

"You're planning to go back to Pandora? The Abyss is sealed; there won't be any more illegal contracts."

"I… I've been working for Pandora for almost my entire life. There isn't much else I know and I doubt Duke Barma would have any other position for me."

"About that, I took a look at the contract you signed when you entered that Duke and Pandora's service and technically it's made null and void by your death. You're no longer Barma's servant. Or even a part of Pandora if you don't want to be."

"I wondered when I found out that I was in the Rainsworth mansion instead of the Barma household or Pandora headquarters. All the same surely the way things happened doesn't qualify-"

"It does. You were… dead, after all."

"So no master, no Pandora… hmmm. That is an interesting thought."

"Do you know what you'll do?"

"Something useful, I would hope. I suppose I could still translate if someone would read aloud the documents for me."

"Drink some tea." said Break. "You haven't yet. We can figure out something later. We have all the time in the world now."

"Such luxury." The cup paused almost at Liam's lips. "Break?"

"Yes?"

"There's a question I've been meaning to ask since this morning."

"… yes?"

"Why did you bring me back?"

Break sighed. He had known this question would come eventually. "Because I killed you." he said.

"No, you didn't. I was there. I remember."

"I don't mean like that. I mean I was so focused on catching the Headhunter I thought nothing of letting you search the mansion without another contractor to help you in case of trouble." He actually remembered dismissing Liam from his mind, something he wasn't sure later he could ever live with having done. "I didn't even consider the option that the Baskervilles could be there." He had gone over the should'ves and would'ves endlessly in his head after that night.

"You had no way of knowing." Liam said.

"I should have considered it."

"You had a goal that night, finding the Headhunter. I had mine. The stone. I don't blame you for being focused."

"But-"

"Xerxes Break, if you keep finding ways to blame yourself for what I got myself into I'm going to hit you with the first account book I can lay my hands on. You didn't kill me; you couldn't possibly have known the Baskervilles were there. I hope you didn't go to all the effort of bringing me back to life just so you could throw guilt at me."

Break actually laughed out loud as the tension drained from him, these were words that he had needed to hear for some time. "… thank you." he said.

Liam cocked his head to the side, curiously. "For what?"

"For being alive again, for forgiving me, for not wanting to kill me for making you blind for the rest of your life. For… a number of other things."

"You're welcome."

Silence fell between them until Liam broke it again. "So are you sure that was the reason? There was no other?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure myself. I was just… I felt like there was something left for me to do."

"What? But you were… dead."

"I know."

"Do you mean-" Break leaned closer, as if he could read the answer by pure proximity, "You remember something about… after?"

"In bits and pieces."

"And?"

Liam brought the teacup up again and blew gently across the surface, a faint smile briefly touching his lips as he inhaled the sent of the tea. "I missed that smell." he said.

"Are you trying to change the subject?"

"Not really. I just -I missed tea. It was something I was very used to. An old routine."

"And?" Break prompted again, hesitantly.

"Well, wherever I was, I wasn't really clear about that, it was pleasant enough, I suppose. I could say I was happy enough there but…" he paused, "There was a feeling, all through the pleasantness, this feeling that there was something I had forgotten. Something that I had left undone."

"What exactly?"

"I don't know. I suppose… I suppose I'll figure it out." Liam shifted his hands around the teacup, "Ah, it's gone cold." he commented and went to set it on the table. Unfortunately he set it too close to the edge and as soon as he let go of the handle it tipped backwards and toppled off the table.

When he heard it shatter Liam winced. "Oh no, that felt like good china. Someone is going to be upset about that." He had knelt and was reaching toward the shards when Break caught his wrist.

"What do you think you're doing?" he demanded.

"Cleaning up my mess." Liam said, Break was gripping his wrist very lightly, as if afraid it would break if he held it too hard and Liam easily shook him off. He reached for where he guessed the pieces would be, feeling along the ground for the wetness of the tea and the coolness of the shards. "Ouch!"

