Helm kept one eye on the silent Raven 1 as he tended to the fire.  They still had not spoken of the events which preceded Raven 1's faint, though the pale youth had expressed guarded thanks for Helm's efforts in bringing down his fever.

He consciously tried not to remind Raven 1 of the terror he displayed.  Now that he had the time to consider it, he should not have been surprised.  The Lady Eagle possessed a phobia of fire.  It was a little known fact and most would otherwise dismiss it as an untruth.  Helm might have dismissed it himself, if he had not witnessed it once.

Most times, she was able to control this fear.  However, in the incident he had witnessed, they had been caught in a burning building and surrounded on all sides by flames.  As he thought back to that event, Helm recalled that he did stress her condition that day, by removing her from the Avatar and her sister's presence for a long period.  Just as he was now strained by their separation and the sudden loss of control over his telekinesis.

His original intention for keeping her in his company that day was to woo her over to his side.  She had appeared, at first, receptive to his advances, but as the day wore on an unmistakable tension had built within her.  The unexpected attack by the Kagaku Ninjatai on their 'secret' installation threw the rest of the day into chaos.

She had been frozen in terror when the flames surrounded them on all sides.  Her mind had shut down and her whole being was unresponsive to any stimuli.  Months later, Helm wondered if he might have been tempted to abandon her, if she had not been so important to his plans.  Encumbered by the unresponsive figure in his arms, he had been in fear of his own life to escape the inferno.

Only the timely arrival of Raven 2 and the rescue forces saved their lives.  This had been the first time that Raven 2 and Helm had congenially worked together.  Raven 2 clearing a trail and a fire break for their escape, while Helm carried the Lady Eagle to safety.

He had believed then that Raven 2 was his rival as the Lady Eagle's lover. Helm's strategy was to tighten his hold on the affections of the Lady Eagle, however, the turn of events only served to heightened his jealousy of Raven 2.  Now, he knew that belief to be false.  But even viewed as a memory, it still rankled for Helm to recall how Raven 2 had firmly taken the Lady Eagle from his arms and departed.

Helm shook himself from his reverie, mindful that he could not burn lunch.  Especially since he would not have the opportunity to hide the evidence as he did the previous night.

As he laid the fish fillets on a large leaf, Helm could not help but muse at their current strange state of affairs.  He stole a quick glance back to where Raven 1 sat cleaning his blades, a picture of confidence and danger in repose.  Yet how much of that was a sham?  Was this an effort to throw off thoughts of vulnerability?  Whatever action he was currently engaged in, Raven 1's skin looked gray and it was obvious to Helm that he was not well.  Gender aside, Helm could not deny the growing concern within him for this pale youth.  It--didn't seem to matter anymore... The Lady Eagle... Raven 1...  Wasn't it the same person?

Helm looked back towards Raven 1 again as he turned away from the campfire and prepared to serve their lunch.  Without the Blackbird-styled uniform, and with his shirt loosely draped over his shoulders, the resemblance could not be faulted.

<Fraternal twins.>  He couldn't halt the mental snort as he watched Raven 1 lift his shinning dagger in his right hand.  <We so love to explain things simply.>

Alarm bells crashed in his head when he saw Raven 1 lift his left arm towards the blade.  Helm dived across the campsite to wrench the dagger away.  As it was, his intervention came just in time to stop the blade from drawing more than a trickle of blood from Raven 1's left wrist.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"  Helm sheathed the blade placed it out of reach of Raven 1.

"Father hates me."

The tone of the voice rocked the count back on his heels.  It--sounded almost childlike.

After the outburst that morning, Katse thought that it would be prudent for Raven 2 to be closeted in their apartments.  The transport that would bring their pets was only 4 hours away.  Katse reverently hoped that Jaeger and Charles could help calm Joji until they found his brother.

The psi dampers they had deployed around the room managed to at least depress the level of mental noise surrounding them, and reduce the cacophony to a buzz to Joji's 'ears'.  But the stress imposed by the dampers was still considerable, though more welcomed than the constant noise.

