Upon closer inspection, though it was hard to see through the obfuscating fog, the blade of Grin’s scythe almost appeared to be nacre. Like spilt gasoline, the metal refracted the dim light of the woods in a way that made it seem like it was swirling in vibrant colors.

  Growing bored of the awkward standoff that had begun since his arrival, he ceased leaning against his weapon and picked it back up with ease as he had probably done so hundreds or thousands of times over. It was virtually weightless to him after so many years of wielding it, much like Sato’s umbrella was to her.

  “This is just a job for you then? Just about the money, huh?”

  Grin contorted his lips in a way that made it seem as though he were unsure, then he nodded as if to dissuade the thought. “...Just another job, yeah. Ain’t that how it was for you? You were aiming to kill the boss, weren’t ya? Surely not that slimy leech, Cloak. He’s a nobody who thinks he’s somebody, just like half the people in Reville.”

  “Do you know something we don’t…?” Sato asked bitterly, her weapon still firmly pointed in the scoundrel’s direction.

  “No, not necessarily.” He paused to think. “But I have my suspicions. No sense in sharing them with you three, though. You’ll be dead either way.”

  Ma’at glanced warily at the trees around them, looking for any others that threatened to make a move. “You’re pretty confident for being alone. What, are some friends of yours going to ambush us once you start losing?”

  “Friends? Losing?” He lost himself in laughter briefly, a cackle that morphed into a chuckle that eventually became hysterical. Eventually, he composed himself and the same cocky yet somehow sorrowful look on his face returned as if it never left. “You don’t have to worry about that. Lotta people tell me I’m hard to get along with, you see. You’re definitely in the minority, lady.” His last sentence was softer and colder, directed at Sato specifically. “I work alone. Don’t need half-assed mercs weighing me down, no way.”

  An odd feeling welled up inside Ma’at. What it was, she couldn’t discern. Right now, her focus was mainly on the fight ahead. “Less we have to worry about, then. Well? Should we start? Might as well get it over with.”

  The quiet air brushed past them and the branches overhead. The faint cries and conversations of the nobles who had gone and left without a clue as to what was happening behind them were barely audible even in the silence that took hold.

  The sound of dirt scratching. Grin moved his body into a preparatory stance, his scythe readied, his eyes trained on his targets. More silence, then the unpleasant sound of the bolases rolling against each other in his hand. It continued for a moment, then stopped abruptly, and following it, Grin darted toward the trio with surprising speed and agility.

  Clang!

  Ma’at and Grin clashed in the middle of the clearing, sparks lighting up the moody place like fireworks painting the world in shades of pink and red. Though, the spark lasted for but a millisecond, if that. The sheer force of Grin’s strike did not work wonders on Ma’at’s shoulder. The fact that she was using only one blade didn’t help to block the brunt of it. She still held but one sword so that she could keep the cloth to her face, countering any bolases the man could chuck their way again.

  Ever fleet of foot, the scythe-bearer clashed a couple more times with the Swordstress, then took notice of the Maiden’s incoming deluge.

  Fresh water, cold as if newly birthed from the belly of a cloud, shot out in a thin, destructive line toward him from the very end of Sato’s instrument.

  He dashed out of harm’s way and rolled one of the bolases around again until he could pinch it in between his thumb and forefinger. He took aim quickly, reared back his arm, and launched it like a catapult at the Vroque mercenaries. It sailed through the air in a crumpling arc until it hit the ground and broke apart. An awful hissing sound escaped it as more of the same putrid, nauseating gas flowed out and diffused across the area. Obviously, he knew it wouldn’t do any good in the way of immobilizing his foes, but it would keep their hands rather occupied.

  Rendering his plan half-meaningless, Ma’at called forth her holstered blade and sent it careening across the clearing like a whistling boomerang. At the same time, she assumed a running stature and made her way to their enemy, dead-set and unrelenting in her pathing.