"Liam, stop! You're hurting yourself!" This time Break grabbed his wrist harder, jerking him back, away from the broken teacup and back against himself so there was no way he could pull free again. Reaching out Break took Liam's other wrist, turning the hand so he could see the deep cut across his forefinger. The other hand had an identical slash on the palm that was bleeding sluggishly. "You have to be careful, since you can't see anymore. It's-" he paused, feeling the trembling in the arms he held. "Liam? What's wrong?"

"… nothing." Liam murmured but there was something wrong with his tone. It was too thick. The angle was wrong so he couldn't see his face but Break could guess what had caused that.

"I very much doubt that there's nothing." he said. "What's-"

"I was supposed to be the one that asks too many questions, remember?" Liam cut him off. His head was still bowed, turned away so that Break couldn't see his face.

"Yes, well, everything is on a mess now, isn't it? It's all backwards and topsy-turvy and -you're crying, aren't you?"

"What?" In the old days Liam would have gone all spluttery and indigent at that but now he just slumped back against Break, as if too tired for anything anymore. "I am most certainly not." he said, but the protest lacked ethasusum.

Break rested his chin on the other man's head, releasing his wrists to wrap his arms around his shoulders. "Liar, liar." he said lightly. Time was that he was the one painfully thin but weeks of sleep and whatever the Will of the Abyss had done to his own body had reversed their places and it pained him to feel the thin shoulders under his arms. "What is it?" he asked.

"I thought…" Liam sighed. Sniffed. "For me, yesterday I was dead. Today I wake up and I'm alive and blind. So I thought, alright, this could be worse but…" his voice broke but he went on in a brittle tone. "Dammit Xerxes, this is hard! I'm doing my best but this is a lot- it's all different now. I can't see. I can't find my way, can't read a thing, I can't even put a teacup down without breaking it! How… what am I going to do?"

"Are you sure you should be asking me?"

"You're the reason I'm here!" the anger was back in Liam's voice, familiar from the days when he used to scold Break for dumping paperwork and other boring duties on him. "Are you telling me you brought me back without any idea of what I was supposed to do next? Are you really that thoughtless? Or cruel?"

"We."

"What?"

"We." Break repeated. "What we're supposed to do next. Whatever is next for you, for me, we're in this together."

"… that doesn't make this any better." Liam's tone was sullen but at least it had lost that horrible brittleness of before. "You can't exactly be there all the time. "

"I can be."

"Now who's lying? What happened to all those covert projects you were working on?"

"Finished, all of them. Most of them had to do with granting the Will of the Abyss' wish and finding out about the Tragedy anyway, and both those matters are thoroughly finished with. That leaves me at loose ends."

"But Pandora-"

"Is almost defunct now that the Abyss is sealed. Tracking down the remaining illegal contractors will keep them busy for a few years, the paperwork maybe a few more, but truly there's little enough for them to assign me too. Besides, the fool of a Duke doesn't want to get on my bad side after what I did to him."

"You did something to Duke Barma?"

"I had some choice words with him. After you where… not there anymore. And things might have had deteriorated from there."

"You two fought again, didn't you?"

"… that is one way to put it.."

4-Then-

The fan hit his stick so hard it splintered the wood and sent him reeling back. Barma followed the blow with another that came up to hit the underside of his arm in such a way to make the stick fall from his hand. A third blow connected with the side of his face and his head rang so loudly he barely noticed when his cheek hit the floor.

Barma's foot came down, the pointed heel settling lightly his fallen hand with what felt like deliberate care.

"Well, well, Mad Hatter, what a pathetic sight you are now, aren't you." the heel pressed a little harder, dimpling his skin. "I suppose without a someone else's servant to use as a shield you really are useless in a fight. Why ever would I give you classified information when you look like you couldn't live long enough to use it in any case?"

"Perhaps you don't have a choice."

"What?" Barma's famous temper flared and the pressure on Break's hand increased.

