A/N: To be clear, this takes place in the time period from chapters 6 to 12.

The night air was always colder. The stars and the moon didn't scorch like the sun did. Instead, they seemed to suck all the warmth in the desert away.

Ariel could see his breath in front of him, and he rubbed his hands together to warm his exposed fingers. Thankfully, he was wearing a scarf, so he wouldn't freeze to death... probably.

But he would be dead before he admitted that he was cold.

"You're sure," Abrax said knowingly.

"I'm not cold," Ariel insisted, shivering. "I grew up in this desert, sheesh, just because I forgot my gloves doesn't mean I'm gonna die."

Abrax crossed his arms. "It's especially cold tonight, though. You're absolutely sure you don't want my gloves?"

Ariel rubbed his hands together faster. Abrax was right, it was abnormally cold that night. They both knew it could get like this in the desert, but it hadn't happened for so long, Ariel had taken it for granted that he didn't need to bring his gloves that night. So here he was, walking down an empty street (everyone else had the common sense to stay indoors that night) in some of his thinnest layers, with just a scarf for warmth. Abrax had been smarter. He'd worn gloves, a scarf, and a light jacket. He wasn't shivering at all. "Nope. Don't need 'em. I'm not cold."

Abrax sighed before holding up his hands and pulling his own gloves off. "Come here, idiot."

He stopped them both and grabbed Ariel's hands, forcing the gloves on. They were already warm from Abrax having worn them, and Ariel felt infinitely better once they were on.

"You didn't need to do that," Ariel still said stubbornly. "I'm still not cold." He let out a shaky, misty breath, and shivered again to drive the point home.

"You're so stupid," Abrax said.

"You love me."

"Yeah."

They kept walking, and Ariel went over his mental checklist, as he always did before a heist; two knives, one rope, a carefully stowed lockpick, and a few matches were all hidden somewhere on his person in case of need. Abrax was probably doing something similar, only his was much longer. Ariel knew that he always had at least five knives on him, and was always ready to do some stabbing. Ariel sometimes called him a porcupine because of this.

"Okay," he said, tapping the side of a brick building. "This is where we go up. We're almost there."

Abrax, being the lighter of the two, hopped up on Ariel's knee, then shoulder, then wrapped his arms around a ceiling beam that stuck out of the roof. He pulled himself up, and held out a hand to haul Ariel up with him. They clambered over rooftops, this time in silence, their feet barely making discernible noise. In this business, quiet wasn't optional.

Ariel kept scanning the squares they passed, looking out for a familiar covered carriage, and when he finally recognized it, he put a hand up to stop Abrax. "This is the place. That's our guy."

Abrax leaned over the roof with him. "Him? Are you sure?"

"Shh. He'll hear us coming."

"He can't hear a thing," Abrax protested, pointing. "Look at him. He's too busy with his camel. Which, by the way, is making way more noise than both of us combined."

The man in question was indeed very taken with the camel at the head of his caravan. He was petting its head and complimenting it while it chewed on a few dried twigs, smacking its lips obnoxiously.

"And you're absolutely sure this is the guy?" Abrax asked.

"Yes! He's definitely the guy," Ariel confirmed. "I heard him talking about how he'd collected all of it the other night in the Fennec. And look! There are scars all over his hands from the stings. He's got the venom."

Abrax sighed. "Alright. Let's just get it and get this over with."

They hopped down from the roof and slid down the walls of the building, landing silently on their toes like cats. They moved together, angling the huge cart between them and the man so that he couldn't see them.

Ariel looked at the curtain over the caravan. In neatly stitched letters, it read Wiggums Gee. He ignored it and pushed aside the curtain, slipping into the tented area of the cart, Abrax following him.

It was mostly empty, seeing as the man had sold many of his wares already. There were a few rugs and well-made coils of rope in neat, folded piles along the sides and benches. There was a chest at the back, partly hidden by a tapestry on top of it.

"How much do you want to bet the venom is in there?" Ariel whispered.

"I want to bet nothing," Abrax replied. "I know it's in there, why would I bet against it?"

"You're no fun."

"You just want to steal my money."

As was to be expected, the chest was locked. Ariel handed it to Abrax, who was much faster at picking locks than he was. It opened with a click after a matter of seconds.

