Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Everyone has a secret self they don’t show to other people. Not to friends, not to lovers, not even to family. They hide who they are and what they want behind lies and painted smiles. And thus the world maintains its thin veneer of peace.

Loud noises of tires scratching the pavement and of metal bending can be heard from the screen of the conference room alongside the distant screams of the two passengers. The men gathered in the dark and spacious room are looking at the screen with neutral expressions. One of them, the head of this meeting, addresses his colleagues. “One of our diplomats in Ostania was killed in a car accident.” He presents the current situation.” We suspect it was an assassination carried out by the east’s far-right-wing political party.” It was a logical assumption, the nationalists from the east have been a thorn in their side for a long time, looking for war in the search for glory.” They want a war with our nation of Westalis. We need to know exactly what they are planning in the east.”

“Then we should put her on it. The best agent we have…” Suggests one of the other men” Twilight.”

Over the border in Ostania a deal is taking place in a secluded alleyway on the outskirts of Frankfurd. A man wearing a trench coat and concealing his face with a hat, hands an envelope to an elderly woman dressed in an expensive suit. She opens it with a frown on her face, immediately lighting up when she sees the photos inside.

“Just as I promised. Photographic proof that the foreign minister…” The man pauses, still bewildered by how such information values so much.”… wears a hairpiece. Negatives and all.” he also hands her the negatives, happy to finally end this ridiculous situation. “Nice job.” Says the woman with a satisfied smile.” This should be enough to secure her resignation.” The elderly woman gets in the driver’s seat of a very nice but inconspicuous looking car, she looks at him one more time before leaving.” Keep up the good work.”

Of course he will, this political circus is making him a lot of money. As long as he keeps following officials from Westalis, ostanian patriots will pay for such ridiculous stuff. He leaves satisfied, another good day of profiting off idiots.

“Hey.” He hears a voice from behind, he turns around only to find the exact same woman, this time followed by two men.” Where are you going?” She asks while holding her hand out expectantly.” Aren’t you going to hand over what you promised me?” The man looks back and forth confused, switching his gaze from the woman before him to the black car that could still be seen in the distance.” What?!” He asks, confused.” But… I just…” He stutters, trying to look for an explanation, suddenly, it strikes him.” Oh no… That was a setup…!!”

In the car, a much younger woman rips the mask off her face and throws it on the back seat. Another successful mission. Her codename is Twilight, the woman is a spy. In this ruthless cold war era, the two rival nations, Ostania and Westalis, are waging a ruthless informational war against one another, right under the gazes of ordinary citizens. Under those circumstances, she was a true veteran, making use of a hundred different faces to survive.

In a fancy and exclusive restaurant somewhere in the center of Frankfurd two people are eating dinner, but, despite the setting, the mood is hardly romantic. A tall man dressed in expensive clothing is talking relentlessly about his mother and the stolen pictures of a wig, and of course, of the promises of painful retribution towards the shameless thieves. His partner, a shorter woman with blond hair is eating her meal quietly, obviously bored with her date’s conversation choice, barely paying attention while shoving the expensive stake in her mouth as elegantly as she could muster.

“Roberta? Are you even listening to me?” He asks after a while, realizing that her plate, unlike his, is already completely empty. “Hm? Oh, indeed. How unfortunate for her.” Roberta responds in a neutral and disinterested tone.

He huffs in disapproval. ”Anyway, Roberta, I’d like to ask you something.” He reaches for something in his pocket. “Let’s break up.” She says suddenly. Kyle’s hand froze on the small box he had prepared. ”What?” He asks, dumbfounded. “You’re boring and kind of an idiot.” Roberta gets up from her seat and grabs her coat, heading for the exit.” Best of luck in your future affairs.” She wishes while leaving. “Roberta, wait!” Yells the man, but she is long gone.

She feels a little bit bad for him, but this is how it should be, she doesn’t need him anymore, or rather, she doesn’t need his mother anymore. Twilight throws the photos and negatives in a random fire on the street, probably started by homeless people, she has nothing else to do here.

Anyway, what was that dumbass Kyle even thinking? They’ve only known each other for two months and he was already proposing to her. Ostanian men are a completely different breed and Twilight decides that she will never get used to them. But, even if she had any attachment to the minister’s son, that was not a life for her. Hopes of marriage? The pleasures of an ordinary life? Those dreams ended up in the garbage can next to her I.D. papers when she decided to become a spy.

The next morning Twilight finds herself at a train station, ready to receive further instructions. She wears discreet clothing, attracting too much attention is a death sentence for a spy, and when you’re a woman that risk just doubles. Her interaction with what seemed like a random man was swift and almost devoid of words. They switched newspapers and each of them left on their own way, the man leaving just a simple “meow” behind him. So it’s Cypher C? There were so many, sometimes she mixed them up by accident. Nobody knew, of course, Twilight can’t make mistakes openly.

After receiving all she needed, Twilight gets on the train for Berlint, sitting down and leisurely reading the newspaper while drinking her coffee. Now that the wig fiasco was over she needed all the caffeine in the world.

The code on the newspaper was written in a special ink that could be read only if light fell on it the right way, plus, the regular writing was also coded. Sometimes she asked herself if they didn’t go a bit too far with this thing. There were too many codes, and they were far too complicated, it took her forever to memorize all of them.

“Good day. Or rather, good evening, Twilight.” The newspaper greeted her.” Excellent work on your last assignment. Thanks to you, the minister has survived another day, to the great benefit of Westalis.” Of course she did a good job, who else is a better spy than her? That’s right, no one.” I’m afraid we have another assignment for you already. Your target is the leader of the National Unity Party, Vladimir Briar. He is a grave threat to the truce between East and West.” Are they ever gonna let her catch a break? Probably not, unfortunately. And why does she have to deal with those nutjobs, why can’t Becky do it?” Your mission is to get close to him and probe into any seditious activities.” Good, pretty basic stuff, this can’t be too hard.” In order to do so you will marry and have a child.” At this Twilight almost spilled her coffee in shock.” Excuse me?” She thought, this is not possible, maybe she read wrong, yeah, maybe this is the wrong cypher. But it is not, and she knows it.” Briar is a recluse and is extremely suspicious of others. At this point, he operates almost entirely behind the scenes. His only public appearances are at the events held at this private school his daughter attends. These events are informal get-togethers for the upper crust of industrial and political leaders.” This at least makes sense, if he is such an isolated hermit they must do anything to get near him. She can be a mother, of course she can, there is nothing that the best spy in the world can’t do.” You are to enroll your child at this school and gain entry to these events. However, the deadline for admissions is approaching fast. Only one week remains.”

“I have seven days to make a child?” She rips the newspaper in frustration but immediately recollects herself, quickly shooting an excuse to the other passengers for the commotion. That was so sloppy. But what can she do, those people are becoming more and more unreasonable with every mission.” We’re calling it ‘Operation Strix’. This operation is the key to maintaining peace between East and West, and perhaps the world.” Yes, yes, of course it is. They say this about every mission. It’s not that they’re lying, only that Twilight needs a vacation.” You and your fellow agents do great deeds that never see the light of day. You are heroes without shadows. You’ll earn no medals. Your name will never make it into the papers. But despite that, never forget that everyone else’s day-to-day lives are possible because of your blood and sweat.” They are right. She abandoned her identity when she became Twilight. What is motherhood if not just another role to play, and she will play it to perfection. Everything, for the sake of a better world. 

A few hours later a real estate agent is showing a spacious apartment from a good area of Berlint to a nicely dressed young woman. He can’t deny that he was a little bit taken by her when she came to his office in the morning looking for a nice living place suited for a small family. She looks so young, hard to think that she would have a child, and she is so charming. That quality about her carrying even while she walks all around the apartment, checking carefully any nook and cranny, her pink hair, stylized with two ornaments that look approximately like black cones, fluttering behind her pleasantly.” Excuse me, ma’am…?” He asked after a while, seeing that she keeps checking for something.” I’ll take it.” Announces Anya Forger, being satisfied by the apartment, no hidden microphones and easy escape routes, perfect.

Yes, Anya Forger, psychiatrist. That’s her new life. She’s had better, but she’s also had much, much worse.

“Then I’ll need you to sign right here, Mrs. Forger.” He quickly hands Anya the papers, happy to be done so soon.” What a wonderful new start this will be for your family! Do you have a son or a daughter? I have two boys myself. They’re eight and ten!” Mentions the agent, wanting to start polite conversation.” Ah, well…” There’s a problem with that.”...that’s what I’ve got to figure out next.” She responds truthfully. Twilight wants to put off the child as much as possible, after all, a happy home life, and a family to cherish, are nothing but liabilities to a spy.

After the issue of housing is taken care of, Twilight makes her way to a sketchier part of the town, stopping in front of an old building. The thing looks more like an abandoned ruin than an institution that houses children and if you wouldn’t know what to look for you would probably miss it. It’s sad, and exactly the kind of place that Twilight needs.

