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Elliott was quiet for a moment. “It hurts.

But I'm alright. I'm doing much better now, actually.” The relief in his tone wounded Niko as he realized Elliott had felt the weight of emotional pain from their rift even more deeply than the physical injuries he carried now.

He vowed to never take this man for granted again.

To never let his own fears and self-loathing become bigger than the love he carried for Elliott.

Then Niko remembered something that he'd meant to say.

“Hey, Elliott. I want you to know… you have a place in my family.

We'll take care of you. And care about you.

Dad will, I know. Zann's an asshole, and a little surly, but I can tell he's opening up already.

I don't think he minds you, actually. Loolae seems like she's stuck with us now, too. And if you stick around, you can get to know everybody more. You have a home here with us, if you want it.”

“ Oh, ” Elliott murmured, the sound quiet, surprised, breathless. Reverent. There was the depth of an ocean in that sound. For a long moment, he didn't speak, something deeply, profoundly pained on his features. “I— That's— I would really like that, Niko.”

“You don't need…” He searched for the words. “Those people on the news. You don't need them anymore. You can have a family here, around you. One who actually cares if you're okay. One who loves you.”

Elliott’s whole body trembled. His breath emerged, shaky. For a moment, Niko thought he might cry. But he kept it, as always, tightly sealed away. Elliott nodded. When he spoke, it was only in a whisper. “ Please. ”

Niko kissed him in his wild hair, then combed his fingers through it again.

“Hey, babe. Why don’t you let me give you a trim?

” Elliott looked over at him, then nodded.

He got up and came back a moment later with his comb and a pair of scissors, then settled down into Niko’s lap again, his back to him.

Niko was no hair artisan, but he could at least help clean Elliott up a little.

He combed gently at the unruly cowlicks he loved so much, then started trimming them back, little by little.

He could hear Elliott’s soft breathing filling the silence of the room.

Little golden wisps and curls fell around his shoulders, and Niko brushed them away.

Twenty minutes later, Elliott resembled the man from his old photographs a little bit more.

He was still bruised, and still looked tired.

His eye was still damaged. But he looked a little less far gone now, a little less let go.

It was strange how a simple haircut could sometimes be a tether back to something civilized.

Niko leaned in and kissed him on the shoulder. “Better?”

“Yes. Thank you. I’m grateful.”

“What do you say we go out there and spend some time with the others? You don't have to interact if you're not ready.”

Elliott nodded. “I think… I would like that very much.”

Niko and Elliott made their way into one of the lounges where the other three were gathered, watching a holographic newsfeed of some kind. Oliver gave Elliott a warm smile upon seeing him.

“Hello again, Elliott. I like the haircut.”

“Thanks. It was all Niko.”

“Are you doing alright?” Oliver ventured, gaze wandering Elliott’s face.

This time, Elliott got a tiny smile, glancing away. “I’m alright. My eye looks worse than it is.”

“You look like shit,” Zann helpfully commented. “Like you got put through a garbage disposal, then ran over by a truck, then—”

“Dude, Zann. Really?” Niko cut in.

Zann eyed him defensively. “I’m just saying. The hair does look good, though.” He glanced at Elliott. “ Are you okay? Really? This isn’t any of that macho shit Niko tries to pull?”

Elliott gave a soft laugh. “I’m alright. Really. It’s something that should heal on its own. It just hurts a little.”

“You should take it easy for a while,” Loolae said gently. “Get some rest and ice up the bruises, if you can stomach it.”

Elliott’s smile grew by a fraction.

“Hey,” Zann said. “Speaking of all this Honeybliss shit. Did you hear the news?”

Niko froze, glancing instinctively at the newsfeed in the background, but the volume was down and he couldn’t yet tell what the reporters were saying. Aerial footage of some city on Thoro, the Toliai homeworld, was playing.

“Somebody tried to go for Taal.”

“What?” Elliott said. He looked absolutely destroyed, the smile eradicated completely from his face now.

“Yeah. He’s been hospitalized. Someone tried to take him out, though. They got the guy arrested. It wasn’t a copycat thing, this time. Guy outright said Taal deserved it, and that this was for you.”