  “Annoying…!” Grin growled from behind his teeth. He deflected the spinning blade hell-bent on claiming his head, and he threw yet another bolas at Ma’at to deter her rapid sprint. Noticing his chance to take out their water-conjuring magus, he mirrored Ma’at’s gait as he darted toward Sato with precise footwork.

  Yet, even with the precision, it was with reckless abandon. He failed to perceive Tien as a real threat. She was nothing but a pencil-pusher in his eyes. A studious employee trained in the art of sifting through hundreds upon thousands of documents and spreadsheets yet unable to wield a blade or knife otherwise. Maybe he was right that her strengths did not lie in combat, specifically with blades too, but he was dead wrong about her having zero experience or ability at all.

  As he crossed the threshold of chance, of the possibility that he may be able to reap the Maiden of the Rain, a jet-black, bulky briefcase entered the left half of his vision, then struck him perfectly in the jaw. The blunt end changed his trajectory from straight forward to directly right and into the monochromatic dirt. He smashed into it, and as he did, a fierce rage instantly boiled in his stomach and chest. Rage born from embarrassment, yes, but also of self-hatred stemming from his incorrect judgment of the woman. Sniffling, blood leaking from his mouth and nose, he sprang back upward and to his feet as a rabbit does when sensing a threat.

  Tien caught her breath. “You okay?”

  Sato nodded. “Thanks, Tien…” Focused on the man before them, she shot out another pillar of water, then expanded the umbrella’s plume in order to push the stream outward and around the Inkorpt assassin. It bloomed like a flower, each petal translucent and reflective, then clasped down on him in an iron grip. A sloshing tendril connecting the watery prison and the umbrella blade wriggled in the middle of them like a dyed worm.

  “Great work!” Tien praised, unclipping her case. She delved into it for something to aid them.

  “Argh! Son of a… bitch…” Grin struggled and twisted his body left and right to no avail. Unlike the orb that had saved the cat back when and softly lowered it to the ground, this was an ice-cold straight-jacket with no physical lock and key. As long as Sato’s concentration went unwavering, Grin was seemingly stuck in place.

  Ma’at caught up with the battle and stood in front of him, blades drawn and ready. Her piercing hazel gaze now was more terrifying than ever when he was at her mercy. The light of her eyes struck his heart like a mighty, jagged, aureate bolt of levin. The darkness of the woods became just that; a dark void of nothingness. Nothing but the predatorial gaze in the darkness loomed right before him, like a demon one sees in a state of sleep paralysis, his body locked and completely restricted against his will.

  But he would not give in to such childish fear. He couldn’t. How could he, when an ace was still within his grasp, still up his sleeve? The shadowy scythe, its blade iridescent, was still in his hand. Through the crippling numbness in his whitened fingers, he could still feel its sleek edge.

  “Damn idiot,” Ma’at said, “how could you take a job from Inkorpt?” A sigh, different from her normal one, escaped her lungs. “I hope you realize that we can’t just give you a slap on the wrist and let you run free.”

  Grin didn’t reply, his eyes unmoving and free of expression.

  “...Hold him steady, Sato. I’ll try to make it quick and painless…”

  “What?” Sato moved Grin away and against a tree, nearly knocking the wind out of him. “Why don’t we take him as a prisoner?”

  “Why are you of all people defending him?”

  “I… I don’t think it’s right. He’s just trying to survive, taking contracts like us.”

  Now he couldn’t remain quiet and unresponsive. Grin burst out laughing. It was slightly forced, though it was more genuine than he had been since they’d met him aboard the airship. “Hahaha! To think the lady that would constantly give me the death-stare would be the first to try and save my life! What a joke! Pwahaha!” Tears from the outburst of emotion welled up in his eyes.

  Ma’at stared at Sato, almost stared through her, analyzing her words and trying to understand them. “You didn’t bargain for the other one’s life, why is this any different?”