However, Katse worried that the inactivity would drive Joji insane, perhaps even hastening his current rate of deterioration.  But isolating him was much more preferable than to have him accidentally fry the mind of one of their generals.

Katse shuddered as he recalled the one and only time he had witnessed his darker Raven reach out with his mind to sear the brains of an enemy.  He had had little sympathy for Dr. Finger then since he had dared to threaten Katse's authority, and almost got away with taking over Katse's own mind to use him like a puppet.

It was fortunate for Katse that the Ravens had realized something was wrong with their Avatar and tracked Finger down to confront him.  The air had been crackling with psychic energies that day when Raven 2 displayed his superior powers over the mechanical enhancements Dr. Finger used.  The moment the helmet overloaded and sputtered to its death, the psi shields died and the doctor had been engulfed in flames.

That had been a frightening moment.  Raven 2's powers had almost run out of control, but with his sibling beside him, he had gotten them in check again.

The danger was there again.  Joji was almost glowing with psychic energy when Katse dragged him into their apartments.  The psi dampers were at least doing their job at holding down his powers.

Katse looked up from his papers to check on Joji as he sat at the dressing table cleaning his guns.  At least that activity could keep his hands busy and distract him from the stress he was under, though it was an activity that was guaranteed to annoy his brother, if he was there to see it.

Raven 1--Ken was barely tolerant of his brother's obsession with guns and would rather not have them in their bedroom.  At least Joji had bothered to clear the table of their makeup and other personal objects before he began stripping the gun down to its component pieces. When and how that particular dislike came about, Katse didn't know.  It remained one of the mysteries he could not solve from the various notes and files he salvaged of the Ravens' formative years.

Katse sigh in relief to notice that Joji's hands had stopped shaking as he settled into this mundane activity.  It had taken him a long time to calm the youth after the episode with the roses.  Roses... another of those mysteries finally coming to light.

{"ASSASSIN!"}

{"ASSASSIN!"}

The words rang in his head again as the images of falling rose petals were imprinted in his mind.  Katse was aware that Raven 2 hated red roses, but until then, he never understood why.  Was it a half-faded memory of an *assassin* then?  One who used red roses--

Katse crushed the report in his hands.  Rose bombs, the Devil Stars used them once...  As did he.  Was that how Sosai first got ITS claws into the siblings?  Were they part of a happy family then, when IT sent in ITS female assassin squad to kill the parents and take the boys?  Who did it?  Did he know the assassin?  There were so many jobs... so many hits... did he do it himself?  Would Joji know?

"Bang!  Dead."

Katse turned at the sound to study the blue garbed youth sitting at the dresser.  Joji made no move to indicate he was aware of his Avatar's scrutiny.  Katse withheld a sigh to note that he appeared relatively happily engaged in--

"Bang!  Dead."

Katse's eyes widened.  Joji's hands were moving randomly among the various pieces of his dismantled handgun.

"Bang!  Dead."

Until that moment, it had not registered to Katse that Joji was now raising various pieces, pointing them at his reflection in the mirror and crying out.

"Bang!  Dead."

The voice, he noted, sounded somewhat different.  Childlike even, but it was undoubtedly Raven 2.  Critically judging the movements, Katse could see that he was pantomiming the aiming and shooting of a handgun.

"Bang!  Dead."

Suddenly, one of the reports Dr. Rafael had left behind became starkly clear.

Katse eased the reports away from him and moved forward cautiously.

"Bang!  Dead."

"Hello?" he called softly, trying not to startle the new entity before him.

Joji jerked slightly and turned towards him as if noticing him for the first time.  A gamut of emotions played over his face.  Though only a few which Katse could immediately identify; surprise, fear, suspicion...

"H-hello."

"My name is Katse.  What's your name?"

An uneasy shiver tingled down Katse's spine as the youth screwed up his face in thought of whether or not to surrender his name.

"Mommy and daddy said I shouldn't talk to strangers."

