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mikodrawnnarratives · 3 months

Text

y'know what.

fuck it

Happy Birthday, dear Evie Artino

Renegades Trilogy - Word Count: 17092

Summary: It's been 12 years since Nova's family was murdered. After the previous year of being a renegade and the aftermath of her uncle's actions, Nova gets a moment to breathe. To grieve. Though, it's a little more than difficult to do that once she's told her baby sister's corpse was never buried. Never found. And now she has to search for the infamous thief, gone rogue, Magpie. As if she didn't have enough problems to deal with. Let's just get this over with...

Before you read!

This fic is going off of the assumption Magpie was 11 months old when her family was killed, therefore ten years later would mean she is 10 and 11 months old, 12 years later would be 12 and 11 months old (close to 13 years old) etc etc.

(I say assumption bc I'm not sure how canon Maggie being 11 months old at the beginning is. It makes sense since she was around the age she'd start to move around but still, just want to let y'all know)

I’ve done my best to show this on a timeline image in the end notes but I wanted to be clear with that! The timeline also goes off some assumptions and guesses for how much time passes from book 1 to the end of book 3.

BTW I'm sorry if ages and time stuff get confusing

I confused myself in the middle of trying to figure this out and, even though I think I've gotten everything fixed, there may still be issues

Check ao3 for tags

Nova took a deep breath, focusing on the wind gently tossing her hair. Better to focus on that than the heaviness in her chest. Leroy smiled and patted her shoulder in comfort.

“I’ll stay” Nova whispered, but then chuckled “But I’m crashing with you. The Renegades' campus rooms are terrible!” She straightened and let her tired smile relax.

Leroy shrugged, “As far as I’m concerned, the couch has been yours for a while.”

“Thank you, Leroy” She smiled. Leroy chuckled and pulled her into an odd side hug, her eyes blowing open from the action initially. She made a sly smile on her face to hide her apparent awkwardness, “I never took you for the cuddly type, Cyanide.”

“I’m not. But this is an exception.” He rubbed her arm, “You did good, Nightmare. Don’t beat yourself up about the rest.” Nova resisted the urge to fully melt in his touch, fully embrace it. Like she deserved it.

“If only it were that easy.”

“It never is. But that’s how life goes sometimes."

"Look at you being all noble and wise! Haha! You haven't been taking classes from Simon have you?"

Leroy's smile lessened a little, something crossing his mind, "Nova?"

She broke away from his hug, "Hm?"

"Have you visited them yet?" He adjusted his glasses, “They did give them actual burials, right?” Nova appreciated the dark look that donned his face. She knew that look, and the revenge schemes it carried if he so chose.

It’s been a year since Ace Anarchy was defeated for good. And a year since Nova’s actual family was revealed to everyone. Who her uncle actually was. Her motivation for becoming an anarchist in the first place. One whole year of recovery from the remaining damage, and of tearing down a faulty system and trying to rebuild a new one.

And it’s been twelve years since the murder of her family.

She pursed her lips and admitted what had also been on her mind, “No, no they did. I just haven't gone yet. There are gravestones and everything from what I've heard." She chewed on her lip.

Leroy tilted his cup around to watch the coffee swirl around. "Would you like emotional support?"

"You say that like a joke but please heh…" Nova laughed and turned to Leroy. She gripped the railing. "It's… gonna be weird. What do I even say?"

"They're graves,"

"Their graves."

“Right… my bad”

She fiddled with her fingers and Leroy placed a hand on her shoulder.

The chemist shrugged, "You don't need to know immediately. You don't need to go immediately, believe it or not."

Nova looked at him and opened her mouth to say something before a notification on her phone made her ears perk up the ever so slightest. She pulled it out to see the team group chat yapping about some shop opening. Leroy rubbed her back, "Just tell me when you want to visit."

"Thank you"

Nova spares a passing glance to the calendar and clock as she stands in the waiting room. She shifts from foot to foot. Discontent with standing, she paces. She wrings her hands as she does so.

It’s a miracle she hasn’t fled already. To procrastinate on it all for a little longer. But by this point it would be pretty idiotic to turn back now. Nova fidgets with her hair, waiting for her name to be called by the front desk.

It was taking longer than she would have liked to find out where her family's graves are. Leroy left with someone after they, not so discreetly, began to whisper. The renegade at the front desk kept passing weird looks to her. She couldn’t discern what emotion they had on their face. Maybe they were a prodigy, and gifted at masking. She didn’t get too good of a look at Leroy’s face either before he abandoned her in this desolate room. The cold blue light covering the room.

There’s no way they aren’t keeping something from her. Now she just wishes she had followed them. Anything to beat this trepidation.

Whatever they are hiding, she doubts it could be anything that Leroy would react better to than her. She keeps her ears peered just in case Leroy explodes something in reaction. There really wasn't a lot that Nova would take worse than Leroy, in her most humble opinion.

Footsteps running are her only warning before the front door to the establishment bursts open. Three hands all trying to cram through. Their bodies follow close behind in a clumsy, un-organized effort.

She jolts her head to the noise and stares at the multiple people who crash through. Adrien, then Ruby followed by Oscar, Danna, an-

Wait. Danna-?

"Nova!"

"We heard-"

"We're so sorry!!"

Roxy and Oscar charge past Adrian and run at her full speed. They knock her over before she could blink. She groans and sits up, utterly confused. "What are you talking about?"

Adrian opens his mouth and-

BOOM

Leroy…

Danna comes over to the three of them on the floor, and yanks them up to their feet. She places a hand on Nova's shoulder, "You haven't been told?"

"Told me what?!" Nova would have kept her attention on Danna if Leroy literally hadn't just made something explode, "Leroy, do you want MORE community service?! What's going on?"

Leroy yells something Nova can't make out. But he's pissed. She frowns, her guard rising.

"Nova" Adrian walked up to her, maintaining her eye contact. "I think you should see it for yourself."

Nova's eyes soften and she takes Adrian's hand, "Why can't you tell me?"

"BECAUSE THEY FUCKED UP AGAIN THAT'S WHY!" Leroy's hair was still poofy from his rage just moments prior. He marches straight to Nova, forcing her to part from Adrian when he grabs her by her shoulders. She flinches and he pauses, immediately apologetic for his abrupt action, he sighs. "You said you had a sister, yes?"

Adrian inhales sharply and Nova's frown deepens, "What does Evie have to do with this…?"

Danna speaks up, "Are you aware of one of the latest villains, that has been flaunting their superpowers everywhere? They are going by the name “the Terror" (if they couldn’t get more corny)" Danna sighs. "Just this morning they went around terrorizing all across the city. Everywhere and anywhere they liked."

"I heard about that, but I didn’t think they’d be able to wreck this place too. I thought these cemeteries had measures in place to protect them."

Adrian answers this time, rubbing his arm "Normally yes, but more Renegades have been needed to handle the new prodigy accidents and villain attacks ever since we defeated Ace Anarchy."

Danna speaks up again, "Resources for protection have been focused around civilian homes and shelters."

Nova blinks and her eyes widen slightly, "What happened."

Leroy smooths his hair out as he takes a deep breath, "The Terror robbed several graves. The Artino's were one of them."

Nova's face shifts from one of confusion to one of anger and horror, "Where are they." She practically snarls.

Leroy chuckles without humor, "That isn't the only thing, Nightmare." His hands shake.

"There's more??"

The Sketch team is quiet, allowing Leroy to speak.

Leroy chokes at first but clears his throat to speak clearer without his emotions in the way, "Your parents' caskets and bodies have been recovered and will be reburied and their graves fixed once they catch the culprit."

Nova loses her breath, "You said Evie earlier. What happened to Evie!?" She looks around, "What. Did. He. Do."

"Nothing" Adrian says, "Her body was never there."

“What?” She stared at Adrian like he was making an uncharacteristic sick joke. He wasn’t. Nova's eyes widen but in confusion more than any horror or shock, "What do you mean? If she isn't there then the graverobber must have taken her!"

"The motive doesn't match up. He wasn't interested in any of the bodies. Of all ages." Danna says.

Oscar chips in hesitantly, "Her casket doesn't have any evidence of where a body would have been for 12 years."

Nova pauses and after a long silence takes a deep breath. She shakily sits on one of the lobby chairs and hugs herself. She pinches the bridge of her nose, "Are… are you saying… that Evie's body-" she hesitates, clenching her teeth before swallowing the lump in her throat, "Evie was never recovered from the crime scene. For twelve years, she has been missing."

Adrian's face crumples slightly, hesitating to reach out. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry"

Leroy's murderous face makes too much sense now. Hot burning coals threaten to boil her alive just underneath her skin. Her breath slowly leaves her.

She was so close.

Nova had grieved before. She never thought her family would get the graves they deserved and had become okay with that. Or at least, grew used to the ache. Learned to be okay.

But, hearing they did. They did get graves. To honor their final rest. One they deserved when Captain Chromium failed them. Nova heard she could see them, even if they wouldn't be alive. Even just a gravestone above where their body rests forever. For a moment, a raw piece of her felt as if it could heal after being hollow for so long.

And it's been ripped away again.

Nova wants to be angry. She is angry. Angry at all the renegades who failed her family all over again. Who got to go home to their perfect, happy homes, in their rich lives, with their complete and happy family.

Everything feels fuzzy. In slow motion as she vaguely sees renegades exit the room one by one. Plans over the radio to recover from the graverobber underway. Mentions of names. The Artino’s. David… Tala…. Nova…

Evie…

Adrian slowly sets a hand on her shoulder, and she doesn’t jolt. He makes circles with his thumb as she breathes. Heavy breathes that keep her from gasping. She slowly lifts her head up. Her lip twitches and Adrian doesn’t say anything.

She’s furious.

She’s trembling.

She’s frail.

She’s weak.

She failed.

She failed them.

She failed Evie.

Logically, both her and Adrian know that’s not true. She tried her best. She was only six. A six year old couldn’t be blamed for what happened. He knows his father messed up. Which is more than Nova could ever ask of him.

Nova’s angry. And she’s sad. She’s so tired.

She’s hurt.

Her baby sister was so close.

But it was a lie.

###

Nova dumps the final bag of confetti in the recycling bin, marking the end of cleaning up after the parade a couple of days ago. It was to mark a year's progress after Ace’s second defeat. The permanent defeat. With confetti.

After all that work to clean up the streets from the last villain attack. Confetti. Suffice to say, she wasn’t the one to come up with the littering party idea.

The parade itself was an attempt to stir up some more positive attention to the renegades’ name. Or rather, to honor the work done so far to keep everyone safe. Not that any positive attention to the renegades couldn’t hurt their shambled reputation from the last couple years.

That’s how Nova thought of it. She wouldn’t have agreed to participate otherwise. Not when she could continue working on the case of her sister’s disappearing corpse. It was quickly going cold.

It was like the body walked away. Some kind of twisted magician’s act. And it was up to her to figure out how the magician did it. Where the magician is.

She purposefully avoided looking at Captain Chromium in the meantime. It only added salt to the wound to hear his involvement at the crime scene. Once it was a kind gesture for him to be so involved in her family’s death. Only after Nova learned Ace was responsible for sending the assassin. Now the gesture left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Surely he would have seen. Surely, he would have seen Evie’s body go missing. Footprints of a thief could have been documented. Her sister should have been put to rest. There should have been enough renegades at the scene to catch them!

It didn’t help that Adrian's father was on rocky terrain with Nova even before this revelation. And to think they had been getting along better over the last year. Now all that progress has been wiped clean. Who knows if it’ll be the same.

She felt the bag crunch in her grip. She let herself dig into it just a little more, just to get some of her fury out before dropping it.

Adrian talked to his father about what was remembered at the scene. Nova knew the man had been trying to talk to her to apologize for a while now but she just couldn’t face him. She wouldn’t want to punch her boyfriend’s father’s mug. Not that he’d actually be affected by it. The same applied to his husband as well.

Nova pulls out her phone. She clicks open the group chat she shares with the rest of her team. She scrolls back through the messages, looking for updates for what must have been the thousandth time.

Danna and Adrian have their time split between their own duties, so she couldn’t blame them. When they were available, they mostly worked on finding the negligent heroes (aside from the obvious) at the crime scene who were responsible for Evie’s disappearance. Danna’s been more helpful than Nova ever thought she’d be, seeing as they haven’t always been on the best terms. Understatement of the year.

She appreciated it nonetheless.

Oscar and Ruby have been incredible whenever they were free. They either joined her in what they deemed “detective business” (she really didn’t know how to feel about the name) or used their own efforts to search and track down where the body ended up.

Evie’s birthday is coming up soon.

And it’s been a few weeks since Nova learned about the absolute incompetence of the clean up crew. The current leading theory was a bias, which didn’t seem too far off. Adrian has been working with his father to see if this has happened to anyone else. Despite the rest of Sketch’s team trying to help out, Nova could feel her hope dwindle.

It was ambitious from the very beginning. To find the body of an 11 month old baby, twelve years after her death, but Nova really did let herself hope at first.

She couldn’t help but begin to sag around after any reminder of her sister. She felt conflicted between joining the efforts to find her, and distracting herself from the ache in her chest. It was like she was 6 years old all over again, and processing her sister’s death for the first time.

And it's certainly not a helpful attitude for actually finding her.

She’s begun to pack her schedule with numerous duties as of late. 24 hours every day allowed her to split her time between distractions and facing her current dilemma. No one was complaining from the extra help. The only real downside was the whispers about her. Nothing new. Everyone wins in the end this way.

Maybe she shouldn’t have been so open to any request in hindsight.

Nova stares at Thunderbird, “I’m sorry. Repeat that again?”

Thunderbird sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose, the hero seemed much more fidgety than ever now that Nova paid attention, “Nightmare. Magpie’s missing.” Her feathers fluff up as she articulates this fact to Nova. Like she should care.

Nova scoffs, “No, no, the other part. You want me to-”

“You aren’t busy, are you? Then we need all the help we can get.” Thunderbird looks seconds away from shaking Nova senseless. “Look. I… I know about your sister and it’s all the campus can talk about. And-”

“Really?” Nova blinks, “I didn’t think I was that popular.”

“And. I’m sorry to ask you this when you’re grieving.”

Nova shifts uncomfortably where she stands. Thunderbird rarely talked to Nova when she wasn’t furious. To come to her when she’s desperate is… different.

Nova clears her throat, “Are you her mom or something? Why are you so pressed where she is?”

Thunderbird blinks at her, and squints. Oh that really ruffled her feathers. Nova could see veins popping out. “No, I’m not. However, I sponsored her and got her in to be a renegade. (In hindsight, a very poor decision…)” She glares pointedly, “She’s barely a teenager! Isn’t this concerning to you?”

Nova laughs. “I was taking care of myself by eight. I know jack shit about what’s 'normally' concerning.”

Thunderbird blinks and settles down slightly. “Right. Right… you were raised by villains-”

“Anarchists.” Nova corrects.

“Sure. But that was for you. Surely you can understand why we are worried for her. The Bandit is her age by now.”

She's got Nova there. Thinking about it, Max going missing would frazzle Nova too. She folds her arms and gives her attention to Thunderbird. “Don’t the renegades require contact information from a guardian?” Nova asks, “They should know where she is?”

Thunderbird’s lip trembled slightly, “Margaret’s… a special case. Her orphanage approved her residence and I paid for her fees and expenses.” Nova blinks, she remembers now the previous residence where she found out the kid used to live. It was pretty much useless at the time and now a year later, it’s been brought up again.

“How do you know she’s not brooding and being a problem on purpose. Running away from any responsibility she had.”

“Nightmare.”

“What?” She raised her hands in defense before placing them on her hips, “Magpie isn’t exactly thrilled about authority. This could just be avoiding the consequences of her actions somewhere, and being the moody brat she is.”

