Operation Bosco: Revisited, III

Sometimes, it was difficult to remember his mother.

She'd come to him in flashes, other times, in strange remembrances of an age he'd mostly blocked out now. There was a certain scent in the air, during the summer, that permeated around the region in which he'd been born and when he caught whiffs of it, in his travels around Bosco now, it immediately sent him back to those nights.

That place.

Shae told him it was a good thing, that he didn't remember it.

She couldn't exactly relate, personally, to his story, as she'd grown up in Joya, in a loving home with both a mother and a father, where she never even dreamed of the atrocities that were taking place down the river, but that didn't mean she couldn't empathize.

It didn't take a genius to realize, having been born into the trade, there had to have been very little, if not none at all, of Xavier's life that should be carried over. And Shae thought it was best for him to put it all behind him, if he could.

"You have a new life now," she'd told him when the first had just met, joining up with Astra's fledgling group, when things still seemed bright and possible. "Here. With everyone."

And he was happy for it.

Honest, he was.

But as those two years came to pass and he'd watched so many people that he was excited to get to know walk away from the trade.

Everything was falling apart.

Astra took him to the side once, out on the tiny porch as she smoked and the sun set, him fiddling with his unloaded gun, cleaning it, and maybe in another life, they could be something else. Siblings. Out in the dead of nowhere. Watching their life pass them by.

But things weren't different and he didn't know Astra well, maybe, but he knew her enough, he always thought, and he wanted to do anything she asked. He'd always had. Not just because he thought she was attractive (because, oh, he did) or because he had nowhere else to go (that was also a rather big one), but because he just believed in her.

In them.

It was the first time that he'd ever truly felt like he was apart of something, not even a family, really, maybe, but something and to watch it die, slip through their fingers, without accomplishing anything at all…

He'd been hurt. So much. In his very short life. But to have a task, no matter how small, in dismantling the thing that had hurt him felt like a step towards healing that.

He couldn't give it up without fighting for it.

"Richard's thinking about heading back home. To his guild." Astra had taken a long inhaled, he remembered, because there was such an extended pause, maybe left for him to fill in the gaps on his own, but when he didn't speak, she took care of any guessing. "And I want you to go with him."

"What? No, I have to stay here. And patrol and-"

"Patrol what? Everyone's gone."

"Astra-"

"I made a mistake, X." It felt weird for her to admit such a thing, to him of all people, but maybe she wasn't. Speaking to him, at least. She didn't look at him, anyways. Just out into the sunset. "In coming here. I just always thought-"

"You just have to give it a little bit more time." He frowned over at her. "We're all already here. Me, you, Shae; we're not going anywhere. And Richard will stay if you ask, I bet. Maybe things will be even better, just the five of us. Can't we just hold out? A little longer?"

She didn't answer him, that night. Only sighed and he went back to his gun and it would only be a few more weeks before Haven and Locke arrived.

He found he really liked them as well.

Richard was hard to get along with and too old, really, to entertain a lot of Xavier's nonsense, but Locke was always a good sport about most anything. And Haven was always willing to throw down, in the yard, with him.

He loved the idea of freeing Bosco, of working to do so, but…

The past few months, he mostly just love the feeling he'd gotten. Even into the summer months, where the smell of the fresh grass and late evenings usually sent him swirling backwards, towards the uncomfortable memories of his past usually crippled him, but not this time.

This time he had training to focus on, people to talk to, Haven, Shae, and Locke to bother.

Liberation of the country felt so distant and almost unreal, but if attempting it meant perpetually living the life he was currently, Xavier was content.

"You'll come back with us, one day," Haven told him once, when they patrolled together, late at night, and he asked her what she would do, when she got back to her guild.

She'd claimed she'd probably be awarded S-Class immediately, as well as drown in all of the praises of her family and associates. Plus, marry Locke or whatever and all that dumb shit, she'd added though the former thought seemed far more intriguing to the woman.

X had smiled in agreement, nodding his heads in all the right places, before wondering allowed if he'd have a proper place, really, stuck between Bosco and Fiore, but Haven had only made a face as she insisted on her previous statement.

"I have a cousin your age," she'd continued on. "Ajax. You guys could even be a team if you ever figure this magic thing out. You'll be a hero too. Just...not as much as me"

And he'd shoved her and she shoved right back, with a bit of electricity behind it, and Xavier liked it there.

With all of them.

So much.

It's why he missed them so much when they were all gone.

He'd begged and begged to be allowed to go to Joya, but Astra insisted he had to remain behind before she took off as well, back for Bosco to hook back up with Richard, where he also wasn't allowed to go, and it just wasn't fair.

It was never fair.

For all he was supposed to feel in charge, Xavier felt that most of the women from the Factory still defaulted to following the lead of the three that had been in charge of them there while the few that stuck around from Ewing's manor kept to themselves as well. It made it difficult for him to exert any sort of control over anyone when they all seemed intent on ignoring him all together.

There was one person, though, who couldn't find herself rid of him.

Nessa was a...complex case.

One that, in an ideal state would be handled by someone who wasn't awkwardly juggling his own previous baggage. She shouldn't have been shoved off on Xavier, but there wasn't quite anyone else on the property that could deal with her either and it was just the worst case scenario being played out as everyone was too busy to accurately solve it.

He didn't get to spend a lot of time around kids his own age growing up. There were other children on the property, but they were the 'Master's' actual children, with his actual wife. Locke told him, once, when he was explaining it all to him late one night that they were his half siblings, if the Master was his father, as he surmised, and that sounded right to Xavier, maybe, but it had never felt that way.

It wasn't until he was sold away, after the Master's death and his oldest son took over, that Xavier was able to escape, tumbling out of a transport vehicle and lucking into stumbling upon a meeting in a nearby forest that Astra was holding.

Fate, she told him as she ran her hand over his arm and, just like that, the thing that had always marked him, kept him contained.

Enslaved.

There were no children in Astra's group and, originally, he was meant to be brought back across the boarder, into Fiore preferably, and dropped at an orphanage. It was great there, she'd insisted to him. Learn a bit of magic and you could make your own way eventually.

But it was overwhelming.

The idea of it.

Being sold off from his home had been difficult enough, but to now suddenly be free…

He'd imprinted on her. That's what owe of the guys who used to be around claimed, when they thought Xay was asleep one night. Astra was his savior, atop being a rather pretty young woman, and it was unlikely for the boy to be easily parted from the woman. And when he begged and cried and insisted, throughh tears, that he could contribute, if she just let him try, if she just let him stay, he'd be the most productive member of her group, he swore, Astra just…

Gave in.

To it.

At the time they weren't doing anything too dangerous. Outside of, well, hoping to overthrow not only a regime, but also a way of life that was so ingrained in the culture, it would surely tank everything to rip it away.

Mostly, back then, they passed out fliers.

And X was allowed to go to Bosco often anyways. Astra kept him save back at base, where he was taught by some of the older guys how to fire a rifle and instructed to keep patrol around the property. He did this with pride, walking around the perimeter and watching, nightly it felt like at times, as instead of keeping people out, he tried to keep people in. People liked to dip, in the middle of the night, to never return, rather than face the rather persuasive Astra and Xavier tried his hardest to keep them there, to keep every single person who slipped out there, but there was just nothing he could do.

Things felt different, when Haven and Locke came. Yes, there was no one left, really, and yes, things felt like they were falling apart, but Astra agreed to try, to really try again, and he knew that they'd change things. The two of them. He hadn't been raised in Fiore, but even he'd heard of the power of Fairy Tail.

And, well, he liked Haven and Locke for other reasons too.

Even though he was mad at them before they left, when he was given the directive of looking over things while they were out atop keeping up with Nessa, he intended to do so to the best of his ability.

"I told you," he bragged to Nessa that first day everyone had cleared out and it was just him, only him, that was supposed to run things for a few days. "I'm a top dog around here."