  “Rei was different! He murdered those defenseless Cogs!”

  “And you gave me this guilt trip with that girl Kalaya, too, just before I passed out. She tried to kill me. Twice. What makes you so sure this idiot won’t stab us in the back as soon as we let him go?”

  “Because… I can sense it.” Sato peered down, then looked back up at Grin as though she were seeing into another world. The radiant hues in her corneas swirled just as the nacre on Grin’s drowned blade did.

  “Sense what?”

  “Even if I don’t care for him personally… there’s light within him.”

  “Light?” Ma’at and Tien chimed simultaneously.

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  Sato gave them a firm nod, her lips pursed. “I sensed nothing in Rei… no colors to speak of. His soul didn’t carry any melody, no song, no magic. Only his mask and weapons did. But Kalaya’s… Before you raised your blade to her, all at once, I heard a choir of voices I couldn’t discern all shout at me to stop you. It was almost deafening. And, once they faded, the most beautiful song sounded. More wonderful than I’d ever heard in my life. It came from her heart and soul. It had to. No one else seemed to hear it. And I knew that she was special, that there was a profound goodness, a light within her that needed to be preserved. That’s all.” Following her explanation, a single glistening tear dropped from her eye and traveled down her pale cheek in a tiny river.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about, lady. Just-”

  Ma’at glared at him in the same exact way as earlier, igniting the fear in him and making him go quiet. “Kero mo folle!” she yelled at him in Sirithisian tongue. She rarely resorted to outright speaking in the language unless truly angered in a short span of time. She looked back at Sato with supreme seriousness, her face taut and shadowed. “Is that why…” She wanted to ask. Sato, before Ma’at could execute Kalaya, had told her not to darken her heart any further. “Do…” Still, the words clogged her throat. She couldn’t ask.

  “Hm?” Sato cocked her head.

  Ma’at didn’t finish her question. Instead, she turned back to the imprisoned man. “Why do you need the money?”

  “As if I’d-”

  “Why do you need the money?”

  He could fully grasp the floating scythe now. Any second, once an opening presented itself, he could escape. He decided to make use of the situation. “Tranq, of course. What did you think-”

  Ma’at roundhouse kicked him in the abdomen, then returned to her statuesque disposition with not one emotion in her visage. “The truth, or I’ll kill you regardless.”

  Grin wheezed, though luckily the water had absorbed most of the impact. Coughing and coming back to himself, he looked into her eyes and decided his life wasn’t worth withholding anything. And, if he tried to break free now and keep his secrets, she would kill him anyway. “Alright, alright. I’ll tell ya.” He took a deep breath, dredging up memories from the back of his mind. “Blue Lotus… they have my brother.”

  Ma’at remained still, seemingly accepting the answer. It seemed to be the truth. The trickster didn’t exude the obvious signs of lying as he had before.

  “Those slumped addicts I used to hang around? He’s one of them. And Blue Lotus is one of the biggest distributors of Tranq in the city. The Gunblades were the second, but you guys took care of them.” He looked away, looking now more sullen and depressed than ever, even when Ma’at had first met him in Indigo. “He… We owe ‘em a lotta money. End of story.” He met Ma’at’s gaze again, this time a certain apathy in his expression. There was no fear, no anger. Only the cruel reality of his situation out there for them all to see.

  “Then… this isn’t just a job for you. Your brother’s life is on the line, and you think you can save him from his fate.”

  Grin let his head sink down as a nod.

  Then, he’s…

  Tien returned with her arms full of gadgets and gizmos, random Arcane Constructs and magical weaponry including Rei’s helmet and starlight sword, but reading the room, she carefully began packing everything back up.

  Then, he’s not so different from me. The odd feeling she’d had rose back up to the surface. Hiding behind a miserable wall of mercenary work, biding their time, waiting and wishing and hoping for something that might not even come to pass. Being too weak-willed, scared, and alone to take another step out from their realm of comfort. They weren’t all that different. Reville had shackled them in different ways, and the ones they cared about were lost to them in different ways still, but their hearts ached the same. They wanted to see someone important to them again.

