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“Hey! Stop!”

Halsey cut his arm on the edge of a tree branch and clutched it as he continued to run. It was times like this when he really wished he had gone to the Plato gym more often. His feet drummed in sync with the ones chasing him, although their feet probably weren’t as sore as Halsey’s.

The runaway’s foot got caught in a tangle of vines, nearly bringing him to his knees. As the voices got closer he ripped his foot out and kept on, bringing some of the vines with him.

As Halsey pushed past the trees, he spotted another group of Syncs coming up on his left. Having heard the calls of their fellow Sync brethren, they began to chase him as well. Halsey, realizing that he wasn’t fast enough to surpass the new oncoming group, went right.

Bigger mistake.

A rope caught around his ankle and pulled, bringing him back before yanking him up into the air. Halsey hung there, upside down as the drumming of feet got much closer and laughter erupted. He flipped himself up, trying to undo the knot as the two groups of Syncs came up around him.

“Haha! Looks like we got her,” one of them said, instructing the other one to “drop her.”

As the rope holding him was cut and he fell head first onto the forest floor, Halsey didn’t waste a second getting off his ass and getting ready to run. But before he could go anywhere, a fist connected with the back of his head and he was out.

“No no no no no no no—” Talon turned around to look at Beema. “We’re not getting involved.”

“Well actually I wasn’t asking for your permission rather informing you of what I’m definitely going to do.”

Talon sighed. “Beem, we retired for a reason. We’re not Kings anymore. We’re common Syncs in a Walker world, that’s it.”

“But Tal they’re talking with Plato again. What if another war happens?”

“It won’t,” Talon snapped. “We taught her better than that.”

“…Did we?” As Tal turned to snap at Beema again, the neighborhood watchman came up to them on the street.

“Hello gentlemen,” he greeted.

“I didn’t realize how much I missed being greeted by my actual sex in public,” Talon said, still in his human form. “Thank you for the remodeling of the house today, we really appreciate it.”

“Yes yes, glad you like it,” the watchman said, looking a bit on guard. “But we have bigger problems. If you would please follow me.” As the watchman led the way, Talon and Beema followed swiftly, Bone trailing behind them as he panted.

The three Syncs, plus the pug, stopped outside of the biggest house in the neighborhood. Despite the size difference, the yard wasn’t as well kept as Beema and Talon’s yard, which gave Beema a little morale boost. The watchman took out his key and unlocked the door. As they entered, a draft of cool air hit the three of them, relaxing some of the nerve in the room. As they turned the corner, all the nerve suddenly came back when the two Syncs saw the unconscious figure tied up inside a fishing net on the dining room table.

Two Syncs who were sitting at the table stood up as the watchman entered and backed away so they could all get a clear look at the peculiar individual.

“Who…is she?” Beema asked as he circled the body.

“‘She’ is a he,” the watchman clarified. “Transgender, actually. His name’s Halsey. He’s from up above.”

“Wait, you’re telling me he’s from Plato?” Talon asked, and the watchman nodded. Talon looked down at the black bat-like wings that laid pressed between the net and his back. Tal felt as if he should have known. “How’d he get down here?”

“Well, according to what the prick upstairs says, he was a very important and trusted member of their society that took advantage of those perks and fell back to Earth.”

“How?”

“Classified,” the watchman said. “And I don’t blame them.” He sighed. “Point is, they want him back so he can ‘pay for his crimes.’”

Talon looked up at him. “If that’s the case then…why are we here?”

One of the two Syncs at the table sighed. “Because we’re not giving him back, very much against my own wishes,” she said.

“Why aren’t we giving him back?” Beema asked.

“Because he’s leverage, or so Walker says. Having him is like imprisoning a foreign criminal. We can do it on our own terms, establishing our own power.”

“Is it really wise to piss off Plato this early in the game?” Talon asked.

Beema chuckled. “Well I don’t see the fun in not doing it.”

The watchman turned to Beema and smiled. “I’m glad you feel that way Beema, because he’ll be staying with you two until we figure out what to do with him.”