In her time definitely not being held captive, nope, not at all, Nessa had found use of her time in the same way she'd spent all her other days, back on the manor, cooking and cleaning where need be. She kept busy this way, not unlike how Xavier was placated with a gun and a job, when he first arrived.

They lacked something, growing up the way they had, and the idea of fun and games was beyond children or teens in their positions.

At that moment, as he was lording this over her, Nessa was actually in the main house for once, sorting through some stacks of maps and things that had been left strewn about the living room. Astra had told Xavier one of his jobs was to pick up in her absence, but that sounded like a lot of work and he figured he could kill two birds with one stone by shuffling Nessa into the house to do this portion of his work for him.

"It's quite dusty," she'd told him softly and, well, yeah, maybe, but it was home.

Now though, she was folding and placing maps and papers while he bragged himself up and it felt like a good day.

A great one even.

"The top dog, huh?"

This didn't come from Nessa. Even she looked up, surprised at the voice. Neither she nor Xay had noted the nearly silent opening and closing of the back screen door and both teen's jumped some, to find Wanda standing there, her eyes accusatory and sent towards the boy. But, as his surprise wore off, Xavier only laughed some with a nod, not feeling the least bit of unease Wanda had tried to force upon him many times.

This was his home, here. He was safe.

He was the top dog.

Of course.

"Wanda," Nessa spoke her name with a bit of a bow of her head, looking back at her maps before her as she said, "We're cleaning up. It was Mistress Astraea's orders-"

"She is not," Wanda reminded the girl softly, "a mistress."

"Nope," Xavier agreed with a slight laugh. "She's just Astra." But, then he paused, thinking, and remarked, "Well, I guess she couldda been one. A mistress. But she'd probably like to be called Master a lot better. Haven told him that Mistress sounds weaker, so-"

"What do you mean?" Wanda had gone over to where Nessa sat, before the coffee table, to glance over the papers she was straightening up. "About Astraea?"

"She's, like, apart of a top family or something." He even shrugged, not too concerned. "She couldda been a Mistress. I guess. Who cares about her though? I'm the one in charge now."

"For," Nessa whispered a soft correction, "now."

He stopped short, Xay did, to smile over at the other teen as she blushed a bit, at her own words, unable to help as a laugh escaped his lips. He'd never rightly heard her do it before, rib him, even in the lightest of ways, and it felt like something close to a breakthrough.

Maybe.

Her mother frowned though, glancing between them before remarking, "Don't you have something else you should be doing then? Boy? If you wanna be the one in charge around here-"

"I am the one in charge around here."

"For," Nessa whispered softly again, "now."

"Well, the people outside who are meant to be partaking in training seem rather lost without you," Wanda informed him. "Not to mention, I think there was some confusion on the schedule for lunch-"

"Crap." Xavier took off then, running even, as he refused to allow his first post as leader to be undermined. He couldn't risk one of the other men or women to fill in, perhaps even have Astra take notice of them, and then the top hierarchy he was on be put even further out of reach. Still, to Nessa, he managed to call over his shoulder, "I'll see you later, okay?"

Which left the girl with the mother she knew about as well as the boy, honestly. Blushing now for another reason, she busied herself with cleaning while the older woman merely looked after the teenage boy.

It would be a strange few days back on the property.


Joya was a proud, but small nation that Haven had only heard of in passing and Locke knew very little about. But, same as all nations, its port cities seemed identical to elsewhere. Docks and shops and people milling about. It was easy to sneak into the country without going through any proper channel when it was exiting off a known boat with steady and shady connections.

Jed was silent for once, completely, even as they were still somewhat out from the shore. Just the lights of his home country, something he'd never thought he'd glimpse again, was enough for him to bow his head in silence.

The others left him alone to his thoughts.

There was no ploy or pretending as they left the boat. Carrying of crates or anything like that. Just one of the guys Haven knew calling out to her, remarking that they had three days; the evening of that last day, he was pulling out of Joya and they could either find themselves there or left behind.

"We should give him a few minutes," Locke muttered to the women as, once they were on the docks, Jed stumbled off in a bit of a daze while the three of them hung back. "And figure out where we're headed first."

"Three days?" Shae snorted, glancing over at Locke. "We won't have enough time to go both places."

"We'll split up then," Haven suggested. "Two people go one way, two go the other. We meet up back here. I'll go with Jed, obviously."

"Obviously," Shae retorted as the blonde only ignored her.

"And you and Shae," she went on, "go get that woman or whatever, Locke."

"Will you actually get back here in time?" he questioned. "And not get yourself into any trouble? This is a tight timeline. Splitting up makes it even more-"

"I actually probably feel better about not showing up at her house with four people," Shae offered with a bit of a shrug. "And it shouldn't take me long to just….ask. That's all I gotta do. You know? Ask a question. Just ask. And then-"

"Jed and I'll probably have more fun than you guys anywyas," Haven remarked over the other woman.

"Yeah," Locke retorted with a frown. "Taking an emotionally shattered man to his deceased father's home sounds like a walk in the park."

She stopped short suddenly, Haven did, causing someone walking behind them to nearly bump into her. As that person grumbled at the woman though, she only frowned ahead at Locke and Shae.

"Wait, I wanna switch," she insisted then. "Locke. You go do that."

"Nope."

"What?"

"No."

"Locke-"

"You wanted to bring him, Haven. And you kept insisting that he's your friend, so-"

"Shae's my friend too," the blonde insisted. But when she tried to toss her arm around the other woman's shoulders, she was only shoved off. "Shae-"

"Yeah, no," Shae retorted simply.

"Then...Locke come with me and Jed! Don't be a creeper, crashing Shae's reunion with her girlfriend."

"Haven," the man finally sighed, exasperated some. "You knew that he was going there for that reason. Why are you acting like this about it now?"

"Because I didn't think of it the way that you said." And she hadn't. At all. Jed, up to this point, had mostly been someone she spwed her views onto. The idea of him potentially requiring her comfort was terrifying and she knew with certainty would only result in her screwing it up. "So really, it's your fault and you should have to go with him."

"Just think about whatever you were thinking about before I put the thoughts into yoru head."

"I can't! I wasn't thinking anything then!"

The man nodded down at her. "I believe that."

"You're better at this shit than me, Locke," she insisted then, trying her best to sound pathetic. On Haven, it just felt flat and empty. "You go with him, okay? And me and Shae-"

"No." The other woman couldn't give Haven a chance to sway her boyfriend. She'd see the two of them interact enough the past few months to know that, soon enough, the convincing would be complete. "You can't switch."

"Why not?" Haven frowned at the other woman then and they'd all stopped walking, at the end of a street corner, standing around staring at one another. "You think that I can't help you with this one? I conned Locke's ass into getting back with me whenever I wanted."

"I happened to be in between people every single time you- Shut up, Haven," he complained some with a frown while Haven only shrugged some at the other woman.

"If you want help in this," the blonde kept up, "then you should pick me to go with you."

Shae rolled her eyes before looking off, back out at the water. To Haven she remarked simply, "Hard pass."

"Sorry, Have," Locke snickered as his girlfriend glared up at him. "Looks like you and your best friend are gonna go have some heartfelt moments together. A new type of adventure for you, yeah?"

They couldn't take much longer out of their already short schedule for arguing the inevitable. Jed returned to them eventually, a bit misty eyed, but alright otherwise, and they all had one last meal together before splitting up. Shae and Locke would be taking a train one way while Haven and Jed merely had a few hours walk.

"Don't get into too much trouble, okay?" Locke insisted to Haven as he hugged her goodbye. The woman was stiff in his grasp, angry over him not allowing her off easy for once, but that was fine for the man. Rigid described Haven in a lot of ways, honestly. "I know new places make it difficult for you to control yourself."

"Number one," Haven carped, "I'm always in control. Always." As he released her, she only took a step closer, whispering the next part only to the man, "Number two, I'm going with someone to his dead father's abandoned place. For your benefit. So shut the fuck up, Locke. Asshole."

He smiled though, reaching out to pat the woman on the top of her head, replying simply, "I love you too, Haven."