Break coughed blood, his teeth had been forced into the inside of his mouth by the blow to his face, and said, "The mission of Pandora is to gain control of the Will of the Abyss, that's what you've always said. But I know that's a lie. You want to destroy all the chains, so there would be no more illegal contractors, it's been the mission of your household since the Tragedy. However…" he coughed again, then went on, "To do that you need to get the Will of the Abyss to listen to you. Which is why you," he grinned a razor grin, "Need me to find Her."

"I have my own ways of contacting Her."

"No, you don't." Break winced as the pressure suddenly increased on his hand. "I'm the biggest clue that you've come across in generations. I've a favor to do for Her that she'll be coming back to collect for soon enough. Really it's in your best interest to help me on my quest."

"You're going to die before you can accomplish anything, you're a risky investment at best."

"No, I'm a very wise investment as I'm not likely to die until I manage to talk to Her again."

"It's interesting how you think that reasoning with me is going to convince me too cooperate. You see -or I suppose you don't anymore," Barma ground the heel of his boot harder, "You are directly to blame for the death of my servant. I might just be holding a grudge that would result in my lack of cooperation despite my better interests."

When Break laughed outright at that he knew Barma's face would have gone blank with confusion, even if he couldn't see it for himself.

"What exactly is so amusing, Hatter?" Barma demanded.

"The way you pretend you ever thought that he was more than a tool to use now that it benefits you to do so. Now that you can use it to spite me he is -was- the most valuable member of your staff that you possessed."

"And you have the arrogance to believe that is pretense."

"It is."

"It wasn't." Barma leaned hard on his hand and Break gritted his teeth against the burst of pain as the heel broke through his skin. "You are not the only one who greaves for Liam Lunettes' passing." The sound of silk rustling against steel told him that Barma was raising his fan again, about strike what could be a final blow.

That was enough.

Though he knew it would cost him later he summoned the Mad Hatter, and the malevolent chain burst from him with such glee it knocked Barma back and away, freeing his hand. Before Barma could gather his wits enough to summon his own chain Break dragged himself to his own feet and told the Hatter to strike.

Barma screamed as his fan, along with his entire hand, disappeared into fine grains. He stared at the stump in disbelief -with the Hatter out it was easier for Break to sense what went on around him. "I-impossible, the Mad Hatter only destroys things that are made by the power of the Abyss."

"Ah but you've used the power of your chain to extend your life," Break said, "Which, one might say, makes you made by the Abyss." he smiled. "Now listen to me, Barma, and listen to me well. I need this information to find the Will of the Abyss again and you are giving it to me because otherwise I will start erasing you, one part at a time."

"Why are you so determined to pay off a debt?" Barma snapped, holding his wounded arm close.

"Ah, because, there's something I need to ask her to do for me."

Barma stared at him like he had gone mad. "What could be so…" then he nodded, understanding. "I see."

"I thought you would."

"You're going to try to bring him back."

"Exactly, Barma. Now are you going to help me or not?"

5-Now-

"What did you do to him?"

"Oh, not much. He's still alive, which I consider generous. But he is likely to give me my space from now on."

"That's… impressive."

"Considering the circumstances, not really. But, essentially, I'm as much at loose ends as you. I had been considering traveling. How do you feel about the country?"

"I've never really been there. Umm… Xerxes?"

"Yes?"

"I need to breathe." Liam said.

Realizing that he was still holding Liam around the shoulders, and holding him tightly at that, Break eased his grip a bit. "Sorry. I didn't mean to do that."

"…you asked how I feel about that country. Do you honestly intend to be my babysitter? Because as you've seen," a vague gesture with a bloody hand that was obviously intended to take in the fragments of the teacup, the spilled tea, "I'm not up to doing very much on my own now."

Break forced himself to match the lightness in Liam's tone, not the bitterness, "Give yourself a little credit, you did just wake up this morning. You'll be stronger soon."