Talon’s head whipped around toward him. “Excuse me?”

“It’s just for a couple of weeks, nothing to worry about.”

“What if he’s dangerous!”

“He’s not, or at least that’s what the man upstairs says.”

“And we’re gonna trust the enemy?”

“They’re not the enemy yet,” the watchman said. He sighed. “Look, guys, as much as you dress like the rest of the Syncs in this neighborhood, you can’t deny that you’re simply not one of us. You’re Kings, and I would trust you two with my own daughter if necessary. Please, help me out here.”

Beema and Talon sighed simultaneously, Talon scratching his head. “Fine,” he uttered, releasing the elastic tension in their ever-elastic minds.

Halsey woke up without a start, rolling over in the bed six times before he found the energy to actually sit up. As he did, he squinted, the midday light bouncing off the walls. It was still unbearably bright to him. He yawned and his back cracked in response.

Halsey froze though when he saw the two gentlemen before him.

“Syncs,” Halsey uttered, feeling extremely rude doing so.

“Human,” Beema responded, smirking uncomfortably.

“Well not anymore,” Halsey replied, getting out of bed. He crossed his arms, trying to cover his chest without even realizing that was the intention. He knew the situation was probably dire, but he wasn’t used to being exposed so easily. He would’ve been fine gravelling in dirt naked if he was in the body he saw himself as, but being in the one he had made him feel foreign to himself. The clothes, the hair, the atmosphere made everything…easier. “Food.”

“…You’re not going to ask us if we’re going to kill you at all?” Beema asked.

Halsey sighed, still tired, but explained anyway. “1st of all, if you wanted me dead I wouldn’t be able to move around so freely considering I can do this.” In a flash, a sheet of metal sprung out of his spine and engulfed him, crushing him into the size of a small animal only to seconds later recontract and reveal not Halsey but a black cat with beady eyes and a fat tail. Talon’s jaw dropped as the metal came again and crushed him, this time expanding and contracting to reveal Halsey back to his normal sleepy state. “2nd of all,” He went straight back into it. “…by that reaction I’m assuming Plato didn’t tell you what I could do when you contacted them—because let’s be real you contacted them—meaning they really want you to do their dirty work and bring me back so they could use you as good little dogs meaning you would naturally want to prove your authority by keeping me instead and killing me would just take me back there so,” Halsey chuckled. “3rd of all, I not only woke up on my own but when I did wake up and thrashed for a while in bed neither of you forced me to get up you just creepily watched me sleep. Even though you on the left have been hiding a knife behind your back for a while it seems but haven’t used it because you’re realizing that I’m actually not as bad as I might seem when I’ve been knocked unconscious. So…food?”

Beema and Talon stared at him in a daze, awed at the Sherlock-like deduction—although Sherlock could probably do it better—he had in him. Halsey just smirked as the knife Beema was holding fell and clanked on the floor of the guest room’s wood.

“Pizza?” Talon posed.

Halsey, Beema, and Talon sat on the couch watching T.V. and eating cheese pizza together. “I didn’t think your kind ate pizza,” Halsey said.

“We’re not vegan,” Beema pointed out. “We’re vegetarians. Basic pizza’s just cheese and bread.”

“And tomato sauce,” Talon added.

“Right, my apologies your Highness,” Beema said sarcastically.

Halsey, out of the blue, began to laugh out loud. Beema and Talon turned to him. “What?” Beema asked, his mouth full of dough.

“Nothing, just…” Halsey breathed heavily out of his nose like a bull. “Everyone in Plato and beyond thinks Syncs are such evil creations and…actually meeting you guys I just don’t get it.”

“I mean, you were chased down by a mob of Syncs,” Talon pointed out.

“Yeah, but you really think if there was a Sync in Plato we wouldn’t do the same thing? I mean it’s just hypocritical.”

Talon let the statement mature for a moment before going all in. “Is that why you left? Plato, I mean.”