“Margaret… yes, she is very… temperamental.” Thunderbird sighs, “But even Magpie doesn’t disappear for weeks.”

Nova does a double take, "Weeks?! And you haven’t started looking sooner??"

Thunderbird scowls, "Do you really think you're the first renegade I've told?"

Nova cheeks pinken slightly and she frowns, “Then who else knows?”

Allegedly: Captain Chromium, Simon, and most of team Sketch are all the heroes Nova is told has been notified. Thunderbird doesn't specify who is looking. Orders to send out missing posters were underway until there were complications with schedules.

Now that Nova thought about it, she may have heard Adrian’s parents discussing the 12 year old’s sudden absence a while ago. Thunderbird didn’t mention her friendgroup’s lack of involvement. She did note Adrian’s efforts to search for Magpie too. Nova bit her lip, she knew how much Adrian still cared about Magpie. Despite her sticky fingers.

“Is this the only reason you’re here?”

Thunderbird sighs, "You're needed for your familiarity in the locations listed here." She hands Nova files detailing the locations, "You may be interested to hear The Terror’s movements have been narrowed down to these districts."

Nova takes the files, "What about Magpie?"

"...All I'm asking is to keep an eye out for her. Report if you see her. Talk to her if you can. Try to convince her to come back, please.” Nova resists the urge to roll her eyes at the idea of peacefully talking with Magpie like Thunderbird is suggesting, “She grew up in that neighborhood, y'know."

Nova blinks, “She did?” Thunderbird nods and Nova hums. She already knew the whereabouts the orphanage Magpie went to at one point wasn’t too close to her neighborhood. It was plausible Magpie went to the elementary institution Nova vaguely remembers from the area.

Thunderbird folds her arms and Nova notices her feathers fluff up slightly. Oh now the birdie needs to be all stern and professional huh. Got it. No sentimentality here. “Your task is to search the area for The Terror already so… keep an eye out for Magpie. Report back to me.”

Nova deadpans, “Is that an order, Thunderbird?”

“It …is a request.” She took a deep breath to level out her pride, “Please, Nightmare. I know Margaret wasn’t the nicest-”

“Oh she was a complete turd.”

“Watch your language, Nightmare.”

“We’re both adults here, Thunderbird.”

“...right.” Thunderbird sighs, “But do you have to be so casually insulting. And in the workplace?”

“I’m sure Magpie’s called me worse behind my back.”

“How immature can you get…” Thunderbird deadpans.

“I’ll tell Magpie you said that.”

Thunderbird’s lip twitches and her feathers lift slightly, “oh, so you’ll look for her now?”

“No promises I’ll find her. Or bring her back. I doubt she’d come back easily if she ran away.” Nova scratched the back of her neck, “But Adrian cares about her. You care, I know Danna cares, and from what you tell me, even more than them. So why not.”

Nova won't like coming across the thief again but she supposed there's no other option with the mess the tween's caused.

“...then call me Tamaya.”

Nova makes a double take, “What? Where did that come from?” She stares at Thunderbird for an explanation.

Thund- Tamaya frowns, “We aren’t on the field. And we aren’t strangers. We’re coworkers. And Adrian is the closest thing I have to a nephew so…" She clears her throat. "And… Nightmare, if you help me find out if Margaret is safe you’ll have my deepest thanks.”

“...” Nova really could only stare. Tamaya is almost bowing. BOWING!?!! For her help. Someone she despises. Really? “Magpie matters that much to you?”

Tamaya straightens, “She’s fierce when she wants to be, and when I met her… you should have seen it, Nightmare. Her determination despite how young she was…” She cleared her throat, “If only I had done things differently, maybe she’d still be here. I’d know where she is.”

Nova’s eyes soften slightly and she sighs, rubbing her arm. She really hopes she won't regret this. She stashes the files away in her bag, “I’ll help. Promise.”

Tamaya deflates from relief, Nova could see the tension in her posture after being so vulnerable about this request. More like a plea than anything, really.

“And call me Nova, Aunt Tamaya.”

“I’m going to regret this, aren't I.”

“Likely!”

###

Adrian and Nova met up before she had to depart to search the district. Adrian squeezed Nova's shoulder in comfort when she sucked in a breath at the sight of her old neighborhood. She squeezed his hand back before they went separate ways.

The only pretty thing to look at here would be the setting sun and a darkening sky that is right behind it. The buildings fare much worse off, with buildings crumbling, the sidewalks are uneven from the large tree roots. Many of the homes sit with broken glass and lay abandoned.

Most people in these areas stick to the new apartments nowadays. They're the only buildings that are still structurally sound and have the least risk of break ins. Made to be less vulnerable to villain attacks due to the design of the buildings. Even the renegades have been trying to finish up repairs on one of their more elaborate renegades apartments.

Nova would be lying if she said she hadn’t thought of running away to live here when she was younger. Find an abandoned house to camp out at. Especially when Ace got angry. She never did, she didn’t want to abandon her only family. Even when he hurt her. He saved her after all.

Honestly, if she had lived here, it probably wouldn’t have been too different from living underground.

Growing up here couldn't have been nice.

Nova thinks about what Thunderbi- Tamaya said. Before she left she was told in depth about the process of resigning the Renegades, and it wasn't as simple as walking out unless you were arrested or were okay with losing any final paychecks and insurances offered.

Maybe Magpie did. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility.

Nova pulls the collar of her jacket closer, she really should have picked out a jacket with a hood. She needs to look casual though. There should be a coffee shop down the street that she plans to make a stop at. If anyone has eyes on her then it'll be her “motive” for snooping around the area.

She adjusts her black medical mask. Her movements are careful not to reveal the weaponry she’s hidden underneath her clothing. Her ears twitch from a garbage can jostling. A raccoon.

Nova makes it down the small stretch of suburbs still remaining, finally making it to the urban districts. She could hear the noises of city crowds up ahead. Lovely. Coffee shop right ahead. Either this villain shows themself and becomes a quick turn in, or she gets coffee. Classic on the job look there, huh. Maybe she’ll get hot chocolate, coffee is too bitter to be worth it.

"The terror" was becoming "the pain in the ass" to her honestly. The anarchists had their collections of thieves, sure, but on the other side of the coin turns them out to be more nuisances.

She takes one step onto the sidewalk and a figure runs into her, Nova is shoved straight into the brick wall behind her and they bounce back onto the ground “OOF-” She wheezes and scowls at the figure, “Watch where you’re goi-” The black clothed figure’s hood fell back.

There sat Nova’s other objective.

Magpie rushes to pack up all the things that had fallen out of her bag from the tumble she took when colliding with Nova. She freezes when Nova guffaws her name out loud.

“Nightmare?!” Her eyes bulge and she stares at Nova. Nova takes in the kid’s choppy haircut, now longer than the bob she wore when Nova first met her. A cloud of dirt has stained the mostly black clothing she has on, and Magpie clutches a passenger bag as she collects her last scattered item. A diamond bracelet.

Wait a minute. “What did you-”

Magpie bolts, cutting through the next crowd as Nova runs after her. “Get back here!”

Magpie takes a sharp turn into the nearest alley, Nova apologizes to all the citizens as she parts her way through. She sees the sewer lid slide into place when she gets to the alley. Oh, does that brat think she’s clever?

Nova pries open the lid and jumps inside, cringing from the smell immediately. Her shoes splash in the water the moment she gets down. She equips her flashlight though it’s almost unneeded when she hears more splashing up ahead.

She catches up and grabs the kid’s hoodie, ignoring her cry of shock. “What do you think you’re doing!?”

Magpie snarls and turns around and successfully pushes Nova away. “I could ask you the same fucking question!”

“I asked first.”

Magpie sneers, “Oh look who’s high and mighty by using playground rules.” She turns around to walk away only for Nova to keep up pace with her. And that kid has the nerve to count her little collection of stolen goods in front of her. Nova runs up and tries to grab the bag out of Magpie’s hand, she curses under her breath when the brat dodges.

“Hey!”

“You’re stealing again, aren’t you! I bet that jewelry doesn’t even belong to you.”

“Belongs to me now.” But her eyes widen like dinner plates when Nova makes another grab for the bag, slowed down only by the sludge in the bed of the sewer, “Watch it! Some of this is mine for real!”

“So the thief admits it”

“Oh, will you shut the fuck up!” She complains once Nova stops making grabs at her bag so she could search it. Nova folds her arms and Magpie gives her a pointed glare, her nose scrunching, before returning her attention to her collection.

Nova returns it and pinches the bridge of her nose, “I swear to god, if you’ve been missing because you’re off playing the act of the latest thorn in our side ‘The Terror’ I-”

Magpie turned around with a deadpan, “Who?”

“Oh how convenient. You don’t know about the graverobber who appeared just around the time you disappeared.” Nova points at Magpie, “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t cuff you right now on suspicion of theft.”

“Wow, the Anarchist has turned full cop huh. What a shame. Newsflash, I’m not a graverobber. Do you really think these arms could lug around a shovel?” Magpie grips her bag tightly in the defensive.

“Your powers could easily help out with that, I'm not stupid.”

“And last time you knew exactly what my powers could do was…?” Magpie blinks several times on purpose at Nova, putting a hand next to her ear to mock signal the action to help hear better. “What was that? Never? Who knew!”

“Not funny.”

“Besides, modern day graves aren’t even worth robbing for the amount of effort it takes. No gold or silver is ever buried with those crypts anymore. The highest prices you could get would be from the organs.” The girl gags. Magpie fiddles with her passenger bag’s strap, but Nova can see she has been eyeing their whereabouts for an escape for the past few minutes.

Nova puts her hands on her hips, “Should I be concerned how you know this? Actually nevermind, you always say weird shit.” Maybe she was exaggerating here but she didn’t care too much at the moment.

Magpie whips her head back to Nova, scowling. “What are you even doing here. Shouldn’t you be after The Teapot or what's his name?”

“I’m here because you disappeared without a trace.”

Magpie rolls her eyes. “Please. Like anyone cares. I’ve been gone for two weeks and haven’t seen a single one of you hypocrites.”

“"No one cares"??” Nova guffaws.

“That’s what I said. Yes. Congratulations, your ears function perfectly.”

"Several people care! Do you think I'd be here looking for your ass if people didn't!? Adrian, Oscar, Thunderbird, Tsunami, both of Adrian's dads. You can't just disappear like that!"

"I quit." Magpie bites. "And, well, you found me! You can go tell them to mind their business."

Magpie begins to walk away in a huff, and Nova's mouth opens and closes like a goldfish before recovering enough of her brain cells after the audacity of the comment.

"What. Is wrong with you?! They don't just want to know you're okay, they want to SEE you're okay." Nova waves her arms around to emphasize her point. She subconsciously remembers and notes how she had picked the habit up from Leroy.

"Besides" she pinches her nose, "you can't quit the renegades without a conference and before handing over your equipment" Nova makes a pointed glare at the cleanup crew uniform Magpie wore under her hoodie, only barely visible. The clothing was less of an issue than the tech-advanced gloves and shoes Nova knows Magpie smuggled from the other techies in the renegades. She just knew that the uniform allowed the girl to carry more than usual.

Magpie's face pinkens slightly but she lashes back just as quick. "I'll do what I want, Miss Juliet."

"…What did you just call me?!"

“You heard me!”

Nova growls in frustration, “GOD why does anyone want you around when all you do is cause trouble and spout insults like it's a competition!?”

“You tell me! I've made it plenty clear that I don't want to be anyone's friend.”

“Magpie-!”

The girl had the nerve to try and dash away again, using her powers to rip herself out of the muck and stick to the walls. Nova reaches in her jacket and pulls out her netting gun, and in a second the projectile stretches into a web and stops Magpie in her tracks, trapping her foot temporarily. Magpie growls as Nova readjusts herself, prying away from the stickier filth.

“Are you even listening?!?! You’ve been missing for weeks!! You can’t just disappear like that.” She sighs “You worried a lot of people. Good people. Frankly, good people that have much better things to be worrying about than a thief.”

Magpie groans, “You’ll NEVER drop that will you.” She shakes away the net from her foot and Nova collects it with a frown.

“Maybe when you show actual change for once.” Nova scowls and points to Magpie’s satchel. “I bet that bag is full of stolen goods, huh. A thief in the renegades.”

“Did you already forget I QUIT” Magpie grits out as she gets up.

“Again. Not OFFICIALLY! You’re still associated to them-!” Nova fumbles, “Them- us. The heroes.”

Magpie doesn’t seem to notice her fumble and solely focuses on what she said before. “OH like I’M gonna deal so much damage to the renegades reputation” She sneers and kicks aside some trash.

Nova takes a deep breath before practically shouting, “Yes!”

“I don’t go around flaunting my story unlike someone.”

Nova grits, “You are infuriating.”

“Thanks, I try.” Magpie brushes dirt off her clothes like it’ll make a change to how muddied they’ve become. “And besides, the renegades don’t need help soiling their reputation.”

Nova sighs and rubs her forehead, “I’ll never understand what Callum ever saw in you.”

Nova expected a snarky comeback immediately. Some snappy retort spat back at her like Magpie had been doing.

But Magpie stays quiet.

Nova looks over and sees the way Magpie's fists clench. She considers saying something again but Magpie brushes ahead of her.

Nova tilts her head to get a better look at Magpie and sees the kid’s fists clenching. Nova considers saying something before Magpie grunts and continues to search for the sewer exit. Preferably one that Nova isn’t in the way of. Nova still follows close behind.

“Maybe that’s why Callum was better than you hypocrites.”

Nova frowns, she really shouldn't be surprised anymore. “You’re one to talk.”

“Why do you think I left.” The heat was rising in her voice again, and Nova gladly met it.

“What else? Selfishness!” Nova’s hands swung around to exaggerate her point. “You didn't even think about how the people around you would worry for your safety?? All so you can indulge in a life of crime.”

“That’s not why I-”

Nova deadpans, “Sure.” Nova walks ahead of the tween in a spurred heated pace, turning the corner and checking the area. Magpie’s appearance had distracted her from the fact they were in territory many new villains loved to travel through. Must be the "aesthetic".

Despite walking ahead, she didn’t go so far where Magpie would be out of her peripheral vision. Her ears remained keen for if Magpie would try to dash off again.

“If you'd just let me talk-!”

Nova turns around, about to open her mouth when something large shoves her into the wall. She hears a shriek and draws her weapon blindly. It’s ripped from her hand almost immediately and she whips her head up, finally seeing their attacker.

A tall boney figure of a man stands right across from her, holding the small tween in his grasp with a maniac smile on his face. He’s giggling. The dagger Magpie had tried to grab in a last ditch attempt to protect herself had been pried out of her grip. The man brings her dagger to the kid’s neck, only centimeters away from slicing skin. Magpie trembles, trying to squirm out of the sickly skinny man's hold. His grin stretches from Nova's attention.

"If it isn't the famous hypocrite, Nightmare" the villain drawls out. When Nova steps closer, he shifts the dagger dangerously close to Magpie's neck. She stops. "Yeah that's right…" the villain giggles deliriously, twitching. "You can't do anything."

"What do you want?" Nova says cautiously, her eyes stayed glued to the dagger. Under her breath she whispers “250cm. Shabby haircut and facial hair. Notch in right ear, scarring from corner of the ear to top of-”

“Are you tattling on me? …heh …hehe continue! Not that it will work~” The villain strangely allows her to note the details and send in the report for back up “They won’t get here in time.” He sniffs and blinks lazily. Is… Is he drunk? His grip on the dagger laxes ever so slightly but Nova doesn’t breathe a sigh of relief just yet.

