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Alex kept the finger on the trigger as he swept the rifle left, but the burned Samalian threw himself to the ground. It didn't matter; the sweep reached the other merc as his rifled fired. Alex felt the heat in his leg but didn't care as the man flew back, his chest armor glow under the barrage and failing. The merc hit the ground as the rifle stopped firing.

Alex checked the indicator. The power pack was done for. He cursed.

The Samalian got to his feet. "You? How can it be you?" he glared at Alex. "Why aren't you dead? I sent six of them to kill you!"

Alex tried firing at the Samalian and snarled when nothing happened.

"Well, I'm going to take care of--" the threat turned into a shriek as Alex ran at him using the rifle as a club. The Samalian was quick, backing up as Alex swung wildly. He hadn't seen what had happened, but this one was responsible for Tristan being impaled on the tree. Alex was going to kill him. He was going to bash in his head and then he was going to hurt him until there was nothing left of that man.

The Samalian stopped, blocked, deflected the blow and slashed at Alex side while he was off balance. he felt the claws dig into his flesh, but not the pain. He'd taken enough painkillers before jumping out of the hover he could break every bone in his body and not feel it.

"I guess you thought I'd be powerless to defend myself. You humans are all the sam--" The rifle his the Samalian in the head and he stumbled back. The bleeding line on his muzzle was barely visible among the burned flesh. "That hurt!" he yelled.

Alex swung again, but only hit the shoulder this time.

"Stop hitting me!"

Another swing, another hit on his head. The Samalian fell to a knee. Another hit and he was down to all four. One more and the Samalian was sprawled on the ground, no longer complaining. Alex raised the rifle over his head. He wasn't satisfied with unconsciousness. He wanted his head turned to mush.

"Alex stop!"

Alex froze. That voice had to be obeyed, but Alex hated the order. He looked at the Samalian at his feet. He had to -- "Alex! No!"

Alex spun. "Why? What is going on with you? Just Jacoby now that one? I get Jacoby, but what's special about this one that you won't let me kill him?" He screamed, throwing his anger at Tristan if he couldn't unleash it on the Samalian.

"It's Justin," Tristan answered, and began panting. Alex could see the pain he was in. But he didn't care.

"What do I care what his name is?" But the name bounced in his head. "He hurt you. No one gets to do that and live! If you weren't hurt you'd be..." he looked at the unconscious Samalian as his voice trailed off, and back at Tristan. "Wait, Justin, your brother?"

Tristan nodded.

"It can't be him, he's dead. He's floating in space."

"He survived." Tristan's eyes were closed, his breathing labored. "The hangar was empty when we went in, so I'm guessing that Ander's guy vented it, probably to keep Justin from reaching one of the shuttles. He still managed to do it, it's vacuum exposure that did that to his skin."

"Fine, then I'm going to kill him and end this now." Alex turned and gripped the rifle.

"Alex, please don't." No order this time, just a plea.

"I don't like this," Alex said through gritted teeth. "He's going to cause trouble." As he spoke Justin began stirring. He tried to get his hands under him. Alex hit the back of his head with the butt of the rifle, sending him back down. "He's still alive." He threw the rifle into the trees.

When he turned Tristan was looking at him. There was no judgment, no accusation in his eyes. Just pain and joy.

"How badly hurt are you?" Alex asked.

Tristan let out a bark of laughter then groaned.

"That bad?" Alex stepped around Tristan. Ran a hand against the tree trunk until he felt the branch. "You're stuck pretty solidly. I'm going to have to cut the branch out of the tree before I can pull it out of you." He pulled a knife out of his harness.

"Before you do that, I need you to check something."

"Tristan, we don't have the time, you could be bleeding to death."

Tristan shook his head. "It's important. And the branch is keeping me from bleeding, but that's going to change when you pull it out. That tree over there. The moss at its base."

Alex gave Tristan a worried look before heading where indicated. "Okay, what about it?"

"What does it smell like?"

"Tristan, this isn't the time to--"

"Trust me, please."

Alex crouched and smelled. "Peppery, with a bit of sweetness, but not candy, like the sweetness of meat going bad."

"Good, it's--" Tristan said a Samalian word Alex didn't know. "Grab as large a patch as you can and shake the soil out of it."

"What is it for?" he used the knife to dig it out.