  She took a deep breath, then sheathed her twin blades without a word.

  “Ma’at?” Sato asked in a hopeful tone.

  Except, the main difference between us is that… he’s alone. She recalled the campfire she’d made in the middle of the Eastern Mudflats on that lonesome night all those months ago. Only the occasional bird flying past and the buzzing insects among the razorgrass kept her company. In some ways, she missed the silence. But life had been a whole lot more interesting lately. And though the endless tide of nightmares had only receded a bit, she had started to forget them by the afternoon. She had things to look forward to, jobs to do that she was contractually obligated to do, and colleagues… no, friends that she could rely on when she was tired and ailing. Yet, she thought, he’s alone… as I was that night.

  The trees around them creaked and swayed in a soothing rhythm with the rolling fog. Whether or not it was daytime or nighttime was unknown to them, the sky blotted by mesmerizing mist.

  At last, Ma’at came to a silent accordance with herself. “Let him go, Sato.”

  “What…?” Grin gaped, utterly bewildered.

  Before he could realize what was happening, Sato nodded with a charming smile and released him from the aquatic cage. He fell a few feet from the height she had pushed him and fell to the soggy, muddy ground in a splash.

  “Whoops, sorry about that! Ehehe…” She scratched the back of her head and flashed another smile, though this one was devious in nature.

  “Argh!” he spat mud out from his mouth. “You did that on purpose, you damn witch!”

  “No, it was an accident. I forgot I moved you halfway up the tree, promise.” A smug smirk, barely noticeable, had formed at the edge of her mouth. “If you want, I can give you a wash.” Menacingly, she aimed her umbrella at him. Water from the previous spell dripped from it and made Grin jump in fright.

  “Don’t you fucking dare, lady! I’ll cut you into ribbons if even a drop of that filthy water touches me again.” He bent down to retrieve his scythe.

  “Not so fast,” Ma’at warned. Her previously sheathed blade now floated telekinetically three inches from his nose. “We’ll make you a deal, how does that sound?”

  “Sounds like a crock of-”

  “You take the deal, or you die. Is that clear?”

  He muttered something under his breath, wrestled with his tongue for a moment, then surrendered. “...What’s the deal, then?”

  “Tag along with us. You can join Vroque as an honorary employee, temporarily. We can handle any other goons the Nye Inkorpt throws at us, and we can protect you. And, if you behave yourself and help us out, we might help you.”

  Clearly unenthused about the prospect, Grin looked at Ma’at, then Sato (who was still giving him a smug look that annoyed him to no end), then Tien (who was still shoving countless trinkets into her suitcase), then back to Ma’at with that same defeatist look of apathy. “Yeah? And how the hell could you three help me, eh?”

  Ma’at gave him a knowing look. “Isn’t that obvious? We’ll help you take down Blue Lotus and save your brother, eventually. Simple as that.”

  Grin erupted into his half-forced fit of laughter once more. It was a silly sight; the man who usually looked like a slender, gloomy fellow cracking up like a hyena in the middle of the forest. “Hahaha! Aw, man. You really had me going for a second there. You have no idea what they’re capable of. Even the Nye Inkorpt are scared of ‘em. They move like nobody you’ve ever seen. They can phase through walls, blink in and out of existence like ghosts. If they catch wind of anyone coming after them, they kill ‘em in their sleep without a hitch. It’s pointless.”

  “Couldn’t we just pay off your debt instead? How much do you owe, exactly?” Sato asked as if the company’s funds were hers to spend as she liked.

  “More than your boss would ever spend,” he replied, pushing back the levitating blade and resting against the tree with his arms crossed.

  “We’ll figure it out. For now, we have a contract to fulfill, and a job to finish.”