A smile began to spread over Halsey’s face, not excited about the story but excited about who was in it. “No, actually. I didn’t even want to leave…a friend didn’t give me a choice.”

“What do you mean?”

“He wanted something from me that I couldn’t give him, so he thought it best I leave…to not cause him any further pain so that he could…grow, I guess.” Halsey huffed. “Hope it was worth it you son of a bitch.” Talon and Beema gave each other a look before Halsey started up again. “But the whole fight was about someone else, another friend that I guess I gave a lot more too, or maybe I just gave him what the other friend always wanted.”

“And what was that?” Beema said, hopping in.

“…I believed in him,” Halsey admitted. “The friend that wanted me to go, he and I always understood each other like no one else could…but we didn’t always believe in each other. We never believed that we could be any more than what we were then.”

“Let me guess,” Tal said. “You became more.”

Halsey’s smile diminished and he nodded. “He could’ve been more too, but he just kept falling back down.” Halsey shrugged. “I just couldn’t pick him up anymore.”

“…You sure you’re not gay?” Beema asked and, although Talon didn’t find it funny and hit him for it, Halsey just laughed.

“Nah. Not all feelings are the same feelings, you know what I mean?”

Talon glanced at Beema. “Actually…I do.”

“So what then?”

Halsey looked up at El, all the magic of settling on a good memory gone, and suddenly the crickets and humidity of the night began to stick again. Halsey and El sat on their own separate branches of a tree just on the outskirts of Slegna, leaning against the fat trunk.

Halsey sighed. “Life, I guess,” he said. “The next day they asked if I wanted to talk to a human doctor about going through the process of a sex change and I was like ‘hell yeah.’”

El perked up. “You told me you did it by yourself at a clinic in Idaho.”

“Well then you’re gonna be really pissed when you find out it wasn’t in Idaho.” El scoffed and Halsey couldn’t help but smile, continuing his story. “We went through the whole process together, they were always with me. They made it seem like they were my dads even when I didn’t want them to. Whenever I had a problem they were there or whenever I felt homesick they helped me through it. I mean they just got me Angel, I can’t explain it.”

El nodded. “I think I get it,” he said. “Ever since I came to Slegna…there was never a day when the Queens wouldn’t come home from some catastrophic day and still have time to talk me through my problems and insecurities.”

Halsey turned to look at El. “You had insecurities?”

El sighed. “Shut up.”

“Well no now we have to talk about this—”

“Shut up and tell me what happened next,” El went on. “How’d you end up in Slegna?”

Halsey’s lips pursed. “I left a note.”

“Halsey! Did you take your medicine yet?!”

As Talon opened the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, he was surprised to see the prescription gone. Hearing footsteps down the hall, Talon stuck his head out into the hallway to see Beema walking down. “Hey did you move Halsey’s prescription bottle?”

But Beema didn’t respond until he got to Talon, only then revealing his sunken eyes and a letter.

Beema cleared his throat. “He’s gone.”

“What did the letter say?” El asked.

Halsey, somehow, remembered it word for word. “Dear Beema and Talon, although I guess now it’s safe to call you my friends—”

“I love you,” Beema read. “Which is something I don’t even think I could say to my real parents. I was always told by other people that I loved my parents, but they’d never actually given me a reason to. You guys, goddammit, you gave me everything. Believe me when I say leaving this letter brings me no joy, but I couldn’t allow myself to be there when you woke up, or the watchman wouldn’t have believed that I truly ran away. Let it be known that I was in no way running away from you, I wasn’t actually running from anything. I was running to something…someone.”

Halsey chuckled to himself. “Guess who…”

“I think I’ve talked about El and Matrix more times than I can count, and although both friends I feel need me dearly, there’s only one friend that I can reach at this time. He’s somewhere on the ground, and I plan to find him. Even if he’s perfectly okay, I could not feel perfectly at home without getting some things off my chest. Maybe I will return to you someday, maybe I never will…maybe I’ll die before you get this message. Just promise me that you will never leave each other again. I have heard plenty from both of you about the lonesome days apart after retiring and I know you both regret it. Beema, Talon, you two have already found your El and Matrix in each other, please don’t ever lose that. With all the love in my heart, Halsey.”

