The morning after Loki's revelation, Finn was in his office before sunrise.
It was a habit he'd cultivated over decades. The quiet hour before the Manor woke up was his most productive time. Reports from the previous day, planning for the next and expedition logistics could be processed faster when no one was around to ask him questions.
He was halfway through a supply requisition form when the door into his office opened without a knock.
"You're up early." Finn said without looking up.
"I'm always up." Loki said, walking in and closing the door behind her. "Just usually pretendin' to be asleep so I don't have to do paperwork."
She crossed the room and dropped onto the couch opposite his desk, draping herself across with her arms behind the backrest, staring up at the cieling. Finn finally set his quill down.
"You have the look." He said.
"What look?"
"The one you get when something's surprised you. Now you're trying to decide how much you're willing to share."
Loki grinned, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "You know me too well, kiddo."
"Over twenty years with you would do that." Finn leaned back in his chair, his blue eyes settling on her. "What is it?"
Loki was quiet for a moment, her vermillion eyes tracking the grain of the wood on the ceiling beam above the couch. Finn waited patiently. He had learned, long ago, that pressing Loki for information was the fastest way to make her change the subject or scurry off to find another girl to lambast.
"I updated Yuji's Falna last night."
"And?"
"And his stats haven't moved. Not a single point in any category, in any of the basic abilities."
Finn's brow furrowed. "He's been to the Dungeon. He's been sparring. He's been—"
"I know. I told him the same thing." Loki cut in. "It's not that the Falna's broken. The connection is solid, the bond is there, and I can feel his soul through it just like anyone else's. I know we already think he's a monster, but I didn't expect it would be to this degree. I'm not even sure how much his stats would go up by if he fought Freya's kids, if at all."
Finn absorbed this in silence.
"There's more." Loki said. "The Magic and Skills sections of his status are filled with somethin'. Symbols I've never seen. Not any mortal script and not any god script either. I didn't tell Yuji this, but when I touched the upon the new unreadable stat line that he had…" She trailed off, considering her words. "I felt somethin' I've never felt before. An energy that doesn't fit into any category I know."
"What did it feel like?"
Loki was quiet for a long moment.
"Like the inverse of every positive force in the world."
The room was silent. Finn's expression didn't change, but his thumb moved to the side of his index finger and pressed once.
"How much of this is he aware of?"
"All of it. He explained some of it to me afterwards. Not everything, mind you, but enough. He's already had a feeling of what that new and unreadable statline is, but I wanted to confirm for myself first before telling him." Loki looked down from the ceiling and met Finn's eyes directly. "I'm not goin' to repeat what he told me. That was for me, not for the rest of you. But here's what I'll say. Yuji's energy, whatever it is, is fundamentally opposed to spirit energy. Like a current running in the exact opposite direction."
Finn's thumb pressed his finger again.
"What is it called?" He asked her.
"Cursed Energy."
Finn was silent for a long moment, his mind working through the implications. Loki watched him patiently, seeing his mind going through the wringer.
"When Aiz returns from her current trip," Finn finally said, "the situation is going to escalate. I can feel it in my thumb. Whatever's been building beneath the city is approaching something, and we're going to be in the middle of it. If Yuji's presence affects how the entity responds to us..."
"It changes the entire board." Loki finished. "Yeah, I know."
"Does he know what he is, in that context?"
"He figured it out long before I did. Probably from the moment he stepped into this city or the day he met you in the Dungeon." Loki shrugged. "Yuji's not someone who needs things spelled out for him. He sees the shape of things faster than most people see the surface."
Finn nodded slowly.
"What do we do?"
"Nothin' different." Loki said. "We trust him. We let him decide what he's comfortable sharin' and when and when the time comes to act on what's beneath the city, we make sure he's in the room when we plan it."
She pushed off the couch and stretched, her joints popping audibly.
"In the meantime, treat him like any other member. He didn't come here to be a weapon. He came here to be a person. Don't take that away from him."
Finn watched her walk to the door.
"Loki."
She paused, hand on the handle.
"Thank you for telling me."
"Don't get used to it, kiddo." She said, and the grin returned to her face as she opened the door. "Most of the fun comes from keepin' you all in the dark."
She left, and Finn stared at the ceiling beam for a long moment.
Then he pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment and began drafting a contingency plan.
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Aiz returned to the Manor in the late afternoon.
She came through the gate moving faster than usual. Tiona, who had been lounging on the courtyard bench with Tione, sat up immediately.
"Aiz! You're back early!"
"...Where is Loki?" Aiz asked, not slowing down.
"Office, I think. Why? What happened?"
But Aiz had already passed her, heading toward the central tower with purposeful strides.
Yuji, who had been reading by one of the garden trees, watched her go with a raised eyebrow. He hadn't seen the Sword Princess move with that kind of urgency since the expedition.
He caught Riveria emerging from the same direction Aiz had just come from, and the high elf's jade eyes met his with a similar tension.
"Itadori. Could you join us in Finn's office? Aiz has news that affects everyone."
Yuji set his book down.
--------------------
"So you ran into the rabbit again, huh."
Loki's tone was light, but her eyes were sharp. Aiz sat across from her on the office couch. Place on the low table between them was a green object, a piece of armour Yuji recognised. Finn was at his desk, Riveria stood near the window, Gareth occupied his usual stool, and Yuji had taken a seat on the couch.
"Yes." Aiz said. Her voice was steady, but there was a tightness around her words that suggested she'd been processing something on the way back. "Eina caught me before I could enter the Dungeon. She'd overheard members of the Soma Familia talking about a courier and a white haired boy. She asked me to find him."