Katse thought fast.  From what he knew of Multiple Personality Disorders, it was important that he win the trust of this entity and somehow convince it to talk.  From there, they could garner information about the past event that might have cause the personality to be formed.

"That's very good advice, but isn't it different with a superior officer?"

"D-Daddy did say he has to follow the commands of his sup--superiors."

"Yes, that's right.  Can I show you something?"

"If you want."

Katse drew out a badge which he used when on undercover missions.

"Do you recognize this?"

"I know!  I know what it is!"

It was breaking Katse's heart to see the expression of glee on Raven 2's face as he clapped his hands and squealed like a child.

"Daddy showed me the pictures.  It's an inse--insu--in--"

"Insignia?"

"Yeah!  Yeah!  You're a commander!  You're a high ranking office in the army!"  Joji quickly grew quiet, his expression changed from excitement to awe.  "I'm sorry.  I'm not being very respectful to your rank."

"That's okay.  I'll let it go for now since I didn't openly display my insignia.  Do you think it's all right to talk to me now?"

"I--I guess so."

"What's your name?"

"Giorge, Giorge Asakura.  But my family calls me Joji."

<His real name!  But--this--this can't be a created personality!>

The pale hand reached for the dagger again.  Helm firmly but carefully took both hands in his and sat in front of Raven 1 to examine him.  Dead eyes looked back at him, the depths of depression and worthlessness seemed sunken into the sapphire blue eyes.  Helm shook his head in disbelief, this wasn't Raven 1 or even the Lady Eagle.  The entire carriage of the youth was of defeat and... despair.

With sudden clarity, Helm recalled the expressions that played across Raven 1's face earlier that morning.  He had displayed mocking cruelty when cradling his laser pistol, when it was known that Raven 1 *never* used handguns.  Another memory from the past forced itself to the fore; of two little girls with a multitude of names, who later adopted only one name...

<Multiple personalities?  Is that it?  To be separated causes enough of a strain that multiple personalities can rise?>  "I--I'm sure that that's not true.  Why--why would your father hate you?"  Helm asked cautiously.

"He told mother to kill me."

Helm's blood went cold at the simple statement.  <What--what monster--?>  "Y--you must have misheard him."

"No.  Mother--mother did try.  She tried to kill me."  Tears started to roll down the pale face.  "She kept telling me that I had to be brave, that she'd be with me again soon..."

Helm quickly shifted his position, at the same time moving Raven 1's sword out of his reach without relinquishing his hold on the pale wrists.  He pulled Raven 1 closer so that the he would lean back against his chest.

Helm initially flinched away from Raven 1's white hair until he realized that he could not have woven blades or burrs in the loose locks.  He had paid the price once with the Lady Eagle's braids, almost slicing his questing hand to the bone.

{"Oh, ick!  Did you get blood on my braid?"  She had swung it in front of herself to check as he stood, clutching a bleeding hand in shock.  "You really shouldn't let your hand stray where it isn't invited, my dear count."

She had taken his hand in her own then and gave him his first demonstration of her healing powers.  Before his eyes, the bleeding had stopped and the tears in the flesh closed, not even leaving the faintest trace of a scar.}

Now though, it was safe for him to stroke the silky, white shoulder-length hair if he so inclined.  Sadly, his hands were needed elsewhere, so Helm contented himself to rubbing his chin on the white mop of hair.

But what else could he do?  Helm only understood that he had a suicidal child in his arms right now, a child that could not be left alone.  To think that this was also the stable Raven 1 frightened him.  With his arms in position to hold the lithe figure in a gentle hug, Helm cautiously prompted him to continue speaking.

"I must have done something very bad to make father hate me."

"No, I'm sure you misunderstood him.  Why don't you tell me what happened?  Why do you believe your father hated you?"

Raven 1 shifted uncomfortably in his embrace.

"You can tell me.  I won't tell anyone else."  Helm murmured into his hair gently.  "Maybe we can find out why you think your father hates you?  Will you tell me what happened--when your mother tried to kill you?"

The pale youth was quiet for a while and Helm thought that he wouldn't answer.  Then, the soft childlike voice rose again.

