Neila sat at the kitchen table, her fingers drumming against the worn wood.
A collection of documents was spread before her, property deeds, bank statements.
She hadn't looked at any of them in hours. Her blue eyes were fixed on the wall opposite, where a crack in the plaster branched like frozen lightning.
"Do you ever wonder where he is?"
The words left her mouth before she'd fully decided to speak them. They hung in the air like smoke, dissipating slowly.
Neila's hands didn't pause. "Who?"
"You know who."
"Enlighten me kitten."
Kira's fingers tightened on the mattress. "Hoshimi."
"Oh." Neila picked up the barrel of the revolver, examined it with the critical eye of a jeweler appraising a flawed diamond. "Him."
"Yes. Him." Kira stood, her legs unsteady beneath her. Three steps brought her to the table. She didn't sit. "Don't you care, even a little?"
"Care is a rather strong word, I'm aware of his absence. Whether I 'care' about it is irrelevant to whether anything can be done about it."
"That's not an answer."
Neila finally looked up, her blue eyes meeting Kira's with the flat, unreadable expression she wore like armor. "What would you like me to say, Kira? That I'm worried? That I spend every waking moment wondering if he's dead in a ditch somewhere?"
"Yes. That's exactly what I'd like you to say."
"Then you're going to be disappointed." Neila returned her attention to the revolver. "I have other responsibilities."
"He's one of those responsibilities."
"He's a liability." The word came out sharper than perhaps Neila had intended. She paused, the cleaning cloth suspended in mid-motion, then continued with renewed precision. "I don't think he's ever coming back."
The words fell into the silence like stones into still water.
"He said he would," Kira whispered.
"I don't remember him ever saying that, I doubt he could even survive on his own."
"I wonder if he's okay." She stared at her, twiddling her fingers.
""Neila you're also wondering where he is, aren't you?"
Neila's drumming fingers stopped. Her head turned, those sharp blue eyes fixing on Kira with an expression that she couldn't quite tell.
"No."
"I mean, he could be anywhere," she whispered. "He could be dead. He could be-"
Neila looked up. Her blue eyes were sharp, assessing, but there was something beneath them. Something that might have been certainty or might have been hope or might have been something that had no name in any language Kira knew.
"Dominic is dead, Vice principal is dead, Sarah isn't going to chase after him, you're forgetting that he's a top student, walking around the city could end up with him getting mugged at worst."
Neila set down the cloth and began reassembling the revolver, her fingers moving with practiced efficiency. The pieces clicked into place, one after another, the sound sharp and precise in the quiet room.
"Even if a group of people tried to chase after him, or a level 10 is in the area, then the Leviathans would instantly be alerted."
"So he's safe?"
"I dunno, not my problem anyways."
Kira stared at her.
The word hung in the air between them. For now. Not forever. Not guaranteed. Just a temporary reprieve, a pause in whatever was coming.
"That's not..that's not enough."
Neila snapped the cylinder into place and set the revolver on the table. Her movements were deliberate, controlled, the movements of someone who had learned long ago that showing anything was a weakness.
Kira crossed the room and stood in front of her. Her hands were shaking. Her chest was tight. Her eyes were burning with tears she refused to shed.
"Aren't you worried about him?"
Neila's expression didn't change.
"I'm not."
"Liar."
"Excuse me?" Neila's eyes narrowed.
"You're lying," Kira repeated. Her voice was steadier now. "You're always lying. You pretend you don't care because caring is weakness and you'd rather die than let anyone see that you're human."
"That's very poetic. Did you read it in one of your children's books?"
"I read it in your face."
"That doesn't make sense."
Kira leaned closer. Close enough to see the slight tightening around Neila's eyes, the almost imperceptible twitch of her jaw, the way her fingers had curled into fists beneath the table.
"What is it, kitten?"
"You're worried about him.You don't know where he is or what he's doing or if he's ever coming back. You hate not being in control. You hate that he left without asking your permission because you think everyone should ask your permission for everything."
Neila's lips parted. Closed. Parted again.
"You're being aggressive all of a sudden for no reason, it's not like I could stop him from running, so are you done with asking me?"
"No."
Kira straightened. Her hands were still shaking, but she didn't try to hide them anymore.
Didn't try to press them against her thighs or hide them in her sleeves. Just let them tremble at her sides.
"I'm going to find him."
"Oh really?" Neila's eyes narrowed. "Isn't the city rather huge? Where do you even plan to start searching? You're just being really irrational in doing this, you're wasting your time on trying to find some who is god knows where, we're still not completely off the hook with the government, just because Sarah isn't here and Reina is dead doesn't mean that we're not still rogues."
"I don't care."
Kira met her eyes. Her blue ones, clouded and anxious and always, always afraid, held Neila's sharp, calculating gaze without flinching.