"You're an idiot."

"Come on." Shae glared over at the two of them. "Locke. We have to go."

"Safe travels to the two of you as well," Jed was sure to bid the both of them farewell. "I hope to see you in better spirits when we meet again, Shae."

No matter how things went, somehow the woman doubted that.

Locke kissed Haven before tapping her on the head and following after the departing Shae. The train was boarding and they were gone, just like that, and Haven didn't wait to see it leave the station. Rather, she snorted a bit, at nothing really, before turning on her heel to start on her own journey.

"There should be a lot less tension on our side of things, I imagine," Jed offered Haven once they were back on the road. "Don't you as well? Haven?"

The woman was actually in the process of glancing over a map with a confused stare. Locke had given it to her after purchasing their train tickets and even ran a finger over a certain path. She'd been more concerned with being cold towards the man then, to commit it to memory, and now she wasn't sure of where they were headed. The blonde could be, at times, a bit directionally impaired.

When he noted her distraction, Jed merely reached over to lay a hand on her shoulder. After garnering the woman's gaze, he said simply, "I'll get us there. I've been to this port many times in my youth. It is not a far distance."

It was hard for her to disagree as, no matter how far she'd been in Fiore, she too seemed to always know her way back to Magnolia and its surrounding areas.

She imagined Locke's trip with Shae to be a lot quieter than her own and almost envied it. Almost. She knew, deep down, that she was not the person to be helping Shae through whatever relationship woes she was going through. Of course she knew. But that didn't mean that she wouldn't rather be there, either sulking about being reprimanded by Locke for an inappropriate tone or question or smoldering over something the other woman had retorted. Now she was left to make the inappropriate remarks alone and, hopefully, police herself on the issue.

Being sympathetic had never been one of her strong suits. Empathetic either.

So she tried to keep the conversations steered towards other things. Jed was an easy person to have a conversation with, Haven had always found, and he seemed rather amused with her shortcomings rather than off put by them.

"You know," he'd told her once, back at base, when they were doing rounds and she just got finished drifting from telling him about a job she took once and into how incompetent both Ravan and Locke were on it, "you're very vivacious. In a certain kind of way."

"Oh yeah?" And she was guarded, that evening, on edge of not only patrol, but also riding down a high from absolutely berating Locke and Ravan, fictionally, in her mind. "What's that mean, anyways?"

"Vivacious?" The man shook his head. "Like...effervescence."

"If you're trying to make me feel stupid-"

"It means that you're excitable. Enthusiastic." He laughed at her souring expression. "It's a good thing. Usually. But I think that your motivations and goals sometimes...make it rub people the wrong way. It can be off-putting. But I like it. You remind me of people I knew, when I was your age. Lively. Excited about what was to come."

Haven found that she liked him for the opposite reason. She typically found herself drawn to people who were either as vicious as herself or were starch against it, who she would then butt heads with. Most everyone in her life seemed to fit in those categories, some even sliding between them, but Jed reminded her of something from her past as well.

His meekness and content being felt a lot like her sister, who was always the first to listen to Haven's fantastical tales and, these days at least, seemed pleased to hear most of them. Jed's aura felt equal to Marin's, in a low-key way, and she took comfort in him hanging around.

Being her friend.

Haven didn't have a lot of those. Most people she'd formed some semblance of one with were merely there for usage, on her part or theirs. Jed might've been the only person she had at the moment, outside of Xay, who enjoyed her presence.

So he listened, talking idly with her as they hiked together, taking rests for the man in spots, conversation mainly centered on the woman. As was the standard. She spoke some on former jobs and Jed laughed in places, shook his head in concern in others, but was overall impressed with most things she had to say. Having grown up literally in the bar most of the time, she'd long learned the art of a tall tale and, there with a rapt audience, she gave way to her most braggadocios, slanted and one-sided versions of events she could muster.

For someone who hadn't grown up around mages much, Jed found them to be more like comic adventures he'd spent his childhood reading, only drawn out and less plot thoughtful, in the way life truly was, rather than concise and consistent. Haven had a knack for losing interest, in the middle fo tales, when it got too difficult to spin it in her favor, and they would just be transported, it felt like, straight to the next battle scene where she could shove her prowess off on someone who knew nothing of such feats.

Everyone in her life was a caricature of their actual selves, as it related to Haven, and it all felt so magical and distant, even from her own perspective. Maybe that was why, after being exposed to this for a number of weeks, that Jed felt so bold as to ask a question, make a request almost, for a story, as they took a breather on the side of a path. Haven was knocking back some water while he sat, on a stone, catching his breath some.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Haven hardly even shrugged, glancing over at the man in anticipation.

He smiled some, Jed did, in a curious way, pondering aloud almost as he asked, "Why is it that you and your father don't get along?"

She choked a bit, on the water, even making a face at the mention of the man.

"Laxus?" She snorted. "I was just saying that he was pissy about how Ravan and I handled the job. That's all."

"No, I understood the story," he assured the blonde. "I couldn't imagine I would like it much either, if I had a child who was constantly taking such risk-"

"It's not that." And she snorted again, feeling weird now as she moved to take another, smoother, sip from her canteen. Taking in a breath after, she said, "He's not...worried about me. He never was. That wasn't the point."

"The point?"

"Of...him. And how we are." She frowned. "He was drunk. A lot. When I was a teen. And jealous that I was primed to be a better mage than him. Or something. I don't know. He probably doesn't even know. He's a drunk asshole. I mean he was. Then. It's different now. The drinking part. But he's still an asshole."

Jed was silent for a moment, making sure the woman had finished speaking before offering simply, "I'm sure he was."

"Of course he was."

"My father could be...pushy and distant as well. When I was growing up." He got to his feet, pulling his pack onto his back once more. "Strangely, though, when I think back on our interactions, they don't seem nearly as harsh as I remember feeling them in the time. I suppose our mind, our memories, paint things the second they're absorbed. It's why you can never take someone fully on their word, hm?"

She'd been duped. By the man. Knowingly or not, he'd walked her into the topic she was hoping to avoid.

"I'm not a liar," Haven defended, momentarily confused by his approach, but Jed only shook his head.

"I know," he agreed. "That is how you view your interactions with your father. It is the truth. I guess I mean to imply, how different it might be, to address them ten years from now, as I am with my own father. When I was your age, I ran off as well. With my own ideas and morals. It's the way it has to be, for some of us. You either become your parent or you become the polar opposite. Conform or run away. Believe it or not, I did my fair share of both. Before he died."

His voice fell off here and Haven felt something, the natural urge to not only know more, but to also just further the conversation. It was futile to fight it, as she'd known, the second she realized she was stuck in this fruitless misadventure.

So she tired to think like Locke. Instead. Because he was never nervous about speaking to others, even in such dramatic situations, and it got her out of a lot of sticky situations. Shutting up was usually best and letting Locke take over, in these parts of things, but to have to become him, almost…

"How long ago was it?" she whispered softly as they'd become to walk again, at Jed's pace, and he smiled over at the woman when she questioned this.

"Four years," he replied with a soft nod of his head. "I just turned thirty-one and he'd sent me a card, in the mail, that I didn't wish to open just yet. Our last correspondence hadn't been pleasant and I just...shoved it aside. I would deal with it later. But, a few days came to pass and I hadn't. Then another letter came. Not from him, but from our home town, and I… Knew. Somehow, I just knew. He hadn't been sick. I even opened the card he sent and it made no mention of feeling unwell. So how did I know then? Before I even read the words? That he had… How do you feel those sorts of things?"

Staring over at the man, Haven's first reaction was to respond with something from her own life. Her own feelings on the matter. But she was able to bite it back, thinking to Locke instead, and finding it in herself to ask, "How did he die?"

"It's the strangest thing." Jed even laughed a bit. "Healthiest man you'd ever seen for his age. Dead. Just dropped, one day, in his lab. His assistant found him and it was an entire madhouse, at first, but turns out he had a heart attack. Cardiac arrest. Just like that." And he snapped, Jed did, with a shake of his head. "Everything can change, just like that."