They opened it together, hoping for bottles upon bottles of venom. They were met with a tiny little vial.

"Well, that's anticlimactic," Abrax said.

"I don't know what we expected, though," Ariel shrugged, grabbing it. "It's not like one scorpion has enough venom to fill a whole bottle up. This is probably his life's work."

"And you're still sure we have to steal it? Usually we just take water, because we need it. This is a little bit different."

Ariel nodded. "Shadowseeker was pretty adamant about it. Whatever it is, she thinks it's important, and I trust her. She seems cool. She'll use it for a good cause."

"We could, just... you know, ask for it."

Ariel looked at him. "And he would just give it to us? We're thieves. He won't trust us."

"We could buy it."

"With what money? This stuff is expensive."

Ariel nodded. "Fair point. He should have gotten a more expensive lock." He stuffed the vial into one of his many pockets and patted it to make sure it was in place. "Alright then. Let's split before Wiggums decides to check on his precious cargo, though. It'll be a bit difficult to explain ourselves if we're caught here."

❂

It was much warmer in the day. Hotter, actually. Stiflingly hot. Ariel could feel sweat on his brow and his breath was heavy and dry. He licked his lips, longing for a drink he knew he wouldn't get.

The two boys sat on the roof, watching the man they'd stolen from the very night before. Wiggums Gee was slumped at the step of his caravan, looking saddened. He looked like he hadn't moved there since he discovered his venom was stolen.

"Wow. I feel really bad now," Ariel said, biting his thumb nail.

"As you should. This is kind of our fault," Abrax pointed out.

"We didn't have a choice! Alkemena told us she needed it, and you saw that guy's face when we brought out the venom. It's important to them."

"It was important to him, too." Abrax shrugged. "That's just the kind of hard choices you have to make in times like these. Who do you prioritize? We prioritize Alkemena because she's a fellow thief and we sympathize with her. If we knew Wiggums, we would prioritize him."

"It still feels wrong," Ariel sighed. "We should do something about it. I mean, he just looks so sad."

"What do you want to do?"

"I don't know."

"You can't really afford to be distracted right now, Ariel. We've got the heist later. We need you at your best."

Ariel put his hands on his hips. "Are you implying that I'm ever not at my best?"

Abrax chuckled at the indignant look on his partner's face. "Of course not. I'm just saying, you need to focus. We don't want things to go sideways."

"They won't," Ariel promised. "They've never gone sideways before, why should they now? Look, we're talking maybe three guards. There's plenty enough of us to take them. We'll be gone before they can say 'Wow, that guy in the red mask is really handsome.' Which is what they'll all be thinking, by the way."

"I'm sure." Abrax pursed his lips. "You're probably right. I'm overthinking things. It'll be fine."

Ariel reached over and took Abrax's hand in his. He gave it a gentle squeeze. "Exactly."

❂

Ariel was limping. He'd been stabbed several times; nowhere fatal. His right thigh, his left shoulder, his left heel... There were cuts all over him, too. Most of them were on his arms, but the most annoying was right over his eye, and it kept bleeding, blurring his vision.

He'd done his best to clean up, but he was too afraid to go to a professional healer. He didn't know what state the guards were in, but if they had regained any semblance of order, Ariel knew he would be at the top of their list when they started arresting the culprits for the coup.

He didn't know how many people he'd killed. He hadn't been counting. He'd just been so angry... it had been an out-of-body experience.

He had killed the king. He had done it. He had gotten his revenge.

He didn't have a grave to visit. Abrax had never been buried. He'd never even gotten a funeral.

He wanted to tell him. He wanted to run to Abrax and shout 'I've finally done it! I've killed the king! Sure, I missed the twins, but they weren't the real evil. Point is, I ended the tyrant. I told you I could do it.' He had told him. Hundreds of times, probably.

He wished he had a picture. A drawing, a portrait, even a rough sketch. He'd tried drawing one on his own, but he was far from an artist. Besides, Abrax's eyes never could be drawn right. There was something about them that could only really be seen in person. It was something Ariel would never see again. And, as much as he hated to admit it, he'd taken it for granted. He hadn't taken the time to memorize what it looked like, the kind of joy it gave him to gaze into. He was already beginning to forget, and he hated it.

