Operation Bosco

by Fallen Ark Angel

No one said liberating a Kingdom would be easy. - Part of the Remember Me series.

10. Revisited, I

Operation Bosco: Revisited, I

The cold would come soon.

The weather had just started to turn, bringing about a slight edge to the wind at times and the leaves were only just beginning to crisp, but soon enough, autumn would be in full swing. It was prone to rather harsh winters, Locke knew, the portion of Fiore they were in, and he didn't imagine that the months proceeding that were very nice either.

That night in particular, as he watched clouds shift through the hole in the roof he'd still neglected to getting around to patching, Locke also observed a few leaves tumbling down as well. When it got too cold, he imagined, living out in the tents would be all that enjoyable. People would have to come into the barn or the house. Either way, he and Haven would probably lose their solitude.

He found that he rather liked it. Having the barn all to themselves. As he glanced down at his side then, to see where his girlfriend was resting against his side, he decided right then and there that they'd brave the cold together. Give up the barn and go live in a tent. Just the two of them.

It had been a calming few weeks.

Astra had left, back for Bosco, along with Richard. They were going to scope out the tunnel system, with Lucka providing some men to assist in this. As for the rest of them back on base, Astra merely sighed some some, as she looked them all over, and teasingly informed X that he was in charge.

It wouldn't be until Haven blatantly ignored his first command and he caught Shae and Locke snickering to one another behind his back that Xavier realized she'd not meant seriously.

Things across camp were pretty mellow. Locke could tell some of the new women were very uncomfortable with his presence and, as his funk wore away, this bothered him just as much as Haven had first worried. But as someone who'd spent the majority of their life as a hated person, his girlfriend was more than willing to show him the ropes.

It helped that she too, now, had someone sending glares her way frequently.

Of the older women, not many stuck around, but the main three seemed to have nowhere else to go. Gyu, T, and Wanda had been down the longest and though the former two seemed to be trying to contact some family in other Kingdoms, in hopes of heading there, Wanda made no mention of this to anyone. She spent most of her day trying very hard to get Nessa, the young woman they'd taken back wit them, to speak with her.

She presented the biggest problem, Nessa did.

"If we let her go back to Bosco," Astra pointed out the first time she had the whole group together, in the kitchen, only a day or so after Locke had first arrived back, "then she will surely give some info to our enemies. And if we let her loose her, she might someone get to the capital and while I don't believe it's illegal in Fiore to free slaves from Bosco-"

"We're kidnappers," Haven thought to inform them all bluntly and Locke, luckily, at that time was still going through his own darkness and only let out a bit of a sigh.

"No," Shae retorted with a glare. "She's free to leave. She just...has nowhere to go. At all. And that woman, Wanda, is her mother, and she's a child, so we can't kidnap someone if they're with their own parent."

"Someone will need to keep an eye on the girl," Richard finally spoke up, his usually jovial tone dead as he spoke with a heaviness not usually known to the man. "And not her mother. She's dangerous."

"She's a little girl," Shae kept up. "She's harmless. We just keep her here until she understands why it's necessary-"

"Like," Haven muttered softly to Locke, "kidnappers."

"I'll keep an eye on her!" Xay, who'd been mostly useless, honestly, in the past few months, was sensing a change in that. At Astra's looks of hesitance, he only insisted to the woman, "I'll befriend her. Like… Like a double agent! I'll tell her that you guys kidnapped me too!"

"No one," Shae insisted them, and she was growing agitated, "kidnapped anyone."

"Let X get close to her," Locke finally spoke up, raising his gaze to stare across the table at where the younger guy stood. "To convince her. Of what was wrong with Bosco and all that shit her father did. That's your job, okay? You're going to help her understand, the way that the rest of us are going to eventually force the rest of Bosco to understand, why you can't fucking own people. Why it's evil and wrong and, eventually, you pay for your sins. That'll be your job now, X. Can you handle it?"

The teen felt all the other's eyes on him then and, scratching at the back of his head, he offered simply, "I guess so."

Everything felt tense though, those first few days. For everyone. Shae had found herself in charge of the penthouse women that stuck around, which was a load of trauma no one rightly knew how to deal with, while Haven found herself sitting with Locke in the barn, talking around all of what was bogging him down. Richard and Astra had their usual struggles while Xavier, now, finally, truly presented with a job, tried hard to figure out how to go about it.

He didn't have an easy road ahead of him.

And Locke would have liked to assist him more, in it, but he had his own mental anguish to deal with. The few times they did run into one another tough, he would sigh through listening to status updates. Eventually though, he thought to impart something new on the guy.