"Soma Familia." Riveria's brow furrowed. "After our meeting with Eina yesterday, that's no surprise. The Pallum supporter she mentioned is likely involved with them."
"Where was he?" Loki asked.
"Floor 10."
The room went still.
"Floor 10." Tiona repeated from where she'd planted herself in the open doorway, having clearly followed Aiz upstairs. "He's been a Level 1 for what, a few weeks? And he was on Floor 10?"
"He was surrounded by monsters when I found him. He'd been chasing the chienthrope, who'd stolen from him." Aiz's voice didn't change, but her hands tightened slightly on her knees. "He fought through it. He used magic, a fire spell I haven't seen before. He saved her."
"He saved the girl who stole from him?" Bete had appeared in the doorway behind Tiona, his arms crossed.
"Yes."
The Familia exchanged glances.
"And then he ran from you." Loki said quietly.
Aiz nodded once, eyes on the green protector. "I tried to talk to him. He didn't even look at me. He just... ran. Took the Pallum and ran." Her fingers traced the edge of the armour. "He left this behind."
The silence that followed was different from before. It wasn't pity or amusement. Was this really why they were called into Finn's office?
Yuji, watching from the back of the room, said nothing. The talk he'd given her at the dining table had clearly held, she wasn't asking herself if she was scary anymore. There was something else she was leading up to.
"There's more." Aiz said, looking up. "After he ran, someone appeared. A figure in a black robe."
Yuji's eyes narrowed imerceptibly to those around him.
"They knew my name. They knew about the green orb from Rivira. They asked me to investigate Floor 24." Aiz looked at Finn directly. "There's been a mass movement of monsters in the northern pantry. Possibly connected to the same source as the violas. The figure said the same thing happened on Floor 30, the floor Hashana visited before he was killed."
Finn's thumb pressed his finger three times in rapid succession.
"Did this figure give a name?" He asked.
"No. Just instructions. They said the Hermes Familia has been arranged as supporters. I'm to meet them at a specific bar in Rivira, with a password."
"Hermes Familia." Loki said slowly. "Now that's interestin'."
Yuji's quietly took in Aiz's words and began thinking. Fels had approached Aiz directly after coming to find him the other day. Whatever was down below controlling these monsters like puppets, was likely manifesting as the mass movement on Floor 24. The Hermes Familia was being pulled into the operation, which meant Hermes himself would know about it within hours, if he didn't already.
"You're going." Loki said. It wasn't a question.
"Yes." Aiz replied. "Tomorrow."
"You'll have backup." Finn said immediately. "Bete and Lefiya will accompany you to Rivira. From there, they'll provide rear support during the descent to Floor 24. The Hermes Familia handles the front line as the figure requested, but I'm not sending you into a situation that could potentially involve that green orb on your own. You know what happened the last time you got close to it, we can't let it happen again while you're isolated."
"Understood."
Finn turned his blue eyes to Yuji.
"Itadori. I'd like you to stay back."
The room went quiet. Tiona's mouth opened to protest, then closed when she caught Finn's expression.
Yuji met the Pallum's gaze. He could see the thought process behind it, Finn knew, or had at least been informed of, what Yuji's presence might do to whatever was operating through the violas. If Yuji descended to Floor 24, whatever was controlling the monsters and the mastermind behind it might react in ways that could compromise the entire operation.
"Sure." Yuji said simply with a shrug.
Finn nodded, the relief subtle but present. "I appreciate it. There's another reason."
"Which is?"
"If something goes wrong down there, and the situation escalates beyond what Aiz and the team can handle, I'd like our strongest reserve to be on the surface, ready to respond. Not pinned down in a pantry collapse."
Practical. Tactical. Exactly the kind of reasoning Finn would offer.
But Yuji could read between the lines. Finn was giving him a polite reason to stay back, while the real reason, his anomalous presence affecting the operation, remained unspoken.
That was fine. Yuji had things to do on the surface anyway.
"I'll be ready." Yuji said.
"Thank you."
Loki clapped her hands together. "Right! That's settled. Aiz, you're leavin' at dawn. Bete, Lefiya, you're with her. Everyone else, business as usual until we hear back."
The meeting broke up. Tiona swept Aiz out of the room, already chattering about how unfair it was that Aiz got all the fun missions. Bete grunted something under his breath and disappeared to prepare his equipment. Lefiya looked equal parts terrified and determined.
Riveria caught Yuji's eye on the way out and gave him a small nod.
Yuji left the office last.
In the hallway, Loki fell into step beside him.
"You picked up on it, didn't you?" She murmured.
"Picked up on what?"
"Finn knows. Not all of it. But enough."
Yuji glanced down at her. "You told him."
"I told him what he needed to know to make the right call. Nothing more." Loki's grin was small but genuine. "I keep my promises, fossil. Your secrets are still yours. I just gave him enough to understand why keepin' you back is the smart play."
Yuji nodded.
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me. Just keep bein' useful." She nudged him with her elbow. "Now, what're you gonna do with your free day tomorrow? Sit around and read?"
Yuji thought about Lyd. The lizardman Xeno on Floor 19, who had asked him through Fels to come back and meet the rest of his kind. He'd told Fels he'd come when he could. He couldn't risk heading down yet while Aiz and the other two were helping to complete her Quest, since whatever was down below was keeping tabs on him.
Instead, it might be time to visit a certain somebody.
"I think I'll take a walk." He said.
Loki snorted. "A walk. Sure."
She peeled off down a side hallway, leaving Yuji alone with his thoughts.
"This is going to suck." Yuji muttered to himself as he went back to his room.
Meeting Sukuna was going to put a dampner on his mood.