Chapter 34:

Julian Avis, Co-Head Gamemaker

"You know, I really wish I had popcorn right now," Julian says as he leans back on his chair, feet kicked up on Magnus's desk as he sits next to him. Between the group reuniting and the careers about to fight, damn, this is good drama. And way more entertaining to watch when he's not in the arena getting chased by careers. "I do love to see a good fight between careers. It's what they deserve."

"This isn't about entertainment," Calisto calls down to him from up where Julian should be sitting to work, but fuck that. If he is required to do this, he's going to be a chill boss. "Magnus, can you kick his chair for me?"

"Why would I do that to him?" Magnus asks, giving Julian a confused look but it quickly turns into a grin when he sees him there. "He's too cute to do that."

"Aww, you're cute too," Julian tells him quietly as Calisto pretends to gag and says, "Gross." He turns his attention back to the screens. "You know, I thought this Head Gamemaker stuff was going to be more difficult. But I'm having a great time here."

"Oh now you've done it," Laelia calls over to him, shaking her head. "Jinxed it, that's for sure."

"Eh, it will be fine," Julian says, waving his hand dismissively at her as he lands his chair back on all four feet. "I'm going to grab some water and a snack, you want anything?"

"Coffee would be great," Magnus says, giving him a smile as he gets up to head over to the snack bar.

Oh, Julian loves the free food and coffee perks of this job. An instant espresso machine? If he ever sees Seraphim when this is done, he's going to thank that caffeine addict. He scratches Fucker's chin from where she sits on his shoulder as he starts the machine, before grabbing a few granola bars and a bag of chips. He starts munching on it as the coffee brews, giving some to his parrot as he leans against the table and watches the fight going on. "I hope they end up killing themselves," he tells her quietly, shaking his head. "They deserve it. Stupid career bastards."

Fucker just lets out a squawk at that and he gives her a look. "It's not a lie," he tells her, letting out a huff as he grabs his coffee and heads back to his seat. Of course he wants the careers to self-destruct, what does she know? She's just a lie-detector bird, that's all.

"What did you get?" Magnus asks as Julian sits back down next to him and takes a sip of his coffee. His eyes light up when he hands him a granola bar and he starts munching on it. "Thank you, dear, you're so kind. Chris!" He calls out to his little pig and pats his leg, motioning him over to him. "You want a snackie? Of course you do! Who's a good boy? You are!"

"Wait, what's going on?" Calisto asks them loudly, taking Julian's focus away from watching Magnus be so cute and caring with his pet. He looks up at him, but when he sees the fear in his eyes and the way he's pointing at the screens, he turns back in his chair to see what's going on.

On all the screens, he can see the sky turning red and Magnus lets out a shriek when the mutts all start emerging and running rampant. He throws his granola bar on the ground and almost knocks over the coffee, which Julian grabs quickly, as he starts typing away frantically. "Oh no, no, no," he mutters, shaking his head, but he's not the only one starting to panic.

"My controls are all jammed!" Laelia tells them and lets out a small cry at that.

"I don't have control of the mutts," Magnus adds, continuing to shake his head as he keeps trying things.

"Environmental controls are down!"

Julian just keeps his face clear as he watches the screens, taking a sip of coffee as they freeze. "Well that's probably not good," he says calmly and sets the coffee mug back on the desk. Things are definitely not good, judging by the panic surrounding him.

"Not good? Not good?!" Calisto asks as he storms over to Julian. He grabs him by the front of his shirt and starts shaking him. "Are you out of your fucking mind? We don't have arena control anymore!"

"To be fair, I don't think we ever truly had control of this arena," Julian says calmly as he grabs Calisto's hands and pries his fingers off of his shirt. He smooths it out as he looks over at Magnus, his partner absolutely full of panic as he goes between typing up a storm and grabbing at his hair. "You really don't have control over the mutts anymore?"

"Not a single one," Magnus replies, voice full of panic and fear as he stares up at the screens. He grabs his cheeks and drags his fingers down it. In all the different sectors shown on the frozen screens, mutts are running loose, and there's dots that had been showing the tribute locations on the map have disappeared. "I'm going to lose my job. How am I going to feed all my pets without a job?"

"Forget the stupid job, people are going to fucking die!" Calisto says loudly and slaps Magnus's arm to snap him out of it.