"Your optimism knows no bounds, Xerxes," Liam said, his voice wry. With the back of a hand he scrubbed the tracks of tears from his face. "No amount of bed-rest will cure my eyes."

"Technically, my eyes those."

"… yes, I suppose so. And eye, not eyes since you only had the one." a hand went up to rest across the empty socket. "I think I'm going to have to grow my hair out if I hope to ever hide with it."

"You could wear an eyepatch."

"An… eyepatch?"

"It would make you look dashing."

"Or like a brigand." Liam replied tartly.

"There's the Liam I know and love."

Liam reached vaguely behind him and swatted at Break, missing by a good measure. Gently Break caught his wrist and turned his hand so he could see the deep slash across his palm. "This is still bleeding, you should let me bandage it. Doesn't it hurt?"

"Not particularly. Is this one also still bleeding? I… can't tell." he held up his other hand and the cut on his forefinger dripped a fat drop of blood onto the porch.

"Enthusiastically," Break replied, "Here, let me help you up first." he stood, then gently pulled Liam to his own feet before guiding his hand to the arm of the chair he had previously been sitting in. "Sit there, I'll find a handkerchief or something to tie those off." He searched his pockets absently as he watched Liam reach a hand down to find the seat of the chair, then when he knew how far down it was he carefully sat.

"You do realize that is wasn't to long ago that I was looking for handkerchiefs to give to you." Liam remarked once he was seated. "And you were the only one in danger of spreading blood everywhere."

"I'm certainly relieved to put those days behind me." Break finally pulled a fairly clean handkerchief from a pocket and ripped it in half with the snarl of tearing cloth. "Frankly, it's very uncomfortable, coughing up blood."

"What… exactly… do you mean, Xerxes?" he was, not exactly frowning at him, but he was frowning in his general direction.

Break winced. "Ah, I forgot I haven't told you."

"Haven't told me… what?" Liam's voice was wary, but considering the kinds of things Break had once neglected to tell him once upon a time he had good reason.

"I'll tell you if you give me your hands." Immediately Liam offered up his hands and Break began winding half of the handkerchief around his palm. "You see, when the Will of the Abyss brought you back… well, she said there was a price. Which was that she granted your wish along with mine."

"That explains this." Liam touched a finger next to his missing eye, leaving a dot of blood. "I did wish that you would be able to see once again."

"But that's not all you wished, was it?" Break tied off the knot on the first bandage and took his other hand to wrap the rest of the handkerchief around his bleeding finger. "Because She," and there was no doubt as to who 'She' referred to, "also decided to… fix some things. Inside me. I'm… not really sure what. She said 'You'll find you might have longer than you thought left', before She left. I've not gotten much better, but, then again, I'm not getting any worse."

"That's…"

"Good?"

"Incredible."

Pausing in the act of tightening the knot in the bandage Break looked up at Liam. "That wasn't exactly the word I would have grabbed first off. After all, your… returned presence trumps my paltry halt on withering."

"How long do you think you have left?"

Break shrugged, but knew Liam wouldn't see the gesture and said, "I honestly don't know. I thought I had perhaps a month or two before, with the way my condition was degenerating. However now… I haven't felt this strong in years. I could even have years left, I could have less, I just don't know." he said the last two words with distaste. He had quite liked knowing exactly around when he was going to run out of time and now…

"Good, then we should about even out."

"What?" The short, matter-of-fact statement had not been what Break had been expecting.

Resting his bandaged hands in his lap, Liam leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes tiredly. "I came back from the dead, Xerxes." Break winced at that even more matter-of-fact statement. "When I died, my body was mangled and damaged. Even with weeks of rest I'm still not completely healed. Somehow I doubt I ever will be. I strongly suspect that my body won't hold together for very long. I'm living on borrowed time, and I doubt there is much of that to go around. I might be alive, but it's not going to last. Considering your lengthened time that should make us about even."