Haven didn't like this assessment of death, especially given it had never been how she'd rightly viewed it. You died in the heat of battle or as a decrepit old shell of your former self, left over after all the other battles were complete.

There was no in between.

She understood, of course, at the core of the idea, that yes, people did die of unforeseen causes. They might get sick or hit by a carriage. Maybe they drank themselves to death or even tripped and hit their head too hard. They could be murdered in the heat of a robbery or even in just a lovers quarrel gone wrong.

But those weren't the kinds of deaths that she foresaw for herself or any of the friends she had.

You died fighting.

Always.

She'd died fighting.

The idea of not even having a chance at wading off your whatever brought about your death was somehow more terrifying than the idea itself and she pictured losing her father that way. Her parents. Just in the blink of the eye. No one to be angry at, no way to avenge them.

Everything can change.

Just like that.

"His home is a bit remote though," Jed was going on while Haven had fallen into silence. "I had to lug all of his belongings back from the lab, to his cabin, following his death. I stayed there for two weeks following his death, not sure what I was going to do with the place, and then I left. For the coast. To clear my head. And I never rightly returned. I hope to find all of his papers still in order, but-"

"How were you taken, then?"

"Hm?"

"To Ewings? Or wherever you passed through first?"

These were the kinds of questions, Haven realized, Locke would have reprimanded her for and avoided himself. While the events of the summer just felt like a big, long job for Haven, they were attached to trauma for others and she saw it then, as Jed paused, momentarily, bringing his wrist up to his face and rubbing at it, right where his marking would have lied.

"I was one of the foolish ones, I suppose." Sighing, he continued on, walking a bit faster now, as he thought back on the time. "Fell in love with the wrong woman. I...did something wrong, to her, and she sought revenge on me."

"What did you do to her?" Haven whispered softly before, realizing the implication, adding, "And how did she get you sent to Bosco?"

"I cheated on her. With another woman." Jed glanced back and down at her. "Her brother ran a ring out of Joya and into Bosco. I had no idea about this, of course, but…"

"So she fucking sold you to the wolves?"

"She was a rather...volatile woman." He looked uneasy as he turned his gaze back onto the pathway before them. "In a good kind of way, when we were happy. But when we weren't-"

"I'm volatile," Haven intervened and Jed made no motion to deny this fact, merely nodded his head. Going on, the woman insisted, "But I would never do something like that. That's evil."

"Then you're just volatile," Jed offered her. "Not evil."

"Yeah, but-"

"We don't have much further," he changed the subject as he glanced around what lay before them. "We won't need to go into the actual town, but rather hit a small, hidden path right before the one that breaks off into the city. We can spend some time at the cabin, look things over, and then go into the city for a meal. What we need is either there or not. I suppose that will make things rather boring, on your end, hm? Shae and Locke have a much more interesting journey."

"Maybe," Haven replied softly, but she was thinking beyond the cabin now, beyond Locke's stupid papers that she wasn't even certain he needed nor wanted. And towards something else. "But maybe not."

Locke would have sworn he felt it, the second a bad idea popped into his girlfriend's mind, and he groaned, loudly, as he sat across from Shae on the long train ride they were stuck with. She hardly noted it though, continuing to glare out the window as she thought about what was awaiting them.

"Maybe," Locke had offered more than once, "she'll be happy to see you."

"Maybe," Shae agreed softly, but much like Haven, she was leaning a lot more towards the not.

They'd exasperated most conversation by this point and Locke found that his mind was drifting to other things. Enjoyable things one minute and panicked thoughts the next; it was his normal thought process. He also tried to think of things that might make and Shae feel better, but all his attempts were shot down.

Getting off the train felt no better than it had to get one. For Shae at least. Locke enjoyed the air, commenting on how refreshing it was and what a nice area they were in.

"It almost feels like my home," he admitted softly as they exited the station into a bustling little city. "Magnolia."

"Yeah, well," Shae huffed some. "We better just suck it up, right? Get it over with?"

"Well," Locke suggested, "we could go throw back a few shots first. If I'd loosen you up. You know?"

"I'm not getting drunk before I go see her, Locke."

"Might make you feel better," he kept up, but Shae only shook her head and he followed along, as she started on.

"Nothing will make me feel better about this," she insisted. "Until it's over."

"What'd you do that was so bad to her? Huh? That you can even see her again?"

"You don't have exes that you don't wanna see?" Shae snorted. "Oh, right, I forgot."

"Forgot what?"

"You live in your little perfect fairy tale with your girlfriend and are just so happy together and-"

"For one, we're never happy together." He even sounded down about having to admit that. "And for two, we're not perfect."

"Oh, I know."

"We broke up. I saw other people. So did she?"

"Yeah," Shae was a bit snide for once, towards him. "Porter, right?"

Locke ignored her though as he said, "We're in a guild. Sometimes you date the wrong people and still have to be around them. Sometimes you just sleep with the wrong people and you still have to be around them…. I just mean that...it'll be fine. Okay? Seriously, Shae, what has you so worried about all this?"

It was hard to explain. And she'd avoided doing so, all the way up until this point, when they were about to be confronted with it all and, as they stood on a street corner, waiting for a carriage to pass to cross, she could merely shrug when she glanced up at the man.

"I just hurt her. Really bad. Once." Shaking her head some, she said, "And I ran away, after. I didn't see her for a year. And then I got taken to Bosco and, even when I came back, I didn't try to seek her out or… How do you just pop back up in someone's life after ruining everything and just be like, 'Hey, come help me do something super dangerous?'"

Locke took the first step, when they were able to cross, but he did so while reaching over to gently bump a fist against the woman's shoulder as he insisted, "You start with sorry. And go from there."

Shae let out a huff of a breath, walking after him as she remarked, "Yeah, great, thanks so much, Locke."

"I'm serious." And he was. "In my experience, if you just plainly tell someone you're sorry and really mean it, just flat mean it, then… It'll be alright."

"Maybe that works when you're a big dorky guy-"

"Dorky?" he tried to sound offended, but it was hard as he glanced over his own arms, assessing the 'big' description far more.

"-but it's different for the rest of us, okay?" Shae kept up. "Words matter, fine, but they don't just erase everything."

"Someone hurt me really badly once." And he lost his grin as he admitted this. "Extremely. To the point that I didn't even know if I could ever be around them again, if we could ever be friends again, like we were. Anything like we were. But they apologized to me. Earnestly. And I forgave them. And they haven't hurt me since."

"You're an idiot."

"Maybe." And he laughed, relaxing again as he tossed a hand behind his head. "But what can I do about it, huh?"

"The only reason that worked is because you care about that person," Shae pointed out. "There's no way that she still….feels that way about me."

"Then she was never coming with us anyways," he said. "So what did a trip away from base hurt? She says she won't go on the first day, fine; we'll spend the rest of our time doing something fun. C'mon, you're back home! Even if just for the moment. There has to be something you wanna do while you're here."

And that time when she stopped, it was to turn the other way, rushing back then as she called over her shoulder, "There is."

"W-What?" Frowning, Locke turned to head after her. "There is what?"

"Something I want to do. While I'm here."

And it somehow hadn't occurred to her, until that exact moment and she felt like a kid again, maybe, as she applied some speed to her gait and then she was running, through the streets of her former hometown, and it felt as good as it hurt.

It was more difficult for Locke to slip through the other people gathered about than the much more slender woman and he lost her for a bit there, when she took a turn he didn't, and Shae didn't think to let up for him. No. She just kept up, oblivious to the man calling after her as she mad yet another sharp turn and then she was there.

Just outside the heart of the city.

