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The past few days had been rough. After returning to his apartment to find Neffatari Nzingha there and eventually telling her that his own brother had stabbed him, Zev spent a lot of time recovering. Mostly, he slept, waking up only to submit his report, eat, and use the bathroom. He'd even told his managers at Howling he was sick, a rare occurrence.[break][break]

Nenet stayed by his side for most of it, helping him clean and rebandage his wound every day. She cooked, washed the dishes, took Luna for walks, and worked on her laptop while he dozed. After the third day, she finally returned to Mossdeep, leaving him alone at last.[break][break]

Despite how strange it had been to have her around, living with him, Zev found it stranger still when his home lacked her presence.[break][break]

Growing bored from rest, he decided to clean his apartment. The wound in his side ached much less, and he'd swapped out the larger bandages for a smaller one that didn't inhibit his movement as much. But it still bothered him, a harsh reminder of what had happened. A low, simmering irritation accompanied Zev throughout the day.[break][break]

The knock at the door came while he was doing laundry. Nenet's clothing was mixed with his somehow; she kept a change of clothes at his place just in case, but it was slowly starting to seem like she was moving in. With the washer and dryer rumbling in the background, Zev answered the door, unsurprised to find Isaac on the other side.[break][break]

"What is it?" Zev demanded, his mood souring at the sight of the other man. Their last encounter had been less than pleasant, with the interdream mist showing scenes to Isaac that Zev had not wanted him to see.

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[attr="class","skullbody"]Urk. Zev wasn't happy to see him.[break][break]

Okay, so Zev was never happy to see him. He preferred seeing Isaac when Isaac was called upon. Even then, it was less happy and more satisfied. Maybe that was the closest that someone like Zev could ever come to happiness.[break][break]

Maybe that satisfaction being torn away from him was why he was in a particular way right now.[break][break]

"Last time I saw you, you were hurt bad," Isaac said. Double urk. Zev probably didn't want to be reminded of being seen in a position of weakness. Isaac mentally kicked himself as soon as the words were out of his mouth. "So I just wanted to make sure . . ."[break][break]

Make sure that you were okay.[break][break]

Make sure that you weren't doing anything we would both regret.[break][break]

Make sure that I wouldn't be bearing the brunt of what went wrong.[break][break]

Make sure that everything you worked so hard to construct for us wouldn't come crumbling down.[break][break]

Make sure that you'd keep being a rock of strange, cruel consistency in a constantly-shifting world.[break][break]

"How're you holding up?"

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Zev gave a derisive snort at Isaac's softheartedness and gestured to himself. "I'm fine, as you can see."[break][break]

The bruises on his arms were starting to fade, and no bulky bandages were obvious underneath the slim fit of his T-shirt.[break][break]

He turned away to resume his chores, leaving the door open — an indication that Isaac could enter, if he wanted. In that window of opportunity, Luna bounded toward Isaac, her tail wagging furiously as she greeted him with happy barks.[break][break]

"I'll be returning to work tonight, in case you were wondering," Zev called out from where he sat on the couch, folding a clean pair of pants. There was no reason to stay at home if his girlfriend wasn't going to be around.

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[attr="class","skullbody"]Zev certainly looked better. Considering the last time Isaac saw him, he was bleeding like a stuck Pignite, it was almost shocking. Someone must have been giving Zev some incredible medical treatment. Was it Rocket, looking after their own? Or was someone else working behind the scenes here?[break][break]

In either case, Isaac was relieved to see it. He had been afraid that Zev would either be more hurt than he expected or devolve into some sort of revenge-crazed revenant. Him being as normal and Zev-like as ever was as refreshing as it was surreal.[break][break]

Could anyone come out of an experience like this unchanged?[break][break]

Apparently, if Zev couldn't, he at least look the part. Without even skipping a beat, the man declared that he'd be heading back to work in no time. Isaac was almost surprised that he hadn't before. It took a near death experience to make Zev even consider being idle.[break][break]

"Which work?"