She rings the doorbell, a few moments later the old wooden door opens with a loud creak and a middle-aged balding, obviously drunk, man peeks outside, opening the door wider when he sees her.” Yeah? You wanna foster a kid?” He asks in a slurred voice, his eyes barely keeping themselves open.” I do. And I understand I can adopt through your orphanage as well?” Says Twilight in a meek and sweet voice, smiling pathetically.” My husband and I have been trying for many years, but…” She starts telling the sob story that she has half cooked on the way, but the man turns around and gestures for her to follow him inside.” Yeah, whatever. Just take whichever one you want.” The man says, not even bothering to pretend that he gives a damn about the fate of the children in his care.

The inside somehow looks worse than the outside, which says a lot. The walls are cracked, the floorboards are coming undone; the windows are broken and the whole place is littered with dirty children, dressed in unwashed, poorly patched together rags and playing with old toys and garbage. Disgust creeps in her mind but she pushes it down, she can’t do anything for these children and, sadly enough, their situation is useful to her. ”What a dump”, Twilight thinks to herself, but an orphanage this shoddy is unlikely to have good records concerning the provenance of its children, that should make it all the easier to fabricate a new family history. This mission requires the establishment of a family, but for now just the child would be enough. Of course, she’d prefer to do this entire mission on her own, but even for Westalis’ greatest spy, impersonating a child is impossible. ”Damn you Briar, you antisocial freak.” she mentally curses her target. 

“Oh, ideally I’d like a child who can already read and write.” She tells the man, there’s only a week left, she is not gonna teach this kid the alphabet.” Yeah? In that case…” His eyes wander to one corner of the room.” Loid, get over here!” He calls to one child, who sits alone, separated from the others.

The boy is small, kinda cute if you ask her, with ashy blond, badly trimmed hair and large blue eyes, looking at her with confusion and scrutiny. Well, he looks smart, but he seems a little too small.

“This is the smartest one we got. He doesn’t say much but..” He pauses, seemingly thinking what would be most helpful to say next.” He’s a good kid.” He finally decides. Loid steps closer to them and the man doesn’t hide his disdain when he looks at him. This kid creeps him out and he wants it as far away from his business as possible, this dumb woman is the perfect opportunity to finally remove this little freak, this time for good.” Greet the lady, Loid!” Commands the man.” Ahh… Perhaps not.” Twilight says. You have to be at least six to enroll at Eden Academy, this boy looks four, five at the oldest.” Six!” Loid suddenly blurts out.” Hmm?” Twilight approaches him.” I’m six.” He says more clearly this time.” Huh, you’re already six?” The man doesn’t remember Loid being six, he doesn’t even remember him being five, but it’s not like he cares enough to check. As for Twilight, she thinks that his reaction was a little weird but tosses it aside and believes him, despite his small size. 

Loid runs to a table and brings back a newspaper, staying on his toes to make it easier for her to see what he is showing her without bending down.” The crossword puzzle? That might be a little tough for you.” She says when she understands what the child is showing her, but he doesn’t listen. Loid sits down and grabs a crayon, starting to fill in the words. Twilight looks over his shoulder, this thing is easy for her of course, she starts looking at the ones he hasn’t completed yet: ”One down is ’homeostasis’, one across is’ causal closure’, and below that is’ symplectomorphism’” this thing is too simple. A few minutes later Loid proudly shows her the completed puzzle.” You finished it?! Seriously?!” She asks bewildered. This is a stunning level of intellect, this boy will surely ace the entrance exam.” I’ll take this one.” She turns towards the drunken man.” Now, about the paperwork…” The man waves his hand, dismissing her.” Don’t worry about it. Just take him and get outta here.”

Child acquired. Mission accomplished. Twilight is actually worried that this is going too well, but she decides to not jinx it.” Is this ok with you?” She asks Loid, after all, it’s important for them to have a good relationship.

“Spy? Mission?” Loid thinks to himself. He nods his head at the woman. This is crazy, he has to find out more.

Twilight might have made a great error, the boy is a telepath. Formerly known as Test Subject “007”, he possesses the ability to read minds. He was made thus by accident, an unintended consequence of research experiments conducted by a certain organization. He later escaped from the facility and moved from institution to institution, seeking someone to take care of him.

“Listen up, little boy.” She starts when they arrive in front of the building.” It’s Loid!” He corrects her, but Twilight ignores it.” You’ll be my child from now on. But as far as everyone else is concerned, you have always been my child. Is that clear?” She asks and Loid nods his head.” Clear.”.” You should address me as ‘mother’.” That sounds uselessly fancy and upperclass-like.” Understood, Mother.”

They enter the building, heading towards their apartment, when they unexpectedly meet one of their neighbors, an elderly woman.” What an adorable young man.” She says cheerfully.” Hello, dear.” The woman greets them smiling.” We’re the Forgers, we just moved in today.” Twilight greets the woman back, it’s important to have a good relationship with your neighbors.” My name is Loid, it’s nice to meet you.” Loid presents himself to their neighbor which earns him a delighted chuckle from the elderly woman.” Such a polite boy.”

After the brief exchange the two of them retreat to their new temporary home. Twilight holds the door open for Loid, showing him inside the apartment. He starts looking around with a certain caution, letting his eyes slide over the clean surfaces, well taken care of plants and mostly untouched furniture. The fact that the apartment was brand new didn’t escape him, but he chose to not say anything, he was still trying to understand what this whole spy business was about.” You can turn on the TV if you want.” His new adoptive(but biological in the eyes of everyone but themselves) mother tells him as she sits tiredly on the couch. Loid listens, it’s not like there is much more to do in such a deeply impersonal space. Plus, he hasn’t seen a television in a while and he was curious to see what they put on air these days.

Twilight watches Loid as he settles on some bad horror movie and distinctly asks herself if she should let him watch something like that at such a young age, but ultimately decides to drop the issue for now. Now that she has a child she should secure all the things that they’ll need, including forged I.D. papers for the boy, that would legally prove that she is his biological mother. Eden Academy doesn’t publicly denounce adoption but they are the kind of people that don’t see with good eyes anything that strays from the traditional definition of family. Also they would think that it’s weird that she registered her son for Eden Academy not even a week after she adopted him, that would be suspicious. 

Of course, the traditional views of Eden Academy demand that she should find a husband soon, but Twilight chooses to not dwell on the thought too much. She would much rather exclude the husband from the mission and plans to use the excuse of a dead husband to get herself out of it. A sob story about how her late husband, the father of her child, was her one and only and she could never replace him should do the trick, conservatives are really into monogamy and super not into women building their own lives.

“I’m stepping out for a bit.” Twilight heads for the door, heading towards the meeting point with the other Westalis agent.” Oh…?” Loid fumbles with his words a little bit.” Ok, I’ll just stay here, watching TV. Have a good trip.” Suddenly he sounds sad and hesitant. Anya almost wants to take him with her, but she pushes the thought back, he can’t go with her.” Alright. I’ll be back immediately, I’m just going to grab some groceries.”

The WISE agents deployed in Ostania are dwindling by day, all because of those SSS bastards, that damn political police is way too efficient. All this is creating her a lot of troubles, and it’s not only about the huge workload but also about this whole ridiculous mission. Just the fact that she has to find a civilian child and husband to get access into a private academy is ridiculous. If the SSS was not cracking down on them so hard then the Agency would have at least given her a husband. Twilight can’t complain too much, this is a war, it’s obvious that the circumstances are going to be unfair, her only consolation is that this one is not nearly as bad as the one that she had to deal with when she still had her first name. Yes, at least now she has the ability to do something, to influence the people that are raging these wars and to stop civilians from being caught in the middle of a conflict they don’t even understand.

The last few remaining agents in Ostania are veritable life saviors, even if they are not doing such big missions, like Operation Strix, they are still hiding resources, smuggling agents from Westalis, gathering information, making sure that the orders are given to the right people and, of course, getting documents for the new brat that Twilight has to somehow make into the striking image of ostanian perfectionism.

Suddenly Anya starts to panic. How can she raise this child? Not only raise him, but raise him to be good enough for her to get in contact with Briar? Loid doesn’t only need to be smart, but also to act in a way that would impress the staff at Eden Academy. So she has to model him in any way she can and obviously have a good relationship with him. If he ends up hating her and running away then everything will be in vain.

“You look like shit.” The familiar cheerful voice says. Twilight takes a moment to look around her and realizes that she has already arrived at her destination. In this dingy library, waiting for her behind the counter, is exactly the informational agent she was looking for.” Becky.” She says in a deadpan voice.” That’s kinda cold, what’s the deal with you?” She asks, completely amused by the situation. ”What’s…?” Twilight starts but stops herself when she realizes that she was almost screaming and approaches Becky, speaking in a lower tone.” What’s with me? Haven’t you heard what kind of mission I have?” She asks her exasperated.” I did, I did. I assume that you’re here because you’ve already found a kid?”