The church had been repainted, a few years ago, and she kind of hated it. The brick exterior was the same, of course, but the accents, such the drainage pipes and the door frames, had been changed and it wasn't how she remembered it, worn and old, like it was her whole life growing up. In same ways, it reminded her of the pictures her parents had, always off in one of the drawers in the house, old stacks of them, rubber banded and meant to be put away one day, categorized and in booklets. Albums. In them though laid a set of photographs of people she didn't know and people she did, intermixed with both her parents. They carried beams and bricks, paint cans and smiles. All of them. Grinning as they worked nearly five hot summers before her birth, to build the structure that stood before her now.

Her father was so proud of being a part of it. He was friends with the original preacher, one of the man's core 'guys' who helped rally support for its need.

It was weird to consider how many of them, like her father, were no longer around. Not even in the literal sense of death, but in the concept of having nothing to do with the church any longer. Having moved away or changed interests or lifestyles.

To be so passionate about something and watch it slip away from you, or even be taken away, was shattering.

Shae felt cold as she stepped onto the grounds.

Seemingly deserted, the church only held her interest for those few fleeting moments as, soon enough, she'd made it to the side yard where through a wrought iron fence, she could see the amassed grave stones, modest and uniform in shape, half elongated ovals sticking up out of the ground, with mere names and dashed dates.

Last time she'd been there, it had been much more emotional.

She'd only just escaped Bosco and returned home, hoping to find her mother had done the same or left some sort of way to contact her, but no one had seen the woman and were, honestly, shocked to see her again.

She went with her aunt, her father's sister, to visit the man's grave that day and she wept while her aunt held her and it surprised her, how different it felt, this time.

"Hey," she whispered softly when she came upon the specific headstone. Leaning down, she absently plucked a weed from in front of it and even smiled, maybe, as she whispered, "Pop."

It wasn't like she'd forgotten he was there. Or that she didn't plan on making a stop there while she was in town. Rather, she'd intended to do so on the way out, regardless of the outcome of their journey. She thought it would wreck her too much, right at the start, to visit the grave-site.

Yet somehow, it felt far more grounding.

Locke lingered, she could tell, when he approached. In fact, he sucked in a breath, equally from having run the entire way there in a bit of a panic as well as from the sight of her there, in the church graveyard, bowing before one of them. He even backpedaled some, as not to disturb the woman. It wasn't until she stood once more, fully, that he slowly began to approach.

"Are you alright?" Locke asked to which the woman nodded, looking back down at the gravestone once the man was near.

"It's my father," she explained simply. "I think I told you before about how he got sick, when I was younger."

Nodding, Locke remarked, "I didn't even think to suggest coming here first. I'm sorry."

"No." And Shae sighed some as she glanced up at the mage. "I'm sorry. For running off. I just...had something that I had to do."

"Yeah?" He grinned at her then. "Maybe you could try saying that, huh? When we get there?"

"Shut up, Locke."

But she grinned too, she could help it, and the air felt different this time, when they headed back down the winding streets.

Locke wasn't lying before; the place did give him distinct feelings of home. While Magnolia had a canal cutting through it and the ever looming figures of the Fairy Tail guildhall and Kardia Cathedral shadowing the landscape, the bustling town of Ronan, Joya boasted a beautiful school building that sat just so that the sunlight hit the dome at the top and radiated a certain aura.

Honestly, he hoped all went well so he could find out more about the place. He was already thinking about how, once this was all over in, oh, a year or two, maybe, once he and Haven were settled back in Magnolia, he'd like to visit this place. Many places, maybe, even. The outer reaches of Fiore had always felt foreign and exotic to him, but now that he was getting a taste for true travel, he wasn't so sure he could ever see himself giving it fully up.

The heart of the city, filled with shops and food carts, gave way to apartment buildings and, as they edged even further from the center of the town, sprawling mansion and estate properties, with high gates and large trees. This area was less densely populated and as the day was coming to a close, they were walking amongst those returning from work. Men and women dressed nicely with briefcases at their sides, kids in school uniforms with knapsacks over their shoulders, and just an overall calm sense of being.

"You lived here?" Locke asked Shae softly then. They hadn't spoken much, save some idle conversation, but he found he couldn't hold his tongue for the entire walk as he glanced around the practical mansions, it felt like, seated far back on massive plots of land.

"Fuck no." Shae shook her head. "Nice though, isn't it?"

He made a sound in the back of his throat of agreement before remarking, "Forgot to be born to a rich family. My mistake."

"Then you probably wouldn't be in a guild."

"Yeah," he agreed with a low whistle. "Who the hell would need to be?"

They found the property soon enough, Shae from memory with Locke stopping short beside her as they found themselves before the iron gates of a bricked in property, an insignia, perhaps a family crest of some sort, designed into the metal.

Locke considered how hard it would be to keep his father from gnawing at the gate.

Shae considered how hard it would be to knock the man out and drag him back to the boat and just tell the others things hadn't worked out.

Her finger trembled some as she raised it to press a tiny black button on one side of the gate, laying just beneath a speaker box hanging on the bricks. It felt ridiculous, the whole thing did really. She was only weeks away from killing a man in cold blood in Bosco, but here she was, the scared little girl she'd been all those years ago, in Joya.

A soft buzzing could be heard when she pressed the button, no doubt carried off to the house in the distance. Locke rocked on his feet as Shae lifted her finger and, for a moment, they had the last seconds to themselves before there was no return.

"No solicitors."

Locke frowned, at the box, as this was the only thing spoken from it, but Shae seemed to be expecting this as she only leaned closer to the speaker box.

"We're not selling anything," she said simply. "I'm-"

"Do you have an appointment with Mrs. Ainwise?"

"N-No, but-"

"Then you must come back once you-"

"Tell her that it's Shae. From… Her daughter's friend. Jemma's. She'll see me."

There was a pause. A long one. Locke shifted on his feet and Shae sighed a few times, loudly and uncomfortably, but then there was a crackling on the speaker as the gate before them began to creak before slowly opening.

"Mrs. Ainwise will await you at the front door," the voice from the box said and then the gate was nearly open, Locke waiting until Shae took the first step beyond it's boundary before following suit.

"It's her mother's place?" he questioned. "What makes you so sure she'll be here too? Right now?"

Shae could only sigh in response and he figured it was best if he shifted into the function eh was best at; only speaking if it was to help his counterpart extract their foot from their mouth.

The brick home was a brilliant shade of white, rows of windows on each side of the door, spanning the length of its front. The second floor had a balcony centered above the bright red dual front doors, and Locke was careful to stay on the gravel path that lead up to them, cautious not to spek on a single blade of grass.

It was hard not to draw parallels from this place and the Harval manor they'd just left a trail of bodies in. Not for Locke at least. And suddenly a pit formed in his own stomach, one he wasn't expecting, and his expression was much darker than he intended, when the front door was opened.

"Shae!"

And an older woman was there before them, his mother's age, maybe older, with a short, blonde haircut and deep brown eyes that invited them further in. After spending the past few months with no one who possessed it, to see someone who exuded did bring something of a smile to Locke's lips.

"This is so unexpected," the woman continued as she reached out, immediately, drawing the somewhat resistant Shae into her arms while Locke only took a step right after them. "Have you been in Ronan long?"

"I just got in," she admitted. "Like today. And I wanted to see Jemma to...talk."

"To talk," Mrs. Ainwise remarked and she still held Shae, tightly, but her eyes were on Locke then. "And who's this friend that you've brought with you to talk?"

"I'm Locke Redox." He was quick to hold out his hand, the man was, and as she released Shae, the older woman took it. Grinning, the man said, "I work with Shae. In Fiore."

"Fiore." and she nodded some as she shook his hand. "I could tell you were from here."

"My accent give me away?" he questioned, but Shae didn't seem too interested in niceties then.

"Is Jemma here?" she intervened. "Or at least in town? There's something very pressing I need to speak with her on and-"

"She's home for the season's break," the woman's mother confirmed with a nod. "I believe she's out in the garden." And she looked to the woman who'd been fluttering around the entryway, absently awaiting instruction. Mrs. Ainwise gave her some then, remarking, "Take Shae to see Jemma. They have something to discuss."