"You know," Locke told him simply, "if you really want to become friends with her, I'd probably go through her mother first."

"Oh, like you told me before," Xavier remarked with a bright grin. "Like when you were stalking that girl and her mom-"

"I wasn't," Locke complained as Haven snickered from his side, "doing that."

Still, the days would pass and, as Locke felt more like himself, he did observe Xavier at least somewhat become friendly with the other teen. It helped, probably, that they were the only two around of that age and, therefore, had something rather important in common. And Wanda, who eyed him with distrust, seemed to realize, as her daughter refused to rightly speak with her, that he would be much better suited at getting through to the girl.

Everyone needed someone to be there for them. And they'd seek that person out, when not readily available. Locke felt lucky, maybe, that he'd been more or less gifted that someone his entire life. Haven wasn't always the easiest person to draw sympathy from, or even available for that sympathy to be dispensed, but she was here now. And had been since her revival. And it meant everything to him.

When he shifted a bit, when a leaf fluttered down towards his face and he had to knock it away, the motion seemed to rouse his girlfriend a bit. Her breathing stuttered, as she took a deeper one in, and Locke tried to skew his eyes shut, feign sleep as well, as not to draw her ire for waking her.

Haven groaned though, not rightly understanding what had awakened her, and even shifted away from him as she yawned. Blinking some, she noted some of the stray leafs floating in and, after pinning the disruption on them, decided it was his fault.

For not patching the roof.

Looking then to her boyfriend, who she originally hoped was up so she could chew him out a bit, Haven instead noted his pretend sleep rather easily, as he was still peeking an eye open a bit down at her, and decided she wanted something else instead.

Locke allowed both of his eyes to flutter open, still trying to pretend as if he'd just regained consciousness, as Haven had shoved up some, only to fall more heavily into him.

"Hey," she whispered, nuzzling her head against his. "Locke."

"Mmm," he moaned in reply. "Hey."

"When are you gonna fix the roof?" she questioned before pressing a kiss to his neck, a hand running down his chest.

"When you do," he retorted softly and Haven huffed some, her breath tickling his cheek before she pressed a kiss there. Squeezing his eyes shut, Locke only whispered, "It's almost sunup. Everyone will be around."

"So?" she asked as her hand snaked lower and he moaned softly. "I don't give a shit."

"Me neither," Locke gave in easily and Haven laughed, in a tone that almost felt too feminine for her. It made him smile, reaching up to run a thumb over her cheek, the woman still blinking somewhat sleepily. "Fuck 'em."

"Fuck me," she changed and it was his turn to laugh, leaning up to press his forehead to hers.

The sun was just beginning to lighten the sky when they left the barn, both avoiding any other early risers as they headed down to the river together, to wash off the morning's early activities.

It annoyed Xavier some, as Haven was late that morning, for their sunrise work out with the others, but she only told him that she was skipping out on it.

"Locke and I made some super important breakthroughs on my new spell," she told the younger guy. "You lead everyone in the work out. And then, tonight, you can come join us, alright? We'll just be in the forest."

Xavier begrudgingly let her go, watching the woman and her boyfriend disappear, back into the forest once more. This time they weren't headed back for the river where, now, it was the men's turn to bathe (the women would have their slot after breakfast), but rather a clearing they'd found that was perfect for testing out Haven's fledgling powers.

They were both in high spirits that morning, Locke and Haven were, after their earlier activities. They sat together on a fallen log, Locke pulling out a journal from the pack he'd slung over his back, to read off a few spell related things to her, while Haven only leaned into his arm, idly listening.

"-figured out where I'd gone wrong before," he was saying as the woman yawned some, perhaps having needed that allotted time spent on snoozing, as opposed to her chosen venture. "I think that I overestimated just how powerful the-"

"Locke," she questioned eventually. "Just show me the new portion so I can try it out, okay?"

"You should really listen though," he said. "To understand. If you would take this stuff seriously-"

"I listened to you over dinner last night, explain most of it."

"You didn't listen. You rolled your eyes the whole time and openly mocked me."

"If I didn't listen, then I wouldn't have any good mocking material."

"Haven-"

"Give me this." She snatched up the journal then before bouncing up to her feet. Walking towards the center of the clearing, her eyes traced some of the page before dropping the journal to the ground and tossing up an arm instead. Remarking to her boyfriend, "You don't have to understand magic to do magic."

"I mean, if you want to be good at it," he tsked as he stood as well, though it was only to fold his arms over his chest, "then it's best to understand it."

