1
Mika sat in the echoing hall, staring up at the high oak ceiling. Soon, the lawyer would come take her into the courtroom. It wasn't packed, like they are in the movies. She'd barely seen another soul all morning.

She was scared. She hadn't seen him since child services had taken her away, all those years ago. She didn't want to face him on her own.

A hand slid into her own, squeezing it gently. Turning her glance sideways, she saw Kila beside her, felt her press against her shoulder.

This time, she wouldn't be facing him alone.

--- "Amaranth" by Nightwish  3:53 + 1:41 overtime.



2
"You screwed up, Tom." The Director's voice rang in his mind. It didn't matter what her next sentence had been ("You both screwed up.") It was Tom's fault.

He glanced over at Melaine's sleeping form. There was no perceptible bulge in her stomach yet, but there would be soon. What if the academy expelled them? They couldn't. They'd allowed the marriage, why not a baby?

--- "Jericho" by Susan McKeown  3:53 + :10 overtime.



3
Andrew stands in the door, not daring to cross the apartment. He'd needed to see her, even though he knew that Daniel was there, asleep in her bed. "Moriah," he says, and she looks up at him, some sort of pain in her face. He wants to kiss her, but he can't. He can't because Dan's stepping out of the bedroom stretching, and he find of wants to kiss him to. Kiss him and punch him.

"Hey," this shouldn't be difficult to pass on, but he feels like he's in the eye of a storm, just waiting for something to change between the three of them. "I got accepted to grad school."

--- "Hurricane" by The Hush Sound  3:12 + 3:46 overtime.



4
"How could you do something like that?"

"Neni, calm down. Did you see what he'd done to his sacrifice?"

Neni's eyes were blazing, and she actually stomped her foot at Taylor. "You attacked him because his wife is pregnant and crying in the Director's office?"

"We didn't attack him!" Alex is quick to defend them.

"Words tear us apart! Don't you get it?"

--- "You'll See" from RENT  2:14 + 1:23 overtime.



5
"Do you think the Director's right?" Neni and Milo are staring at the night sky, lying in the grass, oblivious to the gathering dew.

Milo rolls his head to look at his sacrifice. "Maybe. The world could be about to end, for all I know."

"Feels like it, since Sinless died."

They lie in silence for a while.

"Milo?"

"Yes?"

"Let's get a hundred balloons, and let them all go. Set them free, just in case the world's going to end."

--- 99 Red Balloons by Nina  1:37 + 1:49 overtime (Note; incomplete track. Actual track approx 4:00)



6
Taylor stared at the front page of the paper. It has a photo of someone, a local hero. The man was dead, now, but Taylor allowed himself a moment to fantasize about being that man.

The man had done all sorts of things. He'd been in the paper many times before, always doing something noteworthy, admirable. He'd run programs, and volunteered with the fire department.

He'd been shot in a bank robbery.

Taylor imagined, for a moment, seeing his own face in the paper, a hero. That would be living, wouldn't it?

But then. Then he imagined Alex, seeing the paper: "Local Hero Shot" No. He wouldn't do that. Alex would never let him go.

--- "Kennedy" by Kill Hannah  3:46 + 2:56 overtime.



7
The social worker put down her notepad and leaned towards Kila. "Honey," she said, and Kila tensed, expecting bad news. "I know what it's like to be in love, trust me, but be careful, okay? When people find out about you and Mika, they'll want to use you, you know? All the homophobes will want to prove their point with you. They'll say it isn't love, that it's all a result of Mika's past. They might accuse you of using her."

Kila bit her lip angrily, but didn't say anything.

"Others will want you to be the poster children for their campaigns, you know? Don't do anything you don't want to. Okay?"

--- "The City is at War" by Cobra Starship  2:50 + 2:55 overtime.



8
"Fliers, fliers, fliers!" Angeline pushed a pile of them off the bed.

"I'm putting them up later," Michelle is on the computer. "But look at this! We've already gotten almost a hundred reservations!"

"All to see our show?"

"To see you, sweatheart."

Ange bit back a giggle. "I'm not the only model, baby. And your photos are just as attractive."

Michelle swing her chair around and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend's waist, tilting her chin up to grin. "It's gonna be brilliant."

--- "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" by The Beatles performed by Eddie Izzard  2:42 + 2:43 overtime.



9
The crescent moon was shedding more light than is should be capable of, but Mika tugged her hood about her neck more securely. Kila was gazing at the sky.

"The seer-lady," she began.

"Did you see the masks?"

"They're supposed to be gods. And the mirror, it's supposed to show you your heart."

Mika nodded. "I don't normally believe that stuff, the mud from the Nile mixed with the dust from Stonehenge, y'know?"

"But this time..."

"This time..."

They stare at the sky for a while again.

"I saw your face in the mirror."

Their hands touch in the moonlight.

---"Marrakesh Night Market" by Loreena McKennitt  6:30 - :02 undertime.



10
Kila had never, ever, in all their years together, seen Mika in such a rage.

"Fuck him!" her girlfriend had screamed without warning, slamming her hand into the bathroom mirror. "Fuck, fuck, FUCK!"

She'd flung herself across the room, tearing down the shower curtain and throwing shampoo bottles off the shelves. She'd then collapsed into Kila's arms, sobbing and bleeding from her hand.

"He's still there, Kila. Still fucking there. In my face and my eyes and- and in me I still feel him, and they let him go! They're horrible!"

Kila's hand smoothed down her lover's back.

"Fuck it," Mika whispered. "Fuck it."

---"Fuck It" by Seether  2:56 + 3:31 overtime.



11 [*Bonus Track]
"Can you forgive me?"

"Shit, Dan, it's not your fault."

"No, I mean, for not...giving you space? You loved her, Drew. I knew it, but I loved her, too. And I was too scared to-"

"I was too scared, too"

"But you never- You loved her first, man. And now-" Dan reached out to the place over Andrew's heart, where the new mark had appeared on them.

"I love you, Daniel."

"I know, but-" Dan tugged Drew's shirt collar down to show the mark. It says 'Lifeless', an eternal reminder of Moriah. "Can you forgive me?"

--- "What I've Done" by Linkin Park  3:25 + 3:12 overtime.