"Every human child is vengeful at some point if not educated otherwise." ― Tamuna Tsertsvadze (Galaxy Pirates)

* * * *

The wind scraped low across the outskirts of Zhane City, rustling dry leaves and scattering debris along the broken path that led to Jonan's hidden den. The city was far behind him now, a hazy silhouette smothered in smog and concrete misery. Distant sirens wailed like dying ghosts in the wind.

From the outside, the den looked like little more than a rusted storage unit nestled against a cracked warehouse wall, long forgotten by the city's planners. Vines crawled over the frame, attempting to bury its existence, but Jonan knew the keypad beneath the metal panel like the lines of his own hand.

It had been more than a month since Lucas's so-called "leave." More than a month since Jonan last saw his team leader walk out the ESA's glass-panelled front doors with that familiar, unreadable calm written across his face.

Lucas hadn't been back. No one had seen him. No one believed the official statement anymore.

Except maybe Maia. But that wasn't surprising. Maia had been off for weeks. Paranoid. Tense. A coiled viper with secrets wrapped too tightly around her spine. Last that anyone knows, the ESA director, too, is demanding answers from anyone she can get in contact with.

Jonan exhaled slowly, eyes narrowing on the electronic lock as he punched in the six-digit code. The metallic click of the mechanism releasing used to be a comfort.

Not today.

Jonan's heart weighed heavily in his chest. His fingers trembled slightly, fatigued from too many restless nights, and from the pressure building like powder under the foundation of everything they once believed in.

Where the hell are you, Lucas?

Jonan's boots scraped the concrete as the heavy door creaked open. The familiar scent of old wood, guitar polish, and dust hit him like a memory. His memory.

This place had always been his. His and Allen's, back when they were cadets and thought the ESA was salvation, not bureaucracy. A place to store his instruments, to escape the suffocating weight of regulation, to breathe and play.

But something was wrong. The air was too cool.

The low hum of electricity sang faintly through the walls.

The lights were on.

Jonan's breath caught. He tensed. Slowly, he stepped over the threshold, one hand immediately reaching for the holster at his hip, flicking the safety back, and tightening his grip on his handgun.

His body moved on instinct, trained and efficient, clearing corners, moving with purpose even as his heart pounded like a drumbeat.

The hell…?

Then he saw her.

Kailey O'Fearghail, seated on the red beanbag like she belonged there, like this place wasn't sacred. Her long black hair was pulled loosely over one shoulder, her pearl-white eyes cast down at a book she was reading with absurd casualness, as if the world hadn't gone mad.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

As if the last time they saw each other, they'd both hadn't nearly died.

Jonan lowered his gun in stunned silence, breath caught in his throat.

"…Kailey?"

Kailey didn't even look surprised. She closed the book with a quiet snap and met his gaze, her expression unreadable. Those ghostly eyes flickered over him like she was appraising damage.

"I've been getting tired of waiting," she said.

Jonan stared, his grip on his gun slackening. "How did you know about this place?"

Kailey lifted a shoulder in a shrug that somehow felt practiced. "There isn't much that Raul can't find out if he really wants to."

Jonan blinked, digesting the name. Raul, Aegis's information specialist, and also the best hacker in the country. That didn't make him feel better. In fact, he felt violated.

This place was his sanctuary. And somehow, she had breached it. Then again, hadn't Kailey always been able to do that?

Jonan frowned. "Then… What are you doing here?"

Kailey didn't answer right away. She stood slowly, her eyes narrowing as she reached into the inner pocket of her jacket and pulled out a gleaming silver data card. She walked toward him, each step deliberate, until she was standing just a few feet away. She held out the card.

Jonan hesitated. "…What is this?"

"Information on the whereabouts of your team leader," Kailey said plainly. "Blueprints. Patrol routes. Security rotations. Entry points. Everything you need to get him back."

Jonan's fingers curled around the data card instinctively, even as his brain struggled to catch up.

"He's missing, isn't he?" Kailey continued, her voice softer now. "Two of your teammates—Elijah and Taylor, and your team leader's younger brother came to Zalfari weeks ago. Nearly a month. It took us time, but we found him. We know where he is."