So far, his attempts at providing her with an equivalent spell to her mother's Demon Blast seemed to be lacking. It had been through her own experimentation that Haven had been able to form small orbs to begin with, not truly a spell, but closer to a natural excess flow of energy. Since absorbing the demon, when she allowed her electricity to flow freely, it always led to the steady drip of demonic energy. Outside of her Arm Takover, she truly didn't have much to go on. Just a demon name and nothing else.

Locke told her that if he could help her figure this out, how to have a more concentrated orb, then he could work on an eventual full body Takeover.

The idea was equally frightening as it was enticing.

Standing in the clearing now, Haven allowed the Takeover to engulf her arm, her flesh becoming the rough, scaled, and scarred of the demon's, a slight pain as her fingers seemed to grow, her nails extending into grotesque, pointed claws and the exhiliration each and every time she allowed this had yet to die off.

It felt so fucking good, unleashing that part of herself, and as Haven glanced over her arm, it was with a slight grin.

"Alright," Locke called out to her, his tone causing her to turn towards him. "Now try the spell."

She sent him a look for interrupting her basking, but still, as she lowered her arm, it was call out the words he'd written down, with the exact inflection and magical flow he'd suggested. A dark purple magic circle formed beneath her palm, before in its place energy back to gather, black and void, at first a tiny sphere that seemed to grow immensely in a matter of seconds.

This was a bit of an improvement from their previous trial runs and Locke started to smile, laughing a bit as he prepared to call out to her, but it only took a moment for that relief to fade away.

She hadn't been able to summon the orb, the first few times they tried. Been unable to grow it the others. But now, as it grew in her palm, she seemed unable to stop it and, as Haven jerked her hand back, rather than floating before it, the energy fell back, with her instinctively trying to catch it in her hand, causing her to cry out as it no doubt seared her flesh.

"Haven!" Locke rushed right over, staring with concern as she immediately dropped the takeover, the energy dissipating around them and her arm returning to its normal shape save the fact she now had a rather concerning burn running the length of her forearm, up into her palm. Quickly, her boyfriend reached for her. "Here, let me-"

"Did you see it?" She grinned despite the pain. "I had it! I fucking had it. And then-"

"You couldn't control it."

"I" she challenged, "can fucking control lightning from Raijin himself. Your fucking spell didn't work properly, is what it was."

"Haven-"

"That fucking stings," she complained, trying to jerk away from his grasp then, but he held tight to her wrist with one hand as the other applied a healing spell. The sourness of failure beginning to catch up with her, she said, "And it's your fucking fault."

"My fault? That you couldn't control-"

"Shut up. Idiot. Just admit you're wrong."

"Me admit that I'm wrong?"

"Have an original thought some time and stop just repeating mine."

And any of their warm, fuzzy feelings from the early morning were beginning to dissipate.

Haven sat in the grass now, away from him, looking over her arm, while Locke only retrieved his journal and went over the spell again.

This would be their pattern until noon. Trying out spells, finding them to fail, and then arguing about whose fault it was. They'd just had such a falling out and Locke, picking up on something he hadn't considered before, was about ready to more carefully question Haven on something in particular when Xavier finally showed up.

"Are you guys fighting?" was the first thing he asked after arriving, noting the glares being sent one another's way.

"No," Locke said curtly, but Haven only scoffed.

"He's not worth fighting with," she insisted to which her boyfriend snorted.

He wasn't fully convinced, the teen wasn't, but also didn't rightly care as he announced to the pair of them, "That's good. Because I told Shae that the three of us could go into town, right now, to go get the supplies for the week."

"Why would you do that, X?" Locke complained. "We're very busy-"

"No, we're not." Haven refused to return her boyfriend's stare when he sent one her way. "Let's go right now."

While a trip into town wasn't exactly something the woman was looking forward to, she also didn't want to admit to Locke in that moment that her magic was draining, fast, and she wouldn't be able to preform many more tests for him. The demon Takeover was straining to do repeatedly over the course of a few hours, and this gave her the easy out for a break.

They headed out, Xay tugging a wagon behind them to load things into, while Haven and Locke originally wouldn't speak to one another, both walking stiffly. Xavier directed most of his chatter towards the woman, thankfully for Locke, as mentally he most just ran over equations and his magical spells, hoping to locate the problem in his current one.

It was a slow day in the market and, after giving Xavier some jewels, Locke instructed him in exactly what to buy before remarking to his girlfriend that they could at least check in at the mail office.

"I rented a box," he reminded Haven as they went, both still rather curt with one another. "And gave my parents the address. Since it seems like this is where we're staying for a bit. In case they wanted to send us anything."