Elliott blinked, his mouth gaping. Niko stared at him too, at a loss. This was certainly something he hadn’t expected. He could see the war of emotions on Elliott’s face: shock, hurt, rage, then something sorrowful.

“For what it’s worth, the fucker survived,” Zann muttered. “Toliai are like that, though. You’ll still get your chance at him.”

“He's mine . I'm going to kill him,” Elliott murmured, his voice trembling.

“Better get on that, then,” Zann said, raising his eyebrows. “Because there’s an outright line forming at this point. All in your honor.”

Whoever had done this had been trying to do Elliott a favor.

But they unknowingly were only getting in his way.

Niko could only imagine the internal war the other man was enduring, torn somewhere between scathing hatred for Uru Taal, and a sickly relief that his sister’s tormentor and killer was actually still alive.

“He’s yours, Elliott. I’ll make sure. We’ll finish this and get him before anyone else does,” Niko said.

He was fully on this roller coaster ride, committed.

If he’d had any reservations before about eliminating the remaining members of Honeybliss, they were long gone now.

He would follow Elliott to the ends of the universe.

Niko would do anything for him. “Fuck Uru Taal. Prick made his biggest mistake the day he killed Cleo Kestrel.”

Niko felt every eye turn his way. A heavy and charged silence fell over the room.

The hair on the back of his neck rose. What the hell? Did I say something weird? Maybe he’d been too forward. He should have been more considerate towards Elliott, and not tacked on that last part.

“Sorry. Uh, maybe I shouldn’t have—”

“I thought you knew.” Elliott’s voice was strange, distant.

Something was wrong.

“Knew what?”

“...You told me you watched the videos I sent. You’ve said that, all this time.”

Niko blinked at him. “What? I—I did!”

“Then why do you keep saying Taal killed her?” Zann asked.

Niko blinked again in shock, looking back and forth between the two of them now. “Wh— He did. …Right?”

“ Holy fucking shit ,” Zann muttered under his breath. He rubbed his mouth.

“Well— I mean—” Niko was stumbling over his words. “I watched every video, except, um, for Cleo’s. It was too hard, with— She was your family—” He looked at Elliott. “I only watched the beginning of hers. Is there something…?”

Elliott said nothing. He looked like he'd been slapped.

Niko glanced from each person to the next, utterly bewildered and begging silently for context, for anyone to fill him in. Zann shook his head. Loolae gazed at him with pity, as did Oliver.

No one, for some reason, was willing to give him the grace of an answer.

“Guys? Elliott? Zann?”

Everything had pointed to it being him, especially Elliott’s particular vengeance and disdain for the Toliai crown prince. He’d been the one in the video, clearly abusing Cleo. Again and again, Elliott had referenced what Taal had done to her.

He’d said it was why he was saving him for last.

“You really didn't know?” Zann asked. “This whole time?”

Niko looked back at Elliott, panic hammering its rhythmic pulse in his neck and chest now. He was terrified. He’d only just mended his fuckup with the other man, but the look in Elliott's eyes had become something altogether unreadable. “If it's not Uru Taal, then who?”

Elliott pushed off the wall he'd been leaning against. The color had drained from his face. He wouldn't look at Niko anymore, and swiftly left the room.

“Elliott—”

He was already gone.

“Wh— Zann? What the fuck?” He looked back at his brother again in pleading bewilderment, but Zann only shook his head and raised his hands in defense.

“Nah, don't look at me. You'd better see this one for yourself instead, Niko.”

Niko gaped at the others. Oliver only cast him a sad, sympathetic smile before bowing his head.

Then Niko looked to the empty doorway that Elliott had exited through. He ached. They’d been fighting together, side by side, a team of two against an entire galaxy, and all this time, he had missed something immense.

Something vital .

He wanted nothing more than to pursue Elliott. To talk to him, to hold him. But it wouldn’t feel right until he’d forced himself to watch what he had avoided all this time. Zann was right.

He needed to see Cleo’s files.