“You haven’t answered my question sir.”

“Drop your bag pretty little lady” The man uses his foot to slide Magpie’s passenger bag over to him, “This one’s getting lonely~” The raven-haired child squirms in his hold but he tightens his grasp on her, creating a striking cut across Magpie’s neck. Magpie cries out in pain.

“That’s what this is? A robbery? Drop the kid you don’t need to-”

“Stop talking, or I’ll slit her THROAT!!” The villain screams seemingly out of nowhere. Nova halts immediately, giving the villain more satisfaction than she’d like to. She grits her teeth, plotting how to handle this. “There we go~ That wasn’t so hard was it? Can’t ignore me now huh heh… heh heh”

Nova prays he’ll start to monologue. Oh please let him start monologuing! She needs the tim-

“You may be wondering why I’m doing this…”

THANK GOD

Magpie looks to be in pain but even she rolls her eyes in annoyance. The man giggles and his body seems to spasm like static. Nova squints. His hair shifts from orange to black to brown in a matter of seconds.

“Do you like my power, little Nightmare?” Nova jolts and sees the scruff and build of Ace Anarchy right in front of her. An unstable form that shifts back into a stretched twig in the next second. “I’ve been meaning to give it a test run.”

“How are you-” Nova barely gets a word in before the villain continues.

“My form appears differently to all who see me. I appear as the people you’ve feared, who you’ve hated and cowered under in the past. I am fear. I am terror.”

“Wait- You??” Recognition hits Nova like a stack of bricks and she groans internally. The graverobber.

A grin stretches across his face. His eyes hollow out and he takes on a sickly gray appearance. It almost looks like Ace Anarchy… but not quite. His eyebags stretch down his face for forever and he almost appears undead. His teeth appear chipped and stained with alcohol. His lip appears blistered, bleeding, as if a smoker’s lip.

Magpie screams when she sees his new appearance. With the villain’s attention away from her, she almost escapes his hold. She kicks wildly at him with the heels of her feet.

The Terror growls and makes a wild jab at Magpie before she escapes his hold, he nabs her cheek but Nova jumps in to restrain him before he can do anymore damage. Magpie falls to the ground as Nova grabs a hold of the villain. Nova rips back his (real) sleeve but the man shoves her off him before she can activate her power.

The villain trips her and Nova curses when he attempts to keep her down by kicking her. She grabs his foot and yanks him down into the sewer’s sludge. She gets one good punch in before he returns the blow.

The man grabs the dagger but before he can strike, the dagger is ripped out of his hands and heads straight into Magpie’s. The Terror snarls at the child but gets caught up in wrestling Nova for her netting gun. Magpie dashes the other direction.

His face shifts to Adrian’s and Nova falters, immediately losing her advantage. Her own netting gun fires from The Terror’s hands, and pins her to the ground, knocking her head to the side.

She jolts up to get out of her own net casing, furiously searching for the other dagger on her person. She does her best with the newfound dizziness. The adrenaline pulses through her veins, allowing her the luxury to ignore the growing headache. She has no doubts it'll be an issue later, unfortunately.

The man fires the net at Magpie next, pinning her down for good measure as he searches her bag and nabs what he finds shiny. Magpie kicks and swears up a storm. The villain shoves her into the muck to shut her up. He takes her bag and runs.

Nova curses herself for her design choices. The net only closes around its capture, leaving no room for correction. She severs the net around her with the dagger the villain hadn't gotten a hold of in his hast, but it takes her longer than she’d like to retrieve it.

She clutches her head once she gets onto her feet, stumbling only slightly. The tunnel's few and far between lights flickered. The villain got away.

Nova almost considers going after him but Magpie's struggling takes precedence. Nova beelines for Magpie, kneeling down and cutting the ropes that trap her face in the sewer's waste and water.

Nova cuts away the last piece that kept the child down, and Magpie jolts up to gasp. She sputters and coughs for a few minutes, gulping precious air. Procedure mandated Nova check with Magpie if she swallowed any water and (at least from Magpie’s testimony) she’s fine. Wouldn’t hurt to check out later.

Nova frowns toward the direction the villain went but shakes her head. Not yet. She helps pull Magpie to her feet and helps her down on the dry (not dry, moist actually, but considerably dry-er) concrete that sits above the sewer water. Nova pulls out a med kit, paying attention to the gashes the villain landed on Magpie. Her own could wait.

When Nova attempts to clean the gash on the kid’s cheek, Magpie jolts backward. Nova sighs.

“If I don’t do this, the wound will only get worse. Trust me, you don’t want to get an infection.” She says sternly. “And the quicker we do this, the sooner we catch that bastard.”

Magpie frowns, her eyebrows furrowing. She isn’t whining anymore at least, and she braces herself when Nova pulls out the antiseptic again.

Magpie winces from the sting of the disinfectant. Nova frowns and sympathizes with the kid. Using this disinfectant wasn’t the most preferable way to deal with these cuts, she’ll admit. But after the wounds’ contact with the sewer water, infection was definitely a greater concern. Nova will probably need to haul Magpie over to headquarters just to make sure the kid didn’t get any diseases from the sewage.

The cut on the kid’s cheek really only needs a simple bandaid but the laceration on her neck requires gause. It’s hardly a pretty sight but at least it isn’t bleeding too badly. Likely surface level.

She, again, cleans the wound and ignores Magpie’s winses. She applies the gauze to her neck and gently wraps the bandage around.

Nova lets out the breath she had been holding in, “There. That wasn’t so hard was it?” Despite what she said, her tone was only half heartedly snarky. The villain had caught her off guard and she wasn’t enthusiastic to fail helping the kid again.

Magpie doesn’t respond. Instead, she chooses to stand up again, stumbling in the process. Nova catches and steadies her. Nova tries to check the kid’s head for a bump but the kid bats her hand away. The child frowns and looks away, feigning strength that contradicts her dependance on Nova to keep her steady.

Nova turns her attention away from the ex-renegade and back to the sewers. Inside her jacket, the thrum of her tracker comforts her of the villain’s whereabouts. She pulls it out and watches the flickering red spot’s movements. The blinking green dot marks where she is.

“He hasn’t gotten far. Keep a hold of my arm and on my sig-”

“It’d be easier if you left me behind” The ex-renegade gruffs.

Nova looks at her, “He took your stuff too.” And Nova didn’t want to risk the kid running away the moment she left her sight. But one appealed more to Magpie’s wishes than the other.

Magpie huffs and her attitude returns, “I don’t carry anything too important. I’m not stupid. He just snatched today’s income.” She mumbles something about finding a new bag.

Her nonchalance couldn’t help but make Nova bristle, “Income? Really. You mean what you’ve stolen today.”

“I’m using my powers for something useful now, aren't I?”

“Something useful would be helping people.” Nova couldn’t help the bite that came out in her voice. “Not causing a bigger issue for the Renega-”

“Why would I help them?” Magpie snarls, “Their reputation can go die for all I care. They didn’t help me and they aren’t entitled to my help”

Nova blinks, “What?”

“I know you heard me, don’t lie.”

Nova deadpans, “Oh? Clarify for me.”

“Why should I.” Magpie shoves herself away from her, getting her balance back mostly. She keeps one hand on the sewer wall.

Nova sighs, giving up on getting an answer for her question. Better to not beat around the bush. “What do you mean by ‘they didn’t help’? They were always reaching out! Callum was-”

Magpie scoffs, “Exactly. Callum. Everyone else was in it for my powers.” She grumbles something inaudible and then, “He was too but at least his power let him see past that.”

Magpie winces in pain and stumbles, Nova rushes to her side to catch her again. Magpie doesn’t bother fighting her again but she does scowl. Nova ignores her and focuses on helping her walk. The kid’s right foot must be sprained or something.

Nova sighs, “Renegades are chosen because of their skillset.”

Magpie huffs “Yeah, well. I signed up for history. Artifacts.”

“And you barely did anything.”

Magpie blew her hair out of her face. “Then good thing I’m out of your hair now. You don’t have to spare a thought to think about how worthless I am to you lot.”

Nova groans internally. She’d give anything to just drop the kid. “No one thinks you’re worthless. You haven’t been applying yourself so-”

“I have.” Magpie defends.

“Really.”

“Really!”

Nova heavily doubts that but chooses just to roll her eyes. “Well if we’re going to talk about this, why did you leave.” The villain wasn’t too far ahead but he had still made a substantial run for it. They were hardly close enough for their voices to be heard by him yet. From what the tracker suggested, he had paused to look at all his newfound treasures. Likely, he hadn’t noticed the tracker yet. Amateur.

“The renegades are hypocrites now.”

Oh this argument? Nova takes a breath, “They always have been.”

Now it was Magpie’s turn to be skeptical.

Nova continues, “But these kinds of organizations will always have flaws. That’s why good people need to be there to improve them.” Nova never thought she’d see a day where she’d so adamantly defend the renegades but here they were.

Magpie pipes up again, “And yet they still flaunt the idea everyone is equal” Her words taunt the idea itself in an almost singsong way. “Nobody sees that’s the furthest thing from the truth”

“What do you mean by that?”

“No one is equal just because everyone and their mother has powers now.” She shifts slightly as they walk to turn the corner. “No power comes with the same strength as another. And now prodigies aren’t people who earned it.”

Nova chokes and whips her head around to the kid, “Earned it??”

Magpie puffs her chest out, defending her claim with no hesitance, “Becoming a prodigy comes from survival!” Her fist tightens, “And now there are new “prodigies" that flaunt their power like it’s the same thing!” She pointedly looks at the tracker with the villain’s location. Nova had to admit, she was right for this case.

Despite that, Nova refutes Magpie’s previous claim, “Not all ‘previous’ prodigies got their power out of necessity.”

Magpie bites back, “The majority did. And yet, everyone’s trying to act like nothing has changed for the worse.”

Nova frowns, “What does this have to do with you quitting?”

Magpie shuts her mouth and remains silent. They walk a good chunk for a good chunk of time before Nova opens her mouth, “Oh now you’re silent on me again. Great.”

Magpie groans something closer to a whine. “Why are you so interested anyway??”

“Maybe I want to know what’s in that skull of yours to think it’d be a good idea to disappear for weeks! You worried-”

“I don’t care.” Magpie mutters.

Nova still heard it. “Say that again.” A challenge really.

“They don’t actually mean it.”

Nova barks a humorless laugh, “Yes, (oh boy) yes, they do!”

Magpie whips her head back to Nova, “I was a nuisance! I burdened everyone. I used up resources.” She listed them like they would obviously affect how others would think of her.

And it did. Not always the way Magpie believed though.

Nova agrees with her, “Yeah, you were. What does that have to do-”

“Everyone should be happy I’m gone. I’m no longer a stain on their reputation.” She shoves her hands into her pockets. “But then again, they ruin their reputation well enough without me.”

Nova doesn’t bother trying to interject and correct her again. Instead, she listens to Magpie spout off. She’s fessing up now.

“I’m on the side that matches my character now, right? At least in their eyes. You should be happy.” Magpie quips, continuing her spiel.

Nova doesn’t say anything for a moment. Taking in the kid’s words. She isn’t really sure if she regrets making Magpie talk again. It was easier when she was silent honestly. Easier on her headache. Regardless, Nova speaks up again, “...That’s it? That’s why you made everyone worry?”

Magpie speaks firmly, “They aren’t actually worried. I can guarantee they just want my superpower and labor. Why would they be worried about me?”

Nova takes in a deep breath, hopefully warding away her oncoming headache. “Honestly, I have no clue.”

“Told you.” Magpie grunts.

“But.” Nova breathes out, “They are worried regardless. Thunderbird herself asked me to go looking for you. And she doesn’t even like me!” Nova hoped her emphasis on Tamaya’s desperation would convince Magpie but it had the opposite effect.

“If anything that proves my point they don't care.” Magpie chuckles. It wasn’t funny. “Leaving my fate up to an ex-anarchist. If they are so concerned, where are they right now?” It almost sounded like a genuine question. One that flabbergasted Nova to no end.

“Busy! And they have been looking for you. They just also have more important things to do than-”

“Look for a shitty kid?” Magpie finishes for her. Nova’s eyebrows furrow at the wording. “I know you don’t like me. Nobody likes me. I made sure of that.” Of all the things for the thief to be honest about, Nova didn’t think admitting her self fulfilling prophecy would be one of them. “Callum was the only one that- …”

“That what?” Nova pries.

“That…” Magpie’s face scrunches up, a pattern when she’s forced to be vulnerable. “I mean that he was annoyingly persistent. He had a good superpower that… could have changed the world.”

“It did.”

Magpie laughs sourly, “It didn’t.” She shakes her head. “He died.”

“He inspired the people around him.” Nova insisted.

“And look what happened to him.”

A silence falls over the two. An uncomfortable one. Nova honestly isn’t sure what to do. Magpie never seemed the sentimental type in any shape whatsoever. She wouldn’t believe the kid even cared about Callum if she hadn’t seen her sobbing over his dead body last year.

Nova breathes in and breaks the silence, “He… was a martyr.”

Magpie’s voice comes out raw. “So? The wonders he saw shriveled up.”

“That’s not true.”

“Yes, it is. Barely anyone in this city has a shred of pity in their soul.” She spits. “Not without profit. Without glory.”

Nova puffs her chest out, “Bold of you to criticize this of the city.”

“Bold of you to assume I give a shit. I know my hypocrisy. I’m just telling it as it is.”

Something in the way Magpie uttered her last statement makes Nova pause. A sort of Deja vu waving over her. The echo of their footsteps quickly replaced their voices and filled the halls of the concrete and waste maze.

“...sounds pretty lonely.”

“Nice try, Nightmare. I’m not falling for that.”

“I’m not trying to trick you.”

Silence. Nova isn’t surprised by this point. In the corner of her eye she could see Magpie avoiding her gaze, entranced by the mesh of components that make up the concrete below them. Nova briefly glanced at her tracker and chewed on her lip.

Nova sighs, “Just… Give me a reason to tell Tamaya and the others why you left when I get back.”

Magpie turns to her, squinting her eyes. “Are you serious?”

“Dead. Dead serious.”

Nova looks at Magpie a second longer and flicks her attention back to the tracker. Magpie opens her mouth and Nova places a finger against it. Magpie's face twists in offense until she realizes what they've stumbled across.

Nova cautiously leans forward to see two men and the lanky villain from before. The lanky villain has donned a new mask, covering his face and neck entirely, masking his ability but protecting him from Nova’s. Magpie freezes and Nova moves her hand to the kid’s shoulder, squeezing gently.

She taps Magpie’s shoulder once. Twice. Magpie blinks and perks up to look at her with a surprised recognition. Nova continues relaying her instructions.

The girl squints her eyes at Nova. Nova gives her a look and the girl huffs.

"..-. .. -. ." she taps back. The Morse code didn't translate her tone, but Nova could tell from expressions alone the girl’s grumpy agreement [Fine.].

Nova places her hand on the wall and points to one of the individuals The Terror stands next to. The one that looks about ready to fall over from nerves. He's holding a hefty chunk of concrete, the torn reinforcing steel at the center. It’s hard to miss the gaping hole in the wall, light shining through it.

Magpie gives one gentle attempt to pull the bag away from him, it's across the shoulder of the man, but she slumps and gives up soon after. His arms are in the way of cleanly stealing her bag back.

Nova’s head lifts up and she points to the gravel and shards from the mess the group must have made in their haste into the sewers. The girl activates her powers and gathers the shards at her feet. Magpie moves them slowly into the water.

The movement startles the timid man ("Crocodile?!") into dropping the concrete, it breaks half once it meets the ground. The halves splash into the sewer's muck and liquid. One of the dealers smacks him in the head and the Timid dude straightens.