By anything, Locke had mostly meant a letter or two, maybe, having expected one from Haven's parents as well. But while he did find both of those things, he was also instructed at the front desk, when he went to get the key for the postal box, that he had incurred a fee for the storage of a package as well.

"I told them that they didn't have to really send me something," Locke remarked to Haven with a bit of a blush as he carried their letters, and the rather hefty package, to a nearby park where they'd have a chance to go over their contents.

While Haven glanced over both a letter from her mother and one from her sister, Locke took to slicing open the box, not at all shocked to find a nice coat for the upcoming season and a few other random things. Lily had sent him a pack of kiwis, which were beginning to go bad, his father had included two cans of beer, and his mother had sent him a few sweet treats. Mostly though, his eyes were glued to the other envelope, taped to the side of the box, which he quickly moved to grab.

"Holy shit," he remarked, drawing Haven's gaze from across the picnic table. "My parents sent me a, uh, lotta jewels."

"Exactly what a woman wants," Haven remarked. "A guy who's funded by his parents."

"Yeah, and you're every man's dream, Have," he retorted softly as he took to counting. Whistling softly then, he said, "I'm going to write them and tell them not to do that. They probably think that I'm running low, and I guess I am, but-"

"Have you written Navi?"

"What?"

"You told her you would." Finished with her letters it seemed, Haven gave the man her full attention as she said, "You should write to her. About what you've done so far."

"Why do you care?"

"I don't." She handed one of the letters she'd received over to him. "And you should probably read this one from Marin and reply to it, on my behalf."

"Haven-"

"I," she complained, "wrote my parents less than a month ago. I shouldn't have to do more than that."

"If Marin wants to hear from one of us," he tutted, "it's you. And you know that."

"What was all that you told her our last night there? That you were her big brother and you loved her and all that? And yet, you don't write her."

"Haven-"

"Seems like you've been way more derelict than me."

Locke glanced over at her before asking, "Where'd you learn the word- Oh, here it is in your mom's letter."

"I think my parents sent some of these jewels too. I bet." Haven snagged the envelope finally, to count it over herself. "I mean, they probably sent the majority of it."

"We should probably save it," he remarked, rather than argue. He didn't want to argue again, that day, honestly. "Put it in my bank. Or something."

"Or something," she muttered, still counting.

"Look at all that," he said then and his tone was different. Dropping the letter in his own hand, he stared openly at his girlfriend as he said, "When I'm done here, with this, I'll bring home that much on every S-Class job."

"Yeah, right."

"I will," he insisted. "We will. You'll be with me, mostly, I bet. Right?"

"The way shit's going now?" She reluctantly slid the now closed once more envelope back to its rightful owner. "That's a year away. If not more."

"You've heard Astra," he replied. "Shit's going crazy over there right now. People are scrambling. Because of shit we did. I think we're closer to something massive than you think. And since when are you so negative? You're usually convinced that if I just let you go-"

"I could beat my way right through the top brass of Bosco. Of course I could." She gave him a look. "It's just you, I guess. You've been fucking with my head. With all your whining and neediness."

"Shut up." Locke got to his feet once more, tossing the cash envelope as well as their letters into the box with the other things. "Come on. Let's go find X. We've been really trusting so far, leaving him all alone."

Haven was quick to follow after him, walking perhaps a bit too close to the man, their arms brushing frequently. He thought she realized she'd been a bit cold, maybe, teasing him over his mental state the past few weeks, but it would take a lot more than him being short with her to get Haven to apologize for something. This was the closest he'd get unless he escalated things, but…

It wasn't that serious.

Locke found it best, most of the time, to just go with whatever she was willing to present. It saved him a lot of headaches and convoluted thinking.

They found Xavier with a cart not nearly as full as it should be with supplies as the teen, instead, seemed far more interested chatting up the two girls his age that were lingering around him. Both girls took off though, at the approach of Haven and Locke, but the former pinned it on the slight glare of the latter.

"Nice going, Hav," Locke joked weakly, still cautious of pissing her off once more. "You scared off his little girlfriends."

Luckily, she was too busy eyeing Xay to catch his jest.

"You're not doing yet?" was all she asked with a bit of annoyance towards the teen, who only grinned sheepishly, his cheeks previously rosy from the young girls now staying that way, though for a slightly different reason. He never seemed to like it much, when he truly pissed off the older woman. "Hurry up. I want to get back."

"Why?" the teen retorted, not willing to be the only one feeling uneasy. "So the two of you can makeout more?"

"Please," Haven retorted as she took to looking over what contents the wagon held. "Don't make me lose my lunch."

