Ivor sighed, pressing his hand to his forehead.

This whole situation was so stressful... first, Jesse going missing during the party, and not five minutes later Romeo being badly poisoned. If the Warden hadn't been available at the time...

Ivor tried to dismiss the thought, but it was trying to remain, like some kind of vicious worm. Or a parasite, leeching out any positive thoughts he could have.

There was a rather loud argument going on right now- between who should stay and who should leave.

On the one hand, a smaller group was better, Gill pointed out. Less of a possibility that they'd be discovered, easier to sneak in, less bloodshed and less chance of the members being injured.

On the other hand, Maya had snapped back immediately, more people could be better- because if they went in with a small group, and against all odds got discovered, even one member being incapacitated would be a huge crutch.

Ivor had seen Maya and Gill argue before. Hell, training had been... well, hell, what with the two of them constantly snapping and bickering with each other.

But it wasn't just careless little snips and insults this time.

It was something that actually mattered.

And two lives hung in the balance.

Harper had offered to go- an offer that had been immediately shut down.

She'd looked offended until Mevia, still overseeing Narvid and fending off any gossip reporters, had pointed out that with Romeo's life teetering in the mix, they couldn't afford losing any lord. They were already crippled without Fred, without Jupin's replacement.

They could afford to lose Romeo.

Sort of.

It would be a horrible loss- devastating for Xara, reeling with uncertainty and confusion and having truth swept out from beneath her feet, at the very least, and further unbalance the politics of Cosmos-

But Ivor had handled worse.

It would be a difficult balancing act to manage, but they could eke it out.

Losing a third might as well be wrapping the keys up with satin bows and sparkly glitter and handing it over with a sincere congratulations of taking over the entire realm.

It was a very annoying argument.

"Three is better- we still have a team even if one gets taken out," Gill argued.

"I still think we should bring at least six," Maya responded. "Two might be a team, but they're not gonna take out anyone who might be guarding the place without losing another one."

"Aiden could take most of them out."

"Don't drag me into this."

Radar spoke up right as Maya and Gill looked like they might want to rip out each other's throats. "Why not- why not split into two groups- groups of three? O-one group can act as a distraction and... and the other can... um..."

He faltered at the intense looks that were now being directed at him from the duo.

"I like that," Petra said quickly before Maya or Gill could raise an objection. "Losing one member won't cripple the entire mission, but the groups are small enough to go somewhat undetected..."

Hadrian stayed quiet.

Jesse's head hurt.

Am I dead?

Absentmindedly, the little human fumbled around, finding their left elbow and pinching it as hard as they could.

"Ouch."

That's a no.

Jesse sat up slowly. Their surroundings felt more like a jail cell than the original, despite the still-smooth walls and floor. There was a wall of metal bars, and Jesse could feel a cold circle of metal on their ankle.

Their eyes scanned their surroundings- quick, careful. They'd been taught how to break wood with a single kick and an arm with a sharp twist.

But they hadn't been taught how to break metal.

Jesse could not have uprooted the stone that surrounded them, and even if they found a weak link in the chain that clinked when they shifted, they would be stuck in a stone room with a broken chain trailing from their ankle and staring, at a loss, at the bars encaging them in the space.

Besides, their head hurt and their body ached- like someone had chucked them into a body bag and then into a blender and let the thing go wild.

There was the sound of cloth rustling, and Jesse went stiff.

They were not alone.

"So it's decided, then," Aiden said. "I'll take Petra and Lukas with me."

Gill shot Maya an irritated look. "Don't tell me I have to get saddled with her."

"Not pleased about this either, dipshit. Don't make this harder than it already is," Maya snapped back.

"Jack-"

Jack was shaking his head before the group had even fully turned. "Sorry, friend. Nurm and I decided we're going to head down to Narvid as soon as we can, to help Mevia out. If we're... ah, really preparing for the worst, we should be ready."

Hadrian was silent.