"That's… an incredibly pessimistic way to think of things. Besides, I don't think you're considering this right. Why isn't it possible that could you live like you would have if that night had gone differently?"

With a sigh Liam shook his head. "You don't understand. I died. That was it, all the life I was supposed to have. This," he gestured with a hand, "I wasn't supposed to have any of this. Which makes it incredible and wonderful and… sad. Because I know it isn't going to last."

"I… " Break, trailed off, not sure what to say to that. Finally he said, "I'm sorry. I suppose… I shouldn't have brought you back."

"No. You shouldn't have." Liam said. He paused, "…it's not that I don't appreciate this… all of it. But I know it isn't going to last."

"How long?"

"I honestly don't know." Liam echoed Break's words from earlier. "All I can tell is that I'm not going to die white haired in bed. Not that I ever thought that I would, working for Pandora and all."

"They did tend to have quite the mortality rate," Break agreed, then he realized that Liam had been changing the subject and he was helping. "But, putting that aside, considering neither of us have a plethora of time left do you have any ideas on what you'd like to do with it? Oh, and you have blood right here," he touched a finger to the spot next to Liam's eye where the other man had smeared blood. "I'll get it," he said when Liam went to brush it away. He licked a finger and cleaned the blood off with a gentle swipe. "There."

"Thank you. And, no, I don't really have any plans. Except… well, I told you before."

"I've forgotten."

"Of course you have." Liam's voice was thick with sarcasm but there was a smile tugging at him lips. "There was something undone, before. I have to figure out what it was I neglected to do before… while I was alive."

"And you have no idea what that was?"

"That was what I said before."

"Yes, I suppose it was. It's just… well, there is something that might help jog your memory."

"Really?"

"I remember before we left for Isla Yura's, we here at the Rainsworth mansion. We had a conversation, do you recall?"

"…perhaps. Why, is it important?"

"You seemed to indicate that there was something you wanted to say to me back then."

"Did I?"

6-Then-

He'd dropped his gloves and in the room's dim light he was having trouble finding where they'd landed. It wasn't a good sign that he couldn't distinguish the white gloves from the dark carpet.

A hand reached down and plucked his gloves up to dangle them in front of his face. "Looking for something?" said rye voice.

He took them, saying, "Ah, Liam, I didn't see you there."

With a sigh Liam shook his head, annoyed and yet amused at the way Break continued to use phrases like 'I didn't see you there.' "Lady Sharon wants me to tell you the carriage will be leaving soon. Are you ready?"

Break took the gloves and began pulling them on, "I might ask you the same. This party might end up a battlefield; you do realize that, don't you?"

"I do."

"You are not a fighter."

"I know that," Liam made a face, "And I know it could be dangerous, I was at the mission briefing."

"I don't think you should be the one to look for the Stone. If they insist on sending a contractor it should be someone else."

"It's a party, Xerc. I think I can manage to stay out of trouble long enough to find the stone. If Isla Yura has anything planned it's more likely to happen around the ballroom than in the cellars. Honestly," Liam shook his head, "You worry even more than I do, I swear."

"And what does the industrious Liam have to worry about?" Break raised an eyebrow.

Liam reached out to tug Break's cravat straight. "You, you idiot."

"I suppose I walked right into that one." he winced a put a hand to the back of his head. "Damn the conventions of society. What exactly is so scandalous about a man with long hair that I have to subject my head to this?"

"I told you you needed to cut it." Liam said, unsympathetically.

"There's not much point now. I won't have to worry about the length of my hair soon enough." He was facing the other way but he still caught the faint sound of a pained hiss from Liam. When he turned toward his friend he found that he was turned away from him but the stiffness of his shoulders betrayed the tension in his body. "Liam?"

"How many years have we know each other, Xerxes?"

"More than I can count offhand." Break replied. "Why?"

"You've been a good friend to me."

"You mean I've kept you from dying of boredom."

"That's one way to put it. Anyway, we've worked together for a long time and… in light of that and of how dangerous tonight is going to be for the both of us I thought there was something I might want to mention."