Jonan's mouth opened, then closed again. "How did you…?" He faltered. "Who gave this to you?"

Kailey looked him dead in the eye. "Zero."

That name made Jonan freeze. Not because it was unknown, but because it wasn't anymore.

"She told me to bring this to you personally. To ensure it ended up in your hands," Kailey added, a subtle weight in her voice.

Jonan stared. "She…knows about us?"

Kailey's expression twisted. "There is no us, Jonan."

That stung more than it should have. He wanted to say something, anything, but Kailey's glare silenced him.

"And seriously," she added, folding her arms, "I'd be worried if she didn't know. She's Zero. There's very little she doesn't know."

There was a strange silence between them, sharp and bitter. The kind that hung between people with too many shared memories and too many unsaid truths.

Jonan swallowed. "Kailey… Is your leader… Zero, and Lucas…?"

Kailey cut him off. "No. They're acquaintances. Friends, maybe. But not anything more than that. If anything, it's one-sided. On your team leader's part." Her voice turned sharper, though not cruel. "It's not like…us."

Jonan hated how those two syllables were like glass dragging across bone. "Kailey…"

Kailey's expression changed then, just slightly. A crack in her normally impenetrable armour. Something fragile in her eyes, before she quickly smothered it.

"I should go—"

Jonan reached out, catching her wrist before she could take another step. "Kailey, please. Let's talk it out."

She stared at him, frozen.

"My feelings for you were never a lie," Jonan said, his voice low and raw. "I know you feel the same. Or you would've left me to die in that alleyway." Her eyes darted away. She flinched. Just barely, but he saw it. "I'm sorry for what happened at Blackpool, but—"

"What happened at Blackpool wasn't your fault," Kailey said quietly. "Sera was right about that. It wasn't ours either. All of Aegis—we were prepared to die from the moment we started down this path. We just didn't expect…" Her voice cracked, and she looked away again. "We didn't expect to lose Claudia. Or Ness."

The names felt like stones dropped into water.

Jonan said nothing. There was no way to comfort the weight of sacrifice.

Kailey took a breath. "But Jonan… You're still ESA."

"I'll leave."

That startled her.

Jonan tightened his grip just slightly. "If that's what it takes, I'll leave. Allen and I… We've talked about it. Everything happening… With the hunters, the Gifted being hunted like animals… None of it sits right with us. It never has. Even though we're not Gifted…" He trailed off.

Kailey was watching him with a strange look in her eyes now. "You would give up your career? Be branded a traitor? Hunted down as a deserter?"

Jonan nodded. "You can't protect anything if you're not willing to sacrifice something. It might as well be me."

The silence that followed was vast.

Outside, wind battered against the old metal walls of the den. Somewhere, a dog barked. The city's shadow stretched like a bruise in the distance.

Kailey finally spoke. "…Life is too short. Sera says that all the time." She took a step back. Then looked up at him, her expression unreadable. "In that case, I'll give you my answer. To the question you asked me long ago."

Jonan's breath caught.

"I like you. I love you," Kailey said. "But I'm still a Gifted. A member of Aegis. If you think you can accept everything—who I am, and what I've done, then I want to try this. With you." Her voice softened. "If you can't, then we'll forget this ever happened."

Then she gently pulled her wrist free, and turned.

The door opened, and cool air rushed in, along with the familiar scents of the city, as well as smoke and ash.

Kailey didn't look back.

Jonan stood there, staring after her, a storm inside his chest. The door closed behind her with a hollow clang, leaving silence in its wake. Finally, he looked down at the silver data card in his palm.

It shimmered beneath the light. Lucas's whereabouts.

Finally, the answers they had searched for were within reach.

Jonan closed his eyes, his heart thudding in his chest, before he closed his fingers over the data card. "If loving you is a sin…" he whispered, "then I want nothing more than to be a sinner." His grip on the data card tightened. "Love drives both humans and gods to insanity," he murmured. "It leads people down a path to destruction."

Outside, thunder cracked across the far edges of Zhane's skyline.

War was coming. And Jonan was ready to choose his side.

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