Talon barely waited for Beema to finish before pulling him into a hug, one that Beema accepted gladly.

“What do you say we honor his wishes, yeah?” Talon uttered and Beema chuckled, letting go of Talon and punching him in the shoulder.

“Yeah...let’s do that.”

“Halsey?” El called, but Halsey wasn’t responding.

Halsey blinked, his eyes glazing over with tears. “They…died before me El. I mean, Jesus I-I’m never gonna see them again.”

El shrugged. “Who knows. I’m sure there’s a Plato heaven somewhere out there. Maybe they’ll let us visit.”

Suddenly a somber feeling fell onto Halsey. “Not while their spirits are still inside of that woman I saw earlier.”

El’s eyes widened. “Well killing her isn’t an option.”

Halsey chuckled. “And that would be the difference between you and me.” Halsey turned to him. “I wasn’t talking about that. I just want them to move on.”

The corner of El’s mouth twitched. “Maybe they have.”

Halsey held his face in his hands and slouched. “Yeah…maybe.”

“So…technically we both got Sync eye implants,” El said. “I think that makes us best friends.”

Halsey edged into a smile. “You know you should joke more, it suits you.”

“Shut up.”

“Speaking of jokes, the one you pulled on Matrix earlier was hilarious.”

“Okay, maybe it was a little extra.”

“A lot extra.”

“What can I say, I’m passionate.”

Halsey’s smile didn’t last long though as a pain in his chest began to accelerate. He cringed, catching El’s attention.

“What’s wrong?” El asked but Halsey shook the comment off. “I…I need to go,” he said and before El could protest Halsey leaped off the branch and let his wings catch wind so he glided over the other trees before flapping off into the night sky.

Matrix felt the crunch of dying grass under his shoes, and it wasn’t a nice feeling.

Although it was summer, the nights left a breeze strong enough to make it winter again. Leaving the village had been a lot easier than he thought it would be, but actually trying to find his way through the darkness was a whole other story. Every ten seconds he would trip over a rock or a sink hole or crash into some god forsaken tree. So when he finally got to the meeting spot, he was more than glad to rest his feet.

Matrix looked over the grass field on the outskirts of Slegna and leaned against a tree as he waited.

Whoosh.

Matrix turned around, startled by the flapping wings made by the bird, thinking it was someone else. His heart began to pound, still not used to the sensation. Being cold and dead for as long as he had been, he couldn’t very much say he wasn’t glad to be alive.

Then it came.

It was just a gentle crush of the grass, but even Matrix could hear it in the dead of the night. It wasn’t long after that the small fragments of light began to reassemble into a human body.

“You’re late,” Matrix said, shoving the envelope at Nwoye as he tread closer. He took it gladly.

“And you’re obnoxious,” he replied, checking the paper inside. “And you found this where?”

“It was in the Queens’ desk drawer. If you haven’t noticed I’m pretty good at being secretive.”

“Yes you are,” Nwoye said back, putting the war planning papers back inside the envelope. “I must say, I appreciate you serving us.”

“I don’t serve you,” Matrix said. “I serve King Lucienne, and all he’s doing to keep us safe from the Syncs.”

Nwoye’s eyes drifted to over Matrix’s shoulder, squinting at the noise he heard. “What is it?” Matrix said, turning around as the beast came charging toward him. Matrix ducked just in time. The beast, instead of slowing down, went right over his head and rammed straight into Nwoye.

Nwoye didn’t have time to react fast enough and Matrix was too confused to act right away. But as Nwoye and the tiger went tumbling down the hill, Matrix used his new strength with his telekinesis to rip it away from Nwoye, leaving him in pain on the forest floor.

Envelope on the ground, Matrix watched as metal began to surround the tiger, crushing it into a different shape.

