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Chapter Text

Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum

The gun was a solid, familiar weight in her hand. She was used to the metal chilling her palm and trigger finger, soaking in all the warmth that her body exuded. She tightened her grip on the device, a dull ache forming in the calluses that were being rubbed the wrong way. She didn’t pay much attention to that, however. That pain was fleeting. Her hands would adjust in a short amount of time. She had to be able to handle the pain because if she lost control of the gun or dropped it, the chance of her leaving the apartment building would be closer to none than slim.

Dawn Varlet, a professional nickname she had been given, pushed the door open with her foot. She peered around the corner before twisting forwards. She kept the gun raised in front of her. Her chartreuse eyes darted around, taking in every detail. The hallway was dimly lit. The fluorescent lights overhead were flickering with a low buzz. The carpet beneath her boots was a dark red color with some brown patches that she didn’t want to know the source of. The offwhite wallpaper all around her was yellowing with age and tearing in some areas. Most of the doors were adorned with a spray painted gold number that corresponded with that room’s assigned name. Some of the doors, however, were lacking in the metal part or missing one half of the number it was supposed to be. There was a window at the very end of the hall, but the view was the building across the street. There wasn’t anything about this hallway that was particularly special.

Or, it wasn’t special to the casual observer. Dawn Varlet was on a mission. The room at the end of the hall housed a group of wannabe terrorist that were threatening the peace with their violent riots. Dawn Varlet was tasked with taking the group out, whatever means necessary. She hoped that it would remain peaceful, but she was exceptionally good at the elimination method. She took a deep breath as she slid into place right beside the door that would lead her to the room of the group. She made sure that her gun was ready to take a shot ( take a life ). When everything was secure, Dawn Varlet slammed the door open with her foot.

She immediately ducked down as someone took a shot out of fear. She raised her gun to shoot the man who had fired his weapon. His eyes went wide as he clutched his stomach, the blood slipping onto his fingers. Dawn Varlet didn’t wait for the rest of the group to react. She slammed her shoulder into the back of one guy who had been hurriedly reaching for his gun. She pushed him to the ground, ducking them both behind a couch. She raised her gun over the couch to take a few more shots, lowering her head when one guy had the smart idea to start shooting at random. Dawn Varlet pushed the man she had tackled down over the front of the couch. The random shooter stopped when he realized that he had shot his friend, and Dawn Varlet took the opportunity to vault over the couch. When her feet landed on the ground, she immediately jumped forwards to unarm the man with the gun. She twisted his hands into the air. When he took a shot, it went through the ceiling. Dawn Varlet slammed her gun into his wrist to make him drop the gun. As the gun hit the ground, Dawn Varlet threw her legs into the air to hit the face of a woman who had been trying to sneak up on her. The woman fell to the ground with a grunt, hitting her face against the coffee table. The glass shattered onto the ground, and Dawn Varlet pushed the guy she had disarmed onto the ground. She pressed the muzzle into his hair. She leaned down low to whisper in his ear. “Who are you working for? What are your plans?”

The man didn’t respond. He tried to break his arms free despite his life being in Dawn Varlet’s hands. She waited for him to answer only because it was valuable information. The man stopped struggling, and Dawn Varlet’s instincts flared in her mind. She felt a sharp pain in her ankle. She looked over to see the woman had shoved a piece of glass into Dawn Varlet’s skin. Her blood dripped onto the ground, mixing with the warm blood of all the other victims. Dawn Varlet’s eye twitched as she pointed the gun to the woman. She tried taking the shot, but the man bucked her off. Dawn Varlet fell back off the man. Her gun fumbled out of her grip, clattering onto the ground and splashing drops of blood back up onto Dawn Varlet.

The pink haired soldier raised an eyebrow. The man tried to punch Dawn Varlet, but she ducked to the side. She slammed her own fist into the woman’s stomach. She watched the woman crumble, and she whirled around quick enough for the man’s attack to slide right past her. She grabbed onto his wrist and the back of his neck to shove him into the ground. Dawn Varlet slammed his head down hard enough that he fell unconscious in her grip. Dawn Varlet sprung back up, barely missing the woman’s secondary attack. Dawn Varlet grabbed onto both of the woman’s hands, keeping her arms still and her movements halted. The woman kicked her leg up, but Dawn Varlet jumped into the air. She brought one leg down on the woman’s neck. As Dawn Varlet landed, the woman fell flat onto the ground. Dawn Varlet picked her gun back up. She aimed her weapon at the woman’s head. She used her foot to push the woman onto her back. The woman’s arms instinctively went to her stomach. Dawn Varlet cocked her head to the side. “I will ask again. Who do you work for? What are your plans?”

Dawn Varlet tried pushing into the woman’s mind, but she was met with a flurry of thoughts about loyalty and what she wanted to do to the nation’s neighbor. Dawn Varlet winced as she retreated out of the woman’s immediate thoughts. Pressing any deeper would inhibit her body, allowing the woman or any of her conscious comrades to gain the upper hand. Dawn Varlet only used her telepathy during interrogations for this reason.

