When Zen came to, he felt like his head was going to explode. He was curled up tight and clutching his stomach which ached, but not nearly as much as his head did. He found it difficult to breathe for a few moments before he realized why. His scarf was around his neck. Hadn't he dropped it in the forest? He reached up and yanked it off, flinging it carelessly off the bed. It drifted down to the tiled floor. He gasped for breath as the weight was gone. He didn't know why he was suddenly so sensitive to a feeling he had gotten used to years ago, but he didn't care. His whirling mind tried to remember what happened. He remembered... The forest. Nicator. They were arguing, and...

Oh. Oh god. His body jolted and he smacked a hand over his mouth before he lurched himself out of bed and made a beeline for the sink across the room. He threw up into it, shoulders trembling as he gripped the edges to keep himself from falling. Distantly, he heard a door open behind him. He raised his head and looked over his shoulder and met the concerned gray eyes of Vada. He tried to smile, tried to say something snarky, but all that came out when he opened his mouth was vomit and he turned his head back around so that he didn't get it all over the counter or, god forbid, himself. He had been humiliated enough today, thank you. He heard footsteps behind him and then felt Vada's gentle touch on his shoulder before she pulled his hair out of his face. A few moments later he felt her putting it up with a hair-tie that he didn't know where she got and decided not to ask.

"Let it out dear, it's alright," she whispered, rubbing his back gently. He groaned in reply before he dry-heaved for a few moments. Afterward, he reached over and turned the sink on, letting the water wash down the vomit before he leaned forward and opened his mouth. He didn't have any interest in swallowing vomit water, so he just let it rinse his mouth before he took a mouthful and swallowed it after he couldn't taste it anymore. "Come on, let's get you laid down," Vada said but he shook his head and gently nudged her away. He turned off the water before he turned and leaned back against the sink and caught his breath.

"Am I in trouble?" He muttered after a few moments like some little kid, but he felt as small as one right now.

"No, dear, not at all," Vada said as she took his hand into her soft ones. "We're all very worried about you, I think the entire base is!" Zen grunted.

"That's an obvious lie," he muttered. She sighed but didn't reply. "Where's, uh..." His name burned in his mouth but he couldn't say it. He didn't think he'd ever be able to, to be honest. "Where's the elf?" He asked instead.

"Oh, well, he's currently running away from Malum," she sighed. "He told me to contact him when you woke up, but if Malum's caught him by now he's most definitely dead." Zen blinked at her, absolutely dumbfounded.

"What?" He finally asked. "Why did Mal– Nicator is one of his best soldiers, why has he gone to kill him?" It was Vada's turn to look dumbfounded.

"Why? Zen, he tried to ra–"

"Don't." He said fiercely. "Just... Don't." She sighed but didn't press him.

"He tried to hurt you. He bit you. He promised Malum that he would never bite any of us, soldiers included. He broke his promise, he went beyond breaking his promise, and Malum is going to make him pay." Zen wrinkled his nose.

"Why does he care all of the sudden?" He asked. "He's done this before." Vada's eyes grew wide.

"He's– to you?!" She demanded, grabbing his arm. Zen grabbed her wrist by instinct but didn't do anything else.

"No!" He rushed. "I'd love to see him try to do that twice! But he's harassed other soldiers before, and civilians too! God, there's probably an entire list! Ask anyone here in the army, they've either seen or it's happened to them! The only reason I caught his eye in the first place was that I kept stopping his attempts! He thought I was jealous!" He felt bile raise in his throat. Vada stared at him with wide eyes.

"Zen, if that's true, why weren't we told? Why didn't you tell Malum?!" Zen scoffed and leaned back.

"Oh come on, Vada," he growled, "you might know Malum, but neither I nor the rest of the soldiers do. Besides, even I knew that if I said anything I'd just be branded a liar. Nicator was in a position of power and he was abusing it because he knew all of you would back him up!" He sighed. "I'm guessing the only reason this time is different is that Aurelia saw and stopped it from happening." He looked at Vada and then stopped. Her face was pale and she looked absolutely horrified.

"Zen." Her voice shook a bit and she cleared her through to steady it. "Zen, you mean to tell me this has happened to other people, and they didn't say anything because they thought Malum wouldn't care?"

"Because they knew Malum wouldn't care." He corrected her bitterly. "Nicator is a good soldier. We all just knew he wouldn't just let him go, even if it was a full handful of soldiers backing someone up. We're not dumb. We're just soldiers. We don't mean anything to Malum as long as we're doing our job." Vada stared at her before she swallowed. She didn't say anything else as she tugged him firmly to the bed and he followed. He was exhausted anyway. His neck hurt and all of the pounding in his head had made it and his eyes sore. He sighed softly as he laid down and closed his eyes, rubbing his forehead. "Tell Malum I'll be fine by tomorrow. I can still go on that mission he gave me." Vada didn't respond. She fiddled with a few of the machines by his bed but he didn't know why nor did he care. He was asleep in a few moments.

