"You know this is your fault, right?"

Gauche grit his teeth and willed himself to be patient. He was sitting at a bar with Noelle, Vanessa, Finral, and Gordon and, seeing as he was asking for their help, he was trying to play as nice as possible… but it was difficult.

"He was only trying to help," Gordon whispered, and Gauche groaned. He'd let Gordon come because the curse mage had insisted on helping and even Gauche would have felt bad saying no to him after all he'd stuck around for. The only reason why he hadn't been at the library the past few days was because he'd been on a mission with Grey. But that didn't mean that he wasn't irritating Gauche. It wasn't even Gordon's fault—since he'd been kicked out of Mariela's room the night before, everything had irritated him.

Throwing back the last of his drink and signaling to the bartender for another, Gauche snapped, "Yes, yes, I know it's my fault, Vanessa. Will you please help me now?"

"I can probably help," Finral called from the other side of Vanessa with a smile. Since the underwater temple, he'd been more confident in every way—Gauche would have been impressed if he didn't have tunnel-vision in the worst way at the moment. As things were, he just glared at the spatial mage.

"I don't need your help," Gauche snapped, nodding to the bartender in thanks and taking the tankard left in front of him. "What I need is a way to get Mariela to speak to me again."

"This is literally all your fault, don't snap at my boyfriend." Vanessa gave Gauche a smile that wasn't cold… but coming from Vanessa, was probably as close as it got. She sipped at the glass of wine in her hand before looking over at Noelle. "What do you think?"

Noelle, unusually quiet for the entire time they'd been at the bar, looked up from her drink in surprise. She'd been staring into her cup and obviously hadn't been paying attention, as her cheeks started to pinken as she noticed everyone staring at her. "What?"

"How do I get Mariela to speak to me again?" Gauche repeated. Noelle just rolled her eyes.

"You could apologize," she said dramatically with a sarcastic flourish of her hands. "I'm assuming that you haven't tried that yet, have you?"

"She kicked me out of her room last night," Gauche ground out through gritted teeth. "I didn't exactly have a chance to try to apologize to her, and when I went to go see her this morning, she was already gone. She wasn't with Owen, though, so I'm not even sure where she is right now. It's probably safe to assume she's avoiding me, though, so we're back to the original question of how do I get her to talk to me again?"

"How did you know she wasn't with Owen?" Finral asked, eyebrow raised. Gauche just looked down and scowled into his ale.

"I ran into him," he mumbled. Vanessa laughed.

"So you went hunting Owen down and didn't ask him where his intern was?" She clarified, and Gauche snapped his head up to narrow his eyes at her.

"He's a healer," he snapped. "I obviously didn't want to disturb him."

"Yeah, we all know how much you're known for your manners," Noelle said with a roll of her eyes. "Look, if she doesn't want to see you, maybe you should just wait until she's calmed down to try to talk to her again. Why are you in such a rush, anyway? You two had this disagreement last night. Leave her alone for a little while, she'll cool down. Mariela is such a sweetheart you might not even have to apologize to her once she does." Noelle gave him a look before adding, "Which seems like your best bet, by the way."

Gauche dropped his eyes back down to his drink to avoid having to meet anyone else's. He hadn't told them about what he and Mariela had been talking about when they'd gotten into their disagreement—just that he'd been looking into her curse while telling her he was looking into her brother's, and that she was hurt by the lie. Telling them about the curse at all already felt like a breach of trust—he wasn't trying to dig himself a deeper hole. It wasn't really his business to tell anyone what she'd told him about her illness, and it had obviously been something she was trying not to talk about.

But it was also what gave him such a literally deadly timeline—he didn't have the time to just wait for her to calm down, especially not while she was sick with something that made her emotions unstable. What if things only got worse as time went by? He wasn't about to roll the dice and see, not with the unlucky streak he was already having.

"A date night!" Finral slammed his hand down on the bar in excitement, and Gauche looked up at him, startled. The spatial mage beamed back at him. "We'll go on a group date, like a match-making night. I haven't done one of those since—"

"—finding a match?" Vanessa cut him off smoothly to finish for him, sipping at her glass of wine and raising an eyebrow at him over the rim. Finral's face started to pinken.

"I'd be there with you, of course," he added hastily. "We can invite a bunch of people so it's less awkward for Mariela and Gauche."

"How will more people make things less awkward?" Gauche hissed. Finral, unfazed now that he was in his element, just grinned back.

"Would you rather the next time you see her be a one-on-one situation where you have to catch her on her way to work with Owen or on her way back to her room after work like a creep?"