"Haven," Locke complained with a glare, but as she took over going over the list, Xavier turned his attention to the box in the man's arms.

"What's that?" he asked, coming over to get a peek inside.

Allowing this, Locke remarked, "My parents sent me a box of stuff. Just, uh, some thing to remind me of home. Here, you want a cookie? My mom made them."

"My mom's cooking is better." Haven, done glancing over the wagon, took to pulling it instead, leaving the guys behind. "Her baking too."

Her boyfriend snorted, glaring after her, but she only continued on, apparently wishing to finish off the list on her own. Which was fine; Xavier seemed pretty intrigued with the stuff in the box.

"What's this fruit?"

"You've never had a kiwi?" Locke spared a smile for the boy. Pulling the box back when he tried to snag one from the it, the older guy said, "C'mon. I'll buy you a fresh one. My Exceed loves them."

"You're what?"

"I've never told you about Lily?" Locke felt poorly about that, for some reason. Sighing, he started out for the nearest fruit stand. "Maybe it's a good thing we're having some downtime; we can have a chance to really talk."

"Lily? You mean your cat? You feed your cat fruits?"

"It's...more complicated than that."

Most things, Locke found out the more he associated outside of his guild, was when it came to his upbringing.

"Lily's like a, uh, cat that can talk," Locke said then. "With wings. And he can grow to the size of a full grown man."

Xavier blinked some before remarking, "Does Haven know that you're full of shit?"

"I'm serious," Locke insisted. "All of the Dragon Slayers have them. Well, the real ones, anyways. Don't, uh, tell Haven I said that though."

They were before a stand now, looking down at the colorful spread, and while Locke looked for something specific, Xavier only munched on the cookie he'd snagged from the box. When the older guy, eventually, presented him with a prized kiwi, Xavier took it instead, glancing over the fuzzy fruit.

"You just...bite it?" the teen asked after the older man tossed a coin to the fruits stand attendant. "Or-"

"You peel it." And Locke was quick to snatch the fruit back, a magic circle appearing before his finger took a metallic shape. Taking to doing it for the teen, "Lily does like eating them whole though. Somehow."

"It must've been cool, I guess." Xavier wasn't very glad when he was presented with a sticky, dripping mess of two halves of fruit, but tried to seem as appreciative as possible as he took a bite of the sweet kiwi. "Having a talking cat."

"I mean, it was just my life," Locke remarked with a shrug. "But he is pretty cool. Definitely the best of all the Exceeds."

"Does your dad, like...have to brush him? And feed him? Like a real cat? Or-"

"He's more like an...uncle. Or older brother. A friend," Locke decided. "Than a cat."

"I always wanted a brother," the younger guy remarked wistfully. "And a cat. A cat brother would have been cool."

"I wanted a brother too," Locke assured him. "A real one. When I was younger. Sometimes I wanted an older one, that would tussle with me and take me out on jobs. Or other times I wanted a younger one, like how Haven has a sister, who would follow me around and I could play with." Shaking his head some then, he asked, "Are you an only child?"

And Xavier seemed rather interested then, in his kiwi, not rightly able to look at the man as he said, "Yeah. I guess so."

"You guess?" When the other guy didn't answer, Locke reached over to tap him on the shoulder. As Xay followed, Locke led him to an empty curb, where they could sit and the boy could finish his kiwi. Once they were down though, the older man only asked, "Hey, uh, I guess I just assumed that you're from Bosco. Are you?"

Nodding, the teen said, "I'd never left it before I followed Astra here. It's...different. In good ways. But-"

"Home's home," Locke assured him. "And when we clear that place up, instill some actual change, I'll be glad to see you back there."

"What do you even think it will look like?" Xavier found, personally, kiwi wasn't for him, and quickly downed all he could in one huge gulp. Around this, he continued, "When we're done?"

"Bosco? Well...there'll be no slaves. I guess. A new king. Or something."

"Like Astra? Will she be the queen?"

"I don't fucking know, X." Locke frowned over at him. "There's other shit too. I mean, I guess. Unfair, imbalanced power. I mean, we have a fucking queen; she doesn't own us. Our royal guard isn't shoved down our throat all the way in Magnolia. I'm all for cultural differences, but your kingdom needs an entire overhaul."

This sounded boring to Xavier though and, with another shrug, he just remarked, "I'd probably want some Exceeds. Of our own. Cat brothers. And sisters I guess. Uncles. Moms and dads."

"I mean, I don't think…" Locke trailed off then, scratching at the back of his head. He could see Haven still, marching about, filling her cart while haggling obnoxiously in the mostly empty shopping strip. Sighing some, he gave in, "Maybe. X. Maybe."