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"The bar," Zev admitted, his disappointment evident in the snap of his hands as he folded a shirt.[break][break]

Isaac was more right than he knew. Zev had not recovered enough to return to his true passion, murder. He could answer emails, walk around a flat surface, and oversee Howling at the Moon's affairs, but strenuous activity was out of the question.[break][break]

But Zev was as stubborn as he was reticent. He would not open up even to Isaac, who had seen him during vulnerable moments.[break][break]

"I might stop by headquarters to supervise some Pokémon battles," he added, speaking of the other work. "Underboss Fiorelli plans to hold trials for potential S.P.E.C.T.R.A. recruits soon, so I want to see who might be selected."[break][break]

A tidy pile of shirts steadily rose next to him on the couch. Luna walked over, shoving her nose in the clean laundry. Zev gently pushed her out of the way.[break][break]

"By the way. The things you saw in the mist the other day? Don't believe them."

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[attr="class","skullbody"]The fact that Zev was even returning to the bar was a sign of how restless he'd become. While the Howling was still undeniably Zev's establishment, he'd been less hands-on in how he handled it as Rocket work took up more of his time. He must have been chomping at the bit to get out of his bed and start doing something already.[break][break]

"It'll be good to have you back," Isaac admitted. The gossip among the employees had been getting out of hand lately. Some of the theories they were coming up with about how Zev spent his weekends were getting nuts. "Especially if you're able to sneak us more of those delicious baked goods."[break][break]

He scratched behind Luna's ears as they spoke, before letting her go enjoy the fresh-pressed laundry. Huh. Some of this shirts didn't look like Zev's style. Weird. Ah well, it was better to snicker over adorable dog antics instead of get hung up on little details like that.[break][break]

While mission work was still off the table, Zev could at least do admin work for Rocket. The mention of Underboss Fiorelli caught Isaac off guard. While he knew about Elisabeth Fiorelli's promotion, this was a role for her he hadn't expected. "Really! Can't say I saw her heading that coming," he said. "But it makes sense. When it comes to organizing and reading people, she's got a real eye for it." Only time would tell if that would extend into heading these first SPECTRA affairs.[break][break]

Isaac still had no idea where his thoughts on Rocket conquest stood. However, he knew that Avatars and Legendaries were a threat no matter where they stood. The least he could do was learn fervently and prepare to protect those closest to him.[break][break]

He wasn't the only one in defense mode at the moment. Isaac cocked an eyebrow as Zev smashed down any thoughts about the Interdream Zone. "Don't worry. It's the Interdream Zone, right?" Isaac asked, keeping his tone neutral. "I figure that means it was all a bunch of nightmares you were having. Nothing more, nothing less."[break][break]

Surely, those nightmares held a kernel of truth to them. But it would be better for both Zev and Isaac to omit that fact. He'd just focus on their phantasmal nature for the time being. However, not everything during those moments had been phantasms. Picking through the memories of fake Zev after fake Zev, Isaac remembered some of the real one's words.[break][break]

"Was Caleb stabbing you a dream, too?"

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Against all expectations, even Zev's own, the mention of baked goods curled his lips into the ghost of a smile. He paused, glancing down at the top in his hands — one definitely cut for a woman's figure.[break][break]

"I'll talk to Nenet about that," he finally said, in a tone that was a fraction softer than before. Then he folded the fabric so it could join the others.[break][break]

Zev let Isaac chatter on about S.P.E.C.T.R.A. and the Interdream Zone mist. The more the younger man spoke, the more Zev was satisfied with his wisdom in avoiding the topic of Zev's past. After all, any attempt to pry answers from the hitman would only lead to more lies.[break][break]

The topic of Caleb, however, stilled Zev's hands. At the same time, the laundry machines buzzed loudly. Zev stood with a suddenness that startled his Lycanroc.[break][break]

"No. That was definitely real," he said. Whatever strange fondness had entered Zev's face and voice at the memory of Nenet instantly vanished. Hard edges replaced it. He stomped toward the laundry machines with a stiffness that suggested his wound still aggravated him.