"I don't care if it's stupid or dangerous. I'm going to look for him. Because he's my friend and saved my life. Because he's the only person who ever made me feel like I wasn't-" She stopped. Swallowed. "Like I wasn't a monster."
"He was lying to you."
"You don't know that."
"I know him better than you do, I know how his little brain functions better than you."
Neila stood. The chair scraped against the floor, the sound loud in the small room. She was shorter than Kira, had to look up to meet her eyes, but the intensity in her gaze made her seem larger, more present.
They stared at each other. The silence stretched between them, thin and fragile
"I'm still going to look for him," Kira said.
"And what if you find him? What then? You'll drag him back here? Tie him to the bed and lock him in the room until he's finished?"
Kira's jaw tightened.
"I'll talk to him."
"Yea like that's going to work." Neila rolled her eyes.
"Then I'll sit with him."
"There's no point in dragging him back here, he'll return if he wants to."
"Then I'll-"
She stopped. Her hands were shaking again. Her chest was tight. Her throat was closed around words she couldn't quite form.
She straightened her shoulders.
"I'll be there," she said. "Even if he doesn't want me to be. Even if he pushes me away and tells me to leave. I'll be there, because that's what friends do. They don't run away just because things get hard."
"Hah, no wonder you got controlled by him so easily, he made you believe in that sentimental garbage."
"Maybe." Kira's voice was quiet. "But it's my sentimental garbage. I get to choose what I believe.
Neila stared at her for a long moment.
"Do whatever you want, it's not my problem." She waved her hand dismissively. "Just make sure you bring him back, I can't stand wasting effort."
"You're not going to stop me?"
"I've already tried. Would it even work in the first place?"
"No."
"Then why would I bother?"
Neila turned away, walking to the window. The gray morning light caught her silhouette, painting her in shades of silver and shadow. Her reflection stared back at her from the glass, pale and hollow-cheeked, the same exhaustion that haunted everyone in this room.
"I don't care what you do," she said. "I don't care where you go or what happens to you. I have more important things to worry about. THe most important thing for me now is to find Sophia, she'll solve all our problems."
"I know."
"So why are you still standing there?"
Kira didn't move. Just watched Neila's reflection in the window, watched the way her hands were pressed flat against the glass like she was holding something back.
"I know you care," Kira said quietly.
"Really?"
"About him. About me. About Lucy and Edward and everyone else you pretend to despise. I know because you're still here. You could have left. You could have taken the money and the documents and the goddess and disappeared. You could have started over somewhere else, built something new, left all of us behind."
"But you didn't."
Neila's eyes narrowed. "Why would I? It's not like I could hire goons even with the amount of money I have because we're rogues, all of the rogues that I could possibly hire are working for the other gangs." She stared at Kira. "And you're wrong about another thing, I don't care about you, I don't care about Lucy and Edward. And I have a mild interest in Hoshimi, that's it."
Kira took a step closer. Then another.
"We need him," she said. "Not just for the mission. Not just for Sophia. We need him because he's part of this. Part of us. Without him, we're just-" She gestured vaguely. "Three broken girls and a goddess in a cheap hotel room."
"One broken girl, a deluded girl with a missing arm and a genius, get it right."
"You know what I mean."
Neila turned from the window. Her expression was unreadable, but something in her posture had shifted.
"Even if we find him," she said, "there's no guarantee he'll come back. I don't think he's clear in the head."
"He needs time."
"Yes."
"And space."
"That's what I said, you're just repeating what I've been saying the whole time, given enough time, he'll eventually come back, there's no reason to devote our resources to look for him when we could be looking for Sophia."
Kira met her eyes. Her blue ones, still clouded, still anxious, but steady now.
"I'm going to look for him. You can come with me or you can stay here. But I'm going."
"And if I said no?"
"It's not your choice."
Kira walked to the door. Her hand found the handle, cold metal against her palm. She paused, looking back over her shoulder.
"Lucy," she said. "Are you coming?"
Lucy had been standing in the doorway.
She didn't know when she'd arrived. Didn't know how long she'd been there.
She was leaning against the frame, her empty sleeve pinned neatly at the shoulder, her crimson eyes fixed on some point in the middle distance.
Her face was pale. Her hair was tangled. Her clothes were the same ones she'd been wearing for days, rumpled and stained.
She looked like she hadn't slept, like she'd been standing in that same spot for hours, watching, waiting, not knowing what to do with herself.
"It's my fault," she said.
Kira blinked. "What?"
"He ran away because of me." Lucy's voice was quiet. "I couldn't protect him. I couldn't stop her. I couldn't do anything except watch while he-"
"Walker."
Neila's voice cut through the silence like a blade.
"He ran away on his own, there was nothing you could've possibly done with your…measly abilities."
"You don't know that."
"I know that he was going to run no matter what any of us did." Neila crossed her arms, her expression hardening. "He's been acting weird ever since we ran away, nothing you could have said or done would have made a difference."