(Xara blinked her eyes hard.)

(They looked startlingly liquid.)

Lukas considered it, blindfolded eyes sweeping the room.

(Everyone there was considerably glad he was keeping them blindfolded, after what had happened with Karen.)

"Then... Radar."

"Me?!" The younger demon exclaimed, voice cracking at the end and spiking his voice into a near-hysterical squeak.

Petra nodded. "You have those 'seeking' glasses, right? If anything starts coming at you, Gill and Maya are covered. Plus, I know you can handle basic shield spells."

"Bu-buh-"

"Plus, Gill and Maya are gonna keep you covered. They might argue, but they're not horrible people."

"We're not people," Gill grumbled, though the lords and barons did make a mental note that he hadn't exactly argued with Petra on the point. "We're demons."

Petra waved the distinction off. "Only half."

It was so hard to tell what was what in the space- it was like Jesse was standing in some sort of void, with only the bars and the light of a single torch, reflecting on the glossy rock surface a little, to indicate which way was the way out.

Still, Jesse peered through the bars into the surrounding darkness- too scared to move, in case the chain was short and they tripped and fell on their face.

With how much everything ached, they weren't all too excited for that possibility.

Was that... a face in the darkness? Or was it just their pounding head making shapes up, desperate to see something other than glossy stone and metal bars and darkness?

It shifted closer.

If their head was making things up, it was doing a splendid job.

Hadrian was watching the plan be cobbled together before his very eyes. Arms crossed, jaw clenched, brow furrowed.

There wasn't enough information to go off of for this mission.

Lukas hadn't been able to discern an exact number of people guarding the place- only that it was a lot, and that was such a vague qualifier that Aiden had responded sarcastically with "and did she think that the location Jesse's being kept in is only moderately large, or very large?"

There was no description of what they wanted with Jesse. As wealthy (sort of) as Karen was, in the larger scheme of the group in the Wilds, she wasn't very high up.

Not being high up meant she didn't know very much.

Which, in turn, meant that none of them knew very much.

But they couldn't wait.

Not with the time limit.

Because the moment the time limit expired, they would lose a lord.

And they would probably lose Jesse too.

There wasn't enough information.

The figment of Jesse's imagination shifted closer.

Jesse squinted- their vision was oddly blurry. Did they have a concussion?

There was a splot of grayish skin... green hair...

A familiar set of goggles.

"Hello, Jesse," PAMA said.

Reuben made an inquisitive sound as Hadrian abruptly stood, his chair rattling on the floor as he shoved it back and stood simultaneously.

It was a wonder the chair didn't fall.

Every eye in the room- and Mevia's, though she wasn't in the room- turned to look at Hadrian.

Hadrian sucked in a breath through clenched teeth and let it out- almost in a growl.

"I have something I need to tell you."

A/N: You might've noticed chapters are gonna go back down to- probably 1.5k words or so.

And the short answer is... I'm busy.

I usually don't have all that much time and energy to pound out 2.5k+ words in a few days to post anymore. I'm usually working on at least three to four projects throughout a day, sometimes toggling between them. I have a dating sim for MCSM that's currently at 80k+ words and not even half-finished and my own personal projects along with work and school.

It's less of a workload for me to write shorter chapters, and I can get them out to you guys faster.

Sorry for the long wait. Hopefully I can get another chapter out soon.

Responses to reviews :3

Darkbeast Dend: Finally here, haha.

TheAmberShadow: Who knows :P It's mostly an original demon spirit's I think / I think I mentioned he can see through the blindfold- it's just how the eyes he has works. / He's working on it... we're gonna get there lol / It was haha

jessicanightmarewolf: :3 / Petra can house a demon spirit; so too can Lukas. / Still coming along, very slowly haha / Thank you!

Happygoluckymegami: Lol / Ye :D

Toni42: She kinda did haha

See you guys next time. :3

x.X. A.L. X.x.