Magpie and Nova breathe a quiet sigh of relief once the merchants return to deciding the price they’ll pay for The Terror’s stolen items. Magpie lifts one slab of concrete slowly, breathing in. The water decreases the difficulty of carrying the concrete slabs, the only challenge will be getting it out.

Nova stays tense. She keeps a finger on the activation tigger of the tracking device. In the past she’s designed and built in the function to employ a heavy magnetic force, stuck to whomever she aimed it at. The corresponding magnetic rope weighs heavy on her gear belt.

“460. Final offer.”

“Deal.”

“Mack, get the fucking rocks, we’re going now.”

“Yes!”

Magpie jolts and lifts the concrete into the air, throwing them at the three. One thwacks the timid man, and he collapses to the floor. The second only grazes the Terror and the other dealer.

Nova activates the tracker, the metal presses tightly against his leg and expands to his knee. Magpie uses her power to shut the messy entry/exit hole. The Terror backs up and the second dealer curses Nova’s hero name. He opens his hand-

Nightmare shoves Magpie out of sight at the corner and dodges the dart flown her way. She runs up and kicks the second dealer into the sewer water before tackling the Terror to the ground. Her netting gun falls from her person in the process.

Magpie pulls her bag to her person, as well as the other (much larger) bag of trinkets and valuables stolen by the graverobber. She pays no attention to Nova punching the Terror and his strikes in return. Roughhousing. None of her business now.

She rummages to check her own stuff is still present, and then peeks through the other bag of belongings. Her eyes catch a card and she fishes it out.

A drivers license, with the name Oliver Berk listed next to a picture of a man.

Magpie doesn’t get to examine it for long. The second dealer hacks up the disgusting “water” and pulls himself out. He grabs Nova’s netting gun. Nova’s too busy keeping the Terror from escaping to notice. The Terror’s clothing covers up her options to force him unconscious in a split second.

Magpie jolts up to her feet and runs out of hiding. “Hey!”

The second dealer looks up just before she shoves herself against the man to grab the gun. He yells in shock and she scrambles to rip the netting gun out of his hand. He grabs her hood and lifts her into the air. “What the hell is this kid doing her-” She aims the netting gun and pins him down.

She goes down with him, only outside of the net. He lets go of her hoodie and she knocks against the concrete. Nova looks up in a panic from the sound, wide eyed and distracted. The Terror kicks her in the stomach and abandons the scene. But not before smashing the tracker device, prying it off of his leg.

###

Nova groans and gets to her feet. The pain eases after a moment. She looks up and breathes a sigh of relief to see Maggie getting to her feet.

Nova slides down into the gutter between them to reach Maggie sooner. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Breathes Maggie.

Nova strides toward the kid and grabs her shoulders. Magpie freezes. Nightmare checks her head for bleeding, only finding a goose egg. “You got knocked twice in the head today.”

“I’m fine, Nightmare.”

Nova sighs and lets Maggie go. Choosing to walk over to the second dealer, she puts her hand through the net and forces him to fall unconscious. Nova’s phone pings with a new message and Maggie uses her power to snatch it and view it as Nova collects the other dealer from where he dropped.

“How come you didn’t run earlier?” Nova asks Maggie as she looks through the two villains' persons for identification, not before tying them up just in case.

“When?”

“When you grabbed the loot.”

“...ahuh.” Nova scratches her cheek. “And you ran out of hiding because…?”

Maggie pauses and shrugs. “They… could have had more on them”

“If- if he got you then I’d be fucked!” The girl defends herself. “Who here is more experienced with fighting and winning?”

“Okay okay, that’s fair.” Nova collects two identification cards. “These will be helpful at least.”

Nova accidentally pulled out a photograph when she had searched the man's pockets. She stares at a photo of kids barking a resemblance to the man. She sighs in sympathy.

“I found another.” Maggie pulls over the large bag and hands Nova the driver’s license. “Oliver Berk. No powers recorded on it as of five years ago.”

“It’s outdated?” Nova examines the identification. “It doesn’t match either merchant.”

“The Terror?”

“It’s more likely to belong to someone who died in the past few years.”

Magpie’s nose scrunches, “Why would you steal a driver’s license? They’re worthless.”

Nova gives her a look, “Actually, they’re worth a lot. Especially if you need a new identity.”

Maggie blinks and her cheeks pinken ever so slightly out of embarrassment for not thinking of that possibility. “Well… won’t a dead person’s ID catch eyes? Someone would notice that right?”

“...Who knows anymore.” She sighs.

Maggie pulls out Nova’s phone she snagged earlier and looks at the message.

“Oh. Her.”

“Who?”

Maggie shows the screen to Nova. Nova sours for a moment to see Maggie stole her phone. She perks up in interest the moment she recognizes Thunderbird’s contact.

"Was she the one who put you up to looking for me?"

"Yeah why?"

Maggie walks over to the side of one of the men to sit down, crossing her legs. "She, especially, doesn't care. Not really"

"Sounded like she cared to me."

"She cares about my power. How it can be used. She was jumping to sponsor me after I tried out. Though, I bet in a heartbeat she'd want it to be someone else's." Maggie fidgets. "...she’s the reason I got out of the orphanage and a place with the Renegades when I did."

Nova hesitates to respond. She wishes she knew what to say, but she can't think of anything. Nothing that would make anything better. She doesn't know Tamaya well enough to argue or agree.

"...sorry about that, kid."

Maggie shrugs and places the phone down. Nova retrieves it quickly but Maggie's already reverted her attention to searching the merchant's pockets as if it were Christmas.

"You should probably tell her how you feel." Nova tries. "Might help clear up some things…"

Maggie pauses. She changes the subject.

“About your question earlier? About what you should tell them? Yeah… tell them don’t bother.” Magpie says as she packs up her once stolen trinkets, “It’s best for everyone if I stick to being a ‘villain’. If you’re shocked-” she searches the knocked out pawnbroker’s pockets for cash or anything of value, waving around the items to examine them “Don’t be! It’s been a long time coming.”

Nova at Magpie. “Really?”

“Yes, really. Is that so hard to believe?”

Nova snorts, “No it isn’t. I’m being validated.”

Magpie deadpans as she shoves a very fancy trinket into her bag, “Congratulations. Would you like a metal?”

Nova blinks, “Did you just-”

“MEDAL! Medal. Gah forget it!” Magpie’s face pinkens and she stands to her feet in seconds. She secures her bag in its place, keeping her eyes away from Nova’s amused expression. “Anyway. You know I only care about me.”

“That’s true”

“Callum was the selfless one.”

“Yep”

“And he was wrong about me.”

Nova clicks her tongue, “I mean, I didn’t know him for very long all things considered, but I have a hard time believing Callum could be wrong about something like that.”

“Well, he was.”

She raises her eyebrow, “What exactly did he say about you anyway?”

Magpie scoffs, “What? The potential he saw? The wonders his power “revealed”?”

“Well, yeah. What else.”

“Stupid stuff…” The tween mutters.

Nova pries more, “And that stupid stuff is…?”

“...” Magpie relents after a moment of silence. But not after taking the time to roll her eyes. “He made me think that I could help people… the way I wanted help once.”

“This is stupid. You don’t care.”

Nova pauses and can’t find anything to say about what Magpie just uttered. Nothing that would help. She waits for the kid to say anything more on the subject.

“No- well…” Nova grimaces and sighs, “Why don’t I tell you something.”

Magpie whips her head back to Nova and squints her eyes. Eventually she bites and asks, “Tell me what?”

Nova took a breath and before saying something she hopes she won’t regret telling the 12 year old, “After we defeated Ace Anarchy, I wanted to quit.”

“Quit?” Magpie looks over to her, dumbfounded expression and everything.

“Yep.”

Magpie’s expression lessons. “...Why?”

“I felt I’d do more harm than good staying on the team.” She chuckles, beginning to fidget with her bracelet out of the need to do something with her awkward hands. “After all, my mistakes led to Ace running free for so long. He’s… the reason my family is dead.”

“What? Your…”

Nova nods, pursing her lips, “He hired the assassin. Shot my Mom, Dad, and sister.” Mentioning her long-dead sister made her heart ache. And at the same time, it was odd. She never imagined telling all of this to Magpie one day, and here they were.

Magpie’s eyebrows shoot up, and after a few seconds she utters “oh…”

“Yeah… turns out he kept me ‘cause I was a prodigy. I never knew.”

Maggie’s eyebrows furrow but she doesn’t say anything. The silence draws on longer than comfortable for the two of them.

“Anyway…” Nova clears her throat. “I’ll always carry the guilt of what I could have done. The deaths I could have prevented are on my shoulders. I could run away, and suffer for what I’ve done and didn’t do.” She then smiles, “Or stick around. Stay with the people that care about me. And try to be better now. Make things better. That’s what the Rejects have been trying for the past year and counting.”

“The rejects?”

“Narcissa’s the leader. I’ll give you a fair introduction to them later if you want.”

…

Nova coughs, “Anyway, I guess what I’ve been trying to say is, it gets better. You never know where people that get you, show up. And that more people care about you than you ever realize.

“Y’know, when things to crap.”

###

Nova sends a quick text before her and Maggie leave. It's to heroes in their area, notifying them of their location, the situation, and the pawnbrokers. She trusts them to handle the two fairly.

It didn’t take very long to find The Terror's next planned location once they rummaged through the two pawnbroker’s pockets and found how they had been communicating with The Terror.

And the fact The Terror was actually Oliver Berk. The grin on Maggie's face for being right didn't leave for a while. Nova could only sigh. Of course the amateur villain would keep his identification with him.

The amateurness didn't stop, and his weak security both hurt Nova and made her want to laugh. How could you screw this up so badly?? From there she and Maggie had tracked him down to his next location and ambushed him, making quick work of tying him up.

Maggie holds her lucky bullet in her hand and close to her when she stands against the sewer wall and slides down into a sit. She fiddles with it a little and looks at Nova who is finishing up her report to headquarters. Nova rubs her head to ease her headache as she writes. She types up she has apprehended the villain, their location, and a promise to return to hq soon after denying a ride back.

“...My family was murdered too”

“Hm?” Nova turns to Maggie.

“When I was a baby. I don’t know too much. I was found by the landlord or something.” She holds up the bullet. “I just know this gave me my powers.”

Nova blinks and lets her mouth form an ‘o’ shape. Out of all the things today, this wasn't one she thought Maggie would talk about.

The kid holds the bullet closer to her chest, "This is my power. I don't care what you think about me. What anyone thinks. This power is mine and only for me. It is me. It's… how I survive" she grits out.

Nova breathes out a sigh and shrugs, "I mean… I get that.”

“You do?”

Nova nods, “The anarchists weren’t exactly buddy-buddy with me. Even after the age of anarchy, it’s common advice, you could say, to keep your guard up. Just in case.

"And with hindsight, I was only kept alive by my uncle because of my powers…"

Nova couldn’t help but fidget slightly from Maggie’s persistent attention. That stare. Now that the kid was actually listening it was almost unnerving. The kid’s piercing blue gaze only assisted the look.

“And some shitty things have happened to me. No surprise there. My new friends help me out with that now.”

Maggie’s concentration on what she says breaks the next second, and she snorts, “What are you even suggesting. Getting cheesy friends may have worked for you, but it won’t fix anything for me. We aren’t the same.” Maggie looks away from her with a scowl. “I have nothing. Nothing of my old life. Blurry memories maybe. But no photos. No gravestones. No names.”

Nova pauses and frowns. Maybe sympathetically. She doesn’t really know. “You don’t need those to move on.”

“Says the renegade with photos, and memories, and names, and graves to say goodbye to.”

“I lost most of the photos a long time ago. And,” She raises her finger to emphasize her point, “my sister’s corpse was never recovered so watch your mouth.”

“At least you know her name”

“Will you please just work with me!? I just” Nova breathes in. “I want to hold out an olive branch. Because… you aren’t nearly as alone as you think.”

Maggie stays quiet. Nova fills the space.

“Look, we definitely got off on the wrong foot” She pauses and bites her lip. “Pun, not intended.” Nova ignores the incredulous look Magpie gives her.

“But. I don’t want to see someone else go through what I did alone.”

“We. Are not. The same.”

“No, we aren’t. But pretty damn close, dontcha think?” Nova chuckles lightly, but is met with Magpie’s continued silence. “Yeah okay, that wasn’t funny.”

Nova heads over to where the villain had been tied up and readjusts the knots, she needs something to do with her hands. “We can leave soon and forget this ALL happened if you want. Just know this, I am lucky to have gotten back so much.”

“I could have told you that.”

Nova ignores her. “But for the longest time… I didn’t know I had that much to be returned. I thought everything about my past died that night, aside from my memory. Even my bracelet wouldn’t be as important to me, without that memory. That memory was my drive and it still is.”

Maggie’s quiet when she responds, her overgrown bangs hover over her eyes and shade them. “I tried moving on.”

“Did you?”

“I moved on… by staying alive.” Maggie lets out a breath. “Who cares if they didn’t come back. Or if I have nothing left. It’s me now. Those pieces are dead and I’m the one who’s living.”

“Good. Stay alive. But that living person can’t have any friends? Any support?”

…

“I can’t say goodbye to my sister.”

Maggie looks up at her, “You were telling the truth?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

Maggie doesn’t answer and lets Nova continue.

“They have a gravestone in place, but she isn’t there.”

“They couldn’t find a simple corpse? That is… hilariously incompetent.” Maggie almost deadpans.

“Yeah well, doesn’t change I can’t say goodbye. Or hello. Tell her about my day. About an awful coworker. A competition for kids that… she’d be the same age as. And,” Nova blinks, “I can’t say happy birthday, either.”

Maggie’s eyebrows furrow.

“She… uh… Evie. Would have turned thirteen this week…”

“...thirteen?” The silence could only be described as all consuming. And Maggie’s tone was undecipherable.

“Yeah.”

Maggie only stares at Nova. Her eyes focusing on her like a hawk. In disbelief? In sadness? Nova never would think of empathy to be an emotion Maggie would display before tonight, but she’s been surprised on the contrary before.

Maggie’s lip twitches. Her lips form into a scowl, bringing the rest of her expression with it. Her hackles raise. “Oh yeah. Very funny.”

Nova blinks in confusion. “What??”

“I’m not gonna fall for that.” She pushes herself off the wall she had been leaning against.

“I’m not lying.”

“You’ve done it before, Insomnia.” Nova squints her eyes and Maggie continues, “Twelve years after a home invasion? Murderer on the loose with a gun?! Yeah, as if. You just want to trick me!”

“Why would I do that??” Nova returns Magpie’s volume, “Why would I lie-”

“I am thirteen years old.”

Nova blinks incredulously, “...W-what?

“And whatever sick trick you’re playing on me isn’t funny. I won’t go back to headquarters. You can’t fool me. Is this what they're training Renegades to do now? Fuck with people’s heads?!”

Nova’s mouth remains wide open out of offense, and she has to remember to close it as her expression heats up. She’s speechless from this accusation before she speaks up, “You’re talking nonsense! Why are you- what does-” she flounders to make sense of the conclusion Magpie has come up with “You- You’re thirteen?”

Magpie scoffs, “Yeah. Thirteen. Just short a month after I was admitted to the orphanage. After- …after my family died.” She quiets but keeps her glare on Nova. “But you already knew that didn’t you.”

Nova’s furrowed expression stays put until she digests what Magpie is saying. Her expression slowly lessons and her eyes widen. She steps back.

The thirteen year old blinks, “What?”

“I’m not making this up, Magpie.”

“What do you mean you aren’t making this up.”

“I… I’m telling the truth. I wouldn’t lie about this.”