"You're just saying that."
"I wonder why I'm saying it?"
Neila took a step closer. Her blue eyes fixed on Lucy's face with an intensity that made the air feel heavier.
"He's been losing himself since the Vice Principal died. He's been holding onto his sanity by a thread all this time, all that's changed is that the thread finally snapped." She paused. "You didn't snap it. Neither did I. Neither did Kira. It was already frayed. None of you can fix him."
Lucy stared at her,
"Then what do we do now?"
"We find him," Kira said. "Before he does something stupid."
"Define stupid."
"Poor decision-making."
"That's very vague."
Lucy nodded slowly.
"I can help."
"You don't have to—"
"I want to."
She pushed off from the doorframe, crossing the room to stand beside Kira. Her empty sleeve swayed with each step, but her remaining hand was steady, curled into a fist at her side.
"He saved my life," she said. "In the warehouse. When I was fighting Reina. He stepped in front of her." She paused. "I owe him."
"You don't owe him anything."
"Maybe." Lucy's crimson eyes met Kira's. "But I'm going to help anyway, I can't just stand to see another person lose themselves, I want to help people."
"Even if we wanted to find him," Neila said, "we don't have the resources. The Leviathans are stretched thin as it is. The families are still hunting us. Sarah is still out there with Excalibur, Reina might've protected Hoshimi but she sure didn't protect us. We have more pressing concerns than one missing person."
"More pressing than the only person who can control Sophia?" Kira asked.
Neila's head snapped toward her. "What?"
"Sophia. When we find her and free her." Kira set down her teacup. "She's not going to listen to us. But she'll listen to Hoshimi. He's her brother. He's the only one she's ever shown any real attachment to. If we want her help, we need him."
"That's a long-term concern."
"It's an immediate concern." Kira leaned forward. "We've been talking about finding Sophia for weeks. But what happens when we do? Who's going to convince her to help us? You? Me? Lucy?" She shook her head. "She doesn't know us. She doesn't trust us. She'll probably try to kill us on sight."
"She won't try to kill Hoshimi."
"Exactly."
"We could try to talk to her, Lucy talked to her once before, I'm sure Sophia would recognize her."
"That's a possibility, releasing Sophia could backfire on us."
Neila watched them. Her expression was unreadable. Her hands were still crossed. Her posture was still rigid, still controlled.
"Vert," she said. "Tell us where he is."
The goddess sat in the corner armchair, exactly where she'd been for the past hour. Her white-green hair pooled around her shoulders, and her gray eyes were fixed on some point in the middle distance, tracking something that none of them could see.
She didn't respond immediately.
"I can't see him clearly," she said finally. "His location is obscured."
"Obscured how?"
"I've told you that I'm not fully omniscient. The city is large. There are many places where mana signatures become muddled." She paused. "But I can tell you he hasn't gone far."
"That's not very helpful."
"But." Vert's expression was unreadable. "There is something else I can tell you, however. Something that may be of use."
"What?"
"The Miller girl. The one who was sealed." Vert's gray eyes met Neila's. "I know where she is."
The room went very still.
"You-" Neila's voice caught. "You know where Sophia is?"
"Not precisely. But I know where to find the information." Vert rose from her chair, her movements fluid, almost liquid. "The Witch's oath made with the boy's mother, one of the conditions was for Rouge or as you call her 'Sarah' to transport Sophia to a specific place. The boy's mother has left a map regarding where Rouge had left the Miller child."
"Reina left a map?"
"She left many things. But the map is the one that matters. She predicted that I would eventually see it, such a tricky human isn't she?" Vert crossed to the table, her bare feet silent on the worn carpet. "It is hidden in her office. In a drawer. The drawer is locked, but the lock is... simple. A child could open it."
"Reina's office is in the Academy," Neila said. "The Academy is crawling with government agents."
"Yes."
"And you want us to break in?"
"I want a lot of things." Vert's lips curved. "But for now I am simply providing information. What you do with it is your choice."
Neila stared at her for a long moment.
[I don't understand why she's willingly giving out information, there's no benefit to her doing so, and for the Primordial witch of greed, she doesn't seem to want anything. I don't trust her at all. But for now, I'll be using her]
"Of course it's in her office. Why wouldn't it be?" She ran a hand through her hair, dislodging several strands from her ponytail. "We'll deal with that later. Right now, we need to find Hoshimi. Vert, you said he hasn't gone far. Can you give us anything more specific?"
"He is in the lower district. Near the harbor. Beyond that..." Vert shook her head. "I cannot see."
Neila walked to the table, picked up her revolver, and tucked it into her coat. The movement was quick, efficient, the movement of someone preparing for something.
"The lower district is huge," she said. "It's idiotic to search alone."
"We have the Leviathans," Kira said.
"Fine," she said. "Get whatever you want to, we're leaving in ten minutes."