"Of course." The maid bowed her head before she reached for a Shae, smiling somewhat as she beckoned the woman on. "Come."

Shae might have lost her nerve, perhaps, but the maid snatched up her hands and lead her own, deeper into the massive house and Locke was sure to nod at the lady of it before following along after her.

When she'd first told him of the place, all those months back, down by the creek, Locke wasn't sure what he thought Shae meant by a garden. Maybe something like what Kai kept, not at Erza's place, but out back behind him the guildhall. With some shrubs and, as Shae had mentioned, an assortment of statues.

He was blown away by the mere scope of what he was greeted with. Of course, from judging the front of the property and getting glimpses as they approached, he knew that it had to be some amount of grandeur, but the sprawling foliage left him stunned. A sliding glass door had led them out onto a raised back patio and, taking the few steps down to the path before them lead into a maze like structure of tall shrubbery and interwoven plants. He could see over top, somewhat, where the diverging walls of shrubbery met and formed arcs, the tops of different rock forms, statues, he knew, as Shae had informed him.

"Ever get lost in here?" he asked, mostly to the maid who glanced back at him with something of a forced smile, but Shae answered instead with a bit of a shrug.

"Sometimes," she answered softly. "It's easy if you want to."

The stone path lead them deeper into the maze, but the woman leading them seemed to know exactly where she was headed, making all the right turns to lead them into the middle of the vegetation where the path turned into a patio of its own, complete with a little table with an umbrella perched in the centered.

Seated was, of course, the woman they were set to meet. And another. Locke felt a quickening in his chest, fearing momentarily that they may find themselves in an even more awkward situation than originally presented, but as both women lifted their faces, he could tell easily that both resembled the woman they'd met at the door, Mrs. Aimwise.

They were related.

Sisters, even, Shae knew, as she glanced between the two of them.

The older, Jemma, had been writing in a journal before they approached, listening absently to the story being spun by her oft more energetic sister. The younger was very keen on explaining, perhaps overly, the events from the previous night that she had found herself in and bits of the conversation were still falling from her mouth as the pair noted the trio before them.

"These guests requested your presence and your mother thought for me to bring them to you," the maid remarked with a nod mainly towards Jemma.

But the woman didn't return the gaze.

There wasn't much of a greeting for either of them as, while her younger sister watched with wide eyes, Jemma rose from her seat with a glare in Shae's direction.

"What," she asked stiffly as, at the sound, the maid was quick to depart back the way they'd come, "are you doing here? Shae?"

Locke was taken, momentarily, by the woman as she stood from her seat to address his friend. Gorgeous didn't quite cut it when he tried hard not to glance the slender woman over, instead focusing his gaze on her similar, striking eyes of her mother. He found her dark gaze heavy, but as it wasn't directed at him, not hard to get around.

"I'm Locke." he spoke, when it was clear Shae wasn't going to. This wasn't so much as a favor to the woman, but rather as he found himself wanting the attention of the other woman, however brief and pointless. When she glanced at him, he smiled brightly as he remarked, "Shae and I work together, back in Fiore and were over this way because-"

"Fiore?" She still wouldn't give him even a parting glance and, as Locke deflated at this, Shae still couldn't quite raise her eyes to her former girlfriend. "Is that where you've been hiding out?"

"I wasn't hiding out," Shae finally found at least some of her words. "I-"

"Bullshit," Jemma cut her off and Locke lost some of his goofiness (it wasn't getting him anywhere anyways) and was about ready to intervene when, instead, another found their voice.

"Hey, Jemma, Shae, don't you guys wanna do this alone?" The younger of the two sisters had bolted up then, glancing between her sister and the other woman as she spoke. "I'm sure you have so much catching up to do and I wouldn't want to get in the way of that. And," She drew out the word some as she came over to Locke, hooking an arm with the man. When he resisted, she tightened it before insisting, "I'll take the gentleman somewhere too, huh? Show him around? Keep him out of your hair?"

Locke wanted to protest, and even did so somewhat as he could feel Shae's eyes, pleading at him silently, but the young woman who'd hooked him had hedged her bet on him not fully shoving her away. Her bet was soiled, as he'd never do such a thing, but it made it difficult to do anything more than be marked along, into one of the diverging paths, back into the greenery, and then there was just Shae and Jemma.

The last thing she wanted.

At this point, she'd have been better off bringing Haven.

"You've got," Jemma insisted tightly, "ten seconds to explain before I kick you out of here."

"I'm trying to stop the slave trade in Bosco and find my missing mother in the process and just need your help, please, with clearing debris from a tunnel system that will help us do exactly that."

She spat it out, basically, Shae did, as quickly as possible, all in one steady stream of breath, and it was better that way. Maybe. Made it difficult to take back, made sure nothing important got skipped over.

This was it and if Jemma wanted to hear more, she could ask, and if not, she could send her right back on her way, pretend as if this had never happened.

She didn't immediately drop her guard, Jemma didn't, but rather than looking so accusatory, she took a step back, arms folding over her busty chest as she huffed slightly and looked off, as if thinking.

"Well," she offered softly with a bit of a snort, maybe a chuckle, but not much of one, "you did it. That was less than ten second."

And Shae felt it wash over her as well, as she let a breath out and the air wasn't so thick anymore, on that cloudless day as she nodded a bit and took a step forwards.

It was a start.

Haven had found herself in a bit of one as well, back in the little cabin in the woods where Jed rifled through papers and she mostly attempted to stay as much out of his way as possible. It was difficult for her to bite her tongue at the sate of the place, but Jed filled the gaps by rambling, softly mostly, over different memories of the place.

"These," he remarked eventually as he bent down before a book shelf where, on it's lowest shelve, there sat a safe, "is where my father kept his most important documents."

"Not very inconspicuous," Haven remarked simply as she stood over the man's shoulder. "I mean, if I was looking for something valuable, wouldn't that be the first place I looked?"

"Pop was a strange one," Jed offered her. "His official work? Meticulous. Files organized and kept in his office. Immaculate. Anything he brought back home? Scattered about. Everywhere. For him to put it back in here when he was done with it meant that he was paying it the upmost attention."

"You know the code?" she questioned then, but it was just about too late as, finished twisting the dial, he tried the handle of the safe and it popped right open.

"By heart," he offered her and Haven nodded while he merely pulled out a stack of files and, at the bottom of the safe, a vial of some sort. Jed leaned in close, peering at it for a moment before glancing up at the woman. Softly, he said, "Doesn't look like much, but hopefully Locke will be able to do something with it."

"If it's possible, he can do it," Haven offered as she looked off, not quite able to openly complement him. "Locke's not a complete idiot; just mostly one. You'll give him something to do, anyways. Keep his mind off… Hey, can we go into the city now? There's something I wanna do."

"Hungry already?" he questioned, but she merely shook her head.

Holding out a hand to the man to help him up, Haven explained, "I have a better idea. We get what you need here, hit the city for supplies and then go on a bit of an adventure. A real one."

"What do you mean?" Jed frowned as he got back to his feet. "An adventure?"

"We're gonna go fuck up that woman. Who sold you to traders."

And it was a good thing he was steady by then, else Jed might have fallen over.

"H-Haven, I don't-"

"Staying here will only bring back bad memories of yoru father and stuff," she said with a wave of the hand.

"That's not tr-"

"We have a little over two days to be back at the docks." Haven smiled at him brightly. "Plenty of time to get back at her."

"Haven, I don't want-"

"Don't you think that someone should be punished for something like that?"

"Of course. But that's what you have local authorities for."

"Then are you going to contact them?"

"W-Well-"

"Jed." Haven even shook her head at him in a disappointed manner. "We're friends, right?"

He was uneasy, but his words weren't uncertain. "I'd like to think so, yes."

"Then I can be honest with you," she decided, as if she were ever good at hiding her true thoughts. "What happened to you was traumatic and harsh. So it's no wonder that you're apprehensive about confronting it. But I come from Fiore, where if someone did something like that to you, then your guild or family would take care of them. Not guards or city patrol. This is personal shit, so you take care of it personally. You're my friend now. My family. So I'm going to take care of it for you. The only only way I know how."