"The house was burning when--when mother was killing me.  There was so much smoke--I was coughing so bad--and mother reached for me and--and started squeezing my neck.  She was squeezing me so hard I couldn't breathe.  She was killing me--just like father told her to."

"But she didn't kill you.  You're here--safe with me.  She didn't kill you."

"No, she couldn't.  She stopped and just cried and hugged me.  She kept telling me 'sorry' and that--and that--she couldn't kill me like father said she should."

"Then she took you out of the house?"

"No.  The doors were burning, even the windows.  There was fire everywhere.  There was so much smoke--I was coughing so bad."

<With these memories... little wonder you have a fear of fire.>  "Then what happened?"

"She kissed me.  Told me I needed to be brave--I ran away from her--She shouted at me--but--but I didn't dare go to her.  I--didn't want mother to squeeze my neck again."

Helm pulled Raven 1 on his lap and kept his arms around him in a hug...trying--willing him to feel the warmth and support he offered.  It heartened him to feel Raven 1 begin to respond by relaxing into his embrace.

"Something fell between us.  There was fire all around me--fire and smoke.  I was so scared.  It hurt--everything was so hot."  The childlike voice had fallen into a whisper as he shuddered from the memory.

Helm tightened his hug.  "You're okay now, the fire won't hurt you anymore.  Wasn't it a long time ago?  You're safe with me."

"The fire hurt mother.  She--she pulled me out of the fire.  I--I thought she wanted to squeeze my neck again.  The fire was on mother.  On--on her clothes--her hair--I was scared of mother--

"She didn't touch me again.  She just dived at the big window.  I--I heard--stuff breaking, like--like someone was breaking firewood.  Then it rained on me--only it didn't rain very long.  Just a few drops.

"But it was a very funny rain.  Have you ever seen red rain before?  It was all sticky and smelled like--copper.  I didn't like it.  Normal rain is more fun.

"Mother never came back.  The big window was open now but I couldn't see her anywhere.  There was only the curtains burning on the porch and these pools of red rain.  It was funny to see it bubble and turn black.  Water doesn't do that, it only hisses and pops.

"I--saw father then.  He--he was in the woods.  He didn't want me--he saw me--I know he did.  But he didn't want me.  He--he must have been ashamed of me--ashamed that I wasn't brave enough to die.  That mother didn't kill me--"

"No, I'm sure that's not true!"  Helm had heard enough.  The story was tearing at his heart.  Without a doubt, his mind's eye could picture what had happened.  The mother having thrown herself through the window was met by a hail of gunfire.  The red rain was her blood splattering on her son.  The burning curtains surrounded by pools of red were the dead mother and blood.  For a child to witness all of this... Helm felt his stomach roil with nausea.

Another fact also pummeled its way into the forefront.  From what little he understood of multiple personality disorders...  If Raven 1 was telling him all this now... this--entity was the witness... it was...  *This* boy was the one who lived before the trauma began that would mark the start of a child creating personalities to escape into.  *This* was the *original* boy, the birth personality.  So, Raven 1, the Lady Eagle--Kitty... the entity who was the right arm of the Avatar--that was--created.

Katse tried to cover his confusion.  "Joji, y--do you mind that I call you 'Joji'?"  At the youth's shake of his head, he pressed on.  "You were pretending to shoot at someone just now.  Can you tell me who that was?"

"The assassin.  She shot my daddy an--and my little brother.  I had a gun-- I picked up my daddy's gun--I was gonna shoot her--I was--but I didn't...  I didn't..." Tears welled up in his eyes, spilling down his cheeks as if the flood gates had opened.

Katse opened his arms and took the sobbing youth into his embrace.  "It's okay, the assassin didn't get you.  You're safe with me."

"But Kenny--"

"Was that your brother's name?"

"I-I'm not suppose to say."

"Why?"

"Mommy and daddy said that we shouldn't use his real name."

"Why?  You can tell me, I won't tell anyone else."

"They--well, they said it might put us in danger."