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[attr="class","skullbody"]Nenet. Where had he heard that name before? Right! Splashfest! It seems the mysterious identity of Zev's Girlfriend was a consistent one. Frankly, Isaac was surprised to see him that much of the commitment type.[break][break]

At the same time, he wasn't. The strained, practiced tension that came from Zev revving up an unexpected smile was gone. This wasn't graceful loser gym practice. This was an actual emotion taking hold.[break][break]

How could Isaac tell? It was too small. Zev was a man of intent. When he showed something, he meant to show it. His smiles were clear, obvious signals. His spite was a laser-focused scalpel. His tears . . . Well, Zev Harcourt was too dignified to cry, but had he needed to Isaac was sure he'd blubber like a baby. This was nothing like those. This had a subtlety that couldn't be faked, as if Zev hadn't even noticed his reaction.[break][break]

"Guess the good news is, you'll be all healed up in time for your one year, huh?" If her name was mentioned during the Splashfest, it had to be within days.[break][break]

The bad news was that a new anniversary had come. As of the start of April, Zev Harcourt had no brother.[break][break]

Zev's legs were stiff and jerky, one parts tension to two parts pain, as he sprang to his feet. His betrayal had been real, and Isaac couldn't help but wonder which phantasms most closely related to the incident.[break][break]

A part of him wanted to pass on the intel that the Howling would be fine. Another part knew that, if he mentioned seeing Caleb, Zev would crush the details out of his windpipe.[break][break]

"I'm gonna guess you'd rather not talk about it."

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Isaac was not quite right about Zev's one-year anniversary, but he didn't need to know the details. Some things were best kept private. Or, in Zev's case, most things. He was content to let Isaac believe the lie, though.[break][break]

"There's nothing to talk about," Zev said about Caleb as busied his hands pulling out clean laundry from the dryer.[break][break]

And then he paused. Well, there was one thing.[break][break]

"Though I did tell Gavin to put Caleb's name back on the defectors list." The hit list. The same one that Isaac had seen months ago before Gavin had removed Caleb's name. "It won't be long before others in Rocket notice."[break][break]

Zev watched Isaac's face for his reaction.

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[attr="class","skullbody"]Fuck.[break][break]

Half of Isaac's heart stopped. The other half beat on in indignant rage. Caleb was someone he genuinely looked up to. He was kind. He was understanding. He was living proof that your past didn't have to define you. The two were practically echoes of one another, spread across time and space.[break][break]

He was also proof that your past could cause lasting harm. His fall had scarred the people of Kanto, a direct contribution to Rocket's rule. It scarred his own body,nowadays healthy yet sure to bear the marks of an addiction now conquered.[break][break]

It scarred Zev. Would he have made his apotheosis into what he was today had Caleb not given him that push?[break][break]

Now, he was proof that you could never escape your past, either. Even after getting out, even after changing his name, even after fighting for years to right his wrongs, the ghosts lingered at the corner of his vision. Rocket was a loaded gun pointed at his head, a Sword of Damocles just waiting for its chance to fall.[break][break]

Were he to escape, it would follow him as well. It would keep following until he or Rocket died.[break][break]

Yet he knew Zev could never see his fear, his frustration, his heartbreak. Instead, he let the last ingredient in his emotional cocktail float to the surface; a complete and utter lack of surprise. If anything, Isaac had known this was happening since the moment he saw Caleb in the Ultra Deep Sea. He knew it was coming since he entered Zev's dreamscape.[break][break]

He expected it since he first met Caleb. It was all too good to be true.[break][break]

"Figured," he said, a touch of bitterness as he processed the truth. Towards Zev? Caleb? Himself? Rocket? Arceus? "Not like you can just stab a Beast and get away with it."