"I don't want her...killed."

"Me either." She did smash a fist into another though as she said, :"But I'm going to make sure she and her family don't do shit like that anymore, if I can help it. You don't have to be involved at all. Just point me in the right way and go back to the dock when it's time; I'll be there."

Jed was still frowning though, as he questioned, "What would Locke say, if he were here, I wonder."

"Something stupid. Because he's stupid. Something about the old me and revenge and… But it's not about that. It's about you. And avenging you." Tapping at her chest then, she insisted, "All I need is an idea, a town, and my lightning body magic could have me half way across this kingdom in no time."

"I…. I do think that traders should be punished, but-"

"And I'll punish them."

She looked him dead in the eyes then. Hers were alight and, while his weren't quite so, there was a hint of coming around to his gaze and she could see it a mile off. His weakness was annoying when it came to him not standing up to others, but when it benefited her, Haven found she liked it a lot. She bit down on the tip of her tongue a bit, trying to hide her excitement over the concept, a thrill and a chase, almost like a job, back home, being dangled right in front of her. Bosco had been a drag, mostly, and the idea of a simple chase felt like a true vacation to the woman.

"When we get back to base," Haven kept up, "there's no telling what will happen. I may not make my way back to Joya for a long time. It's may be now or never."

Jed looked down at his hand then, to the vial and papers, staring at them for a long few moments as he thought over what Haven could accomplish, what she could do for him, if he turned her lose. He'd hoped to run into hardly anyone from his life, really, in his short time on the island, especially not the people who'd stabbed in so heavily in the back.

But Haven's offer was tempting, especially because he'd never been truly considered such a thing. She wasn't wrong; his pain ran deep over all of this and it would feel good, maybe, he thought, or at least Haven made it sound as if it would, were he to give in. Did they not deserve it? Whatever the woman was willing to rain down on them? For what they'd done to him?

It was with a heavy sigh though, that he informed the woman, "I do not think that is something I wish to do with my short time in my homeland, no. I'm sorry."

Haven didn't speak for a moment, eyeing him heavily in what felt rather judgmental before her shoulder dropped and her face changed. Her posture.

For the first time, she even seemed annoyed with him.

"Fine," she remarked shortly. "It's your life. We'll do whatever you want. But you'll remember this moment."

Maybe.

But as he glanced around his father's tiny domicile, he knew it would be for different reasons.

They wouldn't stay in the cabin forever. Only a short journey away from the next town, they set out around sunset, with Jed offering to treat the woman to dinner with some of the local currency he'd found at his father's former place. He could tell that she was bothered by him, even distanced from their conversation and, as they arrived in the tiny town, he thought to take her to a bar rather than a cafe.

"You should have a drink," he offered. "Perhaps I'll have one as well. We can both...cut loose, as it were."

It would take more than the promise of a drink to bring the woman out of her funk, but...her father had always taught her to be gracious in most things. Especially alcohol.

She'd had a strange vibe the majority of the day, Haven had, as it was rare for her ot be somewhere so devoid of magic. Save a few of the guys they'd left behind at the docks, she hadn't rightly felt the traces of it lingering off anyone other than herself.

Perhaps it was why she was so perceptive of it.

Felt it.

In a way she usually only noted Locke's.

Jed was speaking, recalling really, into his drink, something from his childhood and Haven had been mostly moping into her own, but something made her jerk her head up rather suddenly, catching the attention of her friend.

"What is it?" Jed asked, but Haven didn't answer as, instead, she found her eyes fixed to the wood double doors of the tiny bar. But they didn't open. She knew they wouldn't.

"Someone followed me here."

"What?"

"Stay here." Raising to her feet, Haven said, "I'll be back for you soon."

"Haven-"

"It's fine." She even gave him a very forced grin. "Just some unfinished business. Get me another beer, huh?" Rolling her shoulders, she turned to walk away while calling over them, "Maybe even something stronger."

Jed didn't go after her. He wasn't Locke. Which was a good thing, actually, as Haven found herself thankful the man wasn't around for the first time of their short time spent apart. He'd have felt it too, honestly. The magic. And while he might not have been able to place it, she was immediately.

"Porter."

He seemed to be waiting for her, alone, leaning up against the building with his arms crossed over his chest. There was a different aura about him now, than the previous day. The shock over seeing her had worn off for the man, obviously, and left him with something close to his former swagger.

Just not as much.

He smiled though, at her, in that cocky way as she approached him, clashing with the stony look on the woman.

"Finish up early, did ya?" he questioned with a bit of a snicker as, shoving away from the wall, he turned to look at her. "Remember a time you closed down bars. Now you-"

"You fucking followed me here?" Haven didn't quite care that she was in a foreign land, far removed from her natural protections of home. Her right arm lit up with a spark of electricity and, as she approached him, she got a few glances from passers by not necessarily accustomed to such feats. "You fucking creep. I'll end you."

If Porter had had a chance to mull over Haven's re-entrance to his life, she'd had a chance to do the same. The shock was gone and now they were left with something much more volatile. On her end at least. And she looked poised to strike him then, with her fist, but before this could take place, he only tilted his head a bit and gave her a look. One that hearkened back to a time when she wouldn't dream of doing such a thing.

"Careful, babe," he warned darkly. "Don't do something you can't take back."

"Fuck off," she retorted as, though her fist stayed electrified, she seemed subdued for the moment. "I mean it. I don't know what you want, but-"

"I told you I had business in Joya, didn't I?"

"Here? You just happen to be here? I'm not a fucking idiot."

Porter shrugged some, looking off. "Left outta the port this morning, happened to arrive in the same one as the crew that took you out. Asked them about where you were headed-"

"No fucking way-"

"Your friend. That old guy." Porter snorted. "Talks too much. Should have better command of your men, you don't want everyone knowing your business."

"Business." And her electricity was dying off as Haven still only glared up at the man. "What business took you so suddenly to Joya? That you're ignoring just to stalk me?"

"Thought it was obvious, Hav." He even grinned. "You're my business."

Haven laughed in his face, crossing her arms over her chest as she retorted darkly, "Was I your business when you tried to get me killed?"

"The hell I did," he retorted. "You're the one that waited until I was drunk and asleep to attack me."

"I," Haven defended, "was tired of being strung along. You owed me information."

"Yeah? And that's how you get information outta a guy?"

"You had no intention of telling me anything, ever," Haven remarked. "And you know it. Fucking selfish asshole. Trying to keep all the magic for yourself."

"What made you think you were worthy, huh? Of it?" Porter shook his head. "And I gave you what you wanted. The info. And you got what you deserved. Didn't you?"

Haven took a step closer to the man then, blue eyes dark as she insisted to the man, "I am Rajin's daughter. In every sense of the word. My blight is so much stronger than what you're blessed with. And now, my demon… I cheated death. Porter. You still shoveling stolen shit all alone is what you deserve."

"You don't know what you're fucking talking about, Dreyar."

"I don't care what I'm talking about." She rarely did, but she truly meant it then. "I don't care what you want. With me. I'm with Locke now. Forever. So-"

"You think I want to fuck you? You think I love you? That I'm just some sick puppy that followed its master all the way here just hoping he might get some affection?" Porter was glaring down at her then and he was battling back, she could tell, for an ounce of what he'd held over her before. "I should fucking kill you, you goddamn bitch. You think I forgot what you did? After you got your little curse, you tried to attack me with it! You think I haven't dreamed of the day I could get you back for that? Your stupid boyfriend can have you; I never wanted you. Used goods."

She pushed up some, on the pads of her feet, to at least somewhat match his height as she growled harshly, "Then why the fuck are you here?"

He broke first, their smoldering glares, turning from her so he could gather a breath of non-fretted air before he announced over his shoulder, "I thought you were dead. You know. Everyone did. That you did some sort of stupid gauntlet challenge and died. What the fuck was that, Haven? Why did you let everyone think that?"