"Well, Joji.  I'm a high ranking officer.  I can protect you.  So you don't have to worry about telling me this sort of thing.  You can trust me."

"Really?"

"Officer's honor."

"B-but daddy said we're hiding from people like you.  Oh--I shouldn't say--"

"Joji--"

"But Daddy's dead--an--and--mommy's gone.  So it doesn't matter anymore--"  A fresh flood of tears started.

Katse pulled him onto his lap and started to rock him gently.  He surprised himself, he never realized how gentle he could be with a child.  "It's okay, you don't have to tell me.  Not now--"

"They're dead.  They're all dead or gone.  I'm all alone."

"Shh, you're not alone, Joji.  You can stay with me.  I'll take care of you."

"Really?  Promise?"

"Of course I'll promise--"  Katse remembered something he had once seen little children do and held out his right hand with his pinky extended.  "I promise that I'll protect you."

Joji's face lit up when he saw the gesture and engaged his own finger with Katse's, curling his finger around it like a lifeline.  They stayed locked in the grip for a long time.

"His real name is Ken."

"Pardon me?"

"My little brother.  His real name is Ken.  We called him Kenny.  Well--he's not really my brother.  He used to be my neighbor, but something bad happened and his parents had to go away.  So he came to live with me and to be my baby brother.

"I really like him.  But since that bad thing, he's always so sick and he hardly laughs anymore."

"Was he more cheerful before?"

"You bet!  We were always getting into trouble together.  Our moms would get so mad with us when we go blackberry picking because we'd get our clothes all torn up and dirty, but the berries would rot if we didn't go pick the bushes.  And Kenny's mom would bake the bestest blackberry pie..." Joji grinned brightly.

"It sounds like you had a lot of fun growing up together."

"But Kenny hardly ever laughed after he came to live with us."  Joji's expression turned sad again.  "It would hurt too much.  Daddy said that some bad man hurt him and his lungs don't work as good anymore.  He's always out of breath.  An--And his hair was going all funny and white.  Mommy said that was because he was tra--tru--traumatized and under stress.  Well, I told mommy and daddy I won't let anyone hurt him again.  He's *my* baby brother bow.  I'll protect him like a big brother should!"

After that outburst, Raven 2 became uncomfortably quiet.

"Joji?  What's wrong?  It sounds like you loved your little brother very much."

"I failed him.  I promised him that I would protect him, but someone shot him when I wasn't with him.  Him and daddy."

"Joji, I'm sure you did our best. You can't be expected to be with him all the ti--"

"I never left him alone.  He needed me!  I was always with him to protect him.  But daddy sent me away with mommy.  He said he needed to talk to Kenny alone.  He said everything would be all right soon.  But it wasn't!

"I saw--I saw that masked woman who shot them.  I was gonna kill her!  I had daddy's gun.  But she threw something at me."

<A rose bomb.>  Katse breathed.

"Then everything wen black. An--And I guess I died."

They fell silent again.  Katse continued to hold him on his lap and rock him until he started to squirm from the inactivity.

"I wanna play."

Katse didn't know what to think when he released him.  Just like that, the entire conversation was forgotten and the boy was distracted again.

Raven 2 returned to the dressing table to awkwardly push the pieces around the table top again. As Katse watched, the whole posture and body language changed.  Confidence once more flowed through the hands which reassembled the gun with a practiced ease that belied years of study of the handgun.

After the gun was fully assembled and returned to his holster, Joji reached up to pinch the skin between his eyes.

"Do you have an aspirin, Katse-sama.  I've got such a splitting headache."

"Of--of course..."  Katse moved woodenly to the handy medical chest which he had asked for when Raven 2's mental imbalance had first made it self known and started searching through the stock.

Hearing the wariness in Katse's voice, Joji looked at him suspiciously.  "Is something wrong?"  Feeling the light tension on his face, he reached out to touch the dried tear tracks on his cheeks.  "Was I crying?  I don't remember--"

"Your mind was elsewhere.  You were thinking of your brother."

