The night air in the Theron District was crisp. Love stood a few blocks away from Solace's home, leaning against a cold stone wall. To any passerby, she looked like a bored student waiting for a ride, her hood pulled low against the evening chill. But her eyes were unfocused, staring into the middle distance as her mind processed the stream of audio buzzing in her ear.
The bug she had planted, a tiny, high-frequency transmitter, was working perfectly. The voices of her "friends" echoed in her head, stripped of their physical presence but laden with the weight of a coming storm.
***
Solace was leaning on the wall opposite his desk. He was deep in his own thoughts.
"We need to split up," Phoebe's voice came through, sharp and authoritative. "We can't hit both targets simultaneously with a single group without splitting."
"I'll handle the gang," Nolan interrupted. "I want to finish it personally. I need to be the one who looks them in the eye." He said with determination in his voice.
"I'll go with him," Lex added. "And Vivi."
Phoebe's voice softened, acknowledging the logic. "Then it's settled. Nolan, Lex, and Vivi take the Gang. Solace, Lily, and I will take the jungle base. It's a rescue operation as much as a raid. If we go in loud, those kids become collateral before we even reach the cells."
She paused, then looked at Solace. He was standing with his arms crossed, his gaze distant. "What are you thinking about, Solace? You've barely said a word."
Solace took a breath, his voice uncertain. "I feel like we're too deep in the face of the problem. We're Layer 2 students. Yes, we're more experienced than the others, but we're talking about taking down a facility backed by the Royals and the Church. I feel like... something isn't right. We're missing the bigger picture, and if we rush in, we might not just lose the mission."
Phoebe's expression hardened. The subtle tremor in her hands suddenly vanished, replaced by a cold, sharp intensity. She stepped toward him, the distance between them shrinking until she was looking into his eyes.
"Why is it that you always keep delaying the plan? Every time I ask you, you have a different excuse. Is it that you don't really want to do it?" She spoke coldly.
"That's not it!" Solace replied. "I do want to help you take down the church, but I also want to make sure we aren't lagging, that we aren't putting our families in danger."
Initially, he wanted to delay this as far as possible. Due to the single reason that he wanted to collect himself, He wanted to keep his head straight and make his mind clear. He wanted clarity.
He still hadn't checked the system, nor did he ponder the manipulation of his ideas. He couldn't catch a single break ever since waking up. Something always kept happening that he couldn't keep up with.
There was also the matter regarding Phoebe, who was getting too engrossed in this idea of revenge. Taking a look at the previous interactions, Phoebe somehow always inserted church in every single conversation. She was also the only one, alongside Nolan, who had been relentlessly pursuing revenge.
To find a single case out of hundreds and thousands of cases sent every day, Solace couldn't imagine how much time she spent searching.
Honestly, he was worried about her. She was losing herself in revenge.
Even now, she spoke like she was almost excited; she was far too invested in this than anyone.
"So that's what this is about," Phoebe said, her voice dropping into a cold, dangerous register. "You have a safe family. You have a mother who loves you, a father who's proud of you, and a life that's actually amiable. And now you don't want to risk it. Is that it, Solace? So now that you've got yours, Sarah and Veyra's death doesn't matter?"
Nolan and Lex shifted uncomfortably.
"I guess it makes sense," Phoebe continued, her voice rising. "Tell me... do you even feel anything about Sarah? About Verya's death? You were the one she died for, Solace. You didn't even visit her daughter."
Solace was quiet.
It was clear he had nothing to say because it was right. He didn't visit Verya or her daughter. Remembering Verya made him feel more guilt than sorrow. She was going to take him as her student; she couldn't teach much, but for Solace, she was a person who had given their life to save him and his friends. And all for what, not to even visit her daughter? After promising to take care of her daughter, he hadn't even made any effort to make it happen. He felt guilt. More than any emotion, but he felt. After all, He couldn't even prevent Sarah's death. He couldn't change her fate.
"Phoebe!" Nolan yelled, standing up fully. "Don't go too far. You don't know what you're saying."
"Why?" Phoebe snapped, her eyes flashing with a desperate, jagged fire. "Why are we acting like he's our moral compass? Everyone in this room has visited Verya's grave. We went to Sarah's funeral. We cried. We vowed to kill the people responsible. Yet he hasn't even shed a single tear. He hasn't even visited that little girl. Why is that, Solace?" she demanded.
Solace didn't defend himself.
"Not everyone grieves the same way, Phoebe," Vivi's gentle voice tried to interject, but the damage was done.
Lily stood up from the trunk, her eyes narrowing as she looked at Phoebe.