“Death to Ostania. Westalis will regain her former glory!” The woman declared with a look in her eyes that Dawn Varlet knew all too well. This was someone who would die for the cause they believed in. Dawn Varlet had encountered people like this way too often for her to see it as a character strength. She wished that believers would be driven by something more logical than faith. Conviction didn’t get anyone anywhere except for poor fools like this meeting their end by the hands of the poorest fool of them all.

“I will eliminate you if you do not cooperate with me. Tell me who you are working for and what your plans were. If you do this, I will spare your life and the lives of your comrades. If you do not choose now, they will die from blood loss. Their death will be on your hands,” Dawn Varlet said. She knew that it was a fruitless endeavor. She knew that this would not turn out the way she wanted it to. She asked anyway because no matter how many times she was put in this situation, she hoped that her targets would gain some rationality when faced with mortal fear.

“Westalis will rise again,” The woman said. Before Dawn Varlet could stop her, the woman plunged a piece of glass into her own throat. Her body trembled and blood spurted out of her mouth with horrid choking noises. Dawn Varlet looked away, letting her arm drop to her side. Instead, Dawn Varlet pulled her disposable phone out of her pocket. She sent a message to her handler that her mission was accomplished with only one casualty.

---

Peace is such a fragile thing. It is built on the foundations of mutual trust, respect, and the knowledge that violence will cause more problems than it will solve. There is security in peace for the people who thrive under it. There is hope that it will remain for a long time, and even some who will go as far as to say they hope it will last forever. It truly is a beautiful thought.

Unfortunately, humans are creatures of aggression and falsehoods, so peace is rarely ever preserved. It is such a casual word at this point. It is something that is thrown around without any true comprehension of the definition. The countries of Westalis and Ostania are at peace with each other. It has been many years since the war. Tensions have died down considerably, and the treaty had been signed shortly after most of the rioting was silenced. All of this is a mere technicality. Tensions are higher than they have ever been. Several activist and terrorist groups exist within both nations than fan the sparks of war, craving a fire to burn the world. The other countries have settled their issues, but these neighbors have not ceased their infighting.

There is a solution to this. When the treaty was signed, both the eastern nation and western nation decided that they would create an organization that would protect the peace they had created. It was originally called the Bi-National Peacekeeping Alliance, BNPA, but its members were quickly referred to as Enforcers. These men and women from both nations were gathered together on an island that was unclaimed by either nation. They were trained in the art of espionage, martial arts, weaponry, and intelligence gathering so they could infiltrate these violent organizations, taking them down from the inside. They take orders from both nations. If the orders are in conflict, the Enforcers will take matters into their own hands to make decisions that will best keep the peace.

Anya Forger, codenamed Dawn Varlet, is an Enforcer. She has been an Enforcer since the beginning of the program. Days after the treaty was signed, Anya was taken from her home to be sent to the BNPA Island. The reason Anya had been taken so young was due to multiple factors. The most prominent is that she was a leftover asset from the spy Twilight’s mission titled Strix. He was told to formulate a family including a child and a spouse. That child would need to be eligible for Eden Academy, the top country in the nation. This would open a pathway between Twilight and the prestigious families that attend Eden Academy. The mission succeeded because of Twilight and his ‘daughter’, Anya. After the mission was completed, Twilight was retrieved by the organization he worked for. Anya was taken away.

The woman that Twilight had taken as his fake wife was actually the infamous assassin Thorn Princess. When her identity was revealed, she was taken away to a Westalis to pay for her crimes. She had agreed to be Twilight’s fake wife to appease the rousing suspicions of her coworkers who would have blown her cover with all their meddling. This was the second reason Anya had been taken. People worried that she had been brainwashed by living with an assassin for multiple years.

The third reasoning was because Dawn Varlet had a special secret. She was telepathic. It was a mutation planted into her genetics by scientists who had been determined to save the world by creating genetically enhanced soldiers and weapons. They had mostly done it with animals, but Anya had been one of their successful human subjects. Anya could read the minds of anyone in close proximity to her. Her powers were strongest during a full moon; they disappeared during a new moon. This was what the scientists called eclipsing. Regardless, Anya’s ability was so powerful that she had been taken by the government for fear that she would learn something too dangerous for her own good.

This was all the reasons Anya had been privy to knowing. She was an escaped science experiment, raised by a world-famous assassin, and the byproduct of a successful mission. Now, she was one of the greatest Enforcers that the BNPA had ever seen. She was everything they needed her to be: competent and loyal. She followed whatever mission was presented to her to the letter. Sending her somewhere was the same thing as guaranteed success. As long as Anya stood as Dawn Varlet, Westalis and Ostania would never fall back to war. Anya promised herself it would stay that way.

----

“Good evening. Would you mind telling me what position the sun is in?” A woman said, peering down over her newspaper to look at Anya. She had her ankles crossed, and her hair was tucked into a long brimmed hat that protected her face from the sun. She seemed to be reading the gossip section of the newspaper, and moments before, her cheeks had dusted with red while intrigue rose in her eyes like she was reading something scandalous but fascinating.