“Well I’m not lying either.” Maggie intended to spit the truth out but the moment she said it the more it seemed Nova’s words were also ruminating in her head too. Her eyes widen but it doesn’t match Nova’s expression.

Nova’s face pales and her eyes dart to the hand that Maggie grips her bullet with. A… a bullet?

“It can’t be…”

###

Life, has been a nauseating rollercoaster for Maggie. Especially for today. A day she thought wouldn't be stressful for once. Calmer even.

Sure, she planned to snag more than a few trinkets to pawn but today she didn’t want to have to run away from annoying heroes. The ones that get upset with her theft. Frankly, she didn’t want to think about them either. One stop at the food drive was plenty of that interaction.

Maggie didn't think about the heroes that saw her at the food drive and did nothing. The ones who've been in the area enough to know only people in poverty end up here. She didn't think about never seeing Sketch's team once.

Not… not that she'd want to see them! They'd only nag her.

The point is… she didn’t want to run, or get hurt. The last few weeks she's stayed away from ugly fights and for a reason. Her goal is to survive, not get some wound infected and die from a disease.

And yet, she had to run from the annoying Nightmare and was cut up by the latest piece of gossip, The Terror. Who… she also had not been keen on running into. The sting on her cheek and pain from her neck were sour reminders of that failure.

But even when she had been shoved into the sewage, her foot stomped on, Nightmare still helped her. Hell, Nova looked concerned after the second fight.

And she never expected Nightmare to… be nice to her. Like, ever. In the beginning she was just as annoying as before but… Maggie never would have predicted it.

Maggie also never thought she and Nova could work together.

It unnerved her a little when Nightmare told her things that, Maggie would never tell if in Nova's position. Why would Nova trust her with all this information?

Heck, Maggie thought she had it figured out for a moment. That Nova was actually backstabbing and exploiting her knowledge of Maggie’s past to trick her. It made sense.

Her mind was eager to brush aside the last hour. It was all fake, right?

But this.

This isn’t how a fucked up villain would react to being found out. For lying the entire time.

Maggie grips her lucky bullet in her hand.

Today has been a rollercoaster. And Maggie hates rollercoasters.

The silence between the two stretches on for hours. Or a minute. Who was she to tell?

Nova?

Nova’s her… sister?

The thing about Maggie is, she hates hoping. She despises the very concept. When she was younger, she hoped all too much. Too many nights she spent staying up listening to the grownups and their phone calls. Waiting for someone to call, asking for her. Someone to walk through the doors one day, and call her theirs.

Waiting for her sister to burst through the doors, apologizing for leaving her with one big hug.

The very thought makes her nauseous nowadays. How could she have been so naive. Wasted all that time hoping. Focusing on a what if rather than what she could do. She could do so much.

She left.

And now she’s here. And now her sister is here. Well, maybe her sister.

Nova is murmuring something Maggie can’t quite follow, her hand is over her mouth as several emotions flicker across her face. She looks about ready to barf, and Maggie couldn’t blame her if she did. The kid feels ill enough to join her, honestly.

She wants to shut down the possibility all together. That her sister really is gone and she’s not right in front of her, staring at Maggie like she’s seeing a ghost. The hope and trepidation in Nova’s eyes that Maggie stomped in her own a long time ago.

Nova pinches the bridge of her nose and walks over to The Trashbag and hoists the villain over her shoulder. She mumbles something under her breath, Maggie can't make out.

Something grabs Maggie’s hand and she jolts, ripping her hand away and whips her head toward- Nova. Nova’s hand is shaking and she seems to be trying to keep her calm. Upon further inspection, Maggie realizes she’s trembling too. Why is she doing that?

“Maggie…”

Maggie clenches her fist, and lets Nova hold her hand in a tight grip, before exiting the sewers.

###

Nova jumps out of the cab with Maggie close behind, she rushes out a “thankyousomuchsorry!” to the cab driver still frozen from the two renegades and villain that hitched a ride. She makes a mental note to pay them back later.

She sees headquarters' front entrance light up the darkening sky as she approaches. Her head throbs once she walks in and meets the fluorescent lights. Nova unceremoniously drops the villain on the ground and ignores the shocked staff when she beelines for the medical suite. She never once lets go of Maggie's hand.

Her mind notes the sound of heroes telling Mr Berk his rights before they take him away for interrogation. Nova opens the door to the medical suite and the bustle of the front lobby muffles once the door is shut.

Maggie lags behind as Nova reaches the counter, asking for a kinship test.

Nova's breathing feels wrong. She could see from the rise and fall from her chest that she wasn't hyperventilating. But it felt too slow. Every breath was too big. Suffocating her.

The person from behind the counter hands her the box containing the test. She holds it carefully and can only stare. After a moment the person at the desk looks at her in confusion and gets her attention.

"It's just a mouth swab, Sweetie. Don't worry" the person offers her a smile. Nova's cheeks pinken and she mutters a thank you before practically running back to where she left Maggie.

Nova takes another breath. It, is just a saliva test. When it comes down to it, it won't even be painful.

Her eyes catch the labeling. Sibling kinship test.

Her gut twists from the word.

…could Maggie really be…

"What's taking you so long?"

Nova whips her head up to look at Maggie's furrowed expression.

"Ah, nothing nothing. It's fine." Nova opens the cardboard box, the thick paper glowing the box closed tears apart. She presses the flaps aside and dumps the innards onto the small table offered in the room. Maggie eyes the tests with trepidation.

Nova takes a deep breath in, "Magpie"

The thirteen year old looks back at her.

"I… if. This confirms anything. …We don't need to do anything about it immediately. If, you don't want to." Nova hands the tween one of the still packaged swabs. "I don't want you to think… that you're obligated to anything."

The thirteen year old grabs her own sleeve to tug on slightly as she stares at the test. Not touching it.

"...what if it doesn't…"

"Doesn't… confirm anything?" Nova finishes. "...well. Still, you don't have to do anything." Nova rubs the back of her neck "but, feel free to talk to me."

Maggie looks up at her with a skeptical squint. "Why?"

"On the streets, support systems are vital if you don't want to end up dead within a month" Nova smiles. "It could just be a phone number, okay?"

"No, I mean, why do you still want to talk after all the times I stole your bracelet."

"I have a funny feeling you won't be trying that again. Not unless you want the Renegades on your back" Nova shoots the girl a look that says 'right?'. Maggie can't refute that.

From the many years of technological development and the growth of prodigies, some things have taken less time to analyze than before. What would have taken a few days could now receive results in a couple hours or so.

Maggie hesitates before opening the plastic package and retrieving the mouth swab.

An agonizingly long couple hours. Better than the alternative but still an infuriating amount of time to wait for DNA testing results.

Nova convinced Maggie to have the wounds she received by The Terror checked for infection in the meantime.

Though one of the nurses nearby grabbed her as well to be patched up. Maggie laughed at her, and her initial shock and realization of what she neglected to do. It didn't take long for the nurse to finish patching Nova up. Sent back to the cold waiting room soon after…

It was easier to forget what they were waiting on with the distractions.

Nova looks at her phone again. She doesn't unlock the screen but she does view the time. And the texts she's received from Adrian and Tamaya. Both have been caught up in an incident downtown and would be there as soon as possible. Though, she warned Tamaya to wait until Maggie wanted to talk to her. Nova decided against telling Oscar, Ruby, and Danna what happened.

It could be completely coincidental. More doubt settles in Nova's mind the longer she waits.

When Maggie returns, Nova doesn't look at her. She fiddles with her hands, she almost wishes she had one of her inventions or something to do.

Finally, someone calls for them. Nova whips her head up and stiffens. This… is really happening. Her brain feels like it's still trying to catch up to the events around her. She stands up and looks at Maggie. The girl tenses and freezes up.

Nova goes to check the results without her. She could almost hear the quiet sigh of relief.

Someone, with a stereotypical lab coat, on hands her the envelope containing the printed results.

Nova doesn't catch much of the explanation of how the DNA match results were determined, but she appreciates it nonetheless.

She leans against the wall and slowly wills her fingers to open the letter.

It's been a little more than 12 years since her family was killed.

Her hands tremble as she slowly takes the folded paper from inside.

She remembers every gunshot.

BANG!

She remembers hiding in that cramped closet.

BANG!

Nova takes a deep breath.

Evie's crying was cut short with one final…

…

BANG!

She unfolds the paper.

Ace never let her see Evie's bloodied corpse. The last time she saw Evie was when she left her sleeping body to check on her parents. When everything changed.

They never got to see a funeral. Nova never knew what happened to the bodies. Ace never gave up any details on the subject.

Looking at the paper was disorienting at first until her eyes caught onto the letters and began to read. Alleged Sibling was typed at the top of two columns, above "Nova Artino" and "Margaret White".

She keeps her thumb over the results number but the more she looks, the more numbers that match.

Nova moves her thumb and stared at the paragraph beneath the total index.

Her eyes are dragged to the nines in the percentage listed.

DNA testing done to determine siblingship of the alleged siblings. Based on testing results obtained from analyses of the DNA loci listed, the probability of full-siblingship is 99.8%. The likelihood they share a biological father is….

…not a coincidence then

The air leaves Nova's lungs the next second. She couldn't even read the rest before she began to sway. She braces herself against the wall and does her best to lower herself to the ground safely.

Nova took in another breath but it came out as a strangled sob. Her face is wet. When did she start crying?

Maggie's Evie.

Evie is Maggie. Magpie.

Evie's… alive.

How??

Her mind remembers the bullet in Maggie's hand. It… gave Maggie her powers…

She hears Adrian come through the doors before she sees him in her blurry vision. His Sentinel uniform is mostly covering him still.

Nova holds a hand over her mouth and stumbles to her feet.

"Nova-"

Nova runs past her confused boyfriend, who voices his confusion and concern immediately after.

She runs out into the waiting room and her eyes dart around, looking for-

"Nova?"

Nova whips her head to the source of the sound. Her eyes first catch the shiny gleam of the cold blue light reflecting a choppy hair cut, greasy and dark, donned on the thirteen year old.

Evie looks up.

Her eyes are her mother's. A piercing grayish blue. The same ones that sobbed her heart out due to a fever twelve years ago. The little baby girl who's crying was cut off. Cut off by the same gunshot that has echoed in Nova's head since she was six.

"Nova?"

Nova's world spins slightly but she continues to stare. She feels frozen, her hands possessed when she tightly clutches the warm printed paper.

Evie's eyebrows furrow in apprehension, her hackles raising. She stands up. "What? What is it?!"

Nova can only stare.

A beat passes.

Evie backs up slowly and before Nova can say anything, the girl runs out of the room like a startled deer. Shoving past everyone in her way of the exit door.

Adrian's voiced confusion snaps Nova out of it. He tries to say something to her but she can't articulate what exactly. She runs after the kid.

Nova throws open the door and bursts outside, looking around wildly. Her heart is thumping, ready to burst from her chest. She curses her eyes for blurring her vision with streaming tears. She feels sick.

Steps skidding around the corner alert her attention and she follows in haste.

Her breathing is heavy, and she can see each hot breath she pants dissipate into the cold air.

Curses flood Nova's head when whips around her corner and doesn't see the kid. Where…

Her eyes dart around as she catches her breath. She… she couldn't have imagined Evie… could she… is Maggie still in-

Her eyes finally catch a huddled figure in a more obscure section of the wall. If Nova's thoughts weren't running wild, she probably would have caught the kid immediately.

The wall is uneven, a section jutting out, allowing someone to hide right one of the walls. The girl sits next to the large garbage bin. Honestly, it's a half hearted attempt at hiding. Maybe she didn't even mean to hide.

Just needed to get away.

Nova's shoulders relax and she stays where she stands. Nova keeps her eyes away from the twelve year old girl, willing herself to stop trembling.

Nova takes in a shaky breath and squeezes her eyes shut for a moment. She only needs a moment.

The silence is deafening.

Nova wipes her eyes and clenches the printed test results.

"Is…" She starts and stops, clearing her throat. Come on Nova! Be at least somewhat composed about this! "Is that the bullet… the one that…"

That killed you. Killed her. Almost. It almost killed her, now. It almost killed you, didn't it?

"...how would I know." The twelve year old looked like she meant to spit the sentence out, but it came out more exhausted and dim. "I was a baby." The girl holds the bullet tightly in her palm, curling into herself.

Nova's mouth opens and closes for a moment. Magpie's skin prickles when she stares for too long.

Magpie bites, "what?"

"Look. It- … it's hard to go from believing your baby sister was shot and murdered to finding out she's been alive and… well… you"

Maggie weakens slightly and turns her head away…

"Is it disappointing?"

Nova's features furrow after Maggie's question. She responds, with a question. "Is it disappointing that I'm your sister that disappeared?" Nova's voice is sore. This day has been exhausting for the two of them.

"I… I don't know." Maybe it would have been before today. Or if Maggie was still searching for her sister even when she met Nova. "I just thought… I didn't have anyone left…"

Nova sat in silence for a bit, biting her trembling lip, "... Me too."

Nova, uncomfortable with looking down at Maggie, decides to walk over and sit beside the kid. Not terribly close, but close enough that after a long pause, Maggie sort of leans onto her shoulder.

Nova can barely feel it, like Maggie's hovering just the slightest so that she wasn't actually pressing fully against her.

Ready to flee.

Nova doesn't comment. And Maggie speaks up, in a vulnerable tone unlike any Nova had heard from Maggie before. Even compared to tonight's dizzying developments.

Closer to a whisper.

"...you really thought I was dead?"

"Maggi- Ev- '' she breathes out. "...yeah. When I heard the gunshot and her… your crying stopped…" Nova has to stop herself, she purses her lips. She locks her eyes on the lamp hanging in front of the brick wall parallel to them. Studying how it reflects.

"…so. You didn't mean to leave… me? You… you would have stayed?"

Nova looks over, her eyes are wide and she tells herself to not get emotional. Don't. Her head whispers lingering doubts that… this isn't even real. "Yeah… " Nova feels a little breathless.

It certainly doesn't feel real.

Magpie turns away, staring blankly at the same brick wall. The wall behind them feels the same. She blinks, trying to make sense of it all, "so…"

"So?"

"You were here…the whole time…"

"Yeah… Sorry. …that I couldn't have been before"

"Okay…" Maggie hunches closer into herself. "This sucks."

Nova looks over, "why's that?"

Maggie doesn't answer her question. "Do we know for sure that the blood samples matched? Test it again!" Maggie pulls her sleeve down, holding her pale boney arm out to Nova. Nova blanches.

"Wh-what?! Maggie, you know the equipment they have is the best in the city. It's not a mistake." Nova frowned at her. "Plus, they're saliva tests, not blood."

"Well-! Well… …" Maggie purses her lips, holding them shut as her mind thinks and catches up. Nova's mind still hasn't, truth be told. "Then what are we going to do now,"

Nova takes a deep breath, "I don't know." She fiddles with her bracelet, "...Do you want your records updated?"

Maggie blinks, "You have them?"

Nova weakly smiles in a wistful way, "Yeah. The renegades made sure to file them. Let's just say… they felt guilty" she couldn't help but grunt the last part out.

Maggie blinks and looks up, "Really?"

"Yeah. You, uh, wouldn't remember, but Captain Chromium promised our family's safety and… you know how that played out."

Maggie pauses and then huffs, “That’s not surprising” she pauses again to think. “Does that mean… I have a birth certificate?”

Nova sat up a little straighter, “Yeah. Evie Artino…” She wet her lips and wiped her tear stained cheeks, "...twelve years now. They brought her- you home a few days after. I got to meet you at the hospital already. Along with… our uncle."

Maggie frowned. "Ace Anarchy. Lovely family bonus points I guess…"

"He didn't seem so bad at the time."