Gauche scowled, but had nothing to say—now that Finral put it that way, he was obviously correct. Now that they weren't living at the hideout together, it wasn't like Gauche could just wait around constantly until he damn near drove himself insane waiting to work up the nerve to talk to her or had a good excuse—like both of the last times he'd done something like this. Finral's grin widened, seeming to know that he'd won.

"So! Who should we invite?" Finral turned to tap his tankard against the rim of his girlfriend's glass and Vanessa just laughed.

With a sly look over at Noelle, she asked, "What about Asta? Mariela hasn't seen him since he got his arms back, it would be fun. Wouldn't it, Noelle?"

Noelle's cheeks immediately pinkened and she stared down fixatedly at her cup—the water in it seemed to be moving more than a still glass of water should be, but she hadn't noticed. "He's been out at the bar that Rebecca runs since yesterday; I guess he was helping with some renovations they were doing."

"Then why don't we go there?" Vanessa suggested with a smile. "They didn't close the place down, right? Why don't we all go meet up out there and surprise him, he would love that."

Noelle nodded without looking up, face still bright red. "I suppose he would enjoy that. And the food isn't bad at Rebecca's restaurant." She looked up and narrowed her eyes on Gauche. "But you can't go to the church and bother anyone, Gauche, you know you're only supposed to see Marie once a month."

Gauche groaned out loud.

This better work.

x

"Mariela?"

Mariela jumped out of her seat, toppling it behind her. She turned quickly and dropped to right it, then straightened with a harried smile to meet Owen's concerned look. "I'm sorry," she apologized, but he just shook his head.

"You didn't get any rest yesterday, did you?" he asked with a sigh. "You can't keep this up, Mariela."

"I'm totally fine," Mariela said with a bright smile. It didn't fool Owen. Brow still crinkled in concern, he sighed and nodded toward the books she had piled in front of her.

"Did you get any sleep at all last night?" The slight admonishment in his tone made Mariela almost wince—she really did hate disappointing him. The healing mage was kind and patient, had taken her under his wing immediately, and for all the sleep she wasn't getting, he was getting even less—and still trying to help her figure out how to solve seemingly unsolvable problems.

"I got some sleep," she mumbled defensively, bustling to gather all the papers and notes she'd scattered all over the desk. She was hoping to hide the bruises under her eyes that she was sure were there, but Owen put a hand on her shoulder that made her sigh and stop as she realized there was no fooling him. Without looking up at him, she mumbled, "I can't waste any more time."

The silence that hung between the two of them at that was heavy—for Mariela, it felt almost suffocating. Finally, Owen sighed and took the stack of papers from her. He sat on one of the desk chairs and nodded to the other one, which Mariela took without a word.

"You've been spending all this time researching into Marlin, haven't you?" he asked gently. Mariela flinched regardless. In the three days since they'd gone to the church, she had been careful to avoid mentioning Marlin at all to Owen—not only because she didn't want him to feel like she was pressuring him, but also because she didn't want to have to listen to the lecture she was sure was coming. "Do you want to talk about things, Mariela?"

"There's nothing to say," she said stiffly. And she wasn't wrong—the lines were clear. "Marlin's dying."

"You are also dying, Mariela. Arguably more quickly if we can't figure out a medication that works for you."

Mariela hadn't known what she'd been expecting when they'd shown up at the church. She had wanted an easy fix, of course, but she hadn't expected one. No matter what, though, she knew she hadn't been expecting what she'd gotten.

"I only care about Marlin," she mumbled, closing her eyes and dropping her head down into her hands. "I only care about Marlin, and he is dying. He isn't just unconscious, he's going to die, and I wasted all this time—"

"Not just yet," Owen cut her off gently. "And you haven't wasted any time. Things happen the way they do for a reason, Mariela. You need to have some faith, or you won't make it through this."

She couldn't help the bitter chuckle that came at that. "I'm trying. I promise, I'm trying. But he's dying, Owen. He's been dying this whole time. How didn't I notice that? How didn't I know?"

Owen was quiet for a long moment. Finally, he said softly, "How were you supposed to know that, Mariela? How were you supposed to know any of what was going on with the two of you? Because, and I need you to not forget this, you are also dying, Mariela."

Her eyes fixed on the table in front of her, she said flatly, "How could I forget that? If I die, Marlin dies. He needs to take second priority. Again. Always."

"Being so hard on yourself will only make it harder for you to do the research you need to do or get the rest that you need. It isn't impossible, Mariela. Just difficult. And it'll look easier once we figure out what direction to go in."

Tone strangled, she choked out, "This is hopeless, isn't it?"

"Enough." Owen put a hand on Mariela's shoulder and waited until she looked up at him with bloodshot eyes. "I'm not letting you work again until you get some rest, Mariela. Go. Go do anything but look into this for right now."