“In the opposing direction of the moon,” Anya responded, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear. The woman smiled at the information, leaning back to read her newspaper. Anya waited several seconds before she looked back at the woman. “If you don’t mind, I would like to read the economic section real quick.”

“Of course you can,” The woman said, pulling her newspaper apart to pluck out the appropriate pages. As soon as Anya grabbed hold of them, she allowed her mind to slide through the air between her and the woman. She bypassed her own security to enter the woman’s mind. Anya did not push much farther than the immediate thoughts of the woman. She just wanted her next mission, not any details about what her handler did in her free time.

You are under suspicion right now. I do not know why, but other Enforcers seem to have come forward with evidence that will incriminate you for something. Again, I do not know what that information may be. All I know is that the actions being currently taken by the organization is to put you on probation.

Anya’s mind slid away from her. The other passengers on the train’s thoughts flooded her mind. Anya winced. She shoved up her mental walls to keep all the voices at bay. She let them trickle out one by one until it was only her thoughts and the echoes of what her handler had thought. Anya looked down at her hand. She pushed against one of the calluses on her trigger finger. It wasn’t fair. She had worked for that organization since she was a young child. She had been eleven or twelve when they had taken her. She was sent into the field a few months after that. She didn’t have time or energy to think about betraying the organization. She didn’t want to betray the organization. As much as she hated the actions she had to take, Anya was certain that what she was doing was for the greater good. Every life she took guaranteed the lives of so many others. Anya craved that form of justice like it was a drug. She didn’t know how to live as an officer off-duty, even if it was temporary.

“There is… interesting information in this newspaper. I believe the opera house is making poor financial decisions. I will keep my stocks with them, but I will take them back should this trend continue,” Anya said lightly with a half-smile rising to her face. It was a mask just like her words were. It was a code that meant she thought the organization was making a horrible mistake, but she would continue to follow orders regardless. The bit about taking them back was a new one. It was not a code that the organization had created. It was something Anya came up with on the spot to tell her handler that she would be taking action if BNPA indulged in this random inquiry about her motives.

Anya pressed back in the woman’s mind to get a response, ignoring the words that fell from the woman’s lips. They were meaningless; her thoughts were the place where Anya’s answers lied.

I understand how you must be feeling, but you cannot say such things lightly. You are being suspected of something horrible. If either of us are bugged right now, the other Enforcers will have even more proof that you are plotting something. For right now, you must act with the utmost caution and diligence. Something is wrong. I do not know what, but this feeling began long before HQ called me to say that you were being given a special mission.

Anya raised an eyebrow instead of saying anything. Her mouth felt dry, and any attempts at speaking would show that she was feeling a lot worse than she looked. Anya believed that there were no enemy spies or assassins in their vicinity, but she would rather be safe than sorry. It wasn’t just her life that was being dealt with. Everyone on the train and her handler were also subject to harm should an enemy realize Anya was not a normal young woman on the train.

In two days, the Thorn Princess, Yor Briar also known as Yor Forger, is being released from prison. It has been ten years, after all. HQ wants you to pick her up from the prison. They have found the keys to your old home, the one you lived in during Operation Strix. They want you to take her there. She is free in the eyes of the law. You are not there to monitor her. You are getting some time off, and they believe it will be well spent with your…

Her handler trailed off, her thoughts disconnecting at that point. Anya didn’t need to stay to know what word her handler was going to use. It didn’t matter. Yor was not Anya’s mother. She had raised Anya for a few years of her life. Anya had called her ‘Mama’ some years ago. That didn’t mean they were family. Anya didn’t know if they were family. She hadn’t seen her mother since the day she had been sent to the prison. Even if Anya wanted to visit ( she was never sure if she did or not ), she wasn’t allowed a moment’s rest with her job as an Enforcer. Yor had been in prison, and Anya had been preserving the peace.

“I was planning on going to the opera house later, but I don’t believe I will now. They need to improve their business before I return,” Anya spoke quietly. She handed the paper back to her handler. The woman refused to meet Anya’s eyes. Anya got off the train. She would follow her orders. She wouldn’t like it, but she would do it. That was all she was good for.

Chapter Text

“I am here to pick up Yor Briar,” Anya said. She slid her identification card beneath the plastic window. The policeman behind the counter barely looked at Anya as he took her card to scan it into the system. Anya refused to look away from him. She kept her eyes pressed into the side of his head as he tapped in passwords and instructions into his computer. Anya memorized every button his fingers pressed, creating a map of the computer in her head. If she wanted to, she could push her consciousness into the man’s mind to subtly steal the rest of the computer’s passwords. She didn’t simply because knowing how that particular computer worked was useless information to her. She would much rather use the limited space of her brain for more important tasks.