"Hey!" Julian points his finger at Calisto as he raises an eyebrow at him. "No touchy the partner like that. And to be fair, most of them were probably going to die anyways in the arena."

"But not like this," Calisto replies, gesturing at the screens with a horrified look in his eyes. Damn, the boy really does care about the tributes in the arena, even though they all volunteered for this. "How can you watch all of this and not feel an ounce of sympathy for them? After everything you've gone through?!"

"Because," Julian says slowly and calmly, watching Calisto and trying not to make any sudden movements or raise his voice to upset him further. He's dealt with scarier animals in his lab than Calisto, but it's cute how much he's trying to be scary. "I know this wasn't anything we did. Why get myself all worked up over something that was out of my control? That energy is better spent worrying about myself now."

"Well you better start worrying about it," Kostas calls down to them as she walks quickly into the room, fully armed guards flanking her. She's wearing a full set of armor with multiple guns strapped to her that clank against the armor as she runs down the stairs. She makes sure both of them are looking at her before she points up at the screens. "We've been given orders to rescue them. The Games are over, the rebels have declared war."

"That fucking idiot," Calisto mutters as he sits down, putting his face in his hands. Julian raises an eyebrow at him curiously as he shakes his head, before looking back up at Kostas. "Just who is going to rescue them? I ain't going in that arena."

Kostas looks over at Julian and he just lets out a loud sigh as Magnus grabs his arm protectively. "It will be okay," he tells him, gently patting his arm before rolling his neck and shoulders. "Damn, didn't think I'd ever have to go in there again."

"Again?" Magnus asks, confusion on his face as he looks at the three of them. "What's that mean? Why do you all look like you know something I don't?"

Julian raises an eyebrow at Kostas, waiting for permission to tell him the truth. She pinches the bridge of her nose and lets out a loud sigh, before gesturing at him as she takes out her tablet to look at things. "Fuck it, who cares? We're about to enter a war. Just make it fast because if we don't get those kids out soon, we fear we're going to have all of the Districts siding with the rebels."

"Excellent," Julian says, grinning at Magnus before it turns into an apologetic smile. "Sorry for lying to you, but I kind of had to or else they would have kept me locked away – more than they already did. Sissel Wetherburn, at your service," he gives a dramatic flourish with his arm before starting to bow, only to get stopped when Calisto punches him on the arm hard.

"Stop the fucking dramatics!" Calisto snaps at him and Sissel gives him serious side eye, before turning back to Magnus who is just staring at him with wide, confused eyes.

"Yes, he was rescued from the arena and so was he," Kostas says with a dismissive wave of her hand. "We don't have time for this when we need to get into the arena asap. Do we still have trackers?"

"Ah, yes, about that," Sissel says, tapping his fingers together in front of his chest as he gives Magnus an apologetic smile. He does feel slightly bad for lying to him all this time, but what was he to do? He wasn't going to risk the freedom he was slowly getting over the years. "No. But-" he holds up a finger quickly to stop Kostas when she gives him a look. "I do have their scents with the tracker hounds. I told you it was a good idea!"

"You're insane, like actually insane," Calisto says, shaking his head as he starts pacing in front of them. He gestures wildly up at the screens as a guard comes running down the stairs to talk to Kostas. "Even with the mutts, how are you even going to know where to look? They could be running anywhere in that arena right now! Hiding who knows where! None of us know that arena!"

"That's not completely true," Kostas says as she nods at the guard, who runs back up the stairs towards the doors. "There is one man who knows this arena inside and out."

"This seems like a bad time to say I told you so, but I told you so," Seraphim calls down to them as he enters the room, Zephyr and his mother by his side. He leans against the railing and looks down at them, fear in his eyes but a determined look on his face. "So how are we getting them out of the arena?"

Calisto Flowers, Co-Head Gamemaker

Calisto doesn't want to be doing this right now. The last fucking thing he wants to do right now wis go explain to the mentors that they don't know what's happening and their tributes might all die. He doesn't belong here. It wasn't worth the few months of freedom being out here because now he just wants to be back in the mansion, by Mendalius's side. He never should have left the one man who has actually been a father to him.

So if it means talking to the mentors to give him a chance to escape this building…he'll take that opportunity.

He takes a deep breath as he stands in front of the door, able to hear the raised voices and panic through it, and just knows that he does not get paid enough to deal with this. Actually, he isn't getting paid at all. "Just get it over with," he mumbles to himself before opening the door. The mentors all stop talking at seeing him there and Calisto would rather be anywhere else right now.