"Is this a round-about way of telling me you're on to my ingenious plot? Should I be worried?"

Liam twitched, the tension in him breaking, he snapped, "That's not what I was going to talk about!" then he sighed. "I swear, you can't be serious for a moment, can you? Even when it's important."

"Well, it would be aggressively out of character." Break cocked his head to the side, considering Liam, wishing that the other man was facing toward him. Then he remembered that even if he was he wouldn't be able to read the expression on his face with his faded eyes. "Important you say? Tell me then and be out with it."

"I've been wondering for some time if I should mention this. And I've come to the conclusion that I should… bring it up and-"

There was a gentle knock on the door that made them both glance toward it. "Mister Liam, Mister Break," said the manservant there, "Lady Sharon wishes you to know the carriage has arrived and she wishes to depart now."

After the man bowed and left Liam said, "I suppose we should be going then."

Break reached forward and grabbed him by the arm when he started to walk away. "Wait, tell me whatever it is you were going to tell me just a moment ago."

Liam glanced back over his shoulder at him and Break wanted very badly to know what expression was on his face. "Look, I'll tell you tomorrow." he said. "After the party."

7-Now-

"You never told me what it was exactly you wanted to say. Though you did hint that it was rather important."

"Did I?"

"You don't remember?"

"I…" he paused for a long moment before going on, "… do. But from the way we've been dancing around the subject of… well, never mind it." he waved a hand dismissively.

"Have we been dancing around a subject? I rather hadn't noticed."

"I suppose that would make my point even more clear."

"You've rather left me in the dark, Liam."

"Unlikely, Xerxes."

"No, I don't know what you're talking about."

"If that's how you want to treat it then," he shrugged. "Very well."

Break reached out to touch Liam's shoulder. "Wait, I honestly don't know what exactly you're talking about."

A thin smile crossed Liam's face. "That's what I thought."

"No, really, I don't know what you're talking about."

Liam sighed, reaching up to touch the hand on his shoulder he asked tiredly, "Xerc, why did you bring me back?"

"I felt guilty for causing-"

"No, why did you bring me back?"

"Guilt!" Break snapped. He took his hand back to turn away, to the table where he poured himself a cup of tea and dumped half of the sugar pot into it. From behind him a rustle betrayed movement, he turned back to see Liam on his feet. "What are you doing? Sit down before you-"

Liam reached out and managed to catch his sleeve, "Xerxes, please. Why did you bring me back?"

"I thought I had gotten you killed!"

"No," he yanked on the other man's sleeve insistently. "You're lying like you lie when you don't want to talk about something. Well, right here, right now, you're not lying to me again. I died… a horrible death trying to help you and I think deserve to know the truth for once!" Break started to turn away from him but Liam felt him shift and tugged him back around. He tried to back away from him but Liam wouldn't let him have the distance, stepping forward to make up for it. "You're going to tell me before-" he froze mid-pull.

"What's wrong?" Break frowned, the color had drained from the other man's face and his free hand had gone to his left shoulder, where one of the worst wounds, the one that had opened him up all the way down to the bone, had been. "Liam?" he asked again when Liam didn't respond. "What's wrong?"

Still no response from Liam, but his hand clenched on the fabric over his wound and he started to crumple. He would have fallen if Break hadn't hastily grabbed him and kept his knees from hitting the flagstones. "Did you reopen…" he carefully lowered him to the ground and the reached to touch the fabric where Liam was clutching. To his relief it was not wet with blood. "What happened?" he asked.

"The wound… pulls…" Liam clenched his teeth against the pain of the scar tissue that refused to take being stretched kindly.

"You… shouldn't have done that." Break said. He had kept his hands around Liam, afraid that if he let go than he would simply collapse.

Leaning forward to rest his forehead against Break's chest Liam asked tiredly, "Xerc, why did you bring me back?"

