There was little sleep to be had that night or most nights that followed. Laurence's first instinct was to find Gehrman and warn him of the lingering threat he'd uncovered, but with him away with no indication of when he'll return, he had no choice but to wait. After informing Ludwig of the situation, he had him discreetly pass on a message to one of their more obscure initiates so he could deliver it to the Workshop; while it was likely Lady Maria already knew of its location, it wasn't something Laurence was willing to risk.

Days went by until he finally got confirmation that Gehrman had returned safe and sound, allowing them to organize a meeting at his clinic. As he waited for him to arrive, Laurence nervously paced back and forth, unable to sit still. There were no windows in his office, no ways for anyone to peer in, but that didn't stop his paranoia from running rampant. She knew where he worked, where he lived. And the worst part was he had no way of knowing when she was watching him and when she wasn't.

That was no doubt what she wanted. She wanted him scared - to influence his decisions without ever being present herself. There was no conceivable way for her to always be aware of what he was doing, but the possibility was always there.

Laurence's aimless pacing was finally interrupted when someone knocked on his door, after which Iosefka let herself inside. "They're here, Master Laurence," she informed him. "Amelia is taking them around the back."

Without even a word of acknowledgement, Laurence hurried out of his office and down the stairs into the hallway outside. Then, after making sure no one besides himself and his student were present, he opened one of the windows, which led out to the rooftops outside. Before exiting, he turned back to Iosefka for a moment. "Make sure nobody comes this way," he instructed.

"Yes, sir."

With that confirmation, Laurence carefully climbed out the window and dropped down onto the slightly sloped rooftop. After getting his footing, he started slowly making his way across, minding his balance all the while. It was still midday and he could clearly see where he was going, but that didn't mean he couldn't trip on a loose bit of paneling. Needless to say, he wouldn't come out here unless it was absolutely necessary.

As he neared the end of the rooftop, he heard voices from the streets below. Carefully peering over the edge, he saw Amelia leading Gehrman, Ludwig and unexpectedly, Lobsang out from the alleyway and into a small square, which is when they noticed him.

"Oh, is that you, young master?" Gehrman quite loudly asked as he looked up.

"Keep your voice down!" he warned. Afterwards, he made his way over to a drop down ladder on the right hand side of the roof's edge and lowered it for them. "Now climb up! Hurry!"

Laurence impatiently waited as the three of them made their way up the ladder one after the other, after which he quickly brought the ladder back up so nobody else could use it to access the clinic. Amelia hurried back the way she came in order to secure the passage at the corner of the clinic, which only a select few had access to. It's not that they couldn't have entered the clinic through the main entrance, but with how many patients they were treating, Laurence deemed it too risky. Regardless of what they now knew, it was best that Gehrman remained as obscure as possible.

"Were you followed?" Laurence demanded as he finished with the ladder.

"Not that we could see," Gehrman replied. "But if what you said is true, we're far past the point where that's our biggest concern."

"Unfortunately, it is." Quickly standing up, Laurence walked past his three visitors back towards the clinic. "Follow me. There is much we need to discuss."

…

Once they were all inside, the professor recounted the details of Lady Maria's visit; everything she'd said or even implied. By the end, his companions all appeared troubled and understandably so.

"Surely you misunderstood, Laurence," said Ludwig.

"There is no denying it," he said in reply, turning to Gehrman. "She wants you dead."

Strangely, he hardly seemed phased by this news. At most, he appeared…disappointed. "I see," he said. "What shall we do, young master?"

"I do not know. As I said, if your death was all she wanted, we likely wouldn't be here. Perhaps if we scale back our initiative, delay our planned exhibitions…"

"It will not avail us."

It was Lobsang that interrupted him then, speaking for the first time since they gathered. Naturally, they all turned towards him, finding him sitting on a nearby chair with his head slightly lowered.

"How can you be so certain?" Laurence asked.

"You understand what drives her, do you not? In her eyes, her company died needless deaths - deaths that could've been prevented. How rooted that belief is in reality is irrelevant. What she seeks is atonement, and she sees but one way to achieve it."

He expressed nothing that Laurence didn't already know. He'd told her that her guilt and anger was misplaced, and despite her rebuke, he was certain a part of her could still acknowledge that. "She gave me her word," he told Lobsang. "I don't believe that she'd go back on it."

"I do. Guilt like hers supersedes all things, even honor." Lobsang paused for a moment before adding, "And in the unlikely event that she is true to her word, it will only allow her anger to fester unabated."