When he finally reached that caravan, that covered wagon with a camel tied to the front, he was almost ready to collapse. He leaned against the wheel for support, breathing heavily.

The man himself looked up at the sound of a stranger coming towards his caravan. His eyes widened at the sight of Ariel.

"Young man," he said, standing up, "Not to be rude, but what in the hell happened to you?"

"Wiggums Gee?" Ariel asked, even though he already knew who it was. He could only imagine how he looked: a trail of blood from his eyebrow, an arm hanging limp at his side, head lolling like he'd been bitten by a snake.

"Aye, that's me."

"I heard you lost something very important to you recently."

"Wh- How- I mean, yeah, I did. Why? You know the punks that did it?"

Ariel shook his head. "Nope. Don't know 'em. But I thought... Well, here..." He reached into his vest pocket and pulled out the fat, heavy necklace he'd taken off the king right before letting him fall. It was a large purple gemstone on a thick gold chain. It was probably the most expensive thing Ariel had ever held, or even been close to.

He held it out to Wiggums.

Wiggum's eyes went as wide as wells. "By the desert- That's not the king's necklace, is it?"

"Yep." Ariel motioned for Wiggums to take it. "It's not like he needs it anymore. This should make up for however much money you lost from the robbery."

Wiggums took the necklace, running his fingers over the stone. He obviously had no qualms taking something that had belonged to the king, and he didn't even look concerned that it was in the possession of a bloody, beaten boy who was most definitely not the rightful owner.

"My boy," Wiggums breathed. "This more than makes up for it. Not quite the same as a life's ambition, but who am I to say no to money, eh?" He raised a silly eyebrow at Ariel and elbowed him gently. "Eh?"

"Eh," Ariel said halfheartedly. He'd done the last thing he and Abrax had agreed on. Making things up to Wiggums; it didn't feel nearly as fulfilling as Ariel had thought it would. He thought it might give him closure. He was wrong. He just missed Abrax more. He just wished that they were both there to deliver the secret apology.

Wiggums let the stone drop to his side as he inspected Ariel. "You aren't looking too healthy, son. Do you want to go to an infirmary?"

"I'm fine. I just... I need to get out of Ailica," Ariel realized. "I can't stay here. Not after today." He pushed past Wiggums. "I'm sorry, sir, I have to go. I hope you like the neckl-"

Wiggums grabbed him lightly around his functional arm, making him turn around.

"Hey, kid," Wiggums said, "How you gonna leave? The desert's pretty big and unless you've got a whole oasis hidden under that jacket, you won't make it far before dying of thirst."

"I'll figure something out," Ariel said.

"Well..." Wiggums gestured to his own caravan. "I'm going off to Ushua soon for a quick business trip, you know, get some more merchandise, maybe sell some things... The sea cliffs are supposed to be beautiful this time of year. You wanna come?"

Ariel was silent for a moment.

"If not, that's fine," Wiggums said quickly. "I just figured you might need someone to stick with right now. You're looking a little banged up, and any kid with decent parents wouldn't be in this state. So if you're in need of a travelling buddy, I'm offering a spot."

"You just met me," Ariel pointed out. "I could be a serial killer."

"A serial killer who gives away free money?" Wiggums held up the necklace, laughing. "Now that's a serial killer I can get behind! Besides, I'm getting old, and I could use a young, spry kid like yourself to help out, if you're willing to. I've got a free space in my caravan that's just your size." He smiled. "What do you say? Wanna come on an adventure?"

Ariel hesitated. Then he smiled back.

Word Count: 2421

Character Appearances:

Ariel Seghal by Avengers14

Abracius Senakhterne by SincerelyLoki

Also Featuring Appearances From 

Alkemena Irving by TheShortBosmer (mentioned)

A/N: Did you know it can get as cold as 25°F (-3°C) in the desert? That's pretty cold. Brrr.

I loved these boys... it broke my heart to break their hearts... have this little snippet in return. I didn't want to put it in the main book because I already put 'complete' on that one, and this is really bonus material anyways.

But also, this was really fun to write! Short enough that it was no stress, but cute enough to be worth it. Are there any other little oneshots you might want to see?