“So, you’re an Enforcer?” The policeman said, looking over at Anya before returning his attention to the computer. Anya was rarely called that, but it was technically her job title. The Enforcers were the agents who did fieldwork in the BNPA. Anya had been one of the first Enforcers, and she was one of the most famous within the organization itself. There were several rumors surrounding her, questioning why she was so good at her job and why she had been there for so long. Anya never talked to anyone besides her handler, so she didn’t know which theories were the most popular. She assumed that no one knew about her telepathy or the fact she was raised by a spy and an assassin, the greatest of their respective fields.

“I am. I was sent by the Bi-National Peacekeeping Alliance to extract Yor Briar,” Anya said. The name felt unfamiliar on her tongue. She remembered Yor, of course, but she rarely allowed herself a moment to really think about her. Anya knew they first met at a tailoring shop. Yor had needed someone to pretend to be her boyfriend for some party at the same time Loid needed a wife stand-in for the Eden Academy interview. Anya remembered acting like an absolute fool as she tried to push the two together. Anya remembered showing Yor around the apartment. She recalled holding onto Yor’s hand several times, growing less afraid that she would crush Anya’s bones as the days passed. She knew that Yor had almost bodied the interviewers who had made Anya cry. Anya remembered the hot chocolate Yor used to make, and the way her mother had taught her to fight and dance. She remembered watching Yor and Loid falling helplessly for one another. There were several other good memories that Anya could recall. She did not do that because for every good memory, she was reminded of the worst one of them all… the day the Westalis Intelligence Organization had crashed into their lives to separate them all into different facilities.

Yor was taken to a prisonhouse in Westalis. It wasn’t a horrible one. Yor had spent the last ten years in a furnished room. It was more like she was on house arrest than in prison. She was even allowed to write letters. Anya had all the letters saved in a small box under her cot. They were her most precious possessions even though she only opened a few of them. She never sent a letter back. She didn’t know what she was supposed to tell Yor. She couldn’t tell her about her missions. She couldn’t tell Yor about the treatment she received in the beginning. She didn’t have anything to tell Yor. Nothing personal, anyway.

Loid, though that wasn’t his real name, was sent back to the organization. Anya refused to think about him. He had been given the most and least freedom out of all of them. He had told Anya that he wouldn’t leave her behind. He had almost ruined his entire mission several times for her sake. She wondered why he didn’t visit her. She wondered why he didn’t send any letters. Anya knew through Yor’s letters that he frequently visited the former assassin. Yor promised Anya that Loid still cared about her, and Anya wasn’t sure if she believed that or not.

Anya, obviously, was sent to the BNPA island. She was sedated for a few weeks. When she had finally become awake enough to escape, she had been found by her current handler. The woman had looked into Anya’s eyes and saw something that no one else did. Her handler, Ivy, had rescued Anya from her fate as a vegetable strapped to a metal table. Anya repaid that favor by becoming an Enforcer. She could have quit a long time ago, but she had a talent for the profession. Anya didn’t like the means she had to go through, but she liked protecting the peace. She remembered her hero as a child- Bondman. She remembered the park that Yor had taken them to that became their spot. She remembered how ecstatic she was to find that Loid and Yor were people that could save the world. She had been a fool as a child, but she never lost that urge to save people.

“Well, you aren’t the only one here for the lady. She’ll be out in a second if you want to go argue with the other guy about who gets to take her home,” The officer said dismissively. Anya’s eyes widened. She didn’t know someone else was going to be there. She grabbed onto her identification card, and slowly walked into the next hallway where she would be waiting until Yor was allowed to leave. Anya froze when she saw the man already waiting there. He looked over at her. Anya swallowed thickly. She recognized the wavy blonde hair and the piercing blue eyes. His eyes were narrowed like they always were, and his lips were pressed into a firm line. That expression melted away when he saw Anya. Just like she knew who he was the second she saw him, he knew exactly who she was.

“Anya?” Loid’s voice was quiet. It was much quieter than she had ever heard it before. Anya walked to the opposite wall. She leaned against the wall to face Loid. He stopped in his tracks. They stared at each other for a long moment. There was so much Anya wanted to say and yell and do. She wanted to demand answers, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the truth. She wanted to tell him everything that had happened to her, but she wasn’t ready to unload all of that trauma. She wanted to remind him of the promise he made to her, all those years ago, but she wasn’t prepared to hear about how guilty he felt. For all her life after being a Forger, some part of her had blamed Loid. He was the reason she had suffered so much. If he hadn’t found her that day in the orphanage, if he hadn’t forgotten all about his mission to be a real father to her, if he hadn’t abandoned her, none of this would have happened. Anya wondered if she would have been happier if Loid had dismissed her that day, choosing someone else to be his adopted child. Anya knew that she probably wouldn’t have been. Loid and Yor had been so affectionate and caring. They had been the parents that she never had. The parents that she will never have again.

“Anya Forger, Peacekeeper and Enforcer of the Bi-National Peacekeeping Alliance,” Anya said. That wasn’t her official title. Her real title would include the fact that she was subject 007, and that her codename was Dawn Varlet. She couldn’t reveal that information in a place like this. She had not checked if there were any bugs. Yor was once the Thorn Princess. She would obviously have a lot of enemies. Loid would be a prime target for anyone who realized the princess had herself a prince. Anya probably wouldn’t be suspected for being close to either party since she had the excuse of merely taking Yor because this was her mission to preserve peace.