"Oh, right."

Katse silently told himself that at first opportunity, he had to review Rafael's notes on this matter.  In fact, he was going to re-read everything Rafael bothered to record on his Ravens.  And *this* time, he was going to read it *carefully* instead of skimming over half the text.

Things he had previously dismissed as gibberish and the rambling of a mad scientist were all too uncomfortably beginning to make sense.

"He hated me for not dying,"  Raven 1 repeated quietly as Helm rocked him in his embrace.

"Shhh, that's not important.  You have others who love you.  We don't want you to die,"  Helm told him urgently.  "Your father was wron--"

"No he isn't!  He's the bestest father in the whole wide world!"

"Maybe he was mistaken?  Maybe *you're* mistaken?"  Helm struggled to find some logic to change the child's perception.  "How about this--the fire was very big, wasn't it?"

"Yes."

"It hurt you-- it hurt your mother..."

"Yes."

"It could have killed you and it would have hurt very bad..."

"Yes."

"What if, your father wanted your mother to kill you, so that the fire wouldn't hurt you so bad as it killed you?"  Helm rushed his logic at the child mind.  "What if your mother was trying to spare you the pain before she remembered another way out so that the fire wouldn't kill you?

"So you see, your father and mother didn't hate you.  They just wanted to protect you from the fire.  Your mother opened the big window, didn't someone reach in to take you out through it?"

"Yes.  Daddy Giuseppe took me out.  But father didn't come back for me.  And mother didn't come back..."

"But Daddy Giuseppe loved you all the same, didn't he?"  Helm latched on to the name.  This was the first time he had heard the name, but he wasn't about to brush it off.

"He--he did. And Mommy Katarina and big brother Joji."

<Katarina?  Joji?  Again the names were unfamiliar, but maybe Raven 2?  Could Joji be Raven 2?>  "So you see.  You are well loved."

"Really?"

"Of course, would I lie?  I love you too.  And your brother loves you and Katse-sama loves you.  Sosai X must also love you."

"Who?"

<Oops, he must not know those names yet.>  "More people love you than you think, little one.  Even people who you've never met love you."  That was partially true.  As the Ravens, they commanded respect, admiration and the love of the general populace.

"But fathers and mothers are suppose to love you.  My father and mother hat--"

<Okay, okay, he's fixated on his father hating him.  You're not going to change his mind like this, Helm.>  the count groaned inwardly, <Let's see if you can divert him again.>  "My father didn't like me either, but I didn't care.  I have other people who love me.  You do too."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."  Helm tightened his hug.

"You're not lying to make me feel better?"

<Oh, for the love of suspicious little boys...> "No, I'm not lying."  Helm kissed him on the cheek, feeling him relax comfortably against him.  "*I* love you.  And it would make me feel very sad if you try and hurt yourself.

"Will you promise not to hurt yourself again?"

"No one car--"

Helm shook him firmly.  "You weren't listening, little one.  I love you.  Your brother loves you..."

"Brother?"

<What was that name, Helm?>  "J--Joe--Joji?  Remember Joji?  He'll be very sad if you hurt yourself.  And *I*?  I will be quite *devastated*!"

Raven 1 giggled at his tone.

"Promise me?"

"Really?  You love me?"

"Yes.  Yes, I love you, little one."  Helm stroked Raven 1's shoulder gently.  The pale face brightened at last and he snuggled tighter into the embrace.

Helm started to rock him gently, and it wasn't long before the gentle motion was enough to lull the pale figure to sleep.  The silence gave Helm some time to muse over his words.  In all sincerity, he meant it.  He really meant it.  Despite the gender changes... despite the strange mental imbalance that Raven 1 now displayed... he meant every word of it.  He did love the lithe figure he now cradled in his arms.

But--how could he?  What kind of love was that?  Was it for a lover?  No, wasn't this--love that he now displayed a protective love for a child in need?  Wasn't it just compassion?  <You shock yourself, you ol' bastard.  Compassion?  From you?>

Raven 1 stirred and stiffened when he found himself in Helm's tight embrace.