There wasn't a hint of doubt in his words, but even so, Laurence couldn't accept what he was suggesting. However, he couldn't think of any rational reason as to why. He simply didn't want to believe it, though he recognized that Lobsang was likely right.

What he saw in her eyes that night, more than guilt or malice, was confusion. The path that she'd walked for an untold number of years ended up leading nowhere, bringing no satisfaction or closure. Furthering Queen Annalise's interests was never her goal; at most, it would only ever have been a byproduct of her efforts. No, what she wanted more than anything was to help those less fortunate than her…and in her mind, she'd failed. What was she to do now?

It was a question he hoped he would never have to ask himself, but…

"Laurence?"

Ludwig's inquiring voice finally broke him out of his thoughts. The look that he and the others were giving him showed that they were still awaiting his decision, as if he'd managed to come to one. "Master Willem must be informed of this," he stated. "Lady Maria has indicated that she doesn't intend to inform Queen Annalise of our transgressions. But even so, the risks of going forward with our plan are far too great."

"How so?" Ludwig suddenly inquired, clearly skeptical of him.

"Excuse me?" said Laurence.

"If I recall your story correctly, Gehrman slew a beast that wiped out her entire company single handedly. And from what you just told us, she seemingly lacks the will to pursue him on her own accord. What reason do any of us have to fear her?"

"But you must consider…!" "I have," the stablemaster interrupted. "And it won't come to that. Won't it, old friend?"

All eyes turned then to Gehrman, who'd remained uncharacteristically silent for the past several minutes. Much like Laurence, he appeared to be lost in thought, pondering over the same possibilities that he was.

"No, it won't," he eventually answered. "I have no wish to slay her."

"I fear you won't have much choice," Laurence pointed out. While she'd been fairly cryptic, Lady Maria now seemed to fear herself - that she'd inadvertently end up causing harm to people besides her intended target. What could possibly cause this, he didn't know, but it was a terrifying thought.

"Well, Gehrman? What do you think?"

"That Lobsang is right," was his eventual reply. "She will come for me one way or another. The most we can do is mitigate the damage she causes."

"Then do we call off the expedition?"

"No," said Gehrman. "Doing so would leave far too much to chance. We won't know when or even if she'll strike, whereas we can be certain that she'll follow us into the tombs. And frankly, I don't think Master Willem needs to be concerned about this."

Laurence pondered over what he was saying, weighing the risks. Most of his logic seemed sound, but one major concern remained. "And how does this all end?"

"With her realizing the folly of her actions."

Gehrman's reply told him that even he wasn't certain what would come of it. Either he'd somehow be able to bring Lady Maria to her senses or he'd need to put her down like a rabid animal. And that was assuming he'd be capable of doing either.

"What you propose is dangerous."

"I know, Master Laurence," said Gehrman. "But it is I who started this fire and so, it falls to me to contain it. If you trust me to do so, that is."

Understandably, Laurence hesitated. Despite what Gehrman indicated earlier, the only way he saw this ending was with one of their deaths - a finality that Lady Maria no doubt longed for. He did not wish to leave such a thing in the balance. He did not wish to see either of them meet their end.

But there was a chance, no matter how slim, that such a thing would not come to pass. Lady Maria was not yet lost to him; that he was undergoing this dilemma at all was proof of that. And for all the complications brought about by Gehrman's decision, he still believed that saving her had been the right thing to do. To see such a brave, benevolent soul fall as low as this and perhaps even perish as a result…he could not bear the thought.

After what felt like an eternity of deliberation, he finally looked back to Gehrman, hearkening back to their discussion after they'd returned from Loran all those months ago. At the time, they had an understanding, but no concrete plan - and since then, nothing had really changed. But he also believed that there was more to his friend's decision than he let on…and that, too, hadn't changed.

"Very well," said Laurence. "Do what you must."

In response, Gehrman nodded his head. "Thank you, young master."

...

Author's Notes: Hi, everyone!

Sorry for the pretty lengthy gap between chapters. Part of it was me wanting to devote some more time to a new project that you may or may not have seen, and partially because I sorta lost track of time and thought the last update was a lot more recent than it actually was; I somehow only realized that the last update was in August like last week. Anyway, as you can probably tell, the story is still ongoing, but updates may be a bit more sporadic. I now have three active projects, but will try to finish at least one chapter a month.

And as a general reminder, this story and all others I've posted on here are also available on my AO3 account of the same name. Updates will continue on FFN for as long as I can continue to make them, but in the event something happens to the site, Thank you for reading and I hope to have another update for you soon.