And then they all start yelling at him at once.

"What's going on?"

"Are the tributes alive?"

"What can we do?"

"Who's fault is this?"

"Who's the asshole I gotta punch?"

Calisto flinches at all of their yelling and curls in on himself a little bit. God, he isn't used to being around that many people, especially people blaming him.

"Hey, knock it off!" Letha yells over all of them and Galen whistles loudly, bringing the room into sharp silence. Calisto looks up slowly at Letha as she comes over to stand next to him, putting her hands on her hips as she looks at the other mentors. "I know you all want answers, so do I. But you'll never get those answers if you're all screaming at him like this."

"Why shouldn't we be yelling at the rat bastard in charge of the arena and now all of that?!" Astrid asks, gesturing with her arm over to the screens that are still frozen on the chaos captured just before they lost control. By her side stands Clark, arms crossed as he tries his hardest to look intimidating facing Calisto, but he can see the tears in his eyes. But that doesn't stop him from giving a "Yeah!" in agreement with Astrid.

"Seraphim wouldn't have let this happen," Jory says, getting a look from Emilio at that. "What? I'm being honest here! He was a good Gamemaker."

"Eh, are you sure about that?" Anastacia asks with a shrug, only partially serious. "I mean, look at what happened to us last year under his control."

"Is it them again?" Amelia asks Calisto quietly as she hugs herself, prompting Fox to put his arm around her in comfort. "The rebels. They did this, didn't they?"

The mentors stop their murmuring at that and focus back on Calisto. He sighs loudly and pushes a hand through his hair nervously. "Yeah," he finally says and his shoulders hunch over. Doesn't he know all too fucking well what the rebels can do to a person. "They did. Kostas is trying to figure out why and how right now. And Seraphim…"

"Seraphim? He's back?" Odyssey asks, hope crossing his face at that as he shares a look with Misha. "He can get that arena under control."

"He's not in the Games Headquarters," Calisto says, wincing in anticipation of their reactions to what he says next. "Well…they're going into the arena to try and rescue as many tributes as they can. Seraphim, Zephyr, and Julian."

The mentors stare at him in shocked silence for a few seconds until Jory starts laughing loudly and pretends to clear out his ear. "I'm sorry, I must have misheard you," he says as Emilio puts a hand on his arm with a concerned look. "Did you just say that Seraphim is going into that arena? With Zephyr?! No, no way. There's not a chance Zephyr would go back in that arena."

"And you think he would let Seraphim go on his own?" Emilio asks him and a flash of pain crosses Jory's face, knowing he's right.

"If anyone can keep Seraphim – and himself – safe in that arena, it's Zephyr," Misha says, scooting his chair a little closer to Jory while still keeping a tight hold on Odyssey's hand. "Mr. Jory, he'll be just fine. You know what he's capable of. After all, you trained him."

"Doesn't make it any easier," Jory sighs and rubs his face for a moment, before sitting back and slouching over.

"Oh boo hoo, your fully trained ex-lover is going into the arena," Fonio says, getting a snort of laughter out of Astrid that makes him pause for a moment. "But what the hell is that weirdo Julian doing in there?"

"I'm honestly not sure what I'm even allowed to say or not at this point," Calisto tells them honestly with a shrug. "But fuck it, we're on the verge of war. He's the Head of Muttation research so he has a whole lab building full of killer creatures to protect them – and those dogs he brought for quote-unquote comfort after the chariots?" He pauses for dramatic effect and raises his eyebrows at them. "Yeah, those were tracker hounds that now have the scents of all the tributes. So by being weird and creepy, he actually did something that is going to help now."

"But how will we know what's going on with the tributes?" Johan asks, looking back at the frozen screens once more. "And if they get out alive?"

"I don't have that answer," Calisto says, biting on his lip ring nervously. He wants to give Johan a better answer, but he just can't. "Kostas mentioned something about limiting communication to avoid any rebel interference. Since that hovercraft left, we've been in the dark as much as you."

"So basically…any number of them could survive the arena," Dampero speaks up, sharing a hopeful look with Jarle.

"Yeah, but it's in the hands of a lunatic," Anastacia says while shaking her head. "I mean Julian, not Seraphim," she adds knowingly, even if she couldn't see the looks her friends gave her.