Break looked down at the body he held and, for the thousandth time since he had pleaded with the Will of the Abyss, wondered at the fact that it was there at all. He sighed. "…I realized something after you were… gone." he said finally. "Without you there it was as clear as day, what I should have known a long time ago. I realized that I missed you… as more than a friend."

The silence fell heavy between them as Liam gave no response and Break broke it again. "I missed you. Like an ache that I couldn't make go away, like something fallen out of my life that I couldn't find again, like… it all didn't matter anymore. Everything I had worked for, all the plans and plots I had… they didn't matter anymore, not with you gone." Break traced circles on Liam's back with a finger, looping them around and around in the silence until he said, "I never considered myself a person particularly prone for love. And then you died and I realized that I had if fact been in love for some time. I was just far too stupid to realize it or too stubborn to admit it, even to myself.

"So that's why I brought you back. Plain and bare. Because if you were gone all the things that had been awfully important before didn't matter." Break got to his feet, carefully pulling Liam up with him. He gently pushed the other man back into his chair. "And now here you are back to life and blind. I said I would -how did you put it before? Babysit? Well, I'll do just that, for however long you need it, and, moreover, I'll do it because I want to."

"That's quite the commitment." Liam murmured. From the way he had his head tilted down it was impossible to read his expression. "And quite the confession too."

"You asked for the truth."

"That I did."

"Well?"

With a sigh Liam let go of his aching shoulder, letting his hand drop into his lap. "I…" he broke off and shook his head.

"What?" Break asked and tried not to make it an anxious demand.

When Liam raised his head there was a smile touching the edges of his lips. He reached out with his good arm. "Come here, you idiot, Xerxes."

Hesitantly Break stepped forward, just close enough that Liam's finger's could brush his face. "Why am I an idiot?"

Liam traced the lines of the frown on his forehead, brushed his hair back from his eyes, then paused when they found the scar on his temple. "I don't remember that."

"I fought Fang, the Baskerville with the sword, and got lucky."

"Lucky with a scar?" his fingers traced the line it drew across Break's temple.

"Lucky he didn't remove my head completely. That was what he was aiming for, I just didn't get out of the way fast enough."

"I've missed quite a bit, haven't I? It sounds as if you did quite a bit after I was gone."

"I did." Break said. What he didn't say was that the moment he had found the man in front of him a mangled corpse in a basement everything had changed. Everything had shifted toward the goal of bringing him back. And he didn't regret any of what he'd done. It was worth all of it. "Now why am I an idiot? You still haven't informed me."

"Because that thing that I've been hinting of, what I never got to tell you…" Liam chuckled. "Well, it was that I was a lovesick fool who was terrified you were going to die on me before I was able to tell you about a very important thing. And then… I went and died and left all that unsaid… I was trying not to bring it up thinking that… well, it seems I was wrong."

"Ah. I see. So we have both been talking around the subject all along."

"I told you so."

"Yes, I admit it, you where right."

Liam pushed the glasses that had once been his back up Break's nose. "I am. Quite often in fact."

"So you say." Break chuckled. "We'll have to see."

"Yes… I suppose we will." Liam started to drop his hand back into his lap but Break caught it. He held it rather like he thought it would break if he closed his fingers around it too forcefully.

"How about that trip to the country, hm? For your health and… other things. We can go away, travel a bit, then, when we're tired of that, we'll come back here and figure out what we're going to do with ourselves."

"That's quite a bit a of 'we's."

"Well, I told you before," Break reached back to the table and pressed the cup of tea he had poured for himself into the hand he had been holding, "We're in this together."

"Are we?" a smile curved Liam's lips, "That's a comforting thought. Thank you."

Break snorted. "Drink your tea." he said.

And Liam did with the smile still on his lips. "Yes, mother hen."

"But until that day, I'll find a way,

To let everybody know,

That you're comin' back.

Mmm, you're comin' back for me."

(Letters from the Sky, by Civil Twilight)

end.