“You always did like spies,” Loid reminisced out loud. Anya fought the embarrassed blush rising in her cheeks. She did remember obsessing over Bondman, the star of her favorite cartoon. He had been a spy that would always save the day. She had looked up to him ever since the moment she first saw his programming. It had been a few days after she escaped the facility. The night was freezing, and her hospital gown didn’t do a single thing to keep her warm. She tried looking for a fire or a source of warmth. What she found was the brilliant glow of televisions behind a glass window. Most of the televisions were showing random landscapes, but one of the smaller ones near the bottom was illuminated with the face of a trench coat-wearing man who was rescuing a damsel in distress. Anya hadn’t understood a single thing that happened in the episode. She felt a warmth envelop her as she saw the man risk his life to save some random girl that reminded Anya a lot of herself. The bright colors, fast movement, and hyperactive voices appealed to Anya’s childish fascination. The fact that she couldn’t hear the characters thoughts was another thing that had kept Anya stuck in place for the entire night. In the morning, the shopkeeper herded Anya off to an orphanage.

“Bondman was an unsung masterpiece,” Anya said, raising her chin to hide the fact she was embarrassed. She wasn’t embarrassed by the fact that she had liked- still likes- Bondman. She was embarrassed that Loid knew her so well. He remembered her favorite show. Sure, she had watched it every day. Loid had fallen asleep to it enough times for some part of it to be ingrained in his memory. He could have deleted all of that information, though, once he deemed it useless. He didn’t need to sound so happy as he recalled that Anya loved that show.

“It was unrealistic,” Loid shook his head, but a smile had risen onto his face. Anya felt a smile twitch on her lips, but she held it back. She wasn’t okay with Loid. She blamed him. Sometimes, she could convince herself that she hated him ( she didn’t but she wished she could ). She could pretend that the hurt in her chest wasn’t because he had left her and never visited. It wasn’t because he had told her that he loved her, but it had been so easy for him to leave her behind.

“If it was realistic, it would have been canceled,” Anya pointed out. Before they could restart the age-old argument, the door to one of the rooms opened. Yor stepped out with a suitcase in her hands. She closed the door, turning around to see both Loid and Anya. Her mouth gaped open for a second. She looked between them. Anya didn’t have any time to react as the suitcase thudded onto the marble floor. Yor nearly tackled Anya in a hug. Anya coughed as her chest was squeezed tighter than a hug should warrant. Anya didn’t fight against Yor. She just buried her face in Yor’s shoulder, returning the hug with a squeeze of her own. Anya didn’t know why, but she felt a few tears fall from her eyes. She suppressed a sob for as long as she could. The noise slipped through her carefully crafted facade, though. Soon enough, Anya was squalling like a child. She wanted to stop, but the floodgates were opened too wide. Everything that Anya had been holding in since the day after her ninth birthday ( or what was assumed to be her birthday ) when she had been carted away from everything she had ever known and cared about and molded into a killer.

“It’s okay, baby, I’m here,” Yor whispered in Anya’s ear. It was a nickname that Anya had not heard in years. It only made Anya cry harder. Yor’s grip slackened, and her hand rubbed Anya’s back like she used to do when Anya had a nightmare. Anya felt another pair of arms join the hug. She wanted to push Loid away, but she found that she much preferred to have him close. She shifted her arms until she had both of her parents tightly gripped in a hug. She wondered if they could stay there forever. If she never let go, they wouldn’t be able to leave her again.

“We need to go,” Loid said. He pulled away slowly, keeping his hand on Anya’s arm. Yor also pulled back, raising her hands to cup Anya’s face, wiping the tears away. Anya nodded. She didn’t want to leave, but she knew that they couldn’t stay there in the hallway. “I brought my car. Do you want to come with us, Anya?”

“Yeah. I have a lot of time off,” Anya said. She wouldn’t get more into that. She hardly believed herself that the other Enforcers would so quickly turn on her. She didn’t want to know how Yor and Loid would react to that information.

“Let’s go, then,” Yor said. She took Anya’s hand into her own just like they had done when Anya was a child. Loid took the front with Yor and Anya trailing behind. The officer behind the counter gave them a glance as they passed. Anya met his eyes, but he didn’t seem the slightest bit threatened. Anya narrowed her eyes right as he turned away. She would deal with that later. For now, she followed Loid to his car that had been parked outside. Anya had taken the tram and walked the rest of the way. She was glad that she was being driven back to the apartment that they had stayed in when she was younger. The BNPA had kept it all these years.

Anya sat in the backseat behind Loid. She could see Yor leaned back against the seat, looking out the window. Loid kept his eyes on the road. Anya looked between them both. She was soaking in every detail. She wanted to keep the memory of this moment in her mind to replace the last time she had seen them. She wanted to know what had changed and what remained the same since the last time they had all been together. Anya had grown up in that time. She had learned the world was harsh. She had learned that she was a naive idiot, and she had overcome her own stupidity to become someone experienced and intelligent. Anya had been forced to adapt. How had Loid and Yor fared?