"He's gonna make it," Cal tells Glen quietly as he holds his hand, trying to comfort him. "If he can hold out a little longer, they'll find him and save him."

Calisto feels a pang in his chest watching his former mentor worry so much about their tribute. Was this what it was like for him years ago when he was in the arena? And he hates seeing the hope on all of the faces of the mentors with tributes still alive right now. Because who knows if at this very moment they are still even alive? He might have just given them false hope…

"So what do we do now?" Pinova speaks up and gets a few nods. "We can't just sit here, surely we can help!"

"Ah, yeah, about that," Calisto says, happy to have the distraction. "You are going to just sit here. Kostas has ordered for you and the escorts to go on lockdown in this room, basically until further notice."

Calisto flinches right away at the expected outburst from them and he can't really blame them. Being locked away in a room away from the outside world sucks. But in this case…it really is for their own good. They would at least be safe here.

"We can't just stay here!"

"For how damn long?!"

"Fuck that!"

"What about our families?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Calisto finally yells at them and grabs his hair in frustration. A few of them have surprised looks on their faces at him actually raising his voice at them – even he's a little surprised himself. "Look, I'm just the damn messenger. I never wanted this job or to be in a fucking war, but I didn't have a choice. And neither do you. The rebels are out there right now. Do you really want to be out there or would you rather stay in here where you can be protected?" He puts his hands on his hips with his eyebrows raised, just daring them to protest this. "That's what I thought. We'll try to keep you updated, but for now, the best thing you can do is just stay here and out of trouble. And if you have questions, ask someone else because I'm fucking done."

Calisto heads out of the room then without giving them time to protest, but he can still hear their bickering out in the hallway. He sighs loudly and rubs his face before letting out a small scream. "God, they're so stubborn!" he says to himself, before looking at the pair of guards following him. He still isn't sure it was worth all of that just to get away from here, but…well, time to find out.

"Commander Kostas has instructed us to return you to the Games Headquarters now," the main guard tells him.

"Alright, but I need to use the bathroom," Calisto tells the guards walking with him and points over to the door with his thumb. "You know…didn't pee before I left to go talk to them."

"Make it fast," the main guard says, glancing at their watch as Calisto wastes no time rushing into the bathroom.

Oh he sure will make this fast. He can't risk them catching him doing this. He locks the bathroom door behind him and peers up in the top corner where a vent covering is. He stands up on the toilet to get a closer look, already feeling claustrophobic about trying to squeeze through there…but it's his only way out of this building.

He gets out his pocket knife and starts using the blade to unscrew the cover, gently setting it down to not alert the guards outside that he's up to something. But a knock on the door startles him and nearly makes him drop it. "Are you almost done?"

"Not yet!" Calisto calls out to them as the peer inside the air duct. It's going to be a tight fit, but good thing he's always been on the smaller size. He'll have to make it work, there's no other option. "Sorry, all this stress gave me anxiety poops!"

"Well hurry it up in there, you have five minutes!"

"That won't be a problem!" Calisto calls back, knowing he should be well into the air duct system by time they get the door unlocked after those five minutes are up. He takes a deep breath and shakes out his hands, feeling sweaty already from the nerves of crawling into the tight space. But he just remembers the fact that Mendalius is all alone right now and knows if Elin finds out he's still alive…he won't be for much longer.

So he pulls himself up into the air duct. He'll be damned if he lets his half-sibling get to Mendalius first.

The streets are full of panicked citizens rushing to get back home, along with scores of Peacekeepers moving quickly, ushering them along. It is easy for Pascal to blend in with the uniform he stole, yet he still panics every single time he passes one and worries they're going to know who he is. But as he gets farther and farther from the Games Headquarters – and closer to the mansion, he starts to relax just a little bit.

At least until his phone starts ringing and he nearly jumps out of his own skin.

He puts a hand over his heart for a moment as he takes out the phone, unsurprised when he sees Kostas's name. He just knew it was only a matter of time until they realized he was gone. "I'm not going back there, I don't care what you say," he says right away when he answers the phone, picking up his pace as he glances back nervously over his shoulder. Is he being followed? Or is he just paranoid?

"Calisto! Where the fuck are you?!" Kostas asks and he winces under his mask at the worry in her voice. "We've been looking everywhere for you!"