"But—"

"No." Owen, voice firm, looked at her sternly over the rim of his glasses. "You work with lives, Mariela; if you don't care about yourself, care about that. You need to be well rested. If you don't want to lay down to sleep just yet, that's okay. But go do anything other than stare at more books trying to figure out how to unravel your and your brother's problems. Please."

Mariela hesitated before nodding her head slowly and squeezing her eyes shut. With a deep breath, she stood and gathered her notes, hands clumsy and fumbling. When she looked back up at him, Owen was smiling at her kindly with a hand on the stack of books that she'd been working her way through.

"Why don't you leave these here," he said in a tone that brooked no argument. Mariela smiled wearily, too tired to argue.

"Thank you, Owen," she said quietly. He just smiled at her and shook his head. With a wave of his hand as a goodbye, Owen turned back to the work on the desk and Mariela slipped out of the small library area they both called their office.

"I was hoping I would find you here!" Mariela nearly jumped out of her skin in surprise, twirling on her heel with eyes wide to face Vanessa and Finral, who was stepping through the portal behind the pink-haired witch. Her bright smile faltered, however, when she took in her friend's tired face. "Are you okay? Mariela, are you sick?"

Mariela laughed awkwardly. "No, I just haven't been sleeping well. That's actually why I have the day off; Owen just confiscated my books so I wouldn't go back to my room to read them."

Vanessa did not return the smile that she gave her. Instead, she walked over quickly, heels clicking on the marbled floors, and wrapped Mariela in a tight hug. It took her so off guard that she stood frozen for a moment—before bursting into tears. Hugging tightly to her friend, Mariela sobbed into Vanessa's caped shoulder, the witch holding her tightly. When she'd finally calmed herself down, Mariela looked up at her, embarrassed.

"I'm so sorry," she started, but Vanessa just shook her head.

"Why don't we walk you back to your room? It's in this building, right?"

Finral smiled apologetically over at Mariela. "I would make a portal, but I've never been there. Don't mind walking with you, though, when do my legs ever get a stretch?"

"Exactly," Vanessa beamed at him before grabbing Mariela's hand and gesturing in front of them. "Lead the way."

The three walked along together for a moment in companionable silence before Mariela finally thought to ask, "What are you two doing here? Did you say you were hoping you'd find me?"

"Yeah!" Vanessa said brightly; she'd clearly been waiting for the signal that it was okay to bring it up. "We were all going out tonight, and it's been so long since we all saw you that I wanted to know if you'd come!" She bit her lip and added, "We can always change it to another night, though; it would be really nice if you'd come, but you really do need to get some sleep, Mariela; you're kind of having trouble walking straight right now."

"You're the third person to tell me that in two days," she groaned. "Is it really that obvious?"

"It's not a bad thing," Vanessa insisted. "Just a little… worrisome. So why don't you get some rest, and we can do this tomorrow night?"

"No," Mariela said quickly with a shake of her head, "I'm going to be working tomorrow night; I'm actually not sure when the next night I'll have off will be. I'll rest as soon as I get back to my room, it's right around the corner up ahead. What time did you want to meet up later tonight?"

Vanessa studied her face for a moment before sighing and looking over at Finral. "What time do you think everyone will want to meet up?"

Finral just shrugged as they turned the corner. "I don't think the time will matter all that much. It's a lot more important that you get some rest, Mariela. Why don't Vanessa and I come by to grab you around sundown? It's just before noon now; if you don't open the door when we get here, we'll just leave you alone for the night, okay? Don't worry, it doesn't have to be a night that we all go out; whenever you're off work, we can all meet up. The Black Bulls miss you, Mariela." He gave her a reassuring smile as Mariela came to a stop in front of her room door. Vanessa squeezed her hand and nodded her agreement.

Between the kindness and the total lack of sleep, Mariela was surprised she didn't burst into another round of tears.

Vanessa, intuitive as always, pulled her into another tight hug. "Are you sure you'll be okay being alone for now? I can stay if you need the company."

Mariela laughed and shook her head, embarrassed. "No, I'm gonna be fine, thank you for the offer though. I think I might be just about tired enough to actually get to sleep."

"If you're sure." With one last squeeze, Vanessa let her go and moved to wrap an arm around Finral. With a wink to Mariela, she added, "We'll be back later. Remember, if you end up sleeping through the night, don't worry about it, okay?"

Mariela chuckled and nodded. With one last wave, she watched Finral and Vanessa disappear through one of his portals. Once they were gone, she turned and unlocked her door, slipping into her room with a sigh. Now that she was back in her room, she was realizing that she hadn't been lying—after three nights with no sleep, she finally thought she might be able to lay down and get some rest.

I should have asked who else would be there… was her last thought before closing her eyes and immediately falling asleep.