Twilight gives her all the details, from the sketchy orphanage and it’s location to a basic description of Loid so that Becky knows who to fake papers for.” How could I raise a child, Becky?” She whines, lamenting her situation.” That was not in the training.” Becky looks at her curiously while putting the documents in a brown envelope and handing them to her.” I have no idea, why don’t you try researching the issue.” Twilight stares at her quietly for a moment before taking out her wallet.” Give me everything you have on child raising.” Becky sighs and goes to grab the books. This is so like her.

When she arrives back home Loid is already passed out on the couch, the TV now showing a news channel. Anya turns it off and lifts the boy in her arms, hoping to not disturb him, and puts him to bed in the second bedroom. While Loid is sleeping peacefully she is closely reading the large number of parenting books that she got from Becky. After scouring a few of them she starts wondering if every parent in the world is really taking on such a difficult mission.” Try to stop behavior, rather than scold.”, “See things from the child’s perspective.”, “Try to keep in mind that children can find it difficult to verbalize their own feelings.”, “For the sake of their future, try to raise them with confidence.”. This is way too complicated. He’ll be returning to the orphanage when the mission is over anyway, that’s the full extent of their relationship.

The next day Anya bought a few notebooks and basic textbooks for first graders and placed them on the small table in the living room. Loid is watching another movie, from what Anya could see this one was about a puppet, well this is not so bad. Wait, did the puppet push that woman out the window? Ok, nevermind that. When he saw what she was doing he turned around, looking curiously at the objects splayed on the table.” It’s study time.” Says Anya, trying to sound excited, hoping that she would make him excited too, but his mood dropped abruptly.” Oh, come one, it’s not gonna be that bad. I just need to judge your academic abilities for the test.” She tries to rationalize.” I hate study time.” This is not just childish behavior, but Anya has no way of knowing that. Unlike other children, Loid was not associating study time with textbooks, ink-stained fingers or endless hours of staring at paper, but with unfriendly people dressed in white coats, looking at him from above and taking him in strange cold rooms with tall tables. He knows that what happened in those rooms was not studying, this is just what they were calling it, of course he knows that, but that’s not helping much.

“Just for a few minutes, ok? It’s not gonna be that bad.” Anya says sweetly and sits down beside him, trying to not put pressure on him. Loid sighs and accepts. He managed to pick up more information by listening to the woman’s thoughts. Apparently she is a spy from Westalis, and he has to get into this school or world peace will be in danger. Bad people will take power in the country, wars will start, people will die. He can’t let that happen. Someone has to stop it and at the moment Mother, or Anya, or Twilight, or whoever she is, is the only one that can, but for her to even get a chance to do it he has to study a lot. He still doesn’t know all the details, but he knows enough to know that he can’t run from this. 

A couple hours later, Twilight is pleased to see that Loid has a pretty good grasp on basic calculations and spelling, he should be able to take Eden’s entrance exam with little effort. When that damn Handler will inevitably come and pester her, Twilight will proudly tell him that everything is going according to plan. Now that she thinks about it, she should see if Becky registered Loid for the entrance exam, she said that she would do it in her place in case Twilight needed more time to catch Loid up to speed academically.

“I’m heading out for a bit. Watch the house for an hour.” Anya tells him while grabbing her coat.” Alright, be careful.” Loid responds while turning back to the TV to catch the rest of his marathon, “My bloody Valentine” was next and he really wanted to see it.

Back at the library Becky looked just as amused with her situation as she was a day before.” So, how's the kid?” She asks while looking under the desk for something.” Pretty good? I think. Maybe?” Twilight stutters.” Well, it’s not terrible.” She settles on an answer.” That’s a start, let’s just hope that everything will go upwards from now on.” She drops a small envelope on the table.” I took care of the registration. Those are the questions. This should settle everything.” Twilight grabs the envelope and stuffs it into her coat excitedly.” What would I do without you Becky?” With this it will be impossible for Loid to fail the exam.” It was hard to get my hands on that, so use it well.” Becky reminds her, as if Twilight didn’t know that already.” Yeah, yeah. See ya later, I have some things to buy before I return” Twilight prepares to leave but Becky stops her.” Wait a moment. I found all the other records that the orphanage didn’t have. We have no birth certificate, also no records of his age or parents, it’s almost like this kid appeared out of nowhere.” It was easier for them to fake records for a kid that basically didn’t exist, but that didn’t make the situation less weird. Maybe he is the child of refugees from the war, a lot of records were destroyed during that time.” Loid Williams, Loid Levski, Loid Roche.” Twilight reads a series of names in Loid’s record.” Oh yeah, the only thing we know is that in the past year he went through four foster homes and two institutions.” That’s kinda sad. Both Twilight and Becky were familiar with this kind of situation, the war left a lot of kids alone in the world.” With all those different names, don’t you think that you make a good match? Like mother, like son.” Becky jokes, but this just earns her a scowl from Twilight.” I was joking.” She whines but the spy was already out the door.” She forgot her change.” Becky mumbles and pockets the bills.

Back at home Loid couldn’t concentrate on the movie. The curiosity was eating him alive. You see, Mother has a room where she locked up all her spy tools so that he can’t get his hands on them. But because he was a telepath of course he already knew the combination of the lock and now that door is the only thing he can think about. He needs to know what real spy tools look like. But there might be dangerous things there. Well, he will just not touch the dangerous stuff. Yeah, and afterwards he will put everything back exactly as it was, she surely won’t observe anything.

That being decided he jumps off the couch and opens the door. The small storage room is filled with boxes of all sizes and a few other objects. He picks up a suitcase and opens it, but quickly observes that it’s not a suitcase at all, it has a lot of buttons and even a set of headphones. A secret communicator maybe? He touches a button and a small beep could be heard. Loid quickly retracted his hand but pressed the button again and again, that was kind of fun.

In another part of the city a group of men were listening to radio frequencies when they heard a small signal.” Boss, we’re picking up a strange signal!” One of them announces their leader.” A western code?” Asks a well dressed older woman.” No, it’s plain text.” The man listens closely.” This… is… Twi… light…” He translates.” Twilight?!” Rages the woman, thinking of that bitch that foiled her plans only a few days earlier.” This frequency is used by the western organization! It might be real!” The man explains.” Hold on, there’s more: ‘Tag… you’re… it…” The man explains.” Trace the signal! Hurry!” Screams the woman.

Now that he had fun Loid realizes what he has just done. He just meddled with precious spy equipment. If Mother catches him, she will know that he can read minds, and he can’t, possibly, let her know that. Who knows what she might do to him. He might be locked up in a lab once more, or she might just leave him on the streets to fend for himself once again.” You can never talk about this power with anyone.”, this is what the researchers always told him. They were wrong about a lot of stuff, but he didn’t think that they were wrong about that.

The first thing that Anya observes when she opens the door is just how dark and quiet it is. The TV is not on and she can’t hear Loid’s voice. That was suspicious right off the bat, as it was way too early for the boy to sleep.

She had just a fraction of a second to avoid the pipe that was quickly heading for her face and to knock out the man that was hiding behind the door. Another one made his presence known, trying to kick her, but Twilight throws the bag of groceries at his face and quickly takes cover behind the dining table, right as he was taking out his gun. Before he could shoot it Twilight takes one of the chairs and hits him in the head with it, knocking him unconscious.” Who are these guys?” She asks herself before she remembers that she has a child in the house. She runs to his room but finds it empty. Did those people kidnap him? But why? She needs to find him.

Twilight stops for a moment, thinking closely at the situation. The enemy either already knows that she is a spy or discovered it somehow. Either way, she needs to go into hiding immediately or she’s in danger. As for Loid, there are plenty of other kids. 

In an abandoned building a group of people were watching curiously a small boy that was tied up and put in an old shopping cart.” What’s with the brat?” Asks the older woman.” Don’t tell me he’s Twilight’s.” She asks her subordinates.” We don’t know, but he was in the apartment the transmission came from, so we grabbed him just in case.” Responds one of the men.” This is because of the transmission?!” Loid thinks horrified. How was that saying,” curiosity killed the cat?”, why didn’t he think about that before he opened the door?.” He might prove to be a valuable hostage. We’ll force Twilight to take the photos of the Minister of Foreign Affairs’ wig herself.” Decides the woman while giving him a bored look.” Boss…” Begins a younger man” Isn’t it about time we gave up on the wig?”. Without a word the older woman takes out a gun and shoots the man right in the face.” Honesty’s important in politics. Wigs are no good.” She declares.” Plus, the Minister’s secretly backing the west. That’s treason. And anyone who covers up for treason is committing treason too”. Loid watches with horror how the woman lights up a cigarette and then he truly understands, this is no joke, he’s going to die.