"I'm sorry, Kostas, but this was the only way," Calisto tells her, shaking his head. "I never should have left his side and if something happens to him because I wasn't there, I'll never forgive myself."

"Of fucking course," Kostas mutters and Calisto starts jogging, worried they'll catch up now that they know he's out here. "Calisto, come back here. You're heading to the most dangerous place you could possibly go right now! Do you have a death sentence?"

"Nah, I stopped wanting one a few years ago," Calisto replies as he sees the gate come into view. The very well-guarded gate, with even more pouring in every minute. He can just hope that he'll be able to sneak in with no questions asked. "They're going to go after him, you know that," he tells her, afraid to say his name out loud. "And if they find him, no one is going to be able to stop them. Except for Pascal Flores."

"Come back here right now!" Kostas orders him and he can hear the frantic chaos in the background of her security office.

"Goodbye, Kostas," Calisto says over her making commands to a team to come look for him. "You have a lot more important things to worry about than me right now. Best of luck, and I really do hope I'll see you again."

He hangs up as her protests are still going on and drops his phone in the closest garbage can. He knows this is what he must do. Just like Seraphim and Julian need to go into the arena, he has to do this.

He might be the only one who can get through to Elin.

Seraphim Lukianas, Former Head Gamemaker

Seraphim never expected to be on a hovercraft flying into the arena again, and especially not for this reason. But there were a lot of things that have happened in the last year that he never expected to happen. And he can't help but feel responsible for this rebel attack. After all…he was the Head Gamemaker. He could have had more say in ending all of this before the rebels attacked them.

Trying to fix this mistake is what he has to do. Even if he is petrified as he stands on the hovercraft, getting helped into a suit of armor, and just staring blankly ahead as he tries to process it all. Why didn't he insist on Zephyr staying behind? The thought of putting him back in the arena is horrifying him now and he can't handle the risk of something happening to him in the arena. But how could he possibly have told him he couldn't go with Seraphim? If the situation was reversed, Seraphim never would have let Zephyr go anywhere without him.

But if anything happens to Zephyr…it will destroy Seraphim. This isn't his fault at all. His only part in this was choosing to fall in love with the Head Gamemaker. Unlike Seraphim who orchestrated these Games.

"I shouldn't let you go in there," Zephyr tells him and Seraphim just shakes his head at that as his armor is buckled into place. "Why the fuck would they let you go in there?! You should be back in that controls room!"

"No one knows this map like me," Seraphim answers him, trying to stay as calm as he possibly can as he's handed a helmet and a gun. He holds the gun so awkwardly before setting it down on the bench and taking a seat, rubbing his face. This is really starting to sink in now… "I'm scared of what we're going to face in that arena," he finally tells him with a sigh as he sits up and stares out the window, the ground speeding by as they get closer to the arena. "But I have to do this."

"You don't have to do jack shit!" Zephyr says, voice raising in volume and Seraphim winces at the pain in his voice as he looks over at him. Zephyr pushes away the guards helping him in his armor and drops down to his knees in front of Seraphim, grabbing his hands so tightly. "You don't know what it's like in there, not really. I can't let you go in there."

"You can't stop me from doing this and you know it," Seraphim replies calmly and squeezes his hands back, but his heart is racing in fear. "I hate that I'm taking you back into the arena with me. It just feels wrong to put you in danger."

"It feels even worse for me watching you go in there," Zephyr says, leaning his head on Seraphim's lap and hugging his legs.

Seraphim leans over him and shuts his eyes, trying to stay brave right now. "But how can I let those children suffer like this when I was the one who approved all of those mutts? I know I've put them in the Games for years, but…never like this. It's just all so wrong. I have to fix it."

"I won't let you do that on your own," Zephyr reassures him and picks his head up to look at him. "We'll save as many as we can, but if it comes down to you or them, I'm going to choose you every time."

"I know," Seraphim says quietly, hating the thought of any of them dying in the arena because they couldn't get to them in time, but…Zephyr is right. If it's a matter of keeping Zephyr safe or one of the tributes, he's going to keep his boyfriend safe. There's no one else for him, he can't lose him. He grabs his cheeks, trying to silently get across to him just how much he cares for him. "Fuck it, when we get out of here, let's get married."

Zephyr lets out a short laugh at that and shakes his head in disbelief, but at least some of the fear has faded from his face as he smiles at Seraphim. "Don't you think it's bad timing to be proposing right now? Or getting married when a war is starting?"