"Tell me, Phoebe," Lily's voice cut through the tension. "Do you really believe the garbage coming out of your mouth right now?"
The room seemed to go still.
"You aren't justifying Sarah or Verya," Lily said, her voice cold and analytical. "You're just fulfilling your own desire for revenge. This isn't about them for you—they're just excuses to fuel your hatred for the Church. You're just jealous, Phoebe. You're jealous that he has a family downstairs that loves him. You're jealous that he gets to enjoy a quiet moment while you're trapped in the pursuit of blood. You want him to be as miserable as you are, so you don't have to feel alone in your hate."
"Lily, that's enough," Solace tried to intervene.
"No!" Lily snapped. "She needs to hear it. Phoebe, when was the last time you actually spent time with your father? Unlike mine, your father has always been there for you. He's protected you. Yet you pursue this vengeance so much that you don't even enjoy the present. You think everyone should be obligated to burn their lives down with you. And that goes for you, too, Nolan!"
Nolan looked at her, his jaw tight.
"I also want revenge," Lily continued, her voice shaking. "But making your whole life a monument to a grave is the most stupid decision you'll ever make."
Nolan's voice was low, vibrating with pain. "I'm sorry if my 'desire for revenge' offends you, Lily. But I lived on the streets. Learned my mother was experimented on and tortured for years. And when I finally got her back... when I thought we were safe... I watched them slit her throat in front of me. Are you saying I shouldn't want to torture them to death? I don't care if anyone comes with me. I will go alone. I will kill every last one of them with my bare hands if I have to."
Solace stepped into the center. "Stop. Fighting among ourselves will lead to nothing."
They all fell quiet, the air still thick with the words they had thrown at each other.
"Maybe you're right, Phoebe," Solace said, looking her directly in the eye. He saw the flicker of guilt in her expression, her shoulders slumped ever so slightly. "Maybe I am afraid to risk my family. But it's not because I don't care about Sarah. It's because I don't want to lose any of you. You guys are like my own family."
He paused, taking a shaky breath as if finalizing a decision. "We will execute the plan on New Year's Night."
Phoebe stayed quiet, Lily's words still echoing in her head.
"It will be a night of celebration," Solace continued, his voice regaining its strength. "The guards will be distracted, the city will be loud, and we won't be suspected if we're seen late at night. We have one month."
He looked at Nolan. "I may not show it the way you do, but Sarah and Verya... they were important to me, too. Verya was my mentor. Your mother was a beacon of hope when I had nothing. I'm sorry I haven't been there for Veyra's daughter yet. But we are a cohort. We do this together."
The tension in the room didn't disappear, but it shifted. The jagged edges softened.
The rest of the meeting was conducted in a strange, somber silence. They decided on the equipment.
"We use guns," Solace said. "Physical weapons. They don't leave an essence trail."
They agreed to use their noble influence to secure silenced, high-capacity weapons. They would spend the next month at ranges, training until the weight of a trigger felt as natural as possible.
They had a month until New Year's.
When the meeting finally broke, the house was quiet. Solace walked them to the door. The driver-led sedans were waiting at the curb, their headlights cutting through the mist of the Theron night.
Nolan left first, heading toward the metro with a heavy, determined stride. Lex and Vivi followed, offering Solace a quiet nod of solidarity.
Finally, it was just Phoebe. She stood by her car, the cold air ruffling her hair. She looked exhausted, the weight of her own words clearly pressing down on her. She looked at Solace, her lips parting as if to say something—an apology, a retraction, but the words seemed to die in her throat.
Solace took a step toward her. "Phoebe, wait—"
But she turned away, sliding into the back of the car. The door closed with a muffled thud, and the vehicle pulled away into the darkness before he could reach her.
Solace stood on the sidewalk for a long time, watching the taillights vanish. The moon was high and indifferent.
At his door, his family stood waiting for him to come in.
[Author's Thoughts]
Hello! Pdead here!
After this arc ends, I will be taking a short break. I want to up my quality of arcs, so I am going to write the entirety of the arc first, then, if it satisfies me, I'll release it regularly.
This break is also because my second-year end-of-term exams are closing in on me, so I need to study.
This break will be for 1 or 2 months.
I am really sorry, but I have been exhausted by writing daily and providing mediocre chapters. Instead, I want anyone who reads my novel to have a great time.
At the start of the novel, I didn't know the direction I was going to take; I knew nothing about writing.
So after writing over 100k words. I feel a little sad that I didn't research enough before starting a novel.
Anyways thank you to all those who are reading this.