“Boss! Nguyen and the rest of the boys we left at the house are back.” Announces one of the men. A few moments later two men are coming up the stairs, carrying what looks to be a woman, tied up and with a bag over her head.” Good work.” The older woman tells them while watching the struggling body.” No amateur has moves like that! This guy’s the real deal!” Says one of the men, holding his hand over a wound on his neck. Loid turns towards him, his eyes shining with happiness and recognition.

“Now then, Twilight. How about you return those photos you stole?” Taunts the woman while removing the bag. But when they could see the face of the woman, the only thing they found was Nguyen himself, gagged, confused and angry.” What’s going on?! You were just…” One man turns around to face the one he thought to be Nguyen until a few moments ago, but he found no one.” The boy’s gone too!” Says another one, looking at the empty shopping cart.

In the distance the disguised Twilight was running with Loid in her arms. He was still scared and confused, but ultimately relieved to hear her familiar thoughts. Twilight is chastising herself for the risk that she has taken, strolling into enemy territory like that, how could she make such a rookie move? She is a disgrace of a spy. Hearing her distressed thoughts made Loid even more agitated, bringing him to tears as he clung to her neck.” Whoa?! It’s okay, I won’t hurt you!! No need to be scared!” She tries to reassure him. That’s why she hates kids.

In that moment she realized why she hates the sound of crying children so much, because it reminds her of herself, a long time ago. The powerlessness that she felt from crying and asking for help between the ruined buildings and the corpses that were lining the streets, the isolation and despair that she felt when no one reached out to her. She thought that everything was thrown away a long time ago, but it looks like the past has been tagging along this entire time. 

No, that’s not important right now, she reminds herself.” Now look here, little boy.” She bends down beside him, writing a note.” Loid!” He corrects her.” Now look here, Loid.” This time she doesn’t ignore him.” We’re actually a team of pro tag players, and when we find someone with talent, we like to challenge ‘em to a surprise match.” Says Twilight, under the disguise of Nguyen. Loid knows that she is lying, but he is not showing it.” Now listen up. If you head straight down this road, turn right, and keep on walking, you’ll find a police station. If you can find a police officer there and hand them this, you win.” She explains and hands him the paper. When they see it, they should be able to find a better place for him. She’ll rework the plan and come up with a method that doesn’t involve a kid. Hearing this, Loid panics and tries to talk to her, but Twilight sends him away.

She scolds herself again.” Disgrace of a spy”? That’s rich, she’s a disgrace of a human being. Her first mistake was getting a kid involved in all this danger. How could she forget the reason she was doing all of this in the first place? To create a world where kids wouldn’t have to cry.

While she was thinking this, she ripped the mask off her face and, without her knowledge, Loid turned around. Seeing this, his eyes filled with admiration, so this was a spy.

Back at the criminals’ hideout they were still looking for Twilight. Luckily for them they wouldn’t have to search for long. One of them triggers a trap set up by Twilight beforehand, making flour fly all over the place. All of them are confused, trying to breath through the thick cloud of flour while attempting to understand what is happening. Before they could one of the men flew unconscious across the room, startling the rest of them.” Twilight?” Yells one man, raising the gun.” Put the gun away! You’ll cause an explosion!” Another one warns him, but before he could take the advice into consideration, he feels a presence behind him.” Did you think that I’d let small fries like you catch even a glimpse of my shadow?” Asks the strange woman before knocking him. 

After the flour settles down, leaving the entire room in clear view once again, the only thing that the elderly woman could see were her men, fallen on the floor unconscious. Maybe she got in over her head, those westalian spies are more dangerous than she had initially thought. Before she could recollect her thoughts she feels the barrel of the gun on the back of her head.” Turn around and I’ll kill you.” Warns Twilight.” Twilight!” Growls the woman.” Hello Edna. Or should I say, good evening? How’s Kyle?” Asks Twilight, taking on the tone suited for polite conversation.” How do you know my son’s name?” Asks Edna, angrier this time, but obviously scared.” Of course I know it. I’m a spy. That’s my job.” She responds matter-of-factly.” I know everything about him. From his height, weight, shoe size, and favorite food, to how many moles he has on his body. And while compared to you he’s almost cute, he’s almost committed a number of crimes.” The woman interrupts her, offended.” Don’t be stupid! He wouldn’t…” This time Twilight interrupts her.” Edna, I also know just how much you care about him, so listen closely. If you want him to have anything close to a normal life, then don’t mess with me ever again.” Twilight threatens her.” If you understand, then get outta here.” She lets Edna go.

Twilight is walking to her apartment, she has to sell it. Now that Loid is gone, and she doesn’t have any intention to get any other kids implicated in this, she will have to get in touch with her Handler and convince him to talk to their superiors and change the plan. This is gonna be such a pain.

This is what she was planning to do, until she saw Loid, at the corner of the street next to the abandoned building, waiting for her.” Loid?” She asks, surprised.” Mother!” He runs at her and hugs her leg.” Why are you still…” She stops abruptly, remembering her cover.” I mean, what are you doing outside the house?” Twilight suddenly realizes how this situation looks.” Wow, I just happened to come down here for shopping, but it looks like it’s been boarded up, huh?” Loid laughs, Mother is such a liar.” I was playing tag with some old men.” He explains.” I see, did you have fun?” Anya asks, trying to act like she doesn’t know what happened. Loid fiddles with his hands a little bit before responding, “ It was kinda scary.” He hugs her again.” I wanna go home. Our home.” He tells her.

“ Is that… alright?” She asks, more to herself than anything else.” If you leave me I’m gonna cry.” He tells her and Anya remembers what Becky told her earlier that day. This child must have been so lonely for so long.” I see. Then let’s go home.” She pats his head.” But not to that home, it’s dangerous, so we’re moving. I found a venomous snake yesterday.”, “I hate snakes”, responds Loid in agreement. Mother is such a liar, he thinks, but she’s a cool liar, so he’s gonna forgive her for that.” Can we live in a big mansion?” he asks.” We’ll see what we find for sale.” Anya responds, almost convinced to get him a horror movie mansion against her better judgement.

A few days later, at Eden Academy, Anya is waiting outside, her nerves almost failing her. Inside the exam room Loid finds it harder than he thought. He believed that if there was something he didn’t know he could just read the thoughts of the other kids, but all he could hear was how terrified everyone was. It almost made him cry because of stress, but he thinks about all the work that Mother has done to help him prepare. He can do it, world peace depends on this after all.

On the day when the results are shown the two are searching anxiously for Loid’s code on the panel.” There it is! You passed!” Says Anya when she finds the number.” You did it!” She congratulates Loid, hugging him.” I did it!” Says Loid proudly. In that moment Twilight almost fell over, as soon as she relaxed all the fatigue caught up to her at once.” Mother?” Loid as worriedly. Wait, relaxed? Twilight thinks that something must be wrong with her.

When they arrive back home Anya collapses on the couch almost instantly, finally falling asleep after a hellish week and two missions back to back. Seeing her like that almost made Loid check for pulse, she must be really exhausted.

The doorbell rang, the sound of a man’s voice announcing” Delivery!” being heard immediately after. He opens the door, seeing the mailman” Is this the Forger residence?” He asks. ”Yes, I’m Loid Forger.” He responds. “ Could you give this to your mom or dad then?” The mailman hands him a letter. Loid takes the letter and thanks him before closing the door and running towards his mother. Seeing she is not waking up he slowly puts the letter on the table and stares at her for a few moments, fiddling with his fingers before deciding that he is thinking too much. Loid slides on the couch beside her, tucking himself gently under her arm, determined to take a nap.

He didn’t manage to get more than a few minutes because Twilight woke up scared” Are you after my life?” She yells before she realizes what is happening, chastising herself again for not being vigilant enough.” There’s a letter.” He tells her, grabbing the small envelope from where he left it earlier.” Mail? From Eden Academy?” She grabs the envelope and opens it to get to the letter. Anya starts reading expecting a basic congratulation on passing the written exam, but instead of that she feels the need to rip the letter.” What’s wrong, Mother?” Loid asks, seeing that she is distressed. Anya reads to him the contents of the letter,” Information on the secondary exam. The three person interview. The child must attend with both parents. No exceptions will be made.”

This mission has already hit a wall.

Chapter Text

“I am not dressing up like a man.” Becky says with her arms crossed, in a tone which signals that the conversation is done for.

”Becky…” Starts Twilight, trying to convince her friend to help them.

”Absolutely not.” Repeats Becky angrily.

”Why doesn’t she just become my second mother, wouldn’t that be enough for the three person interview?” Asks Loid, not understanding why Aunt Becky has to necessarily dress up like a man. Twilight and Becky look at him for a moment and then at each other, not knowing how to explain to a six-year-old that the world is homophobic.

”The people at Eden Academy are really mean and they don’t enjoy seeing two women being married.” Anya explains and Loid just accepts that version, even if he already took all the context from her thoughts.