"Sure, but I don't care about that right now," Seraphim says, keeping hold of his cheeks as he leans forward to kiss him. "I want something for us to have as motivation to get out of there alive."

"Then fuck it, yes," Zephyr says, laughing again as he grabs Seraphim and hugs him tightly. "If it keeps you from putting yourself in harm's way, then yes, I'll do anything to keep you safe."

"Perfect," Seraphim whispers to him, holding him just as tightly back as he blinks back some tears. But he can't let Zephyr see just how terrified he is right now, or else he'll never let him go into that arena. He has to do this, and no one else knows this arena like he does. A dumb security oversight on their end, having him be the only one who really knew it…

But a problem he is going to fix.

Seraphim pulls back first from the hug when his phone rings, and when he sees Kostas's name, he picks it up so fast. "Kostas? What's going on?" he asks as he gets it on speaker and shares a concerned look with Zephyr.

Kostas just sighs on the other end of the phone and is silent for a few seconds, only making them worry even more. "I have some bad news that you're not going to like," she finally says, the exhaustion and worry clear in her voice. "First, Calisto is missing and heading towards the President's Mansion."

"I thought you were going to keep him with the Gamemakers," Seraphim says, shaking his head as he bites his bottom lip in worry. Fuck, he cares more about that kid than he ever should have. "You were supposed to keep him safe! How did you manage to lose him?"

"He managed to climb through the air ducts," Kostas sighs loudly as Zephyr lets out a laugh at that. "Got into a guard locker room and stole a Peacekeeper outfit. We're working on tracking him down, but…we have bigger problems."

"What did they do now?" Seraphim asks quietly as he glances out the window. He just has a bad feeling about all of this…

"The rebels are trying to send a message to everyone and get them against the Capitol," Kostas says, clearing her throat to keep her voice neutral. "I don't want to give all the details now so you don't lose focus but…it's bad. They're attacking multiple places at once before we can even try to anticipate what's going on."

"Fuck," Zephyr says as he stands up and moves away from Seraphim, who's heart immediately aches for the pain on his face. He starts pacing around the hovercraft until he goes over to the wall and punches it hard, before shaking out his fist. When he turns back to Seraphim, he immediately gets up to hug him when he sees tears in Zephyr's eyes. "I should have taken you somewhere to be locked up safe, where they couldn't get you."

"I'm sorry," Seraphim whispers to him, tearing up himself. All the casualties that are surely happening out there…they can't add to it. "But we need to do this."

"I agree with Seraphim," Kostas tells them. "But you need to understand the gravity of this situation. It's of the utmost importance that you find those tributes as fast as possible and evacuate the arena. Be safe and keep in constant communication."

"We will," Seraphim tells her before hearing the click of the phone. He tosses it aside to hug Zephyr tightly, knowing there isn't anything he can do for him right now and hating it. "There's nothing we can do right now for whatever is happening out there. We have to focus on rescuing these kids and stopping more people from dying thanks to the rebels."

"Don't go into that arena, please! It's a fucking trap and you know it!" Zephyr begs him as he clings to him. Seraphim winces at that, never having heard such pain in his voice. "I can't fucking lose you, fuck! I never should have let you get on this hovercraft."

"I have to do this, especially now," Seraphim tells him, leaning over to look out the hovercraft window as they start to lower into the arena, Julian already flying towards the ground with his thunderbirds to try and save the three at the cornucopia. The only three who's location they actually know right now. As terrified as he is to face this arena…he knows this is his own doing. He was the one who put this arena into motion, approved everything that went into it. And…he didn't fight back more when they suggested to continue the Games after last year. He could have stopped all of this, so the least he can do now is try to save the kids that got caught up in his failures. "I love you and we will get through to the other side of this. I promise."

"You better not do anything stupid in that arena. I love you," Zephyr replies, his voice shaking as the two of them step back from each other as the hovercraft touches down. Zephyr grabs Seraphim's arm tightly for a moment, stopping him from grabbing his gun just yet. "None of this matters if you don't get out of here alive. You got that?"

"Same thing to you," Seraphim says, giving him one last kiss before stepping back to get his gun. And as the door opens and Seraphim can hear the screams and shouts outside…

He hopes he can keep that promise to him.

Happy two year (and one week) anniversary to Renegades and welcome to the third rebellion!