"Malum." The tension in Vada's voice told him that she was barely keeping herself together. He looked at her, eyebrows furrowed. He had been going to see Zen since she told him he had woken up, but he couldn't continue as he saw her face. Her eyebrows were knitted together and her mouth was in a firm line. She clutched her own hands tightly in front of her. Her hair, white from the loss of her lover so long ago, was down for the first time in a long time. "We need to talk." He stared at her for a moment.

"Okay," he finally said. He took his hat off as he followed her into her office. He had barely hung it up on the coatrack when she suddenly slammed the door shut and whirled around to face him.

"Look me in the eye!" She shouted. He stared at her, startled and allowing that to show since they were alone.

"I'm, I'm looking." He said.

"Look me in the eye," she repeated even though she really didn't need to, he was listening very closely, "and tell me that you didn't know that Nicator has done this before!" Malum stared at her before his eyes widened.

"What do you mean he's done this to Zen?!"

"No!" She shouted. "He's done it to other soldiers! Females, males, all sorts of species!" Malum stared at her, dumbfounded. "I just spent the last hour talking to twenty victims, and half of them broke down sobbing in front of me!" She stomped up to him and roughly punched his chest. He let her. "Tell me! Tell me you didn't know!"

"Of course I didn't," he snarled, grabbing her wrist in a firm grip when she went to hit him again. He shoved her hand back down. "I had no idea. If I did, I would've killed him a long time ago. Twenty of them, is that all?"

"No," she growled as she pulled her hand from his. "I got so many names from them. I haven't had time to even look up their records to find them." Malum gritted his teeth.

"Why didn't anyone tell m–"

"Because they're terrified of you, Malum!" Vada shouted. "Zen told me so! He said Nicator's been harassing him for weeks because he kept getting in his way to get others! He said that the entire freaking base knows that Nicator's been doing this, but they've never told because they thought you wouldn't do anything!"

"Of course I would've!" He shouted. "They're my soldiers! High ranking or not, if someone is harassing them, they're gone"

"But they don't know that!" She shouted before she grabbed the long white locks of her hair. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she tried to calm down. "Malum," she finally said, softer than before. "You said you would've killed him a long time ago. Does that mean you. . ." Malum sighed and shook his head, huffing as he sat down in the nearest chair. Even though he was shorter now, Vada only just now reached his chest. She was a fiery woman and when she had an outburst like this, she felt ten feet tall to others.

"I tried," Malum muttered. "But he's a slippery dark elf. I lost him somewhere in Prime." She sighed.

"That's the last place that needs him." She muttered.

"He won't stay," Malum growled. "If he's smart he'll keep moving. More than twenty soldiers," he muttered the last bit to himself and he covered his eyes with his hand. "Dear God." He gritted his teeth and suddenly slammed his fist down on Vada's desk and the wood trembled from the impact. "How did I never see it?!" He snarled, his face twisted in a fury that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

"Don't." Vada laid a hand on his arm. "Now isn't the time. Right now. . ." She sighed. "Zen's sleeping. You can see him if you want, but just try not to wake him. He took his scarf off though, so. . . You'll see the. . ." Malum's jaw visibly tightened as he gritted his teeth. "He said that he'll be fine by tomorrow and that he can go on that mission." Malum glared at her.

"Absolutely not," he growled. "He needs to rest. He was nearly. . ." He sighed loudly and leaned his head back.

"You try and tell him that then," she sighed. "He's pretty distant right now. He didn't wanna say the word either." Malum didn't respond. She pulled her hand back. "Listen. I have to go see the rest of those soldiers. Try and figure out how bad it was, and look into therapy for them. You're gonna need to have some sort of speech about this, so we can try and stop this from happening again." Malum didn't respond. She sighed. "He's still in the same room if you want to see him." She grabbed her binder of files. "I have to go. Try and stay calm, big guy." She patted his shoulder as she went past him. He didn't move even after she was gone with a click of the door behind her.

Finally, he stood and left the room, leaving his hat on the coathanger. Everyone gave him a wide berth in the hallway but he barely noticed. His feet moved on his own until he got to Zen's room. He pushed the door open carefully and shut it behind him, gritting his teeth at the small click it gave. He looked at the shape on the bed. Zen was sleeping soundly, and the white artificial lighting gave Malum clear view of the marks on his neck. He picked up the scarf from the floor and stared at the dark blue fabric before he leaned over him, wrapping the scarf over his neck carefully as he had done before when he couldn't bear to see the marks Nicator's fangs had left behind. Zen shifted but didn't wake up. Malum stepped back and stared at him.

He had no idea. How long had Nicator... How many soldiers? Slowly, he let out a long and suffering sigh. He had a lot to make up for.

"You keep ending up here," he muttered to Zen who stayed fast asleep. "I really should give you bodyguards. You can't keep yourself out of trouble."