”Don’t worry sweetie I will always be your second mommy, doesn’t matter what those awful bureaucrats say.” Becky says cheerfully, hugging Loid tightly. For a moment Anya is scared that she might suffocate him, but instead of stopping her she chooses to concentrate on the bigger problem.

”I guess I’ll have to get married.” She laments, accepting her fate.

In front of a flower shop, between roses, tulips and orchids, three women are having a chat.

”Have you heard that half of the Human Resources Department got arrested for spying? I hope that all of their work will not get dumped on us.” Says one woman.

”Oh yeah, I’ve also heard that only the women got arrested, and they left the men alone. So creepy!” Brings up another woman. Just the thought that someone might ever suspect her of espionage for whatever reason makes her skin crawl.

”They said that they were suspicious because all of them were in their late twenties and unmarried.” Explains the third, smoking a cigarette.

”So horrible.” Shudders one of them.”But still not as creepy as our section chief. He was totally undressing me with his eyes this morning.” She continues, changing the subject.

”You can blame your short skirt for that.” The smoking woman tells her.

”What? But my boyfriend likes it!” She tries to defend herself.” You have a great figure too, Sharon! You’ve got to show it off.” Advises the younger woman.

”Not when you have kids you don’t.” The smoking woman corrects her again, throwing her cigarette in one of the bins on the street.

“Here are your wisteria seeds, ma’am.” Says a man from inside the flower shop, holding a small package towards the first woman.

”Oh, thank you, Mr. Desmond.” She says excitedly. She has had her eyes set on wisteria flowers for a while now, but the seeds are so hard to find, luckily this flower shop just happens to sell them.

”Goodbye Damian!” Says one of the women as they make their way back to their homes.

”Goodbye, please come again!” Says the man before heading back into the shop.

“I love this shop.” Says one of the women dreamily when they put enough distance between them and the flower shop to be out of the man’s earshot.

”Millie, you have a boyfriend.” Sharon reminds her, tired of her colleagues' antics, like usual.

”What does he have to do with the shop?” Asks Millie, pretending to not get her allusion.

”Yes Sharon, I’m sure that she just likes flowers and not to stare at the man taking care of them.” Jokes the third.

”Camilla!” Shots Millie back.” But, do you think he is single?” She brings up innocently.

”I doubt it.” Responds Sharon coldly, lighting up another cigarette.

”I don’t know. I’ve never seen a woman in the store, and a man taking care of a flower shop on his own? That’s a little unusual. I doubt that most men would take on such a job if they had a choice.” Explains Camilla, recognizing in her mind that the man is handsome despite his feminine occupation, but she is not gonna say it out loud.

”You never know.” Sharon contradicts her, annoyed at Camilla's know-it-all attitude.

”Oh yeah, have you guys heard that someone put a booger in the chief’s coffee today?” Millie brings up, snickering.

This is how the three women spent the rest of their walk home, excited to get some rest after an exhausting day of working at the City Hall, where everything is dull, but you have enough excitement to give you something to gossip about in a coffee break, or on a walk home.

Back in the shop Damian Desmond is preparing a few bouquets that are going to be picked up soon. He asks himself if anything is happening these days, giving how many orders he has had recently. The thought doesn’t leave him as he finishes everything and prepares to close the shop for the day. Ultimately he decides to drop it, it’s probably not worth it. Knowing his clientele, schools are just probably starting soon.

He climbs the stairs to his small one-bedroom apartment, wanting nothing more than to grab some food, soak in a bath and crash in bed for the next ten hours. That sounds great, he’s exhausted. But his plans are postponed by the phone ringing. Considering the timing, and that Damian has no friends, but he is never gonna admit to this, there could be only two people calling, and he doesn’t want to talk to either of them, but it’s not like he has a choice, they’ll act out if he ignores them. So he picks up the phone, prepared for anything.

“Do you have plans for the dinner?” Asks the voice on the other end.

”Hello to you too, Demetrius.” He responds in a flat voice, he has had it with this man’s bullshit.

”Yeah, hello, whatever. Dinner?” The dinner Demetrius is talking about is the yearly Desmond family dinner with their father, the perfect chance to feel the old man digging his eyes into your skull, judging all your life choices. They are both equally dreading it.

”I’m gonna go there and take it like a man.” He tells Demetrius, trying to act like he believes himself.

”Fuck that. We have to give him a reason to not be angry with us.” Decides his brother, without asking his opinion, as always.

”And how exactly do you plan on doing this, genius?” Nothing Demetrius does could please their father anymore, not after he left to join the SSS. The fall from the golden child to the black sheep was long and painful, and Damian would lie if he said that he didn’t enjoy watching it. So he understands his older brother, but he can’t find it in himself to care, as he is still in good graces. Damian is still working with his father in the family business and even if the old man was not entirely pleased with him starting his own business, it was in theme, so he forgave him because, unlike what most people believe, humor is not completely lost on him.

”Why are you still single?” Demetrius asks accusatively and Damian has to take a few moments to process what his brother has just said.

”What the hell does this have to do with everything, you idiot?” Damian yells at his brother, what is he thinking about in a moment like this?

”It has everything to do with everything. You know how father is.” Of course he knows, he was raised by him. Their father is, traditional to say the least. So he really wants his sons to find and marry good women and have kids. He doesn’t even want them to be implicated in the family business, he just wants to see his sons settled down, which is a problem when both of his sons are bachelors with no romantic prospects on the horizon. Demetrius is busy being radicalised by a wacko political leader and playing soldier all day, while Damian just kinda hates people in general and wants to die alone with his flowers.

”So get married.” Commands Demetrius.

”Absolutely not.” He is not getting married, especially not because Demetrius told him to. ”You’re older, you do it!” Damian tells his brother.

”He will hate anyone I bring.” Well that’s true, but that’s not his problem. ”Plus I’m busy with work all day, I don’t have time for marriage.” Demetrius reminds him.

”And I’m not?” Damian asks, becoming angrier.

”You just take care of flowers all day and sometimes take jobs from Father. Just say that you’re an antisocial flowerfreak with no friends that will be single forever.” His brother yells at him, brought on edge by the image of their father silently killing him with his stare while he is trying to eat.

”Stop talking about yourself, you fascist pig. Who’s saying that I’m single right now, anyway?” Damian lies before he could stop himself, in a fit of rage.

”So you have a girlfriend?” Demetrius becomes a lot calmer all of a sudden.

”Of course I have.” This is becoming worse, but he can’t back down now, Demetrius will not let it go if he does.

”Well why didn’t you say it like that?” Demetrius says cheerfully.” I can’t wait to meet her at dinner. See ya next week!” he hangs up, leaving Damian to think about what he has just done.

He’s an idiot, such an idiot. He thought that he killed this bad habit sometime in his teenage years, but no, he is the same impulsive idiot that he has always been. What is he gonna do now? Knowing Demetrius if he comes alone he will call him out right then and there in front of his father, and lying about something like this is taboo in the Desmond family. The last thing he wants is to become a black sheep just like Demetrius for a lie he blurted out while angry. 

The phone starts ringing again, surprising him so bad he almost jumps up in shock, but he manages to regain himself fast.” Good evening!” His father’s voice could be heard on the other side.” I have a ‘client’ for you. The Royal Hotel, room 1307.” He hangs up as soon as he finishes, his father was always a man of few words.

An hour later, a man passes the doors of the expensive hotel. No one pays attention to him, as he has mastered a long time ago the art of blending into his surroundings, that’s why for this particular occasion he chose a suit. No one would pay attention to, what appears to be, a businessman taking an elevator on his own in a hotel commonly visited by such people. This is how he managed to get to the thirteenth level completely undetected. When he leaves the elevator he ends up face to face with two men” We’ve rented out this whole floor.” One of them informs him.” Did somebody order anything?” The other one asks one of his coworkers from further down the hall.

”Respectfully, gentlemen…” He addresses them, reaching into the inner pocket of his jacket.” I’ve heard that a very important man is staying here.”

Only a few moments later one of them is flying through the door of room 1307, scaring it’s occupants.” What the hell is this?” Yells one of the men in shock.

”We’re under attack!” Screams one of the bodyguards.

”A man just…” But he didn't finish that sentence, because a knife got stuck in his back, piercing his lung and killing him instantly

”Excuse me.” Damian Desmond addresses his targets.” Vice Minister Breennan, from the Auditing Department… I presume?” He asks them out of courtesy rather than anything else.” I apologise for the intrusion, but I’m afraid that I have to take your life.”

He is known as the Prince of Roses, the man is an assassin. The skills of his trade had been drilled into him from a young age by his father. Just like they were taught to his older brother and to his father before them. This is a family business, and unlike his older brother that was attracted into the entourage of hyper nationalists a few years back and chose to almost completely cut them off to join the SSS, he’d been doing whatever dirty work his father had asked of him.