"Wha--Helm?"

Helm released the grip on his wrists but did not relinquish the embrace, though he did loosen the hold.  "I--you looked like--you needed a hug from a--friend."

"Oh."  Raven 1 reached up to touch the recently dried tear streaks on his face.  "I--wasn't aware--thanks."

<So you *are* totally oblivious of the episode.>  "D--don't mention it."  Helm gently slid him off his lap and nonchalantly moved back to the campfire to retrieve the leaf with the grilled fish fillets.  "Y--you're up in time for lunch."

Helm was well aware that the eyes that followed him were filled with curiosity and confusion.  He wasn't sure if he was ready to confront his own confusion.  <Damn it, Helm.  Do you *really* love her--him?>

Katse searched frantically through the files on the data disk while keeping an eye on his dozing Raven.  Joji had been reluctant to settle down for a nap, but Katse had insisted that he was mentally stressed and needed to take a rest.  He sincerely hoped that his own agitation would not disturb his Raven.

The image of a red rose bomb disturbed his thoughts.

In hir 'hidden' years, in the period when s/he had escaped the empire to train hirself to bring it down, s/he had learned and trained with the best.  Bitter irony it was that s/he had hidden hirself in plain sight, in Sosai X's own elite female assassins, the Devil Stars.

It had been so easy to ingratiate hirself with the commander of the squad, impress her with hir spunk and eagerness to learn.  S/he was so tall and lanky then it was easy for hir to lie about hir age and invent a story of survival as a street rat.  Hir boldness gave its rewards and s/he managed to firmly entrench hirself within the ranks of the Devil Stars.

Though s/he had learnt much under their tutorship, Katse was not proud of that time.  Not especially when Sosai X later turned the assassin squad into a child enslavement unit.  They had been trained not to question their targets, but the stress of it all...  Killing parents... stealing the children for Sosai X's laboratories...

Deep inside, Katse knew that it *was* hir fault.  S/he had run away and Sosai X was trying to recreate hir.  S/he hadn't understood why then.  But the number of children that would die in ITS experiments...  The knowledge that s/he would in turn be determined to kill those that survived...

As time wore on and more children died, some within the Devil Stars began to falter in their resolve of their duties.  S/he had faltered hirself once; hesitating at the critical moment for the boy to see her and bring the father's belated attention to hir--

Katse froze in the midst of his searching.  His hands started to tremble.

<No, I cannot believe it to be true.  A coincidence!  It must be a coincidence!>  The memory of that Devil Star mission flooded into him.

The man was the main threat, easily dispatched before he could bring his handgun into line.  The  boy with silver streaked brown hair had to be silenced before he alerted the last two pigeons in that little drama.  At that time, s/he had thought nothing of winging the child to silence him.  S/he had even briefly considered killing him, to spare him from Sosai X's experiments.

Then, s/he saw the flicker of shadows departing as the recoil of the gun kicked against her hand.  The mother and the traitorous family's contact... the boy had done his part to warn them.  S/he might have given chase if her attention had not been taken by yet another child.  This second one, having seemingly appeared out of nowhere and now held his father's handgun braced in two hands like a pro.

{"You killed them!"}

S/he had flicked the rose bomb at him irritatingly, upset that s/he had lost two of her main marks...  {"Save your hate for your traitorous father, child."}

Katse shook his head  <No!  There were countless other families!  All Devil Stars have the same armaments!  Coincidence!  It is coincidence, the accounts will appear so similar!  We don't even know the names of our hits.>

He closed his eyes, trying to think of the children's faces.  But he just could not think of what they looked like.  All he could remember was a mop of brown hair beneath one boy's blue beret, and streaks of silver in the brown hair of the child s/he had shot.

Helm ignored the muttered grumbles as he settled the reluctant Raven 1 into his blankets for a nap.  The fever had flared up again and Helm insisted that he take a rest.  Helm tried to make it as painless as he could, he knew that Raven 1 hated to look so weak... and dependent.  But they could no longer deny the evidence of Raven 1's failing health.  As much as he hated it, Raven 1 didn't have the strength to carry on the charade any longer.