  “Hold on,” Tien said, done loading her suitcase. “I haven’t agreed to anything. He could very well jeopardize the mission. I doubt the Writer would sign off on this.”

  “What would you rather do then, Tien? Let him go? Kill him? Those are our only other options.”

  The petite brunette sighed, the Sirithisian’s sound logic puzzling her. “Hmm… I guess you’re right. There’s not much else we can do. The Writer would most likely want us to kill him, but…” She glanced at Sato. “Maybe he’ll be useful to us during the Masquerade.”

  “The what?” Grin asked.

  “You boarded the Cloudstriker and you didn’t even know about the Scarlet Masquerade? What would you have done if we had made it to the Crimson Castle along with the others?”

  Grin was at a loss. He had no idea what Tien was talking about, so he shrugged.

  “Oh, well. Nevermind. Vroque will accept you as an honorary employee, a mercenary under our name, but it will only be temporary as Ma’at said. And you won’t be paid, of course.”

  “Typical…” he muttered.

  “Besides,” Ma’at spoke up with a sly grin, “you owe me, you know.”

  “For what? I don’t owe you any-” And the realization hit him. Ma’at had, indeed, graciously and charitably tossed him a valuable coin. A value of Kin that was nothing to scoff at, though also nothing extraordinary either. But she had done so nonetheless, and it had been the catalyst that eventually landed him bigger and better-paying jobs, eventually leading to the one he was on right at that moment. An act of kindness that he had unknowingly taken advantage of and used in the end to make an attempt on that same person’s life. A pang of guilt, though minor, sparked in place of the rage that had been boiling in the pit of his stomach. Thus, he decided that the least he could do was make that right, at least. To repay the debt with equal kindness. “Heh… I suppose I do, don’t I? Well, ladies…” He turned to Sato. “Hag… I accept your deal. Not that I have much choice, really, but why not see where this path takes me, eh? Better than dying in the middle of nowhere.”

  “I am NOT a hag, you…! You…!”

  Tien pushed the fuming Sato back, patting her in a calming manner, and gave the man a cordial smile. “Then that’s that. Now, we really should be going. They’ll arrive any second now.”

  Tien pulled Sato along, bickering and chatting, and made their way down the path in a hurry to catch up to the rest of the passengers.

  Grin cracked his neck, his body sore from being trapped in Sato’s spell for so long, then reached down for his scythe again only to be met with a foot keeping it submerged in the mud. He looked up at Ma’at, her face deadly serious as it was before.

  “Don’t take my decision as random kindness, rat. I’ll be keeping a strict eye on you, and I’m sure they will, too.”

  “Why didn’t you just kill me then, dark-skin? I know you wanted to. I know the look people get in their eyes. It’s easy to spot once you’ve seen it once.”

  “Hmph.” She moved her foot, releasing his weapon. “Because I trust Sato with my life. She’s never steered me wrong. There was a time when she annoyed me to no end… when I couldn’t ever see myself working with others. When…” She paused, thinking if she should continue when she hardly knew him, but decided to when she realized it was something he needed to hear. “When I hardly had anyone whom I could call a friend. She was there for me, always, even if she didn’t know that I needed her. Heh, Asophi… I didn’t even know I needed her.” She coughed, watching him pick up his scythe slowly and with apprehension. “The point is, she saved your life. You owe her just as much… no, more than you owe me. Got that?”

  Grin stood lazily, idly bouncing the end of the scythe’s blade against the ground, and contemplated her words. Finally, with a similar look to the one of apathy, though different as it carried with it an unknown yet somewhat passionate emotion, he looked back up at her and nodded his head up and down affirmatively. “Got it.”

  And with that, they rushed to catch up to Sato and Tien and match their stride. Practically sprinting to make up for the time lost and the sheer distance, they ran toward the chaotic and pompous voices that grew clearer and clearer as they followed the twisting path through the gnarled woods.