“No way! My suit?” He asks angrily when he realizes that one of the sleeves of his blazer got ripped during the commotion.” What am I going to do? This is the only nice suit I have. What am I gonna wear to that damn dinner?” He thinks again about his conversation with Demetrius.” It’s hopeless anyway.” He sighs.” It’s not like I can just find a woman until then.”

“Did you find a father?” Loid asks Anya, seeing as she has sat quietly, thinking, for the last few hours.

”Not yet. This isn’t easy.” Anya has ended up in such a position that she thinks of trying her luck with a dating agency.

”It’s going to be Aunt Becky after all?” Loud asks disheartened. 

“So you need a man refined enough for Eden, who doesn’t mind that you’re divorced with a kid and who’s willing to marry you in forty eight hours.” Becky barges in carrying a huge stack of papers.” If such a man exists I might just steal him from you.” She jokes while placing the

papers on the coffee table.” I scoured all the registers in town and I compiled a list of all unmarried men.” She says proudly.

”Do you need any help with all of that?” Asks Loid, peeking his head from behind the couch. Looking for a father can’t be that hard with all of those options, right? But Anya just laughs at this, ruffling his hair.” You don’t need to worry about it, I can deal with this on my own. Why don’t you go watch TV?” She proposes and Loid nods his head before heading for the TV, leaving the two women to work.

Becky watches Twilight look through the files for a few minutes before asking” Why can’t the agency just send another operative?”

“They were mostly wiped out during the recent spy sweeps. None of the ones left fit the bill.” Twilight responds, sighing. She hates the SSS so much.

”Ah! Whole lot of rats out there these days.” Agrees Becky. She has been undercover as a store clerk for so long that she doesn’t really know what’s happening with the agency these days.

”They’re so shorthanded right now they sent me another mission on top of this one.” Twilight continues.

”They’re working you like a dog!” Considering how important this mission is, Becky thought that they would let Twilight deal only with that for a while, especially in the early stages, but apparently the agency is doing really badly.

”All the more reason to resolve this quickly. Let’s start with men whose circumstances might give them a reason to cooperate.” Becky gets to work with a newfound vigor, eager to help her friend.” If we can find dirt on them, we can use it for leverage. And if not, we can always fabricate some.” Suggests Becky, but Twilight shakes her head.

”I’d prefer to avoid any complications.” She justifies, but Becky rolls her eyes.

”Really? Hard to imagine a bigger complication than that one right there.” She points at the small boy with badly trimmed, overgrown hair, watching Halloween with a fascinated expression.” No way does that look like the scion of a privileged family.”

“Hmm! You’re right. I’ll see what I can do about his appearance, at least.” Twilight decides and gets up. She heads for the bathroom and comes back with a box and a towel, then she grabs a chair from the kitchen and puts it in the living room, near the table they were just working at a moment ago.

”Loid, come here for a bit.” She calls out to him. The young boy listens, and approaches them slowly, eyeing suspiciously the box. It’s not like he hasn’t seen it before, but usually it’s on a high shelf in the bathroom, so he never saw what’s in it.” I’m giving you a haircut.” Clarifies Anya, snapping the scissors playfully while gesturing him to sit down. That made some of his uneasiness go away, but he was still really uncomfortable with the situation, sitting rigidly on the chair. But if Becky or Anya observed that, they showed no sign of it, they just placed the towel on his shoulders while debating the haircut they should give him.

Anya wets his hair with a spray bottle and starts combing through it. Loid never realised that before, but his hair is long enough to reach his eyes when it’s like that. It’s uncomfortable and it tickles him, but every time he reaches to get it out of his eyes Mother tells him to stop moving. He obeys and soon after hears again the sound of scissors snapping and sees strands of blond hair falling on the ground. Fortunately his bangs are trimmed too and they stop sticking to his eyes, but his relief was short lived, as he hears a buzzing that startles him for a second before he realises what it is. Mother shaves his sides short before turning the machine off and taking the towel off his shoulders with a satisfied smile. Before he could get up Aunt Becky rushes towards him ruffling his hair and styling it in a few ways before she is satisfied. 

“He’s so adorable!” Becky squeaks.

”Yeah, he looks great. Now he can definitely pass for a rich kid.” Anya says, satisfied with her work. Did anyone ever believe that Twilight would not be an expert in any method of altering your physical appearance?

Meanwhile Loid excused himself to the bathroom. His hair was still damp, but now it definitely looks a lot better than before, Mother making sure that she trimmed everything perfectly. Until then he was only shaved completely by scientists or his hair would be cut carelessly by people at the different institutions he had been in or by other kids that wanted to play a mean joke. He doesn’t know what to think about this change, but it looks better so, momentarily, he decides that he likes it.

“Shouldn’t you get some clothes for him?” Asks Becky and Twilight had to stop self aggrandizing to realise that she forgot to get him new clothes. How much of an idiot can she be?

Just a few minutes later Anya and Loid are passing the threshold of a well respected shop in Berlint. It’s the one that makes the uniforms for Eden Academy, a fact that didn’t escape Twilight, obviously. Any chance to meet some other parents and make fast connections in the exclusivist world of Eden is a useful one.

Loid is looking around the shop curiously. He has never been in such an expensive place before.” Come with me. I’ll take your measurements.” Says sweetly an older woman, guiding him to the back of the shop. Loid looks towards Anya and she sings to him that there’s no danger and he should go. This kid is a little too guarded, she thinks, but considering what life he had that’s not unexpected.

But everything is in vain if she doesn’t find a husband. The people at Eden Academy are too much, what about people with a deceased spouse, or divorcees or just single parents of any kind or any number of circumstances that it’s not a heterosexual nuclear family? This is ridiculous. Twilight and Becky can only do this much, doesn’t matter how exceptional they both are, they are just people. Twilight needs a lot of luck to make it happen.  

Twilight’s train of thought is interrupted by a presence right behind her. Before she even properly notices the other person they are already at the counter. ‘Who is this person?’Twilight asks herself, how could he be able to slip right behind her? Maybe she is too stressed about this husband thing and forgot to be vigilant? Twilight can’t help but hope that it’s not something more serious.

“Excuse me!” The man addresses the owner.

”Oh, hello, Damian. It’s been a while.” She greets him smiling.

”Hello. I need to get my blazer mended. Would it be possible to get it done quickly?” Damian, where has she heard that name? Ah, he was in the files Becky brought. Damian Desmond, twenty seven years old, never divorced or married. The mother is dead, the father owns a chain of restaurants. One brother, several years older, works as a civil servant, he owns a flower shop. Nothing unusual in any of their files. 

“Excuse me? You’ve been staring at me since I walked in here. Can I help you with something?” Damian asks her. He could even sense her stare now? Motherhood was really getting her rusty.

”Uh, no…” She stutters, trying to get out of the situation.” I just thought… you were really handsome. I’m sorry, it must have been awkward.” Yeah, that’s ok. She could have done better though.

Meanwhile, Damian recognises this opportunity, he might have a chance of saving face at the dinner.” Miss, I…”

“Mother, I finished.” Loid comes back into the room, interrupting Damian.” Who’s that?” He asks, seeing that she was talking with someone. Potential father?

”Another customer.” Anya responds simply. 

Damian lost all hope immediately, so she has a kid. He nearly asked a married woman out to dinner, and with his family at that. This could have become dangerous, he really doesn’t want to get into a fight with the husband. Even if it ended up there, he would have won, he’s an assassin after all, but he would much rather avoid it. 

‘A-a-a-assassin?’ Loid almost screams aloud. Wait, a spy and an assassin? This could be interesting. He scolds himself for that thought, this is not a joke. Loid listens to them a little more, trying to get a better grasp on the situation. Anya is thinking about how he would have fit the husband role, but someone so sharp could become a problem. Meanwhile, Damian thinks that he could have taken her as his fake girlfriend, but he wants to avoid unnecessary conflict. Are those, compatible goals? This is it. Loid is determined to make this happen. Doesn’t matter what complications appear later, he needs to get into that school for world peace.

“I miss dad so much.” He whines to Mother.

”Loid, what are you doing?” She questions him, this is new, and she doesn’t know how to interpret it.

”I just miss him so much.” He continues, grabbing Anya’s skirt.

”Is your husband away?” Damian asks tentatively.

”Ah… my husband passed away two years ago. I’m doing my best to raise him as a single mother.” She responds awkwardly. This is an opportunity, but Loid’s behaviour is worrying her.

Damian regains hope once again.” I’m sorry for my rudeness, but could I ask for a favour?”

Once outside Damian, in spite of his shame, starts explaining his admittedly embarrassing situation to this woman he doesn’t even know and her son. The whole time he cursed Demetrius in his mind, for putting him in this situation only because he fucked up and now their father hates him. The woman did giggle a little bit; she at least tried to contain herself, while her son remained completely calm during the entire conversation.

“Your pretend girlfriend?” The woman asks after he finishes.