"It has antiseptic property. Then you take the branch out, you're going to pack my wound with it. It's going to help keep me from bleeding out and ensure it doesn't get infected until I can see to it properly."

"How did you know about it?" Alex pulled it out and brought it to Tristan.

"I grew up here, remember? My father made sure I knew everything I could use to help with my survival. The ideal way to use it is to make a poultice, but it's going to do the job this way too."

"Can I cut you down now?"

Tristan nodded.

Alex activated the vibro-knife and cut through the branch. He was two third of the way through when Tristan's weight broke the rest and he slid down with a scream of pain. Alex was panting in sympathy as he crouched next to Tristan.

"It hurt?"

"Oh yeah."

"I've never seen you in this amount of pain." He tried to keep the fear out of his voice, but it shook.

"Remember Arthar?"

"The mountainside? You and that bounty hunter fell off it and rolled. You were in pretty bad shape at the bottom."

Tristan nodded. "It hurt about this much."

"You didn't show it."

"I couldn't let you see my pain. I couldn't show you I could be weak." Tristan sighed. "Stupid pride."

"And now?"

"Not with you. So you'd better get used to seeing me as the mess I make of myself at times. When you pull the branch out, don't worry about my screaming or is I lose consciousness. Pack the wound with as much of the moss as you can. Do you have any Heals?"

"Nothing for Samalians. The best I can do is bandage it. And give you a generalized immune booster."

"I'll take both." Tristan smiled. "Do it."

Alex grabbed the branch and tried to pull it gently out. The only thing that caused was to make Tristan groan. He clenched his teeth and pulled as hard as he could.

The scream cut through him. The anguish in it. He'd heard many sounds from Tristan recently and he'd thought he couldn't hear anything that would hurt him anymore, but this one almost made him stop, let go just so he wouldn't hurt Tristan anymore. But he added his scream until he fell back.

He threw the branch aside and was next to Tristan. He was breathing, but slumped to the side. Blood pours out of the wound. Alex packed both sides with moss. Packed it until he didn't have any left then took the gauze from his emergency pack and wrapped it around Tristan's stomach.

"I swear, if you die on me, I'm going to track you down in whatever afterlife Samalians have and I am going to kill you."

Tristan coughed what might have been a laugh and groaned and Alex had to hold him so he wouldn't undo the bandage. "You realize," Tristan panted. "That I know more about human beliefs in the afterlife than Samalians, right?"

"Don't think that will keep you safe from me. You die and I am going to find you."

"I know." He cupped a hand on Alex's cheek and he felt the worry leave him. "I'm not dying. I haven't had enough time with you yet." He canted his head. "Why are you wet?"

Alex laughed. "I threw myself in the river as the hover crashed. How did you end up impaled against a tree?"

"Justin had the area booby-trapped. I doubt there are as many as he claimed, but this one caught me. You can see the trunk that should have crushed me over there."

"We should find their shuttle and take you to a hospital."

Tristan studied the bandage. "Not yet. I can't leave him lying there. The moment he wakes up he's going to be nothing but trouble again. Help me up." Alex did so, and Tristan took tentative steps toward Justin.

"You should kill him."

"I know." Tristan tried to bend down to grab the other Samalian, but almost toppled over. Alex had to catch him. "Hand me his leg."

"Are you going to rip it off?"

"No." Tristan took it and began walking, dragging Justin behind him. "I can't kill him, Alex."

"I didn't--"

"You're thinking it. I spent years pounding that rule into your head. Never leave anyone alive. Especially not someone who's already caused you the kind of problems Justin has caused me." He walked around what was left of the cabin.

"Then why won't you?"

"He's the only family I have left. I couldn't admit it to myself before, but it's why I never killed him before. I always told myself it was because I wanted him to suffer, to punish him so he'd learn to leave me alone." He rested the leg against a bar of the cage and began working the lock. "But the truth is that I love him. I've put up with the pain and misery he's caused me, and while I wish he'd stop, I'm not going to kill him."

"I could do it for you."

"I know." The lock clicked, and he looked at his claws, mildly surprised that he'd managed to do it without damaging them.

"Did you just unlock that with your claws?"

Tristan pulled the door open. "I didn't have anything else to work with when my father put me in it." He grabbed Justin by the leg and threw him in the cage and closed the door. The clang of the metal and the click of the lock had never sounded this satisfying.