Loid parked his car on the street right outside the apartment building. Anya felt a wave of familiarity wash through her. She knew this street. She had walked this street several times, on her own and with the people now standing beside her. She knew the walk up the apartment stairwell instinctively. She could still see the weights Loid had shoved against the door to keep her inside the apartment. Anya knew every detail of her childhood home, and she was surprised to see that there wasn’t much out of place.

“Who’s kept this place clean?” Anya wondered. The apartment wasn’t covered in dust like she expected it would be. The BNPA would have made sure no one bought it, but they wouldn’t keep it clean. Had they hired a cleaner before Anya had arrived? That seemed a little beneath them.

“I live here. I stay when I have time off, and I like my home to be clean,” Loid admitted. Anya blinked. When she imagined where Loid would be in life, she never thought about him continuing to live here. Spies didn’t have homes. They had places they spent the night, and safehouses that could protect them for a few nights. The closest thing Anya had to a home these days was a cot in the main facility on the island.

“Anya, would you like some hot chocolate?” Yor asked, heading towards the kitchen. She pulled out three mugs from the cabinet. A red, an orange, and a yellow one. Yor started the coffee maker, and started to put a tea-bag into the yellow teacup.

“With cream and sugar, no doubt,” Loid said, pulling the containers out of their respective compartments. He poured the black coffee into the red teacup. When that was done, he scooped out some cream and sugar to put into Anya’s hot chocolate. Loid picked up the saucer. He handed it over to Yor who placed it in Anya’s awaiting hands. Loid took a sip of his coffee, and Yor drank some of her tea. Anya hesitantly lifted her cup to her lips. The hot chocolate tasted exactly like she remembered. Anya felt the urge to break down into tears again. She hadn’t drank hot chocolate in a long time. The last time had been on one of her missions, and that cocoa couldn’t compare to the one that Yor made. Yor’s tasted like home.

Yor and Loid felt like home.

Chapter Text

A family of three sits on the ground. They are playing with stuffed animals and plastic toys, much to their daughter’s amusement. The little girl is sitting in her mother’s lap, her little legs kicking against the ground as she giggles happily. The mother is laughing alongside her daughter as she speaks through a stuffed penguin in a funny voice. The father of this little family was laying on his side, holding a plastic toy that he made walk around their play area. He was smiling. His eyes showed how content he was in this situation. All three of them had many secrets that they could not tell the others, and they all had pasts that haunted them. But for this moment, they could be a family. A real one, in some ways, even though their family was anything but.

A ringing flooded the room. The father looked up slightly, his smile falling into a frown. The mother’s laughter trickled off until she was silent. The mother picked her daughter up, placing her back on the ground. The father and mother stood up. The mother leaned down, kissing her daughter on the cheek. “We’ll be right back, Anya. We’re just going to answer the phone.”

“Stay here and play with your toys,” The father said to her with a brief smile. The two walk out of the door, the mother waving as the door falls shut. The small child, Anya, sits in her play area, surrounded by her toys once more. She holds tightly onto her chimera toy. She didn’t want to stop playing with her parents, but she suspected that they had something important. She could play by herself.

“I wonder who’s calling,” A voice spoke behind Anya. Her face whipped behind her to see that someone was sitting on her bed. The figure was leaning on their knees, their arms crossed with their hands holding the opposing arm’s elbow. The figure had long pink hair, the braid hanging off their shoulder. Their pale green eyes were looking forward, staring at the wall opposite of them. The figure finally turned to look at the child with a half-smile on their face.

“Whoa! You’re Anya!” The child said, jumping to her feet as she saw what she assumed was her older self. The figure chuckled at the child’s unrestrained joy. It reminded her of a time that had passed her by, and she couldn’t help but enjoy the moment before it would disappear.

“I am. You can call me Dawn, though. It might be confusing if we’re both called Anya,” The figure said with a shrug. The older version- who dubbed herself Dawn- knew why that name had significance. The younger version was allowed to keep her true name, the one that Dawn had abandoned a long time ago. Dawn wondered for a moment what Anya thought about her older self’s nickname. Did Anya have any idea how important it was? Probably not, but the question lingered in Dawn’s mind.

“Wow! What are you doing here? Are you here to tell Anya something?” The child spoke with bright, shimmering eyes that had not lost their spark or hopeful light. Dawn envied the child in front of her, but she also felt the sharp sting of protectiveness. She wanted this child to keep this light for the rest of her life, beyond the point when the child became an adult. Dawn knew that she couldn’t do that. Life would eventually take away any hope that this child had, no matter how stubbornly Dawn or Anya clung to it.

“No, I… I just wanted to see you,” Dawn said with a shake of her head. She didn’t want to tell Anya about her fate as an Enforcer or how her parents were going to abandon her in a few years. It would be hard to explain all that to a child. More than that, Dawn didn’t have the heart to slowly break Anya’s spirit. They could enjoy a lie for a little while longer, couldn’t they?