After the metal subsided, Matrix was a bit surprised to see Halsey standing there. Halsey snatched up the envelope, his hair brushed over his face, and walked back up the hill. When he came across Matrix at the top, he stopped, staring him down.

Halsey spat on the ground in front of his old friend and kept moving.

Matrix blinked a few times, still not processing what was going on. Eventually, seeing Nwoye on the ground and deciding he didn’t care, he stormed after Halsey. “Hals!” he called, catching up to him.

“You told me you were done with this,” Halsey said in a low voice, walking back into the dark forest with ease as Matrix tripped over the same objects.

“Actually, I never said that.”

“So then why are you here!” Halsey turned to Matrix abruptly, and Matrix took a step back as Halsey’s eyes went cat again, turning into slits.

“Woah,” Matrix uttered. “What happened? What did they do to you?”

Halsey was taken aback by his comment. Matrix stepped closer and that woke Halsey up. “Nothing that you didn’t let happen,” he seethed, clenching his fists. “When you let me go.”

Matrix’s eyebrows sunk and he melted before Halsey, letting his guard down completely. The weight of what he did dawned in that moment, and he had to accept that after all these years of ignoring it. “I’m sorry.”

Halsey calmed down a bit. “Okay,” he said, holding up the envelope. “This, does not belong to you!”

Matrix swiped the envelope out of Halsey’s hands with ease, making it float just out of his reach. “It does now.”

Halsey punched Matrix in the mouth and the envelope dropped. Halsey grabbed it and kept walking. “I thought you changed,” the Cider said, trying to hide the uneasiness in his voice. “Obviously not.”

“Does it change anything if I say I think El’s a pretty cool guy?!” Matrix exclaimed, trying to regain his sense.

Halsey spoke as he walked. “Doesn’t exactly make up for you trying to kill him in the first place.”

Matrix’s eyebrows rose. “Wait you knew about that?”

“Yeah Matrix, I’m not stupid.”

“So then you know that I didn’t! Doesn’t that count for anything?!” Halsey said nothing. “Halsey!”

He just kept on moving.

Matrix’s heart throbbed in his chest, knowing what he should say but not wanting to say it. What if he hates me? Matrix thought, but then he soon came to the conclusion that he already hated him. And now, fully conscious of what was going on, Matrix knew he couldn’t lose Halsey again.

“We’re bonded!”

Halsey froze then, turning around faster than Matrix would have expected him to. Halsey squinted at him and he could only tell that by the way the brightness of his new eyes cut in half. “Who told you that lie?”

“Uh, I don’t know. Pretty much everyone?” Matrix responded, panting for some reason as his heart’s beat defied him. “They started talking about it after you…left.”

“You mean after you pushed me!” Halsey corrected. “And if that were true they would’ve said it before—!”

“Not if they knew we weren’t ready for Earth which we clearly were not. You remember how we first met? How after I killed that Cider, I got off easy since I was with you? It was because the only reason I killed that Cider was because I was searching for my bond…and ever since I found him I didn’t need to look again.” Halsey rolled his eyes as Matrix edged closer. “That’s what you call murder?” Hals corrected. “Looking—?”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t feel it when you saw me again—”

“That doesn’t matter—”

“I think it does.” Matrix swallowed, contemplating. “Maybe the sex change—”

“Matrix,” Halsey said, his tone clearly pissed. “I have been so forgiving when it came to you and your many many issues, but I am so done now.” He scoffed. “I know you don’t want to hear it…but telling me we’re…Resurrectors, Ciders and Staks with a destiny…I just don’t care.” Halsey’s face scrunched up, his eyes glistening. “I really don’t.”

Halsey walked away, leaving Matrix behind with a grunting Nwoye and a silent night.

But he left him something else as well. At the time, Matrix wasn’t sure because it was so dark out, because it was just so pitch black that there was really no way to tell what was going on.

But in that moment, when Halsey walked away, when he couldn’t keep the anger in anymore…

Matrix couldn’t see.

He couldn’t see anything.