Author's Note: Doing something short and different.

xxxx

/Time: Chapter 5, during Ouroboros's Imprisonment in Agnus Castle/

/The City, Within Swordmarch, Cadensia Region/

Gray frowned at the woman standing before him. "Move."

Rozana, standing in front of the doorway that led to the elevator, simply crossed her arms.

It was never a good sign when she didn't let her silver tongue fly. Still, he spoke once more. "I said move."

Dryly, she remarked, "For all you've told me not to throw my back out, you sure seem intent on throwing out yours."

Her body was blocking the control panel, so there was no moving around her; he'd have to physically remove her to get to it. (Physically, it would have been simple...but his youthful wife was like an immovable mountain in many ways, as he'd learned through hard experience.) Instead, he growled, letting the audible rumble in his chest echo his displeasure.

Rozana was unfazed. "...you didn't even bother waiting to find out why the rescue operation was cancelled, did you? Why Ghondor's call for volunteers was rescinded."

"I know why Monica would forbid Ghondor from going." Attacking Agnus Castle during the Eclipse would have been suicide, for one; the enemy would have been expecting them. (Yet when had he ever cared about what his enemies were thinking?) "But she hasn't spoken to me."

Sighing, Rozana muttered something unflattering underneath her breath. "You know very well that Monica would forbid you from going, too."

"..."

"Listen...Monica is keeping it quiet, but apparently they might have someone on the inside. Top secret. No one can know. Not even me." She apparently saw the question on his face, because she added, "I asked because I needed something to stop you from doing anything reckless."

Such a damnably sharp woman, she was. Little wonder that she had managed to snare an old, wary bloodhound like him. "Hmm..."

"...I know that if there was no plan, I wouldn't be able to stop you," she relented, recognizing the thin threads keeping him on a leash. "But there is a plan. So trust in it."

"...those kids don't deserve to die," he quietly said, saying with just one short sentence exactly how he felt about Ouroboros's current circumstances.

Rozana nodded. "Neither did Guernica. And you don't either."

(What a low blow. A deserved one, but still a low blow.) "...perhaps there are some things worth being reckless over," he admitted in a rare show of weakness. (Had this been what Guernica felt, when he realized the six brats had been on the verge of killing each other? Had old Vandham seen that spark at a glance, knowing even back then that those kids would burn through the cold hearts of many, himself included?)

Rozana shook her head with fond exasperation. "I'm sure there's something we can find to occupy your attention. You'll probably frighten half the Cityfolk otherwise."

That sounded like a good idea. "No need. My normal work is enough to keep me busy."

After a few moments of observant silence, his wife finally said, "...then at least have dinner first. You've probably forgotten all about your usual routes in your rush to leave." She quietly walked past him, brushing at his elbow with a slight touch: a simple gesture that made not a sound, yet said so much in-between the proverbial gaps.

Gray recognized the message for what it was: an opportunity for him to unwind, to release the tension that had turned his entire body into an instrument ready and willing to deal death at an instant. (Which was normal, were it not for the fact he felt unusually agitated.) Hopefully, by the time they finished eating, he would regain some semblance of self-preservation...because even with the conservatives' hardliners dealt with prior to Ouroboros's infiltration of Li Garte Prison, there was still much work to do. You kids better make it back, he mentally swore.

(He wasn't quite sure what he would do if they became just another name on a memorial: sharing Guernica's fate.)

(And that unsettles you like nothing else, doesn't it?)

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Author's Note: I'll return to this one in the future, because I imagine news of Ouroboros's capture would have made it to quite a few places during that long, long month in Agnus Castle.