"Who's everyone, Porter? All your stupid friends? Our, what do you call them? Associates? Fuck them. Let them think I'm dead. I did die. That me is dead. The person that followed you across the world is dead. From a stupid gauntlet."

"Was it just a big trick?" he asked and his voice had lost some of its volume, bordering on a whisper. "For what reason?"

"I did die. Porter. I'm not lying." She almost lifted her shirt to reveal her scars to the man, but felt he didn't truly deserve it. "I was shot through the stomach from a summoned being. I was buried. But magic brought me back."

"A new person?" he questioned.

"The same body," was her easiest answer and Porter only shook his head a bit before he turned to look at her once more.

"There's something I need to talk to you about," he said suddenly and Haven frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"When I saw you outside of Kaz's place…" Porter took in a breath. "Something happened. When I was out on a job. I ran into something and-"

"I'm not looking for work."

"It goes beyond work, Haven. It-"

"Why would I ever help you, Porter?" she asked. "I paid you back. And you led me to the magic I wanted. We're even."

"Far from it."

"Fuck you."

"Haven-"

"I'm going back to Bosco," she told him simply. "In a few days. I have actual shit to do there. Not chase whatever stupid treasure you're after now."

"I'm not after treasure you fucking moron. Would you listen to me?" He wasn't yelling at her any longer. His tone wasn't harsh. But rather, he seemed somewhat desperate. Concerned. "Something happened. When I was out with the guys a few months back. We ran into some dark magic. And-"

"What can't you get through your thick skull? I don't fucking care. I don't have time for this. Even while I'm here I'm supposed to-"

It was Haven that stopped speaking. Porter didn't interrupt her. Honestly, he was staring curiously at her as she cut herself off, closing her mouth for a moment as she glanced down with a thought.

"How well," she asked with a raised eyebrow, "do you know Joya?"

"Haven, what?"

"How well? Do you have connections? Could you find someone for me? In, oh, a day?"

"What are you on about? It's a big fucking island, Haven," he griped. "Find you someone in a day? Are you insane?"

"I'm," she told him simply, "making you a deal. I give you a name, you tell me where they're at, and I pay them a little visit. Then I listen to your little plea."

"You want me to put in work," he griped, "just for you to listen to what I have to say?"

"I'm a busy woman these days, Porter," she retorted with a shrug. "I'll be the Queen of Bosco in a year or two. I have a lot to do."

"You're fucking delusional," he decided then. "You're just fucking delusional. I tracked down a mad woman."

"Do you want my help?" Haven questioned. "Or not?"

Porter glared at her as he remarked, "You think you're hot shit now, don't you?"

Haven only snorted though, holding her head higher as she insisted, "I always have been."


It was evening, sometimes after dinner. The day had been a roaring success in the eyes of Xavier, who sat proudly on the porch steps, absolutely beaming over the land before him. Everyone was milling about in one of summer's final, breezy nights and it felt so good, all of it did.

Astra had left him in charge and he was absolutely killing it in that department.

For as much as the boy was enjoying it, a large part of him couldn't wait for it to be over as well. When everyone got back, Astra from Bosco and Haven and Locke and Shae from Joya, they'd see just how well he'd done in their absence and definitely consider him a more valuable, contributing member than they did currently.

"If I can hold things down at base," he remarked to Nessa as she tentatively joined him that night, on the porch steps, "then that means that they'll see I can handle even bigger stuff too. Like expeditions into Bosco and running supplies through the tunnels and-"

"Or," she interrupted softly, "they'll decide that you're really good at sticking around base while they're out doing all of those things and leave you here more often."

He blinked, Xay did at that, before glancing down at the other teen with a frown. "Whose side are you on?"

Nessa was quick to toss up her hands, beginning the boy's forgiveness as she remarked, "I was just thinking out loud. I'm sorry. I-"

"Come on." Bouncing up, he held out a hand to help her up before saying, "There's only a few more months left, you know. Of the season. And then the fireflies go away forever."

It had become something of a nightly routine for the pair, when he didn't have patrol and she was unable to escape her mother, to drift away from the main part of the property and more into the field that led down to the creek. There, in the open field, they had the best chance at adjusting their eyes to the night and stillness as the late season fireflies graced their presence, floating about with seamless abandon.

"Didn't you do this growing up?" Xay asked her the first time he took her out there, surprised by her unwillingness to lay back in the grass. "Back at the manor?"

"N-No," she admitted with a short shake of her head. "I wasn't really allowed outside often. I mostly worked in the kitchens and, late at night, was tasked with going into the penthouse to-"

"Well, I did," he cut her off, not really keen to hear about any of that. He'd tossed his hands behind his head and stared straight up at the stars above them with a slight grin. "My mother did all the work, really, when I was a little boy. And my master and his wife just mostly wanted me out of the way. It wasn't a very big household. But in the evenings, when my mother slept, I'd sneak out into the backyard and just lay out in the grass and the fireflies...and the stars…. The rest of them aren't from Bosco, you know."

"What do you mean?" She too slowly shifted to lay back that night, somewhat apprehensive that first time. "You all freed them from the households, didn't you? In Bosco?"

"Well, yeah, but they're not all from Bosco," he said with a shake of his head. "And they're not who I meant. I was talking about Shae and Locke. Haven and Richard. The ones I hang out with the most, I guess. They're all… It's different. You and I are different. You know? We're from Bosco. And it's just nice to talk to someone else from Bosco. Sometimes."

She hummed in agreement and the first sign of fireflies were appearing then, soft, yellow-green glows speckling the sky above them.

"The Mistress is from Bosco," she reminded him softly and Xay smiled a bit, just from the thought of Astra as he nodded.

Still though, he was certain to add, "But not like us."

"What do you mean?"

"Nessa, we're… We're just different from her," he decided with a shake of his head. "So it's nice. Having you here. That's all."

And he meant it, even as the season was coming to a close and they were falling into their place all that time later. Right beside one another, in the grass, watching the moon as it disappeared behind the clouds.

It was a nice night. Overall.

As the wind blew just slightly though and, distantly, someone laughed loudly back on the property, Xavier found that he felt a sudden pang in his chest, making breathing difficult momentarily. Once he'd sucked in a breath though, he could only blink up at the sky for a moment before speaking to the girl next to him.

"My mother used to go with me," he told her suddenly. "When I'd sneak out."

"What are you talking about?" Nessa asked, but he just laughed a bit, at the memory and he could breath now, but it hurt, actually, and he he had to blink back something that got caught in his eye.

Rubbing at it, he said, "She'd lay with me in the grass and hum to me, as we watched the fireflies. Before…"

"Are you okay?" Nessa asked and she sat up, to frown down at him.

He didn't get a chance to answer, but it wasn't due to the fact he was too choked up. Rather, at that exact minute, two things happened. The first felt inconsequential over all as, in her fear over checking on him, Nessa rested her hand on his chest and wow, Xavier found that he really liked that.

But the second had far more terrifying implications.

It was a red light. Confusingly. Almost like a firework, really, that shot up somewhere far beyond the treeline of the property.

"What was that?" Nessa asked as she fell back away from him and Xavier only struggled to shove up as well, momentarily confused. Back at base, they could hear people wondering the same thing, calling out for one another.

Someone came running then, they could hear them, but they weren't aiming for the pair. In fact, the person, one of the men rescued from Ewing manner, hardly paid them any mind as he left the surrounding forest and ran right through their field. It was Douglass, the man who was doing the first round of patrolling that night.

"Hey!" Xavier jumped to his feet. "What's going on?"

"Someone's here," Douglass yelled over his shoulder. "And I think they're fucking traders!"

"What?" Nessa stared up at Xavier in shock. "What does he mean?"

But the other teen only frowned, heavily, reaching down to roughly pull her to her feet before remarking, "We gotta get you somewhere safe."

"Xay-"

"I think," he told the girl, "that we're gonna finally have to fight for this place."