The poltergeist activity had not appeared again.  Helm strongly suspected that one of the personalities Raven 1 probably carried in his head was the cause.  That, or it could even be a slip of his control because of the strain he was under.  Helm wasn't sure which scenario he preferred it to be.

Raven 1's pale skin looked so *gray*.  A surge of protectiveness filled Helm as he gently wiped the hot skin of Raven 1's face with a cool towel.  The blue sapphire eyes looked up at him blearily.

"Why are you helpin--?"

"We're--together, aren't we?"  <And--I'm sorry--for what I said before.>  He couldn't get the words out.  He wanted so much to say them now, but he couldn't get his mouth to work.

Raven 1 closed his eyes and turned his head away.  It wasn't long before his breathing grew steady as he drifted into exhausted sleep.

Why couldn't he apologize?  Was his pride so great?  Was his opinion any different?  <It isn't natural!  But does it matter?  Does it *really* matter?>  The blue skinned man was torn.  <Analyze it, Helm!  What do you feel?  Is this affection for a sibling?  A friend?  A lover?  Why do you feel like this around hir?

<What do you feel now?  You're concerned for him...  You want to protect him...> Helm closed his eyes and silently cursed at his own cleverness.  This whole--mess came about because he wanted time alone with Raven 1 to sort out his feelings.  Well, he had the time now... so why was he still so confused?  Why couldn't he make up his mind?

Katse kept one eye on his sleeping Raven as he silently read the words of the electronic Journal.  He cursed himself silently, wondering how he had been so blind not to see the warning stated so clearly before him.

Eagle slashed her wrists...  How did this happen?  I can only blame my own blindness for not noticing *their* distress sooner.

Thank god, Condor felt her sister's distress, or we'd never have found her in time. The cuts were deliberate, across the wrists and purposely down the arm so that it would be more difficult to stop the bleeding.  She lost so much blood, and yet she didn't even understand what had happened.  I questioned her.  It was a suicide attempt, yet she wasn't aware of what happened, and I believe her.

I talked to them, their instructors, and the boys.  I should have been warned.  I should have taken notice!  The name games... it's not a game.  We've all been seeing the different personalities which these poor children created through their trauma under Sosai X's care.  That--that DIM LIGHT BULB knew about it!  I've never been so--so--  That STROBE LIGHT kept rebooting their minds from scratch--inevitably helping them to create new--

Damn!  It doesn't solve anything to rant.  I've already told the boys to choose a set of new names and call them nothing else but that.  Maybe we can force an integration.

Damn it!  I don't know how to deal with this!  I am not a psychologist!  I hope--I pray--Sosai won't try to help.  It doesn't want them to remember their past, and that's what we have to dredge up and confront them with if we want the fragmented personalities to come together.  We'll be forcing it.  I don't--I don't know--  God, I hope I know what I'm doing.

<Elkezel?  He was their guardian before they were released to me.  Might he be able to he--?  No.  This was long before Rafael handed custody over to the church.  Rafael must have succeeded in creating the stable personalities of Eagle and Condor.  Otherwise, he wouldn't have released them into the care of the high priest.  But I've never seen... then again, the Siblings have never been separated for so long, Katse.  The strain must be fragmenting-->

Katse leaped to his feet in alarm.  <Oh God, Eagle!  If Joji is cracking--what of Ea--Ken?  What of my little Eagle?  What is he going through without us?  Why haven't the soldiers found him yet?!>

He looked back at his remaining Raven, noting now that even in sleep Joji's expression was strained and he was beginning to look pale.  His Eagle hadn't been well when he departed for that disaster of an inspection run, Katse knew that he must be feeling far worse.  Only one hope stayed with him, that Ken was still alive.  If he was dead... Elkezel's earlier suggestion reminded him that Joji would follow him into death.

His little Eagle was still alive.  They had to keep hope alive that they could find him before it was too late.