Jeice stood carefully at attention, on full guard and plainly expecting little. The apparent ideal moment of escape had not been obviously forthcoming, but it hardly made a difference. Mojak had gone missing early that night, leaving Suiz in charge of the barracks. Camber had taken Suiz aside for a private conversation, and while no one else seemed willing to take advantage of the lack of supervision, Jeice merely shrugged, stood, and left. None followed, but no one dared say anything. If Jeice didn't know better, he'd say they were afraid of him.

How ridiculous.

A slight chill clung to the air as the night deepened. It was eerily quiet…odd, silence had never bothered Jeice before. Now he felt some need for noise; in truth, he simply felt too alone. Any distraction was welcome, anything by which he could deny his own isolation. It wasn't that he wanted people around to talk to; he had nothing to say. In spite of that, the idea of standing alone unsettled him. Even in his darker moods when he apparently spurned all company, he'd had others around him. In railing at them he'd convinced himself that he'd really needed the solitude, but now that he finally had it…

He had no idea what he wanted or needed anymore; he knew only that he needed something…something to love, hate, or cling to, it mattered not. He'd never felt so...cut off as he did now. Lureine was dead, all his old friends abandoned, and now…now the one who'd dragged him into this wretched lifestyle had simply let him go; brushed him aside like just another distraction. Jeice was, in essence, completely free now.

Freedom had never seemed such a curse.

A warrior's life without constraints, nothing to bind him, living outside the dreary connected world of the huddle masses; solitary…untouchable…a cold mountain of impenetrable strength. Why the hell had that seemed so admirable?

Jeice's breath hung in a fog before him as he sighed dejectedly. The painful truth was that he couldn't stand alone. All those old tales of his father the one-man-army drifted through his mind. He'd drunk them in as a wide-eyed child; he'd stayed awake at night spinning out grand dreams of following in Cheada's footsteps: depending on no one, a man apart. What glory was there to be found in with the rest of the rabble, anyhow? Recognition came to the exceptional, and to be exceptional one had to remove oneself from the common man.

In his blissful ignorance, it had never occurred to young Jeice that any of these lone heroes stood apart for reasons other than their own choice.

Perhaps, Jeice mused sullenly, that was why he'd agreed to come on this fool's errand and attempt escape. Maybe he could get away, find some place where they'd never heard of him, and settle in there. There had to be some place that would take him. He knew he couldn't go back…Camber had been right about that much. As for his other prediction…

'When you leave here, you'll do it one of three ways…'

So which was it?

*****

"You're out of your damned mind."

"Camber, I don't want to do this any more than you do, but it's no longer a matter of personal preference, it's a matter of necessity."

"So you'd sacrifice him for what you think might help? Suiz, what's going on that so dire we need to take these measures?" Camber's eye narrowed. "And how did you come to know this information, whatever it is?"

Suiz stood with his back to Camber, facing a corner of the crumbling exostructure. Long, fine hair ran down his back like a waterfall, shifting and catching the starglow as he shook his head.

"I have my sources. I can't explain everything right now, but suffice it to say that this is the only way out. I'm not 'sacrificing' Jeice…none of us can help what he is."

"It's betrayal, Suiz," Camber growled. Suiz stiffened, then turned slowly to look Camber full in the eye, calm and commanding…and utterly cold.

"Just once in your life look beyond your tiny little world. This is bigger than any of us, Jeice included. It's all well and good to want to protect yourself and what you view as yours, but every once in a while you need to broaden your perspective."

"How?!" Camber exclaimed. "You won't tell me anything! How in hell am I supposed to trust that?"

"You don't. You trust me," Suiz hissed, jabbing a thumb at his chest. "I can't tell you anything beyond what I already have; not now, not until we're truly out of here and they can't bring you back for questioning. You're just going to have to trust me on this."

"Why should I?" Suiz flinched.

"When have I ever led you astray? When have I lied to you?"

"How should I know?" Camber grunted. "For all I know, you're doing it now."

"Damn it, we don't have TIME for this!!" Suiz strained in a hoarse whisper. "It's only a matter of days…we can not afford to wait."

"Then let's just go. Either way, we're leaving. Once we're clear, you can tell me what the hell is going on and we'll decide what's to be done with Jeice." Suiz heaved a pained sigh.

"Not good enough, I'm afraid," he murmured.

"What do you mean, 'not good enough'?"

"I'd hoped it wouldn't come to this, but I suppose I should have known. You always were the stubborn one." Without raising his hands from his sides, Suiz splayed his fingers, concentrating as a faint glow, then a solid ball of ki swelled beneath each open palm. Camber stared at him with mixed outrage and disbelief.

"You'd fight me over this?" he breathed. Suiz's face tightened for a moment, almost as though fighting back tears.

"No, my friend," he whispered. "I'd kill you." Camber fell back a step, stunned.

"You can't be serious…"

"When have you known me to be otherwise?"

"But…but why?"

"Why any of this, Camber? Why were we pulled into this hell in the first place? Why was Jeice chosen for this purpose? For the good of the world; our world."

"You're crazy. The first thing they tell you when you come here is that there is no other world out there. We live for this and this alone. They don't allow us to serve any higher purpose!"

"Nonsense. You simply don't know the purpose intended for you."

"Well, apparently," Camber muttered, voice just a tiny bit shaky, "my purpose is to let you kill me and turn Jeice into something he's not."

"Don't be an idiot," Suiz sighed. "I don't want to kill you, and as for Jeice…I can pass no judgement on what he is or is not. I know only what he must do."

"And if he doesn't agree to it?" Camber challenged. "You'll kill him, too?"

"Refusal, for him, is not an option as it is for you. He can not fight his destiny."

"There is no such thing as destiny. I'm sorry if you've bought into that shit, but it's just a pathetic attempt to duck accountability. You don't want to feel guilty about ruining other people's lives, so you claim fate and say it's out of your hands. It's no good, Suiz; if Jeice becomes what you intent it will be because you forced him into it, not some damned divine intervention."

"You misunderstand. There's nothing divine about this, I never claimed there was. His path has been chosen for him, yes; determined by the actions of others, by those in power and those who seek to tear them down. Mortals, all, and I'll let you in on a little secret: mortal interactions will have more effect on your life than any god on which you care to waste your faith. I'm not trying to make Jeice a martyr…I'm trying to assure a future for our species."

"Your ideal future, you mean." Suiz shook his head wearily.

"I mean just having a future at all. You have no idea what we are facing right now."

"And you won't tell me."

"I've already said too much...but I don't want to have to kill you, Camber. I want you to come with me, to help me." His eyes narrowed. "If I have to do this myself, I will. I will do whatever I must to see that the necessary comes to pass. This is the last time I will make this offer. You either assist me in what I have to do…or, warrior," he growled, "your service to your people ends here and now."

For a long moment there was only silence, hung with heavy darkness and the cold scent of night. When Camber at last spoke, he did so nearly inaudibly, staring at the ground.

"I haven't fought you since I first arrived. You were the leader even then, you remember?" Camber chuckled softly, but it sounded forced. "You kicked my ass to hell and back, as I recall. I promised you a rematch someday."

He straightened, looking Suiz in the eye, searching for some recognition there, a scrap of the old camaraderie they'd shared…friendship, anger, something…anything. The eyes that met his reflected emptiness…nothing; either dead or simply without a soul. Camber drew back with a slight shudder, assuming his natural battle stance.

"Your destiny against my purpose, then. When you're ready, Suiz…"