“Yes, I lied and told my brother that I was in a relationship. I know it’s a lot to ask, but I will find a way to pay you back, you can trust me on that. It’s just that…” He sighs.” Our family is a bit weird and if my father finds out I lied things are gonna get ugly.”

“I understand and I accept.” She responds simply and Damian has to take a pause and process her words.

“Really?” He asks, in utter disbelief. 

“Under one condition.” She continues, smiling.” Long story short, I want to ask you to attend a family interview, posing as Loid’s father.” Suddenly the favour he asked for didn’t seem so outrageous anymore.” It was so important to my husband that, in these uncertain times, our son attends a good school, and now that he’s gone… well, I want to honor his wishes as much as I can! May I ask you to help me do that, just this once?”

As peculiar as the woman’s request is he can understand it, his father also cared a lot about education and always made sure that he and Demetrius had a good grasp on all the basic concepts and then some, ‘knowledge is power’ this is what he used to tell them and the older he gets the more he realises that his father was right.” It sounds fair.”

Twilight is pleased with herself, this is a game she has played many times before, lure them in with an initial small request to gain trust and establish a bond then follow that later with an agreement to marry.” Thank you, then I’ll see you on Saturday for the dinner.”

After finishing their discussion with Damian Desmond the two of them took a trip to the store for some groceries. She has so much to do these days, Twilight can’t even take a good respite, Operation Strix, the dinner, educating Loid, doing all the things a mother is supposed to do and there’s also that other operation. She can’t wait for all of this to be over.

“I’ve arranged a sitter for Saturday, be nice to her.” Anya tells Loid while scanning over the isles.

“Yes, Mother.” He responds distractedly. Now that he gave them a good reason to stay in contact his job is momentarily done, he just hopes that everything will go well.

After getting everything they need Twilight pays the cashier and gathers her groceries.” And you get ten pents back. Ribbit.” The man behind the counter says while handing her a coin.” Come again. Ribbit.” The man adds right before they leave the store.

Loid looks confused between the cashier and Anya.’ Ribbit? Is this another spy thing?’, he asks himself, and just like usual it doesn’t take long for the answer to arrive.

Finally the information on her other mission. Is it T cipher, or the F cipher? She doesn’t know anymore, well she will just have to wait until they get home to check.

At home Twilight leaves Loid in front of the TV and goes directly to the cipher. She opens the coin, inside of which was a small piece of paper. The writing is minuscule, so she needs a magnifying glass to read it. The ways in which Westalis manages to send her information never fail to amaze her.

She is to recover valuable antiquities stolen from the West and destroy the smuggling ring responsible. The plan is to strike when the smugglers meet the buyer, Saturday at six p.m.

“Wait, Saturday?!” She says out loud in disbelief. Why can she never catch a break?

Saturday evening Twilight and Becky found themselves on a rooftop, prepared for the heist.” So that’s the deal. I need to mop them up quickly so I can make it to the dinner in time.” She explains.” You’re going to help.”

Next to her, Becky was not nearly as relaxed.” Whoa, whoa!” She says, panicked.” I just deal in information! I couldn’t fight my way out of a paper bag!” Becky excuses herself, too scared to actually participate in a real field mission.” Plus, you’ve pretty much maxed out your credit with me already.” Becky fights back against Twilight and her crazy plans.

“Seventy-eight historical treasures, appraised at a total value of three million dalc.” Twilight covers her face, preparing to strike.”If one or two of them don’t make it back to the West, would anyone even notice?”

“I’m your girl!” Becky says determined, the danger of the mission being suddenly lost on her.” In fact I’ve invented some new spy gear for just such an occasion.”

In another part of the city Damian Desmond waits at the determined meeting spot, anxiously checking his watch.” Anya…” He looks at his watch again, even if he checked just a minute before.” She is running late…” He sighs.” I hope there hasn’t been an accident or something…”

Back at the werehouse Twilight and Becky are running from bullets.” Get back here!” Yells one of the smugglers.” Who do you work for?!” Asks another, shooting at them.

“You never said there'd be this many of ‘em!” Becky yells at her friend, desperately pushing the cart containing the historical artefacts.

“Two, four, six… Looks like there’s thirty eight of them?” Twilight counts the men while running. Before they catch up to them Twilight starts taking them down as fast as she can.” Even at ten second apiece, that’s time I don’t have.” She yells frustrated.

“Don’t get sloppy!” Becky warns her.

“They have reinforcements?! There’s no end to them!” Twilight says out loud when she realises that more men started to appear.

“The loot’s in the van! Get in!” Becky yells at her from the van. Twilight runs towards it and they drive off as fast as possible.

After finally being out of danger the two of them finally relax.” Now which of you beauties is coming home with me?” Becky opens the box, her eyes gleaming with the shine of the jewels.” Oh my!” She says, excited, picking up a diamond ring.” I’m gonna take this one.” She declares.

Twilight only gives her a passing glance to inspect the objects.” Suit yourself.” She needs to hurry to leave the antiques, change her clothes then arrive at the restaurant, she’s already late. But as much as she wanted this to be done with, Twilight spots a car driving next to them and the two armed men trying to shoot them.

Back at the meeting place Damian sighs disappointed. She is not going to come. What did he even expect? He shouldn’t have put his trust in a complete stranger and now he had nothing else to do but accept his fate. He couldn’t ditch the dinner, his father would hate him and Demetrius would not hesitate telling their father everything, which is only going to make everything worse. Well, it was nice being the favorite, as much as it lasted.

He heads inside the restaurant. Two employees greet him at the entrance, recognising him as the owner’s son. Good people, but not even them can bring up his mood.

“You’re late, Damian.” His father tells him when he finally makes his way to the table.

“I’m sorry I had some troubles on the way.” He excuses himself and sits down.

Demetrius looks at him, probably furious that he left him alone with their father for so long, but his expression changes in one of satisfaction when he sees that he is alone. He has no compassion for his situation. This is how Demetrius has always been. He used to idealise this man, but now that they are both adults he knows that he is just a small pathetic bastard, vulnerable to being manipulated by the most obvious of cult leaders. And now this bastard is going to humiliate him, destroy his relationship with his father forever only because he is angry that he has already destroyed his own. Maybe he doesn’t have to go through that, if he could just kill them and everyone else in the restaurant. It’s coldblooded but they are assassins, family members murdering each other is not new, even his father killed his two older brothers and his parents to end up in his current position. He wouldn’t feel bad about this. But he has to be careful about it, his father is old and Demetrius has lost his touch since he started working for the SSS, but they are still highly skilled, even so, he could take them down if he acts fast enough.

“Please forgive my tardiness. My name is Anya Forger.” He hears a familiar voice behind him, so sudden that it surprises all three of them. When he looks behind him he sees the woman he has waited so long for, visibly exhausted and with blood streaming down her face.

“Do any of you know this woman?” His father asks.

“Yes, she is my partner.” He says quickly and stands up, signing towards one of the servers to bring one more chair to their table.

“Anya, you’re bleeding.” He says, looking surprised at the wound on her forehead.

“Ah, indeed. Don’t worry about that.” She brushes off the issue and sits down next to him.

“Bring a bandage to this young lady.” His father commands and a few employees rush to take care of the issue.

“Oh, thank you.” Anya says, smiling.” I’m sorry for the disturbance, I had an emergency patient who became a little violent. Happens all the time.” She explains, all smiles.

“Emergency patient?” Demetrius asks, still in shock.

“I’m a psychiatrist.” She responds and turns towards Damian.” I’m sorry to keep you waiting, I hope I didn’t bother you too much.”

“Of course not, I’m glad you’re alright.” He responds, almost ecstatic that everything actually ended up alright in the end.

His father coughs to get their attention.” Well now that everyone is here we order the food.”

The menus are brought and Anya looks excited through it, after such a long day she is starving. And the food here is apparently really good. The Desmond family owns some of the best restaurants in Berlint, they are smaller and less extravagant so they are not frequented by a lot of people from high society, but the people that did know them have only high praise. And Twilight can see why, not only is the food great, but all of them were decorated with a lot of plants and flowers that grow directly in the restaurant. She heard that each restaurant has a different theme, this one looks like a rich garden, it’s pleasant. Maybe Damian was inspired by the restaurants’ decorating choices to open his own flower shop, it would be fitting.

“Miss Forger, I have to recognise that I had no idea you will be joining us this evening.” At this he glares at Damian that readily avoids his killing gaze.” But now that you’re here I would like to know more about you. You said that you are a psychiatrist?” He asks her, smiling pleasantly.

“Yes, I work at Berlint Central Hospital. I just recently started my practice.” Anya responds in an equally pleasant tone.

“This is wonderful. What else is going on in your life, outside your work?”

Anya giggles awkwardly.” I’m ashamed to say that not much else is happening.” Oh, how much she wishes this was true.” I just don’t have any time between work and my son, my life is very busy.”

“A son? Were you married before?” He questions her, still remaining cordial.

