Gustav is waiting in the hotel lobby when the trio arrive.
"Excellent work, all of you." His relief is genuine and unguarded. "You have no idea — another day and this could have become something we couldn't contain."
"We appreciate your gratitude," Colette replies.
"I also received word from Headquarters while you were out. Your next assignment has already been determined — you're to board the first available passenger vessel bound for the Duchy of Nebu. It departs tomorrow afternoon."
"Thank you." Colette's tone is courteous and final. "We'll be retiring for the night."
"Of course." Gustav steps back. "The rooms are prepared. Get some rest — you've earned it."
They do not go to their rooms. Colette leads them to the roof instead, and once she is certain they are alone she turns to face Lleuad.
"What happened in that warehouse?"
"I was attempting to rid Axel of the Grimm heart," Lleuad calmly, meeting her gaze without a hint of tremor.
The blunt confession stuns both Colette and Baojun. The pure, unfiltered honesty with which he responds leaves them momentarily speechless.
Colette recovers first. "You know that isn't possible. The Everwatch has run extensive tests on the Blighted. When the Grimm heart is destroyed, the tendrils it has extended into the surrounding tissue cause catastrophic internal rupturing — the victim dies from internal bleeding every time, without exception. They even attempted to use Silver Eye petrification in earlier years. Nothing worked."
"I know," Lleuad says. "But the testing with Silver Eye ability has never been extensive enough to be conclusive. I'm exploring what remains."
"Cut the crap," Baojun's voice cuts across the conversation. "That is an excuse and you know it. You are going against direct orders — allowing a Blighted to live, to be fully consumed, to become a Grimm. You are not only prolonging that person's suffering, you are creating a threat to everyone around you." A pause, and then the sharpest part: "And for what? A weakness you should have removed from yourself long ago."
Lleuad says nothing.
Colette studies his face with the attention of someone looking for something specific. She does not find concealment, or calculation, or anything other than exactly what he said. Whatever his motivation is, it is the one he gave them.
She falls into a deep, calculating silence. Both Lleuad and Baojun notice a troubled, conflicted expression clouding her face, as if she is waging a war within herself over the correct course of action.
Several minutes pass in silence on the rooftop.
"Baojun is right," she says at last. "I understand the sentiment behind it. But it is dangerously naïve, and in a situation requiring split-second coordination it could get people killed." She pauses. "That said — the fact that you captured the target and his entire patrol without a single casualty speaks to a level of skill and control I won't ignore." She meets Lleuad's eyes. "I am going to overlook this incident."
"You cannot let this go!" Baojun's voice rises, cutting across the tail end of her sentence with undisguised frustration. "His actions will lead to disaster. We cannot field him alongside us. And there is an established process for this level of insubordination — it ends with death."
"You're correct," Colette answers, without flinching. "But we cannot afford to lose a Slayer right now, and his value has been demonstrated. That is my final word on it." She holds Baojun's gaze. "Unless you intend to challenge my authority."
The silence between them stretches.
"Understood," Baojun begrudgingly mutters, accepting her judgment with a tight jaw.
Colette turns back to Lleuad. "Furthermore — I will permit you to pursue this cause of yours. But only when Baojun and I are not present. When you are fighting alongside us, the Blighted's life is forfeit. Is that understood?" The tone of it is not a question.
"Clearly," Lleuad replies, without hesitation.
"Good." The seriousness leaves her face as quickly as it came. "Get some rest. We have a new mission."
She leaves the roof first.
Baojun waits until her footsteps have faded, then looks down at Lleuad — directly, the full weight of his height and everything behind his expression brought to bear.
"If you do anything mutinous," he says quietly, "I will cut you down myself."
"Fine by me," Lleuad responds, a sharp hint of defiance coloring his tone.
Baojun holds the look for a moment, then turns and goes.
Lleuad stands alone on the roof. The moon is out, unobscured. Below, the main street runs toward the central harbor, and it is almost entirely empty — quiet in the way of a place that has been louder than this for a long time and has only just remembered what stillness feels like.
Lleuad is left alone on the roof. He turns his face toward the sky. The moon is there, clear and cold above the harbor, and a cool breeze moves through the empty air around him. Below, the main street is almost entirely quiet — a stillness unusual for a street in this position, close to the water, the kind of place that should have life in it at this hour. The city's slow dying is present even here, in the absence of sound where sound should be.
— — —
The following afternoon, Gustav sees the trio off at the harbor as they board the ship bound for the Duchy of Nebu.
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