“Oh. Will you tell Anya about the future? Do I stay with Mama and Papa?” The child asks, standing on her little feet to wander close to Dawn. Anya stopped at Dawn’s knees, probably waiting for Dawn to pick her up or something. Dawn didn’t do any of that. She kept the distance between her and her younger self. Any closer would only cause her heart to hurt.

“Okay. I’ll tell you about the future if you promise not to tell anyone,” Dawn said, raising her hand with her pinky finger extended. The child’s entire face lit up as she returned the pinky promise, sealing their deal. Dawn’s lips twitched with a smile at such a childish way to make a promise. “You will stay with Mama and Papa. You will live in a huge castle. The world is going to be saved, just like in your favorite TV show. Bond is with us, too, and we get visits from Uncle Yuri, Uncle Franky, and Aunt Sylvia. Sometimes Aunt Fiona comes by. We get to hang out with our friend, Becky. We have all the peanuts we could ever eat.”

It was a lie. Every single word was an absolute lie. Anya did not stay with her parents. They were cruelly taken away from her, and they never returned to save her from fate in the labs. She chose to be an Enforcer to compensate for all of that, and due to the nature of her job, Anya didn’t have a permanent place to stay, let alone a castle. The world had not been saved. It was constantly teetering the edge between war and peace. Anya didn’t watch Bondman anymore, if that show still even ran on television. Bond had died due to old age at some point, and Anya didn’t even know about it until Yor’s letter informed her about it. Anya didn’t know the last time she had seen Yuri, Franky, Sylvia, or Fiona. She had broken all ties with her past friends, Becky and Damian. The only thing that could be even the tiniest bit true was that Anya would always take the time to buy and eat some peanuts. It wasn’t as much as she could ever eat, but it was close enough that it didn’t feel like a blatant lie.

The child in front of her believed it. The younger Anya who was not familiar with how easily good things fell apart was smiling ear to ear at the idea of remaining with her family and friends. Dawn almost felt horrible for giving Anya false hope, but it was better than seeing Anya’s entire being crumple at the despair that would surely take her if Dawn spoke the truth.

“Anya, will you get me a toy over there?” Dawn asked, pointing to the toy box where Anya had been playing with Yor and Loid. The child nodded eagerly, turning around to rummage through the toys. Dawn stood up, walking slowly behind her child form. Dawn pulled something out of her pocket, the familiar heavy weight resting against her palm. She cocked the gun, leveling it at the child in front of her. Anya turned around with a toy in her hand. She was smiling up until the point she saw the barral. Her eyes widened, the smile and toy dropping. Dawn didn’t look away or flinch as she pulled the trigger. The noise echoed in the room as Anya’s body fell to the ground, blood pooling around her body.

—

Anya sat up quickly, her wide eyes searching the room around her. She was quick to realize that it had all been a dream, but something unsettling swam in her stomach. Anya squirmed on the couch, hoping to rid herself of the feeling.

“Anya? Are you okay?” A voice whispered. She turned around quickly. She breathed out when she saw it was just Loid. Yor was laid out on the couch, and Anya had curled up in the chair off to the side. The television was playing the opening credits of a movie on loop. Based on everything presented to her, Anya guessed she had fallen asleep during a movie. Loid had been laying with Yor at some point, but he had gotten up to get himself something to drink. It would be water or warm milk if Anya still remembered his sleeping habits correctly.

“Yeah… I’m alright,” Anya whispered back. As the years went by, Anya had learned how to sleep without taking up any more room than necessary. She could make herself comfortable curling up in a ball, lodged in the darkest corner of wherever she was sleeping. It was a skill that took a considerable amount of time to develop completely, and Anya knew she wouldn’t be able to break it any time soon. Her point was proven by how she had shoved herself into the very back of the chair like she wanted to fall through it.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Loid asked. Anya felt her throat tighten. Anya had never talked about her dreams or problems to anyone. Ivy, her handler, would often offer to get Anya an appointment for the Enforcer’s therapist and mental health expert, but Anya would repeatedly refuse. It would take too much time to sit in an office while some brain doctor tried to pick her apart. Anya could use that time much more wisely. She could investigate a terrorist or extremist group, and have them busted in the time it took for the therapist to decide that Anya had issues that Anya was already aware of having.

“Let’s step out,” Anya said, nodding to the door. She didn’t want to wake up Yor. Loid walked towards the door, and Anya wondered what she was doing. She was on paid vacation, so she could see a therapist if she wanted to. Loid was not that therapist, however. He had pretended to be a psychologist, but Anya was skeptical of his genuine ability in that field. Plus, her problems were not his problems. Some of her problems even extended from him and the choices he made around and for her. Anya didn’t want Loid to know that she desperately wanted to blame him for abandoning her but found herself unable to do that. She followed him out the door.

“Did you have a bad dream? Do you want to tell me about it?” Loid asked once they were in the stairwell. They still whispered, so there was a less risk waking up Yor or their neighbors. Anya sat down on one of the steps, but Loid remained standing up with his mug of what Anya had found to be warm milk.