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Much to Zev's surprise, not a single flicker of fear, horror, or panic crossed Isaac's face. In fact, the blonde looked like he had expected Zev's comment — like it had been inevitable. Yet the Beast caught the bitterness in Isaac's tone, a confirmation he did not approve or like it.[break][break]

The younger man's reasoning, though, was not accurate. Zev did not give two shits about Caleb's actions against a high-ranking member of Team Rocket. It wasn't about Hoenn's government versus the crime syndicate.[break][break]

It was about brother vs. brother. A pawn rebelling against its master.[break][break]

So Zev shook his head. "Plenty of people have stabbed me in the past. You were there for one time," he said, recalling the day Isaac helped him cauterize a knife wound in an alley. "This is a different matter."[break][break]

It was personal.[break][break]

"Caleb was a member of the secret police in Kanto. Do you know what kind of work they do, Isaac? Because if you do, you know why we can't let one roam around freely, without consequence."[break][break]

Having emptied the dryer, Zev started to load clean, wet laundry into it from the washer. His Lycanroc snuck over to the newly dried, warm clothes and stuck her face into that basket, huffing contentedly.[break][break]

"I thought I could convince him to rejoin our ranks, to spare him from Rocket's punishment, but he showed his true colors to me during that fight."[break][break]

Zev slammed the door shut. He'd practiced this lie again and again while lying in bed, wracked with pain.[break][break]

"Caleb is a lost cause." That part, at least, was true.

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[attr="class","skullbody"]Caleb was a member of Rocket's secret police with the backing of Team Rocket. The League, for all of its many faults, was not an organization that granted its operatives nearly so much reach. Unless they were an Avatar that had the power to tell the chain of command to go fuck itself, they were far more limited in scope.[break][break]

He wanted to ask Zev what it meant that a member of the Rocket Secret Police let their target live. However, he also wanted to leave Zev's house alive.[break][break]

There had to be another reason behind Zev's hackles being so raised. Was it lingering love for his brother, making the betrayal sting all the worse? Was it that rare feeling of foolishness, having deluded himself into believing that ridiculous brainwashing theory? Or was it just the rage of the man who had everything being denied his possession?[break][break]

Perhaps it was all. Perhaps it was none. Perhaps it was whatever worked best for Zev that day. Or perhaps it was something so dark and secret even Zev himself didn't understand it.[break][break]

"He is." Zev was right in two ways. For Team Rocket, he was a lost cause, because there was no chance in hell he was rejoining their ranks. For his own life, he had just thrown away the closest thing to guaranteed safety any ex-Rocket could have. Now he'd only be able to count on the League, and if the recent battle showed anything it was that the League wasn't infallible.[break][break]

A part of him wanted to ask what Zev would do next. Another part of him knew that, whenever he did, it got him drafted on the frontlines of whatever scheme he hatched. If that meant facing Caleb, Isaac had no idea how he'd begin to handle it. Would he spare someone who meant a ton to him and go down with the ship far earlier than intended? Or would he save his own hide at the cost of Caleb's own?[break][break]

No matter which direction he took, Isaac knew he, too, was a lost cause.

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The normally talkative Isaac had gone nearly mute. Zev picked up the basket full of freshly dried laundry and arched an eyebrow at the other man. "You sound like you have a lot on your mind."[break][break]

He did not ask because he cared for Isaac's thoughts or because he wanted the other man to share his troubles. Isaac knew this. Instead, Zev asked as a way to gauge the blonde: his sensibilities, his loyalties.[break][break]

Should Isaac share his thoughts, it meant he still trusted Zev. Even if he mentioned how trivial they were, knowing Zev didn't care about mundane matters, it meant Isaac was loyal. But if Isaac kept them to himself, Zev could only assume Isaac didn't want him to know.[break][break]

And those thoughts could be about anything.

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