"That's how they trick you."

"Yeah,"

Maggie just slightly nudges closer to Nova, "what day?"

"The…" Nova opens her mouth only to close it again. "...well. I guess this means happy birthday." Nova's small smile stretches as far as it could on her face. Not much considering the amount of restraint she had to not cry. "Happy Birthday, Evie Artino."

Nova remembers being a kid and ecstatic for her sister's first birthday. She fully planned out the cake and decorations right alongside her mom who had to remind her they couldn't afford to go all out.

She was sad at the time but she was determined to sing super loud for her sister when the day came. And give her even better gifts when Evie gets older.

After the final gunshot, Nova threw all of those hopes away. Burned them to ashes, really.

Maggie frowns for a moment and looks away for a moment to wipe her eyes with her fist. She turns back and without a word, sits her head back to where it had previously been close to Nova.

Nova feels the weight this time.

"I don't know… I don't know what I want…" Maggie thought she knew at one point. She knew exactly what she wanted. To be a little orphan Annie, found by her full family and welcomed with big open arms. It didn't matter who found her. As long as someone found her and loved her.

But now? She's given up on that fantasy for so long that anything remotely similar is… unfamiliar. She can't navigate this. It still… doesn't feel real.

Nova shrugs and says, "That's fair. I don’t really know either” she chuckles softly “Never thought Evie… you could be alive. Much less a prodigy.”

She straightens slightly, not enough to nudge the girl off her arm though. Maggie's (surprisingly) skittish enough that Nova could even say she's like a bird, quick to fly away.

Nova frowns, “I can only imagine what Ace could have done if he knew…” The arm Nova had subconsciously placed around her sister tightens slightly before she reminds herself it’s okay. He’s dead. He can’t use Maggie like how he used her.

Magpie blinks and cringes, “Working for that crusty old terrorist? Pass.”

“You wouldn’t know any different.”

“I grew up in an orphanage.” Maggie grunts, “They aren’t exactly known for their good conditions. I learned that and didn’t know any different.”

Nova sighs, “I know. Were they… bad to you?”

Maggie shoves a hand into her pocket, fiddling with her bullet. “They weren’t good, let's just just say that…”

Nova frowns, her chest tightens and she has the strangest feeling of… protection come over her?

Would it have been different before she knew who Maggie was? Maybe… maybe not.

"What did they do?"

"What do you think? Everyone was either wasted off their arses or busy setting fire to the nearest building out of some petty revenge…" Maggie pauses, "They… uh… somehow never set fire to the orphanage itself. I bet they wanted to."

"I get that. Honey frequently downed bottles of booze when she could."

"I didn't think the anarchists had the money for that sort of thing"

"We didn't. I ran, er, 'errands' a few times"

Maggie blinks, "Wait, you stole??"

"I was an anarchist, kid."

The kid huffs, "Hypocrite."

Nova chokes, "I- that's different."

"Is it?"

"Yes, actually. I'm an- was. Was an Anarchist." Nova coughs. “You were stealing as a Renegade”

“Same difference.”

“I… Whatever.” Nova rolls her eyes. “Drunk bastards raised you?”

"Meh, they don't deserve that much credit."

"Fair." Nova frowns and looks over at Maggie. She notices Maggie tense and returns to the topic, "Anyway, just say the word and I'll pull the strings I need to get your records fixed."

"...thanks" Maggie murmurs, "Maybe later."

Nova rubs Maggie's arm as she relaxes. Nova's head buzzes with questions but she'll save them for later.

Then. Maggie asks. "canIhugyou?" Rushing out the sentence before she could chicken out. Her cheeks pinken ever so slightly.

Nova blanches, "er, Sur-?" Maggie cuts her off and hugs her tightly, squeezing her for a moment. Nova blinks and slowly puts her arms around the 12 year old too. She doesn't even mind the spot on her clothes getting wet from where Maggie has buried her face.

Nova rubs her back and squeezes back too. She presses her lips thinly together and hugs her close. The kid's body weaves with silent sobs. Nova lets the tears fall from her eyes as she rubs her sister's back.

"Hey" She says softly, "You good?"

Maggie nods lethargically, not moving from the hug.

"Do you still want another test done?" Nova's lip twitches up slightly.

"I… don't want to head back inside yet"

"It's getting late"

Maggie makes a noise, it tells Nova she really doesn't care. At all.

"It's warm inside"

"No" Maggie huffs quietly.

"Okay" Nova chuckles and rubs Maggie's arm, "thennnn…. how about we go somewhere else… warmer preferably."

Maggie pulls away a little bit to look at Nova.

"It's your birthday so, how about we head over to a restaurant or something. Your pick." Nova suggests, "We can hang out there till you're ready to talk to everyone else."

"I thought restaurants close earlier than that"

"Kid, I don't sleep. I know a few All Night Open places if your pick closes too soon."

Maggie pulls away completely and fiddles with her bullet in her pocket. "I… don't mind that." She whips her head up. "You have to promise not to make the waiters sing."

Nova blinks and laughs, snapping her fingers, "Darn, there goes my plans!"

Maggie scowls and squints at her.

She sighs dramatically, "I promise I won't."

"Won't what?"

"I won't make them sing" Nova smiles and stands up, opening her phone and sending a quick text. "Everyone inside can wait a little longer now that they know you're breathing. No promises they won't try to sing to you later."

"They're not allowed."

"I'll tell them that." Nova holds out a hand to Maggie, offering to help her up. "Got any restaurant requests yet? Fast food?"

Maggie hesitates and accepts her hand, "...your favorite. Whatever it is…"

"Okay"

###

Nova sets the finished food dishes to the side of their booth's table. She rubs Maggie's arm as the kid breathes in and out slowly. Her eyelids twitch from dreaming. She puts her coat back on Maggie after it slowly slid down.

Their private booth's light flickers from the fancifully decorated lantern. The warm light thankfully gentle to her, albeit dimming, headache. A waiter had offered to find some ice earlier but she declined politely.

Nova's phone lights up again from another text. She sighs and clicks her phone off. They can wait for a little while, she's already explained enough for now. Though she's surprised by their resilience to check up on them. It's been hours since they left.

Her hand plays with Maggie's hair. Moving it out of the kid's face, not bothering too much with some of the tangles. She does her best to keep her thoughts off of how tonight's events will change everything in the future.

Nova is more than content with staying with her sleeping sister, the one that is unconsciously hugging her. On her birthday.

After texting Adrian, he thankfully understood and avoided texting questions, despite the thousands Nova is sure he has.

Someone knocks on a clipboard outside and the booth's curtain opens a little. The waiter waves apologetically and notices Maggie is sleeping before they speak. The waiter smiles and takes the dirty dishes, handing Nova a to-go box like she requested earlier.

Before the server leaves, they put two plates on the table. Both with a slice of chocolate cake. Nova quietly thanks them and hands them the paid check, along with the generous tip.

After the waiter leaves, Nova carefully packs up the remaining food for leftovers without waking Maggie up. Her phone lights up from another text and she sees the time.

Nova pulls out a candle and a matchbox. She sets them both to the side. She grabs her phone and decides to open up her camera app. She takes a picture.

Showing her, the cake slices, and Evie.

She puts out the match and takes a quick picture. Showing Evie, her, and the candle.

…she stares at it. The candle ended up in the frame. A single candle.

She wishes she could've gotten the number of candles accurate to her sister's age, but this was all the restaurant had left. Plus, 13 candles wouldn't fit in a single slice.

Yet, strangely, it almost feels poetic now. One candle for the first birthday they missed. God, now her thoughts were corny. Must have been the Everharts' influence on her.

But she accepts the cringe. And she thinks about herself 13 years ago. Little six year old Nova, excited for her baby sister's first birthday.

Nova loved the idea of celebrating her sister's birthday the exact time she was born. Her parents, not so much, given Evie was born close to midnight. Nova's still not completely sure where she heard the idea from at six years old.

Nova hums a little, and remembers practicing the song they would sing once it was time to. The one she still hasn't sung in a while. She smiles a little.

"Happy birthday… to you"

Nova grabs the candle and places it in the center of Evie's cake slice as she softly sings the lyric. She lights the match.

"Happy birthday to you"

Evie's eyes blink awake lethargically, shifting a little bit to adjust her position. The girl sleepily looks at Nova as the ex-anarchist lights the birthday candle.

Nova didn't need the waiter's assistance after getting permission earlier. Perks of saving the owner she supposes.

"Happy birthday, dear Evie."

She lets out a breath, saying her sister's name with a smile. Nova tucks a few strands of hair behind Evie's ear. Evie tiredly nuzzles into Nova's arm to get closer, but she does keep an eye on the candle as it flickers. She doesn't look at her, but Nova knows Evie is paying attention.

"Happy Birthday to you"

End notes:

#Be warned I've been editing the ao3 version of this much more than the og document #I'll try to get all corrections checked but I may not catch everything #atm I can't access ao3 on my computer so I can't ctrl a my way out of this one #IT IS DEFINITELY BEST TO READ THIS ON AO3 IF YOU CAN #renegades trilogy #evie artino #maggie white #nova artino #fanfiction #renegades fanfiction #leroy flinn #tamaya rae #adrian everhart

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unpredictable-probabilities · 6 months

Text

Azul Ashengrotto of Royal Sword Academy || Chapter 12: Friendly Faces in Unexpected Places

Summary:

An impromptu visit by Azul gives Jamil the opportunity to show him around the Scarabia Dorm.

Despite their leader's willing hospitality, however, Azul feels all sorts of eyes on both of them from the other Scarabia students, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Word Count: 8,057

Jamil is sitting at a desk in the detention classroom, staring at the clock as it ticks away the minutes.

How was he supposed to know that Crowley went away somewhere and left the much more competent and strict Trein in charge?

He had barely returned to NRC for five minutes when an upperclassman approached him and said that Trein was looking for him.

Trein wanted to speak with the Prefects about the Halloween preparations, and Jamil was nowhere to be found.

Someone had reported seeing him fly off, and they were about to call him on his phone when his upperclassman found him.

Ruggie, sitting at the desk beside him, leaned over and whispered, "How is he?"

Apparently Ruggie is in detention along with Ace and Floyd because Trein caught them in the middle of a duel. Floyd had been in a bad mood and things escalated.

Jamil, who already finished his written essay of apology, looked at Ruggie. "Hm? If you're asking about Ace, he claims his black eye is making it hard for him to compose proper sentences."

"I can give 'im two black eyes for balance," Floyd says from another desk, glaring at Ace.

Ace returns the glare—which looks a little odd with the black eye—but quietly returns to his writing after a cautious look at Trein on his desk grading tests with Lucius beside the stack of papers.

"We're here for another half hour, Jamil," Ruggie says pointedly. "You really wanna be in-denial for that long?"

"I could. Why do you wanna know so badly?" Jamil asks.

Floyd, having barely even touched his essay, just sighs morosely from his slumped position against the desk. "I wish I could go and just swim all the way to the Coral Sea..."

"Hey, he's coming back next week, right?" Ruggie tries for a cheerful tone. "That's just a few more days, then you can fly to RSA just like this guy did." He turns to Jamil and speaks even more quietly. "And of course I wanna know!" he whisper-yells. "Last time he was here, he looked like he could Overblot. Damn right I wanna know how he is!" He kicks Jamil's chair leg.

"Awww, you care about him," Jamil coos, before emitting a smile. "You've got nothing to worry about. Azul's doing just fine. A little harried with work, but it doesn't seem to be anything serious."

"A'right, that's good," Ruggie says in relief, nodding. "And don't get up on my case about caring about him when you're the one who's got his scent all over you," he sniffs at Jamil pointedly before leaning back in his chair.

Jamil stares at him in bewilderment before giving his sleeves a tentative sniff. He doesn't smell anything. Damn. Beastmen noses really are something else.

"Geez, is there a whole lovebug epidemic going on or something?" Ace whispers. "One moment y'all were normal then I blink and you got boyfriends you hopelessly pine for."

"Azul's not my boyfriend." Jamil protests.

"Do ya want him to be?" Ace asks with a smirk.

"... Floyd, give him another black eye," Jamil mutters.

Floyd perks up a little.

"Ahem!" Trein clears his throat.

They flinch in their seats and turn back to their desks, though Floyd just slumps back on his essay face-first.

Then Jamil's phone vibrates in his pocket.

Trein gives all four of them a cross look before gazing back to his papers.

Jamil waits for a moment before he subtly brings his phone out to take a peek at the messages.

According to the screen, he had received a text message from 'Piano Man'.

Jamil glances up at Trein to make sure he's still busy and proceeds to open the text.

Jamil feels himself smile.

Ace and Ruggie notice that Jamil's texting. They raise an eyebrow at his happy expression, exchanging curious glances.

Jamil pockets the phone, and Ace and Ruggie quickly look away.

Jamil's smile freezes up when he notices that Trein is staring at him. With the expression on his face, there was no doubt that he saw Jamil using his phone.

The professor merely sighs and goes back to his papers.

Jamil purses his lips and turns his gaze to the desk, flustered.

Basketball practice has just ended and Jamil is packing up his things when his phone buzzes in his bag.

Jamil pauses and opens up the bag to take the phone out, wondering if it was Azul.

His screen displays 'Piano Man'.

"Hey, Jamil," Ace appears behind him. "You're picking up some Halloween decorations tomorrow, right?"

Jamil puts away the phone as inconspicuously as possible and looks at Ace. "Yes. Why do you ask?"

"Can you get some more of that sheer black fabric thingy for my dorm's costume? Like, a yard of it, prolly?" Ace makes gestures with his hands, clearly not knowing how long a yard is. "Vil had lent us some prototypes this morning and my veil kinda… got disintegrated by Grim's flames," he gives an attempt at an innocent smile. "I haven't told Vil and I'm hoping I can at least give him a replacement fabric before I do."

Jamil makes a long-suffering sigh. "One of these days your big mouth's gonna cost you your life, but sure. You owe me, though."

"My big mouth? I didn't even say anything to Grim!" Ace says. "I just wore the veil and snuck up behind him and yelled 'Boo!'. Then he shot blue flames at my face," he pouts. "Anyway thanks, man!" Ace quickly jogs away, not saying anything about owing Jamil.

That's fine. Jamil finds ways to make sure that debt is paid.

For now, he takes a seat on one of the benches and opens Piano Man's messages.

Jamil playfully replies.

Jamil smiles and begins to make his way out of the gym, only to stop and hide behind one of the doors that open into the building.

A few minutes pass, and some students see Jamil standing behind the door and give him questioning looks, but no one talks to him.

Then his phone buzzes continuously. He feels certain that Azul is calling him to find his location.

But what if it's actually important?

He lowers the call volume as quietly as possible before picking it up, holding it close to his ear yet saying nothing.

"Does this challenge have a time limit? Or do you plan on hiding away until evening if necessary?" Azul asks playfully.

"Possibly. I'm a patient man." Jamil shrugs, whispering. "If you take too long, I'll move on to another place. Maybe get myself a bite to eat and some sleep."

"Ah, you're a cruel one, Viper. Although if you do sleep, you'll be staying in one place for a long while. Yes, do that, and you'll wake up with me beside you."

Jamil's eyes widen and he goes quiet, lost in the newly-conjured image in his head.

"...Sounds horrifying," he quietly concludes, quick to go for snark.

Azul chuckles. "Better not fall asleep, then. Can't you give me a hint, at least?" he sounds like he's playfully pouting.

Meanwhile, the last of the students are beginning to file out of the gym.

"...Scars," Jamil vaguely replies.

Azul is silent for a few moments. Then he appears in front of Jamil, phone still to his ear. He smiles, and when he speaks, Jamil hears him both through the phone and in person.