“There was the child version of me playing with you and Yor. A phone started ringing, so you and Yor had to leave the child behind. I was there… sitting on my childhood bed. The little me was so impressed and happy to see me, asking about the future. I lied to her. I told her that everything was great and perfect. She believed me wholeheartedly. I asked her to get me a toy from her toy box, and she did… when she turned around to give me the toy, I shot her in the head with a gun,” Anya explained softly. Loid’s eyes snapped wide after hearing the last sentence. Anya didn’t blame him. The dream’s ending had taken her by surprise. She hadn’t been in control of herself, and she had no explanation for why she needed to shoot the younger Anya.

“Anya…” Loid started. He lowered himself down on the stair step right beside her. He gave her the mug of warm milk which had cooled off in the time between Loid warming it and them coming to the stairwell. Anya smiled thankfully, taking a long gulp of the milk. It calmed her down slightly, though she suspected it had less to do with the milk and more to do with the fact that Loid had given it to her. “I have bad dreams, too. It’s usually just me watching them take you away again.”

“Why didn’t you come visit me?” Anya said suddenly. She felt a painful jerk in her body. She was conflicted. She didn’t know if she wanted answers or if she was fine living in ignorance. If she didn’t have an answer from Loid, that answer could be anything, which was both a terrifying and reassuring fact that made Anya feel like puking. She decided it was time to get answers, though.

“I tried. They wanted to keep WISE and the BNPA separated. I asked several times if I could see you, but they wouldn’t tell me where you were or how to find you. They let me see Yor after a lot of begging, and I would let her write me into her letters to you. You never responded to them, but Yor kept writing them,” Loid said with a heavy expression on his face. Anya wished she hadn’t asked. As much as she wanted to hate this man, she didn’t hate him. He was her father, and she would care about him until the day she died.

“I got the letters. I kept them all… I still have them, actually. They’re in my bunk at the facility. I keep them hidden away, so the other Enforcers won’t steal them. I read them every night,” Anya admitted near silently. She had never told anyone that. She suspected Ivy knew all about her keeping the letters since it was Ivy who handled Anya’s mail, but Anya had never told anyone about how she would read them every night. Sometimes, she would take the letters with her on a mission to read them right before she was sent in. She would hold them close to her face, reading each line as if she had never seen it before. She would imagine Yor right there beside her, reading the letter in her voice.

“Yor will be very happy to hear that,” Loid said with a wistful smile on his face. He turned to look into Anya’s eyes. “I kept something of yours. Your old chimera stuffed animal. I haven’t let anyone throw it out even though it's more stitches than fabric at this point.”

“I’ve had that chimera for a long time,” Anya said with a laugh, the sound coming out a little wet with how a burning sensation was starting to form in Anya’s eyes and mucus rose in her throat. Loid seemed moments away from giving in to his emotions like Anya wanted to do, but both of them held tightly to their protective shield of stoicism.

“All I had of you was that chimera until some rumors took the underground by storm. There was an Enforcer with a high success rate. Ruthless, cutthroat, and loyal. The perfect agent had been swept away by the BNPA. Some of the WISE agents even said the Enforcer would be better working with us than the BNPA. I followed every rumor to its source, and along the way, I started to piece together the story of the Dawn Varlet,” Loid said slowly like he had been preparing these words for a long time. Anya was sure that he had. He had been waiting to tell her this, to let her know that even though they had never seen each other, he did his best to find some connection.

“That’s me. Anya Forger, Dawn Varlet, Peacekeeper and Enforcer of the Bi-National Peacekeeping Alliance,” Anya robotically said. She had said these words several times in her nine and a half years of being an Enforcer. It was something she told anyone she met at the agency. She usually didn’t say her real name- Anya Forger- but it was something she would sometimes have to say to her higher-ups.

“You’ve made quite the reputation for yourself. If even half of it is true, I’m proud of you. Not many people have the strength to fight for peace. Most would be happier in mindless conflicts fighting a war that doesn’t even need to happen,” Loid said. Anya felt a rush of warmth rise in her chest at the words. “What made you choose the name Dawn Varlet?”

“Oh, that… your name was Twilight and Yor’s was Thorn Princess. If you combine those names, you could get Twilight Princess. What’s the opposite of a Twilight Princess? A Dawn Varlet. A servant of the bloodied daybreak,” Anya explained with a light blush appearing on her cheeks in embarrassment. She had never had to tell anyone that she named herself the opposite of her parent’s combined codenames. Ivy knew without it being explained to her. The other Enforcers didn’t know that Twilight and Thorn Princess were her parents, so they never put it together. If they did, they would have thought it was a coincidence.

“Anya,” Loid said with his disbelief shining through with the simple name. They looked at each other for a moment, and Loid opened his arms. Anya lowered her head onto his shoulder. Everything seemed to stop in Anya’s mind as Loid held her close, protectively and comfortably. She almost peeked into Loid’s brain, but she decided against it. She wanted to enjoy this moment. “I love you, Anya.”

“I love you, too, Papa.”