The afternoon was nearly wasted away by the time they set back out for home. And it was all but behind them by the time they arrived. But they still had quite the walk back then, with Xavier tossing around a rubber ball Locke had given him a jewel to buy, while the man himself needled his girlfriend a bit, now that she seemed to be in a better mood, over writing her parents again, especially her younger sister.

All in all, it was a rather jovial return for the trio and things were much the same, an hour away, back at base. The night was cool and a lot of those who hung around too a late evening dip in the river.

Shae though had other plans.

"No wonder you fit in so well, in the penthouse," Lize remarked as she stood in the tiny room split between Shae and Astra. "You're used to living better than everyone else."

"I'd hardly call this better," Shae retorted as she flicked on the light though her eyes stayed on Lize, watching as the other woman took a healthy glance around before going to sit on the edge of one of the twin beds.

"Than a tent?" Lize snorted, but it was with a soft smile. "Try sleeping in one some time."

"You have a sleeping bag too."

"I'll trade you," the other woman remarked as she was glancing down now, rooting through the jacket that hung over her shoulders for a lighter and her pack of smokes. Distracted some what by the action, she absently offered, "You take the tent."

Shae only sighed though, coming to sit on the edge of the opposite bed. There was so little space between the two beds that the women's knees just barely brushed. Softly, Shae remarked, "I used to stay in a tent too. Before."

"Before?"

"We used to be a bigger group," Shae went on. "Astra and this man that she knew, they mostly stayed in the house. Richard too. I think he owns this land, somehow, through his guild. It wasn't until everyone ditched out that Astra let X and I come in out of the cold."

"Why'd they leave?"

"We weren't...like this before." Shae looked off. "Things are different right now. The way we're going about things. We weren't...looking to free people, before. Astra and her partner… But Haven and Locke showed up. They're from a pretty important guild, I guess, and Astra thought we should see what they could do. Haven took care of Ewing's place alone and then Locke helped me and her, you know, with..."

"Monty."

His name still felt heavy on Lize's lips and Shae gave her a sympathetic glance, but the other woman only seemed concerned with taking a deep drag then, and it wasn't unlike having Astra in the room. At least in that sense.

"Sorry," Shae whispered. "I didn't mean to-"

"It's fucking weird having him hang around all the time. Everyone thinks so."

"You mean Locke?"

Nodding, Lize remarked, "You're friends, aren't you?"

"Well, yeah, I guess so. He was just doing his part. We wouldn't have gotten out of there without him. They'd have caught us off in the tunnels. And he never really hurt anyone, you know, he just-"

"Yeah, I know." And Lize sounded somewhat annoyed then. "I didn't say that he did; I just said its weird to still see him hanging around."

"Like a constant reminder?"

But Lize smiled then, lowering her cigarette as she shrugged. "Who could forget? With or without him?"

An uncomfortable silence gripped them then and they encountered this at times.

Since arriving back together from Bosco, Shae found that she was spending an increasing amount of time with the other woman. Which, considering the penthouse women that hung around seemed to be her given jurisdiction, that seemed to make sense, but things with Lize felt...different.

In a way they shouldn't.

Lize had just gone through massive trauma, the likes of which Shae was distanced from. Her tribulations in the Bosco had never escalated to that level and while she knew she needed to be available to the women who'd escaped, to help them when she could, she was also aware of the space they also required.

Things felt natural though, with Lize, the more time they spent together. They were forging a friendship of their own, if not something more, and as they sat there together, Shae found she was glad the woman had chosen to stick around.

For however long she decided.

"Locke's a good guy," Shae decided then, to insist, as even if the moment slipped away from them, she didn't rightly want any other impression to be left. "He's really a big softy. You should get to know him."

"Maybe." Lize brought her smoke back up with a shrug. "He's always with that blonde though. Haven? The blighted one."

"I don't think her magic shit is a...blight. But-"

"I know magic." The woman prided herself a bit, even, on what she did know. "What she wielded that day felt different."

"It's a demon. Or something."

"Or something."

"Lize?"

"Hm?"

"Is it actually terrible in the tents?" And Shae took a more serious tone then. Astra had, actually, left her in charge after all. Or so it seemed. She was the only one out of the main people who seemed concerned with keeping things under control. "I know it's not great, but we thought we'd have more time to figure something out. Of where to put people."