Tristan turned to look at Alex. "And I'm not going to ask you to kill him for me. As much as I wish he'd leave me alone, I don't want that to happen by his death."

Justin groaned and began stirring.

"Fine. I'm not going to push this. Is the cage going to hold him? Can't he do what you just did?"

"Justin isn't one for manual labor, even something as simple as picking a lock. It's going to hold him until I let him out."

"Good, then let's find the shuttle and get back to the city. You need to get patched up and we need to take down that corporation." Alex took a few steps in the direction he thought one of the clearings was, but stopped when Tristan didn't follow him. Worried he was morose over his brother Alex turned.

Tristan still had his back to the cage. In it, Justin had moved to a sitting position. The look on Tristan's face worried Alex. He saw uncertainty.

"I--" Tristan took a breath, winced, but when he set his gaze on Alex, the uncertainty was gone. "I'm not going after them."

Alex's blood turned cold. "What?"

"Alex, listen--"

"No. You don't let what they did to you go." He stepped up to Tristan. "You're Tristan. You kill anyone or anything that gets in your way, that even thinks of hurting you. I'm letting Jacoby and him go, because you have a connection to them, but--"

"Oh, are you two having a lover's spat?" Justin said, standing in the middle of the cage, grinning like this was some entertainment show.

Tristan reached behind him too quickly for Justin to react. Grabbed him by the neck and slammed his head into the bars, letting him go to slump down. He never took his eyes off Alex as he did that.

"Alex, They didn't do anything to me, it's the town they--"

"They attacked you! Knocked you unconscious. They could have killed you!" he didn't bother hiding the anguish that thought caused him.

"I don't think that was their choice."

"Exactly! The corporation ordered them, they have to pay for that!"

"I'm not interested in taking any kind of revenge against them, Alex."

Alex couldn't say anything. He tried. He tried to scream, but nothing came. This couldn't be true. Tristan should be feeling the same kind of rage Alex felt over what had happened. Tristan didn't just forgive. He made them pay.

"You don't want revenge?"

Tristan shook his head.

"Then what the fuck do you want?"

Tristan cupped Alex's face with both hands. "You Alex. You're the only thing that I want. If I have you, nothing else matters. Not revenge, not my research, not even my life. With you in it, I know I have everything I could ever want."

Alex opened his mouth to protest.

"I love you Alex Bartholomew Crimson."

No words left Alex's mouth.

"I'm sorry for not saying it sooner. For thinking that my actions would be enough for you to know. I love you. All I want is to spend the rest of my days with you; as many or as few of them as I'll have. If you hadn't rescued me, I would have died happy because I got to spend a few days loving you."

"Don't say that. Don't say you could have died."

"Alex, it's the reality of the Life. If we keep going, one of us will die. If we go up against the corporation, we won't be able to just walk away, they will hunt us. If you are certain you want to do this, I'll do it with you, but I'm asking you Alex, please let this go. Let the anger go and let's just live together."

Alex looked into Tristan's eyes, and he tried to do what he wanted. He tried to let the rage go, but it wouldn't. It wanted the corporation to pay, he wanted Justin dead. He wanted Jacoby torn apart. But he ignored what his rage wanted. Tristan was all that mattered.

He rested his head against Tristan's shoulder, breathed in his smell and tried to let that calm him. "Okay." He whispered. "I'm going to let them live. For you."

Tristan wrapped his arms around him. "Thank you."

Alex closed his eyes and fought the rage inside him. This was what Tristan wanted. He was the one in charge. They would come back to hurt him, the rage said. Anyone left alive was a future threat. They had to be removed.

Jacoby had been removed. He'd left an unconscious body for the corporation's security. They'd make him pay for everything Alex and Tristan had done. His rage didn't like it, but it did calm a little.

Justin was still there. He would always be there because Tristan wouldn't kill him. Alex could come back and end him. Tristan would have to rest while he healed. But Alex couldn't betray him like that. Not now that he had him. Still, Justin needed to be removed.

"You're not going to kill him, you're serious about that, aren't you?"

"I am."

"If I have an idea on how to remove Justin from your life forever, without killing him, would you be willing to listen to it?"

"Alex, I will always listen to what you have to offer."

Alex lifted his head and smiled. "then, I think you're going to love this."