"Ah, so I was right. I almost left with those other students just now, you know." He ends the call and pockets his phone. "I asked Floyd where I might find you, and he said you had practice today."

He didn't move the door at all when he appeared, so he and Jamil seem to be in a very narrow corridor right now, between the door and the wall.

Azul leans against the wall casually and crosses his arms.

"Sorry it took a while, as you know the library is quite far from here."

Jamil stares at Azul's lean figure practically cornering him against the door and wall. Normally he avoided feeling cornered at all costs, but right now he realized that he doesn't really mind when it's Azul.

"...Better late than never," he coolly replies.

Azul raises an eyebrow in amusement. "I was half-expecting you to call it cheating that I asked Floyd."

Jamil chuckles. "I would've done the same, though I certainly wouldn't have admitted it."

"I didn't want you to think I was tracking your phone or anything like that. That was a rather clever hint, though," Azul smiles.

Jamil smiles along. "You're welcome. You missed your chance to see my scars, though." Right now his dorm uniform is covering much more of his skin than his basketball jersey did.

"That only means I have an excuse to see you again next time," Azul says and straightens up. "Would you like to go anywhere in particular? Though I realize I probably shouldn't be the one to ask that, seeing as this is, as you would call it, your turf."

"Hmm... Since you showed me your dorm, I think it seems fair that I show you mine, though I can't guarantee we'll make it all the way into my room without running into trouble." Jamil ponders, holding a hand to his chin. "Where have you been holding your meetings with Jade?"

"Last time it was at the Octavinelle lounge, because he had shown me where he plans to put up the café. Today it was in one of those booths with glass walls at the library because Jade wanted to look up certain recipes." Azul tilts his head. "And what did you mean by possibly running into trouble at your dorm?"

"Well..." Jamil furrows his brows. He'd normally go vague and tell Azul he's got nothing to worry about as long as he sticks with him, but it'd prolly be better to give him a heads-up. "We have a silly habit of setting traps around the building. Helps keep intruders out and keep us alert and cautious."

Azul raises his eyebrows in interest. "Intriguing." He steps back and steps aside to make way for Jamil. "Lead the way, Prefect."

And so Jamil does, taking him through the mirror portal which lands them in the middle of a bright hot desert.

After a short walk, a palace of white stone rises, glowing under the heat of the sun.

"Wow," Azul smiles. "Your palace gleams."

"It's not my palace," Jamil shakes his head. "I'm its glorified babysitter. Come on, the sooner we get into the shade of the buildings, the better. If you feel uncomfortable with the heat in any way, you tell me, okay?"

He leads Azul forward through the sand dunes.

"Is it always this hot here?" Azul asks as he squints at the sky, putting his hand up to shield his face from the glare of the sun.

"Mostly around this time of the day. It cools down immensely when it's night."

Suddenly, Jamil stops and motions for Azul to do the same.

Before them lies an unassuming patch of sand. The only thing that seems off about it is that it slowly swirls against the wind in a clockwise circle.

Jamil just sighs and sidesteps it, muttering to himself. "I thought I told them not to do quicksands..."

Azul follows where Jamil sidesteps. "Are all the dorms lined with traps?" he asks curiously.

Jamil shakes his head. "Just ours. You've got places like Savanaclaw and Diasomnia that rely on sheer might and power to drive away intruders. We're a bit more crafty with our defenses. After all, it wouldn't be the first time students from other dorms would sneak in and steal or break something. People hold childish grudges... And as I said before, these things keep us on our toes. It wouldn't hurt to train our resourcefulness and perception. Some of these traps are targeted towards me specifically. If I wholly fall prey to one of these, the other members will see it as an opportunity to take my position." He shrugs. "You know, normal things."

Azul looks at him in mild surprise, but all he says is "I see," as he looks again in front of him, his expression unreadable. "Then I suppose your dorm isn't the place you go to when you want to relax," the playfulness is back in his voice, but there's something else to it, like he's thinking of something in the back of his mind.

Jamil glances at him, confused at the subtle change. "I... suppose not, but I'm used to it. In a weird way, it's comfortable because it's a familiar environment, though hardly anything's comfortable with temperatures like this."

They continue on their trek into the main courtyard inside the dorm walls, Jamil noticing and avoiding anything he was sure hadn't been there the day prior and telling Azul to do the same.

A few Scarabia students are milling around the fountain, pausing as they spotted the both of them.

"Hey, it's that guy you chucked your food at!" said one of them to Orfeo, the one who had thrown his sandwich at Azul. "Planning on a revenge round anytime soon?"

"Are you nuts!? And get the Prefect on my ass?! Hell no," Orfeo hisses.

"Oh, your friends," Azul says lightly to Jamil, keeping his eyes forward and not looking at any of the residents. "Seems like they aren't too happy seeing me here, though it's not surprising."

"As if they're acting any differently than usual," Jamil rolls his eyes. "I don't think they're unhappy to see you, though. Ever since the Ball, NRC's hostility towards your school has been… dwindling. They still think plenty of your schoolmates are annoying but they're a bit more tolerant now than they used to be."

They pass by the fountain and enter the double doors into a spacious hall, the temperatures notably cooling down.

"You feeling all right?" He asks the other, noticing the faraway look in Azul's eyes.

"Hm?" Azul blinks and looks at him, then he nods and smiles. "Yes. Though admittedly the trek under the sun was a bit more tiring than I had expected," he takes out a handkerchief from his pocket and wipes the beads of sweat from his forehead. "I'd never been in a desert before." He absently unclasps the top button of his RSA coat.

Jamil looks away and closes his eyes for a second, telling himself he shouldn’t let his mind wander at the simple sight of the dip in Azul’s collarbone.

Then, finding his composure, he opens his eyes and says, "Follow me."

They soon enter the main lounge, a wide open area with carpets, pillows, and low desks on the floor looking out into a landscape view of the desert and blue skies. Columns and pillars hold up a domed roof as lanterns and silk sashes adorn the area.

Jamil has Azul sit by one of the tables. A mild and relaxing breeze blows by as he excuses himself for a moment before he returns with a refreshing coconut drink.

"Here. Can't have you passing out on me from the heat now."

There are a few more Scarabia students here as well, either napping or studying together. They had turned and stared at Azul when they first came in, but after a while, they shrugged off his presence and returned to their own business.

"Oh, thank you," Azul smiles and accepts the drink, taking a sip. "Do you spend a lot of your time here? The ambience is quite comfortable," he says as he looks around.

"You think so, too? It's one of the few places where we've all collectively decided not to trap. It's a neutral zone," Jamil explains. "Because of that and the shade, yes, it's quite nice. The amount of times I find the members fall asleep in the middle of their schoolwork is more than I can count now."

Azul smiles, the uneasiness in his eyes from earlier seems to have dissipated. "That's good to know." He takes another sip of his drink then furrows his eyebrows. "You didn't get a drink for yourself?"

"Oh." Jamil mutters. He had been so focused on preventing Azul from having a heatstroke that he didn’t think to get a drink himself. "I hadn't realized. It's okay, I don't really need one right now. So… How have you been the past few days?"

"I…" Azul looks down at his drink and looks at Jamil again with a half-hearted smile. "I've been alright..." There's a hesitation in his voice, like he's contemplating whether or not to say anything more.

Jamil gives Azul an exasperated look, complete with an arched eyebrow.

Azul sees Jamil's expression and averts his eyes, pursing his lips. Then he glances around the room to make sure no one is within earshot.

He speaks quietly. "It's Rielle… He has not been alright. His father called me yesterday and said that he's been disappearing lately during his downtime, going off somewhere for long periods. We did that sometimes when we were kids, sneaking off somewhere to play with our friends when there wasn't anything to do. But we hadn't done that for the past two years, and Rielle had never gone on his own. I asked him about it, and he said he was fine and he just needs some time to himself." He shakes his head slightly, deep in thought. "I should have gone there with him," he mutters.

"What would you have done if you had been there?" Jamil asks, looking just as troubled about the news as much as Azul is.

"I could accompany him to make sure he doesn't get himself into trouble, and keep him from feeling like he's alone," Azul says, then he sighs and removes his glasses for a moment to run a hand down his face. He puts his glasses back on and sits up straighter. "But I can still do that even when I'm here on land. Last night we talked on the phone for a long time, and he seemed to have calmed down. I just need to make sure that I check on him everyday." He gives Jamil a small smile. "Sorry, I'm unloading my burdens on you again."

"I asked, so you don't need to apologize. As we've established before, he's my friend, too, kinda… Where do you think he goes on his own?"

Azul thinks about it. "The only place he ever went on his own was the surface. He would swim up to some shore and watch the landdwellers in fascination. We both knew that I couldn't go with him because my merform was too conspicuous; we didn't want to attract attention especially when the king didn't know about his ventures to the surface. Though now that we've lived on land for almost two years and he's no longer that curious child, I don't know if that's still where he goes," he shakes his head.

"Hm... Perhaps he'd go somewhere new. Do you think he'd go anywhere dangerous, though?"

"I don't think so, he's not the type to put himself in danger," Azul says, sounding relieved at that realization. He laces his fingers around his drink, twiddling his thumbs. "I just… worry."

"Is there anything that we can do so that your worries can ease up somehow?" Jamil asks. He doesn’t like seeing Azul so troubled.

Azul looks at him and smiles. "The hangout is already helping," he reaches over and places his hand on the table beside Jamil's hand. "And thank you for asking. Anyway, enough about me," Azul adapts a more cheerful tone and pulls his hand back to rest beside his cup. "How have you been the past few days? Floyd told me you got in detention when you came back from RSA two days ago."

"Ugh…" Can he hide nothing in this world? "Yeah. But detention is just whatever. Wrote stuff on paper and stayed still for a few hours."

Azul chuckles. "All right. How are the Halloween preparations coming along? Have you been busy?"

"Busy enough," Jamil nods, thinking back to the past few days. "Everything's coming along together nicely, though, and so far we haven't faced any major hiccups. We recently went around checking every dorm's booths and costumes - you've probably seen them around. Since you were at the Library, you must've seen Ignihyde's, if they had their projection mapping turned on, that is. Without it, the place looks pretty normal."

"Projection mapping? Interesting, I don't think it was on when I was there. I look forward to seeing it," Azul smiles. "Where's Scarabia's booth going to be?"

"At Sam's. We already finished setting everything up before we did the initial check-up, or Vil would've had our hides otherwise. We'll be doing another one on Sunday just to make sure nothing's out of place. What about you guys? What sort of preparations have the Headmages been making you do?"

"We've been collaborating with Vil in making the costumes, though I'm not directly in charge of that and I haven't personally spoken to him," Azul says. "I'm more focused on the catering and performances. There would be food stalls that would be co-managed by both NRC and RSA students; our Headmages said that it would be good practice for cooperation. Your Pop Music Club has volunteered to perform, though they haven't submitted any plans yet, and so far I don't know what they'll be performing. Our Music Club will be performing as well on the day of Halloween itself, as a sort of opening act to start the day."

"Oof, good luck to our Pop Music Club. May they come up with something soon." Jamil comments before he rests his chin on his hand. "Will you be playing the piano again that day?"

Azul smirks playfully. "Oh, you wouldn't want me to ruin the surprise now, would you? Though I will be performing, yes. That much I can tell you."

Jamil shoots Azul an intrigued smile. "Very well. It better not disappoint me now."

He very much doubts Azul ever could.

"By the way, how has Kalim been? I've been texting him, but it's been more of the usual."

His messages did seem to lack a bit of the usual energy, though…

"He hasn't had any more outbursts, fortunately. And he still has to report to the infirmary every day so they can monitor his Blot levels. Rahzel, my friend who's a student assistant there, said that they still remain normal," Azul says reassuringly. "He hasn't been as cheerful these days, though. I think he's having a hard time accepting it when he makes mistakes. I'd been eating lunch with him and accompanying him in some study sessions, and he doesn't seem to mind. Though I do get the impression that he avoids me sometimes. It seems like he's embarrassed that I saw what happened in the cafeteria last time, even though I've told him that it's perfectly all right and everyone makes mistakes like that."

"That's the thing, that doesn't sound like him at all," Jamil remarks, scowling at the very idea of it. "Kalim would pick himself up and dust himself off after every bungle and move on like it's nothing. Usually I'd be the one frazzled and bothered by the end of the day trying to fix his mistakes. I guess he's really trying to be more responsible, but it's concerning that he's holding onto that one small mistake for this long... All right, hold on, I'll be back."

Jamil stands up and leaves the lounge.

After a quiet moment, one of the Scarabia members lying down on the floor looks up at Azul. "Psst! Hey, you!"

Azul looks down at him. "Hello," he says in a polite and friendly tone, but he remains cautious. He has not forgotten the less than friendly treatment that he has gotten from NRC throughout the years.

"So, like, you and the Prefect are like a thing now, right?"

"A… thing?" Azul pretends to be confused. He has received similar questions countless times about him and Rielle; he knows exactly what this person is talking about. "We are friends, yes."

"Come on, man, you know what I mean," the guy complains, sitting up.

He's sitting with another Scarabia student, who's busy groaning over a pile of study sheets.

"There's something there, right? You can't honestly expect us to look at the both of you and not think you're more than friends?"

"Don't listen to him," mutters the groaning student. His eyes aren't leaving the test sheets. "He's just bored because he doesn't wanna study for the finals."

"I'll cram it all up after Halloween Week!" The gossipmonger rolls his eyes. "Come on, seriously. You're a special guy to Jamil, right? He doesn't just bring people here for nothing, and you don't sound like you're talking about Halloween preparations."

Azul can't deny the butterflies that came alive in his stomach at the Scarabian's remark. Fortunately, he's trained in maintaining a composed facade.

He smiles good-naturedly. "That's flattering, but Jamil himself hasn't said anything of the sort, and I don't want to assume."

It's true. He always enjoys spending time with Jamil, and if he's to be honest with himself, sometimes the way Jamil looks at him makes his heart flutter and gets him thinking…

But he'd rather not get his hopes up.

The gossipmonger waves his hand nonchalantly. "Okay, fine. But that means that you can sway him a bit, yeah?"

The test-groaner perks up at this, looking at Azul with newfound interest.

Azul narrows his eyes. "What do you mean?" he asks cautiously.

"Can you convince him to make our study sheets easier?" Gossipmonger begs. "He's an okay leader, but as soon as he tutors us, the stuff he gives are even more difficult than the actual exams!"

"I mean, we get that it's to help keep us on the up-and-up during the exam period, but..." Test-Groaner mutters.

"It's practically unnecessary!" Another student suddenly jumps in.

Azul thinks about it. He doesn't want to impose on how Jamil runs his dorm, but perhaps there's something he can do for these students.

"May I take a look at those study sheets?"

The three students blink at him in surprise and glance at each other before the gossipmonger takes his sheet and quietly passes it to the merman.

Azul takes it and reads through the questions. The material that Jamil gave them really is more advanced than the usual exams that Azul takes at RSA. However, the study sheets that he reviews with Rielle and their friends are about at the same level as this. Expectations for them are always higher, after all.

"This would be easier to digest if you narrow down the categories here," he points at the paper. "Jamil had mixed the questions of each subject altogether, that's why it looks more daunting. But if you write them down on a separate piece of paper and group the questions according to the subject, it's significantly less confusing."

He realizes what he just did and looks up at the students.

"Ah, apologies," he says sincerely. "I didn't mean to impose. I'm just used to studying with my friends, and I explain things like this to them sometimes." He hesitates before adding, "This looks very similar to the study sheets we use; we can figure it out together, if that's okay with you."

He knows that NRC students aren't naturally inclined to accept help, especially from an RSA student.

The students glance at each other again.