"I mean, it's no faive-star resort-"

"Lize-"

"-but it's fine. It's better than fucking barracks. Actual privacy. Distance from others." Lize shrugged some. "Lived in worse. Before...Monty's place. Grew up in a fucking beat up old cabin on the back of someone's property, five of us women in there, living piratically on top of one another. I'm sure most of the other marked can't claim much better."

"Former," Shae reminded. "marked. And it's going to be winter soon. We'll have to do something with you guys. Build...structures. Not, uh, a...cabin or barracks, but something. Maybe some small structures? Or-"

"I'm telling you." And Lize seemed sure about this. "Everyone's just glad to be here."

Mostly, at least.

When the trio arrived back with supplies, most everyone was around to help clear them out, and Haven mentioned to Xavier his help wasn't needed; he should go check in, instead, on his little project.

"Go pester your friend for awhile," she remarked with a thump to his head. "Try not and tell her about the others though. Girls don't like that."

"It's not like that," Xay complained, batting at her hand, but he did set off to go clear his throat, loudly, before Nessa's tent and hope she was up for a visit.

It felt like such a peaceful day. Almost a normal one, maybe, or at least the new kind that they were all adjusting to, and no one rightly knew that Astra would be arriving back that day, alone, playing high spirits as she was warmly greeted from those around, but there was something more, just beneath the surface with her.

There always seemed to be.

"We've hit a snag," she remarked simply. "The tunnel system is vast, but destroyed, in parts. Tunnels have been caved in and manually sealed off."

"Locke could cut through it," Shae remarked, glancing over at the man. "I mean, some of it, can't you?"

They were having dinner inside the night, Astra, Shae, Locke, Haven, and Xavier. The teen had forced his way in when the group tried to keep him out and seemed to be conscious of the fact he wasn't wanted, eating silently and mostly just listening.

"W-Well," he started, but of course, Haven took over.

"No fucking way." Then she frowned when she felt her boyfriend's glare. "I just mean that, yeah, his magic can cut through some stuff, but getting rid of debris and shit? That's manual labor. We'll just all have to pitch in and clean it out."

"No fucking way," Astra remarked back, mocking, maybe, but Haven was too busy trading looks with Locke, at her side, to notice the woman across from her. Sighing some, the oldest woman told them all, "There's too much of it. All around. The tunnels are in disrepair. Some of it seems intentional. Luka surmises that it was done intentionally, in some parts by the Kingdom, to ensure the ending of their more illicit exports."

"Yeah, don't sling dope underground when you're trading people top side," Shae snorted, but Astra merely sighed.

"There's money to be made for the Kingdom," Astra offered. "In the slave-trade. Underground drug trafficking? Not so much. And besides, my point is, we're going to need some heavy lifting to get some of these rocks and debris out of the way. I was hoping, between the three of you-"

"Four," Xavier whispered softly, but only Locke seemed willing to give him a grin.

"-someone might know some sort of...magic or something. That could help us." Astra looked around, but seemed mostly interested with the couple. "Someone from your guild, perhaps?"

"My uncle's a beast," Haven remarked around a mouth full of soup. "Literally. He's called Beat Arm Elfman."

"My dad eats metal," Locke agreed. "And Pantherlily's sword can cut through the largest stones."

But Astra seemed unimpressed. "I mean, maybe. But I was hoping for something a bit...faster? Or-"

"Kai." Haven frowned, even just from speaking his name. Looking to Locke, she said, "Can't he control the ground? Or some shit?"

"I mean…I really wouldn't want to get him caught up in this shit," Locke told her. "Plus, he'd be slower than my dad just eating it all. I mean, Haven, his magic well has to be pretty close to dry."

"Yeah, but-"

"I," Shae brought up slowly, "might know someone. Who could help us."

"Really?" Astra looked to her then. "Someone you write? And get here soon?"

"Not exactly." Shae shifted, uncomfortable. "They're across the boarder."

"In Bosco?" Haven asked, but the other woman merely shook her head.

"In Joya. Back home." Shae shook her head. "She's an ex, but-"

"But you can get her to come here." Astra seemed insistent on hammering that home. "Can't you?"

"We really didn't end on good-"

"How can she help?" Xavier spoke up again because, honestly, the keeping out of the way thing never seemed to work for long.

"She can move rocks." Shae could, at least, look at him. "It's her magic. She-"

"Then she has to," Astra seemed certain of this, "come. And you're going to bring her here."

"I mean, I can always ask, but I don't even know if she'd read a letter, if I wrote one. So-"

"Then you'll go to her. In person."

"Astra-"

"We need to tunnels. The first part of getting them is done. You did it." Astra leveled her gaze. "Now I need you to do the easiest part."

"It's not going to be easy."