“Yes. My husband died two years ago.” She responds, doing her best to seem sad.

“I’m sorry for your loss.” Donovan says.” How old is your son?”

“He is six.” She responds and Donovan nods slowly.

Damian sighs in relief, mentally, of course. He didn't know how his father would react to that. He is not directly against single parents like other people from his generation, he was one himself after all, but he still pities them, especially the women. Seeing how well he is reacting to this is the second best thing that happened at that dinner.

“I think it was so hard for you, Mrs. Forger.” Demetrius says, finding one major flaw in his brother’s cute girlfriend and striking while the iron is hot.” A single woman with a child in this political climate, you must have had one or two run-ins with the law.” He would know best, considering how many single women he has imprisoned, with or without conclusive evidence.

Twilight panics for a second. It’s true that in the recent spy sweeps, single women over twenty-five were the first to be targeted, Becky only managed to escape the SSS because she was married on paper to a fictional man, but Anya Forger was not. Is he onto her?

“Demetrius I think that you are overstepping your boundaries.” Damian interjects his brother.” I believe that Anya’s actions are admirable, even if the government would not hunt single women like witches, raising a child on your own is still hard, and I’m proud of her for doing such a great job.” He says, partially defending Anya, partially condemning his brother’s actions.

Anya looks at him surprised and smiles without realising. She is not even a mother, this is not even her boyfriend, but still, his words make her happy. This is ridiculous, her exhaustion makes her act irrational.

After eating the rest of the dinner, a few more questions from Donovan and numerous grim stares from Demetrius, the faux couple left the restaurant, leaving with smiles on their faces and the promise that they will return in the near future. As soon as they put some distance between them and Donovan Desmond the two finally let their smiles fall and got in Anya’s car.

“I’m so sorry for being so late, a few things appeared on the way.” Anya starts excusing herself. ”Your father seems like a strict man, I’m so sorry if I left a bad impression and the thing with your brother, I didn’t think that I had to lie about Loid, I…” Donovan Desmond, in spite of all her expectations, proved to be an exceptional man, never in her entire career has Twilight encountered a harder person to read than him, he seems more like a cement wall than a man. She is mostly convinced that she managed to leave a good impression but even the fact that she has doubts says a lot.

“Don’t worry, it's fine. My father liked you well enough.” He assured her.” As for my brother…” He sighs.” I’m so sorry, don’t give his nonsense any attention. I didn’t tell you to keep your son a secret because it's not needed, I don’t care for my brother’s opinions and neither does my father so you don’t have to worry about that.”

Damian feels so bad for what happened. Demetrius just proves to be a constant pain in the ass and he feels ashamed that he even let him hurt Anya in such a way, to a point where he even accused her of espionage in a roundabout way. That bastard. Since joining the SSS he sees spies in every shadow. What did this woman even do to him? Being his girlfriend? Well he is the only reason she even had to come to this dinner and they are not going to see each other after the interview anyway.

An idea comes to his mind. He looks towards Anya, driving, with her clothes still a little bit dirty from the run in with that rowdy patient, she is cute, and clearly dependable, and his father likes her well enough. If they stay together his relationship with his father will reach its maximum heights, it will guarantee his good graces and he might even inherit the family business. At the moment he is pretty low in the hierarchy, even if he is his father’s son he is not considered dependable enough so he is very likely to be passed over in his father’s will for a more favored subordinate that his father will adopt before his death and appoint as the heir. Knowing his father, having a family will demonstrate that he is actually grown up and can take on more responsibilities, this will mean that he is going to be more involved in the organisation. There might actually be some hope for him.

“I’m glad, I wouldn’t want to make trouble for you.” He hears her through the fog of his plans.

“Listen, Anya…” He swallows, is he even sure about this? This is a crazy plan, unbelievable, but if it works he might just get everything he has ever wanted.” I have an idea that I want to…”

Suddenly a car slams into them, almost knocking them off the road. Both of them look at the other car and see two armed men staring menacingly at them.

“What the…?!” Damian asks in disbelief.

Anya’s brows furrow, the remnants of the smuggling ring have found them. But how? Did they hide a tracking device in the antiquites? How could she not check for that? Has she lost her edge that much?

“What’s going on? Who are those people?” Damian asks her and Anya starts searching her brain for a good story.

“It’s a long story.” She responds. He doesn’t seem like an idiot, she can’t just blurt something and expect him to believe it, she has to be careful about it.

“Well make it short.” He demands.

“Ok.” She decides, praying that this is gonna work.” Remember my patient I was talking about earlier? He broke out with the help of some really dangerous people. I spent my whole day alongside some cops trying to get him back and we succeeded. Those are the people that helped him escape, I guess that they are angry with me.” She blurted out and watched how Damian’s mouth opened and closed in disbelief for a moment.

“I had no idea psychiatry was such a dangerous job.” He says after regaining his composure. This is the craziest story he has ever heard, but he figured that she had no reason to lie. How could a young single mother be implicated in shady business?

“Let’s just get away from them for now!” Thank God, Twilight thinks to herself.

A few blocks later they abandoned the van and hid in the narrow streets, waiting for their pursuers. Just like Twilight planned, they were attracted by the van and came to check it. While Damian was preparing to take them down, Anya grabbed a metal box and slammed one of the men with it. Quickly making work of the second one while he was baffled.

“This way, quickly!” Anya calls towards Damian while running away.

He left the alley, looking at the two unconscious men before running after her.” You’re really good at this.” He comments after catching up to her.

“Thank you. I took a self defense course in college.” Twilight explains herself while grabbing a pipe left next to a house.

“Wise choice.” He nodded his head. It’s really important for women to take care of themselves these days. 

Anya glances at him for a moment, unable to decide if he is pretending to buy her bullshit or if he underestimates women so much he would not question her twice. 

While doing this a man sneaks up behind them. Anya grabs Damian’s arm and gets in front of him, throwing the pipe at the man’s head. But at the same time a second assailant creeps above them, on a fire escape, with a knife. Twilight notices him too late, realizing that she can’t dodge him in time. She gets down, trying to at least avoid having the knife hit her face, while doing this, Damian takes down the man with a kick that proved so powerful the man slammed right into a nearby wall.

“Are you alright?” He comes to check up on her.

Twilight takes a moment to stare at him. That was, very impressive, a perfect technique and devastating force. Just who is this man?” Thank you, Damian!” There will be more time to find out later. “That was incredible! You really sent him flying.” She says laughing. The whole situation seeming almost comical.

“I… I guess I did.” Damian also laughs. Finding the situation so unbelievable that it’s funny.

“There they are!” They hear a voice yelling and then the sound of bullets. Anya grabs his arm again, dragging him into a narrow street, away from the guns.

Damian looks at her back while they quietly look for an exit out of this problem. Finally, the first silent moment since this whole thing started. This is his chance. Yeah, it might be a little inappropriate, but if he doesn’t ask her now who knows when he is gonna get the chance.

“So, um, Anya…” He starts timidly.” I know that this isn’t the best time to ask, but…” He closes the space between them and gets next to her.” Will you marry me?”

Twilight gets so shocked she loses her footing and falls to the ground.

“Oh my god…” He says in shock.

“I’m sorry…?” Anya asks after getting her face off the ground.

“Perhaps I should have phrased it as’ Will you extend our agreement?’.” He starts explaining.”My family is a bit odd and the way our business functions is unusual too. I never dreamed that I could inherit it, but seeing how much father likes you, I believe that getting a family will finally prove that I am capable of taking on more important responsibilities. Instead of parting ways after the interview… What would you say to remaining together…”. This is the only way he could get to inherit the family business and this is the only woman that would ever put up with such a plan and even accept him and his family.”... as an actual married couple… for both our sakes?” By the end of the statement Damian was faintly blushing, but in spite of his embarrassment, he maintained eye contact.

Anya stayed quiet for a while. She doesn’t know this man, and by the look of it he might be someone very dangerous. But she doesn’t have a choice, the interview is coming soon and if she doesn’t have a husband by then all the work she has put into this already would be wasted.

“We can swing by the courthouse on our way back home.” She suggests while dusting off her dress.

“Right now?!” He asks, shocked.

“No time like the present.” Anya says giggling.

They hear footsteps coming towards them and they quickly take cover.” We’ve got the bitch cornered!” One of the men yells.” We’re gonna tear ya limb for limb!” Yells another.

“You’re right.” Damian says and reaches into the interior pocket of his jacket.” In this case…” He takes out a grande, Anya eyes it shocked. Damian takes the safety pin and throws it towards their attackers. He takes Anya’s hand in his and gently places the safety pin on her finger.” I take thee, Anya… for better or for worse… for richer or poorer… in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health… I pledge myself to you.” He declares, taking her hands into his own, right as the explosion goes off. 

And with this, the westalian spy Twilight, and the murderous Prince of Roses, tied themselves to each other, until their goals do they part.