"... Are you offering to do this for us... for free?" Gossipmonger asks, suspicious.

Ah, there it is. If this were RSA, they'd just go through it together already. Although he does respect the cautiousness that these students have. He has been taught the same thing in Knight Class.

"I was," Azul smiles. "But if it would be easier for everyone if I were to ask a payment of sorts, there is one favor I'd like to ask."

"Aww," The student who had hopped in on the convo complains.

Gossipmonger ignores him, crossing his arms. "That's more like it. What're your terms?"

"From what I understand, all of you here lay traps for each other to keep your wits sharp, which is quite admirable, if I may say," he begins carefully. "The favor I'd like to ask is, when it comes to setting traps for Jamil, can you make sure they're non-lethal? Whether it's you setting them up or your fellow residents.

I'm not saying that you should investigate each trap that your dormmates are setting up, I just mean that should you ever notice that they're setting a trap for Jamil, do what you can so that it's not too dangerous. Instead of quicksands that can drown him, how about tripwires that can trigger binding spells that would simply incapacitate him? You don't have to kill him even if you want to take over his position, yes?"

He looks at them, gauging their reactions.

They stare back at him in shock.

"Kill Prefect?!" Gossipmonger repeats, horrified

"And stop eating all his delicious meals?!" Student-Hopper gasps. "No way!"

"Why'd we ever do that?" Test-Groaner adds. "We'd be idiots to get rid of someone so capable."

"Did you say quicksand?" a fourth student asks, scooting closer from his table and alerting the other students he had been studying with. "That's mine! What did you think of it? Wasn't it cool?"

"I thought we banned outside traps," Convo-Hopper points out.

"But how else is he gonna run into it? What do you want me to do? Put a tripwire on the main hall's carpet like everyone else? How'm I supposed to stand out and impress the Prefect with that?!"

Azul blinks, feeling a little embarrassed for all his worrying but mostly relieved that Jamil doesn't appear to be in any real danger here after all.

He adjusts his glasses as he gathers his thoughts.

"Perhaps you can impress him if you get a high score on that study sheet," he smiles at the student who just joined the conversation. "It's more difficult than the exams, right? And most of you have trouble with it. If you show him that you answered it much better than usual, then you'd definitely stand out and impress him." He relaxes his posture and looks at the first student. "Does this mean I have to think of a different favor?"

"Hmm..." Gossipmonger hums, then he clicks his fingers. "Got it! Maybe we can talk to you about the Prefect!"

This elicits a gasp from many of the students in the lounge and all of them begin to crowd around Azul.

"Jamil's super cool, but..." one of the students whispers towards Azul. "We rarely ever get to hang out with him."

"We host parties and games here from time to time but he never attends any of them!" another complains.

"Does he not like us or something?" wilts someone, looking morose.

"Hey! It's not like that, he's prolly got stuff to deal with! He ain't the most careful and crafty guy here for nothing!" Quicksand fellow reasons.

"Have you seen how he danced? The guy can totally throw down in a party if we just get him to open up more!"

"You know more about him than we do!" Convo-hopper concludes, looking up at Azul with hopeful eyes. "What's he like once you get to know him? Is there anything that he enjoys?"

"Guys, this makes no sense," Test-Groaner points out in exasperation. "How is this doing Mister Azul a favor? It sounds like he's just helping you some more, this time about Prefect rather than a test."

"One can argue that he is the hardest test question to decipher out of all of them," a student sagely nods.

Azul blinks, feeling bewildered. This was not what he had been picturing at all about Scarabia, what with Jamil talking about turncoats, the sandwich that flew at him, and Jamil saying just minutes ago that they want to overthrow him.

Then he smiles. It's clear how much these residents respect Jamil, and he can understand their desire to know more about him. He has the same desire, after all.

How could he possibly say no to their request?

"It would be a favor to me if you tell me about him too," he addresses Test-Groaner. "He doesn't tend to talk about himself, and I'd like to get to know him better. And talking to his residents that he cares so much about would be a good way to do that, right?" He extends a hand to the first student that spoke to him. "Do we have a deal?" he asks in a playful tone.

Gossip-Monger gives Azul a long contemplative stare before he nods and takes the merman's hand.

Then as many of the residents as possible, even the Test-Groaner, close in and put their hands on top of the handshake. Like a huddle, they push their hands down and raise it up high with a "Whoo!"

Azul's eyes widen in surprise, he had never been treated with such respect and warmth by a large group of NRC students before.

He laughs good-naturedly as everyone settles down.

"How shall we begin this?" he asks as he takes off his coat. The breeze had stopped, and Scarabia really is significantly warmer than the coastal climate of RSA. He rolls up the sleeves of his white dress shirt up to his elbows. "Do I explain the study sheets first, or do you want to ask questions about Jamil already?"

One of the students whistles, eyes following Azul’s movements. A student next to him slaps a hand over his eyes. "Stop that! Do you want the Prefect to stab you!?"

Before Azul could ask what that was about, Gossipmonger spoke. "Obviously we should start with the Prefect first!" He said it like it's a no-brainer.

The majority of the students nod in agreement.

"Is it really true that Mister Jamil stabs people that upset him?" asks a freshman with dark violet hair.

Azul very much doubts it, but he can't just say that without explanation. "Well, you might know that one of your dormmates threw a sandwich at me last time I was here. I don't know his name but Jamil was rather upset with him. He didn't stab him, though. Or harm him in any way as far as I know."

Some look relieved. Some look slightly disappointed.

"Maybe he punishes them another way…?"

"Maybe he makes people submit through sheer charisma?" Convo-Hopper hops in. "Like, he's such a quiet guy but have you looked at him? If he wanted to, he's got enough beauty to sway anyone to his side just like Vil."

"Excuse me, are you comparing someone to the Vil Schoenheit?!" gasps someone, sounding offended.

"But am I wrong!? Tell me you could look him right in his deep dark eyes and have the guts to refuse any of his requests?"

"Settle down, your thirst is showing."

"Speaking of the guy who threw a sandwich at you, I saw what you did!" Test-Groaner points out. "That was a pretty cool maneuver. Where'd you learn that? Do they teach you that stuff at RSA?"

"Oh, thank you," Azul says bashfully. "We have a class that teaches combat, yes. Though it's not mandatory. I didn't mean to hurt your friend, though, so I simply got his Magic Pen out of the way. Especially since the sandwich didn't harm me, anyway."

"You don't gotta apologize," Gossipmonger casually states. "Idiot deserved it."

"In fact, he's lucky you were so nice to him." Quicksands huffs. "If anyone threw a sandwich at me, I'd make sure I'd give them a sandwich back! A KNUCKLE SANDWICH!"

"That reminds me…" a junior remarks. "Someone has tried to pick a fight with Jamil earlier in the year. A Savanaclaw, I think..."

"Oh yeah, he looked real serious and determined about it, too. Thought a brawl was gonna happen," another says. "But.. it just took one conversation between them and then it was all fine and peachy."

"I kinda wish we saw him beat that guy up..."

"But that just means he's got such a way with words!" One of the other freshmen dreamily sighs, before perking up. "Does he talk to you a lot, Mister Azul? He's so quiet when he's around us."

"He does," Azul nods, a smile forming on his face at remembering how Jamil's eyes shine when talking about dancing, and when they looked at the stars in RSA’s observatory. "Not at first, though. Initially he was quiet too, and I even thought he disliked me. But when I started conversations and just honestly expressed myself, he eventually relaxed and started talking as well. I think he appreciates it when you're straightforward about what you want or what you're thinking about him." It still makes him smile whenever he remembers how Jamil reacts when Azul expresses how much he appreciates him.

"For example, if you set up a quicksand trap for him, he might think that you dislike him and set up that trap so you can take his position as Prefect. But if you tell him that you want to impress him because you respect him a lot, maybe he'd tell you what you can do to achieve just that."

He knows that honesty and expression of sentiments aren't NRC's strong points, but Jamil is getting the hang of it, and these students are being rather straightforward right now.

"So you… don’t set up traps to impress someone?" Quicksands asks, confused.

"Nah, man, you got me with your snare when I was entering our bathroom that one time. That was dope," says Quicksands' roommate. "But I can see why that'd come off as hostile..."

"I guess we haven't really tried saying how much we appreciate him to his face before..."

"Mister Azul, what more do you wanna know about our Prefect? You sound like you already know him more than all of us combined," the Violet Freshman says.

Azul takes a moment to think about it. "How is he as a Prefect? What makes all of you want to impress him?" he asks curiously.

Multiple students begin to talk all at once.

"He can control the tides of any game he gets challenged to, especially if it involves strategy!"

"He's got killer dance moves! I'd kill to get him to teach me some of them!"

"He knows exactly what to say to defuse a situation!"

"He works the hardest out of all of us to make sure our dorm's a powerhouse among powerhouses! He rarely takes the credit but we all see how much he takes care of his members!"

"His intelligence rivals that of Riddle's, one of the smartest kids in school, yet he still takes the time to give us tips whenever we need academic help."

"If you watch him play basketball, you can see how much he keeps the team together through his plans and leadership skills."

"He could stab me and I'd thank him for it."

"His cooking's SO good! Have you tried any of his curry!?"

"He's usually so quiet and neutral about everything, but when he REALLY gets pumped up, you can see it and it gets so inspiring to watch!"

"He's strong, handsome, smart, and maybe not kind but DEFINITELY dependable, how can you NOT wanna impress hi—"

"WHAT is going on here!?"

All the Scarabia students gasp and turn to find Jamil standing in the doorway, a small box in his hands as he glares at them in befuddlement.

Immediately, they all zip back to their tables and pretend like nothing happened.

Jamil hurriedly walks over to Azul, inspecting him from head to toe and noticing that he had shed his coat and rolled up his sleeves. "What were they doing? Are you hurt? If they had tried anything funny—"

Azul grasps Jamil's arm to calm him down.

"Jamil," Azul says, unable to keep the smile off his face. "Did you hear the things they were saying as you walked in?" He speaks clearly, making sure Jamil understands him.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Jamil asks in confusion.

Some of the students immediately try to hide or bury their heads in their study sheets out of embarrassment.

Azul sighs, still smiling, and does his best to keep himself from excitedly rambling like the Scarabians did mere moments ago.

"Well," he says as he calms down. "They were telling me about how much they appreciate you and want to impress you, and I was encouraging them to just tell you that, instead of setting traps for you that you think is designed to overthrow you."

Azul glances around at the embarrassed residents, remembering how long it took for Jamil to get used to expressing sentiments.

He smiles. "But perhaps they're not ready for that yet. It's all right, I'm sure that residents of a dorm as clever as this would figure it out eventually. You did, right? Oh and in exchange for them telling me about how much of a cool Prefect you are, I promised to help them with their study sheets. Would you mind giving me a copy of it later?"

"Huh? I… sure?" Jamil looks even more confused now. "... Did I miss something?" He throws his gaze around the whole room. Everyone avoids his eyes or pretends that they weren't involved.

"Are you sure you can trust them? What if they were only trying to get on your good side?" Jamil quietly mutters, beginning to sit back down on the floor, still looking uneasy.

"You missed quite a lot, actually," Azul takes a sip of his drink, but Jamil can still see his smile. "Do NRC students normally try to get on an RSA student's good side?" Azul asks as he puts his drink down. "Or is that exclusive to Scarabia? If that's the case, then you personally are doing a wonderful job," he says playfully.

"I-I suppose not, but then…" He casts another bewildered look around the room, as if anyone was gonna confirm Azul's statements this time.

No one budges.

"All right, let's say I believe you for now," Jamil sighs, still looking like he doubts it. "I'm just glad that they didn't do anything stupid, at least. If you're serious about the study sheets thing, I'll give you a copy. Are you... planning on tutoring them today or something?"

"Not today," Azul says. "Perhaps the day after Halloween, there'll be enough time for that. Today is reserved for you."

Azul is looking at him with a gleam in his eyes. Whatever happened here, Azul seems to have gained new knowledge about Jamil that made him pretty happy.

"Huh? For me?"

Several nearby Scarabia students give each other knowing glances and try not to give any emotion away as Jamil notices them.

Jamil stares at Azul in silence, unsure what to say, before he clears his throat and decides to move on. "Right... Well, anyway, here. If it's possible, can you give this to Kalim later?"

Inside the small crate is a makeshift care package, with drinks that look like more of the chilled coconut juice, some homemade snacks from the Scalding Sands, bath bombs, a scarf, and a small music player.

He slides it over to Azul. "I... can't be there to help him right now, but hopefully he can find something here that'll remind him of home."

Azul looks surprised for a moment, then he nods and smiles. "Of course. I'm sure he'll be glad just knowing you care enough to send him these gifts." He pulls the box closer to him. "... Are you feeling alright?" he asks Jamil.

Jamil glances at Azul. "Are you asking because of Kalim or because of these guys apparently talking about me when I'm not in the room?"

Azul gives a small smile. "Because of Kalim. And these guys only talk about you when you're not in the room because they're too intimidated to talk when you are in the room."

"Huh..." Jamil squints at the nearest table, where Gossipmonger and Test-Groaner sat. They pointedly do their best to ignore him. "Anyway, well... I'm all right. It's Kalim you should be worried about. I've just never seen him act like this before, so it's throwing me off a bit. I made this in case he could be feeling homesick and stressed out from taking up all those new responsibilities. It must be a lot to adjust to."

Azul nods. "It's the first time he's been apart from you for so long, right? Having to deal with all of his responsibilities without your guidance would understandably stress him out, so I believe your gift would mean a lot. I shall keep an eye on him as much as I can, and I'll be keeping you updated."

Jamil looks considerably calmer. "Thank you."

Silence falls between them…

"Did you take your coat off because it still feels uncomfortably hot for you in here?" Jamil asks.

"Why not wear one of our dorm uniforms, then?" Convo-Hopper speaks up, ducking under the table when Jamil turns to look his way.

"Yeah, they're made to regulate heat absorption," Gossipmonger mutters, but his back is turned from the both of them, so even when Jamil looks, he seems to still be staring at his (empty) study sheet.

Azul looks at the students that had been quite chipper with him earlier.

"For the old names of the formerly five cities on the southern side of the island before the Era of Sages, remember the mnemonic GREAT.

Gyrea Nionco, Radore, Edos Brumo, Andmico, and Tanvia.

And for the five boats that sailed to the Land of Dawning during Captain Maui's expedition, the mnemonic is SEVEN.

Swena, Ekoge, Viatheof, Ebru, and Naviet.

They're two of the most commonly asked questions in Magical History, and worth quite a few points."

Azul smiles at them. "I'm sorry I don't have time for a proper tutoring today, but I will do it after Halloween, you have my word."

He turns to Jamil, and his smile becomes shier. "Yes, I was feeling a little warm. Next time I should really bring an extra shirt whenever I visit."

Jamil stares at him in surprise as the Scarabia students within the lounge begin to double down on writing Azul's advice.

"Whoa…" says Scarabia's Prefect. "Guess you guys really have come to some kind of understanding… That's... a lot to think about. But for the time being, they're right. At least for the remainder of this visit, it wouldn't do for a guest to be uncomfortable in any way. Follow me. I'm certain we've got spares in the storage room if you don't mind wearing something out of your comfort zone. I don't think I've ever seen you wear anything without sleeves before." And he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t curious to see what a sleeveless shirt would look like on Azul.

"Alright," Azul nods. "Where shall I put this?" he raises his empty cup.

"Give it here. We'll deposit it in the kitchen on the way."

He takes the glass and begins to lead Azul out of the lounge and into the rest of the dorm.

"... They're totally gonna make-ou—" someone mutters before the lounge doors shut.

<- Chapter 11

Chapter 13 ->

(Masterlist)

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