"Of course it is," Astra said. "You tell her that you were taken captive, in Bosco, and that now you need her help to keep that from happening to others."

"You want me to just drop back in her life and dump all of that on-"

"Yes!"

"I'll go with you. Shae." Locke looked over then. "Would that be fine? I'll do all the talking. I've never been to Joya, but I am something of a mediator between unruly people-"

"Are you talking about me?" Haven frowned. "Right in front of me?"

"I can afford, maybe," Astra intervened, "round trip for one of you to Joya. And it would be pushing it. But two of you-"

"I used to run with smugglers." Haven, finished with her meal, pushed the rest of it towards Locke as she confidently asserted, "I can get us across the boarder. For free. Well, mostly."

"Smugglers?" Locke frowned at her, shoving her food right back. "Or treasure hunters?"

"I'm a social butterfly, Locke," she retorted simply. "I know a lot of people."

"You," Xay tried, "get around."

"Haven," Locke kept up. "If you're talking about those guys from the capital-"

"If they can get Shae across the boarder to get us someone to clear the tunnels," Astra spoke up, "then I don't give a fuck what they are. Smugglers, treasure hunters, jewel thieves-"

"No one said anything about thieves," Haven defended a bit, but this seemed to only put Locke out more as he huffed and crossed his arms over his chest tightly.

"Well, no one smuggles things they lawfully own," Shae remarked, but then she was frowning more as she shook her head. "I can't do this though. I'm sorry. What about this Kai guy? Can't he-"

"No," Haven replied flatly. "Whatever you're going to say, he can't."

"You're going." Astra, having not touched her meal, stood then as she pulled her smokes from her pocket. "The three of you."

"Four," Xay whispered, but still, he was ignored.

"And," Astra kept up as she lit up, "you're going to bring this ex back here. Shae. You have to. I want these tunnels at least somewhat cleared out and ready for quick escapes before we launch a full attack. Those are orders. Like...listen to them or something. March. Whatever."

"Astra, I get to go too, right? Right?" Xavier was quick to follow the woman out of the house, chasing after her, almost. "Hey, Astra!"

It was just the three of them, again, after a few weeks of avoidance and when Shae lifted her eyes to find Haven's, she was met with the wide, shit-eating grin the blonde had been missing for so long.

"Looks like I'm taking you home," she offered in jest to the other woman with a bit of a snicker.

Her joy was killed off though, as her gaze caught the strong one of her boyfriend at her side, his eyes not filled with the same fearfulness that Shae's kept, but rather a stony edge.

"Who is it, Haven?" he questioned plainly. "Who's going to help us get across the boarder?"

Souring, she told him simply, "If you were a good S-Class mage, you'd have your own fucking connections instead of relying on mine."

"Haven-"

"As it stands, you hardly ever get out of your mommy and daddy's little thumb and have no friends of your own. None that fucking matter." Shoving up then, she said simply, "We leave tomorrow. We take a train out to where I know some guys that will help us out. We get over, get your girl, Shae, and come back to knock the rocks out of the fucking tunnels. So I can get back into Bosco and finish my goddamn job."

Shae, finally, found something to be annoyed with that wasn't her own inner turmoil. Making a face at Haven, she asked, "Why are the fuck are you mad at me?"

"I'm not." Haven huffed, standing tall. "I'm speaking assertively."

"You're shouting," Locke retorted, not even looking at her. "Because you did fucked shit when you were running around on your own and hate it every single time I bring it up."

"I did fucked shit?"

"You always do fucked shit- Oh, run away, Haven. That's great. Real mature."

"I'm not running away." And she turned back, at the door, just to glare at him. "Idiot."

"She's walking assertively," Shae offered and now, yes, Haven was mad at her too.

Which was fine.

Alone at the table now, just Shae and Locke, the pair found one another staring at each other for a second before she sighed down at her plate and he, finished with his own, took the fact Haven was gone to drag hers back over in front of him.

"It'll be alright, Shae," he offered the woman all the same. "If it makes you feel better, I guess, technically, Haven was my ex for about three years. So you don't have the worst one in history, at least."

"Astra doesn't get it."

"Astra doesn't get anything." He reached across the table though, to pat at her shoulder. "It's asking a favor though. Right? Of a girl you loved. Or once loved. Whatever. We're all adults. And we're doing it to help people. Slaves. Who would say no to that? Not someone you loved, right?"

Looking off, the woman finally took to picking at her dinner before saying, "It'll be nice, at least. To go back home. I guess."

"Yep." He gave an uneasy smile then, Locke did, as he remarked for the second time that day, "Home's home."