Erick sat on the bed in a white room, Klaus sleeping in his lap as he stared into the white metal wall. He didn't see the walls around him. He barely even noticed Klaus sleeping. He wanted nothing more than to take Klaus and disappear off the ship.

"We should be getting you to the schoolhouse," he whispered the lie to make himself forget that their entire life on Tartarus was over.

Erick had known it was a risk, and he had made Alex promise to ensure Klaus was safe if the worst happened. However, when he had said that, he hadn't imagined what would happen to Tartarus.

Was he a traitor? Yes. Was that a bad thing? He wasn't sure. He couldn't ignore the woman below the base, trapped and tortured, broken. He couldn't ignore what he knew of the Military Police as a whole. The reality of the Empyrean was something that he would never forget.

Did a schoolteacher know that he trained students to stomp on the men and women of the Empyrean? Did a merchant know that he sold bullets that would be used to kill anyone who resisted? Did a mother salute her son as he went off to join the soldiers, knowing what pain he would cause?

"Did you know, mom?" Erick asked, thinking back to his time before basic training.

His face burned, and tears ran down his cheeks. He forced himself to breathe. He couldn't fall apart now. Klaus needed him. He needed to be strong.

So, if he wanted to cry, he needed to go for a walk.

Erick stood, laying Klaus on the bed, and walked into the hallway. His feet carried him toward the back of the ship, which was the mess hall if he remembered the white-haired man's words. Erick walked out into a wide room with two long metal tables. On the far wall was a stove and several large rectangular cabinets. He didn't go for those because he saw two men sitting at the nearby table, blue cups in their hands.

One was Alex, leaning back in his chair with the blue cup in his hand. The other was someone Erick didn't know, with dark black skin and blue robes. Skeletal white hands wrapped around his cup's handle as he leaned over it. They were already speaking, and Erick didn't want to interrupt.

"I made a mistake," the dark man said. "I shouldn't have sent us away from the ship. It would be better for us to have just taken it out of the docks."

Tap.

"You say that, Jean," Alex said, laying down his drink. "But if you hadn't drawn Captain Drake to the docks, there would have been two captains to fight in Tartarus. Erin and Wen barely made it out alive."

"I heard." Jean sighed. "This entire event is one large blunder after another."

"Hah." Alex smiled. "Maybe it was fated to be that way."

"Maybe so." Jean stared into his cup. "I still think we should work with Sayed about appropriate times and places for things."

"If you think you can convince him to change, more power to you." Alex shook his head.

"You make a good point." Jean smiled, standing up with his cup and walking toward Erick. "But I fear someone else is fated to take my place in this conversation while I think on that."

One skeletal hand tapped Erick on his shoulder, and Erick watched the bones with wide eyes. He managed a small smile and nod to the departing man, though he had no idea if Jean was actually a man or some kind of monster. It was just one more tally to the inhumanity of Alex's crew.

"Come on then." Alex waved him over. "You're the fourth one tonight."

"Fourth one?"

"People to tell me off, deservedly." Alex shrugged. "Grab a glass before you sit down."

He motioned to a cabinet by a sink, and Erick pulled a glass mug from inside before walking over to the table. Alex poured a brown liquid from a teapot at the center of the table. Erick recognized the smell instantly as coffee.

"You've got Black Turtle coffee?"

"I have no idea what kind it is," Alex said. "I can't stand coffee, but there aren't any alternatives here for caffeine."

"Then why are you drinking it?"

"To keep the nightmare at bay."

Erick raised his eyebrow as steam rose from his cup. He sipped his coffee before setting it down on the table. It was too warm to drink right now. He would need to let it cool.

"I did come to yell at you," Erick said. "For everything."

"I didn't know it would end like that." Alex nodded. "Until Arci told me how the system worked, I was just going to pull the plug and leave it be. Sorry that you can't go back."

"I don't know if I would have wanted to go back after seeing her down there." Erick sighed, leaning forward and gripping his fist with his hand. "We should have gotten her out of there."

"It might have been an option if the world was different." Alex sighed, sipping at his coffee with a scowl. "But sometimes the choice just isn't there. I went with what I thought would be the best option."

"You're making it hard to be angry at you." Erick looked down in his coffee. "I thought you'd be more arrogant about it."

"Hah," Alex said, setting down his cup. "I gave up on that a long time ago."

Erick took another sip of his coffee. The warmth filled his gut for a moment, and he took in a deep breath. After everything, he couldn't maintain his anger at Alex. He had agreed to help the outlaw, knowing the risks, and now he had to live with the consequences of that choice.

"Erin will get you guys somewhere safe," Alex said. "I doubt we'll see each other again after this."

"You're all going to the Core," Erick said.

"Yeah." Alex nodded. "I don't know how that'll end, but one way or another, we're leaving Erth behind."

"I can't imagine."

"Neither can I." Alex shrugged. "I remember what the Core is like, but beyond that, I don't know. We're all just pushing ahead, hoping for something better."

Erick sat down his cup again, clasping it in both hands on the table and letting the warmth fill his palms. It would be the last time he would see them all. He hated to say it, but he would miss the outlaws, even if he had only met them twice.

"Good luck," was all he could think to say as he drank his coffee.

When the ship docked with Erin's contact, they were far from Aherlow and well off their planned course. It had taken some effort to contact them, but Erin worked with Mari to adjust the ship's communication system to the right frequency to call on a contact.

She didn't know them personally.

The People's Revolution worked in a system of unconnected cells. Each one worked independently with no central figure or leader. She knew about as much about other units as anyone else. In some way, she knew there had to be a central authority—someone had to create the codes and issue down the larger orders, but she couldn't even guess who it was.

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They all stood out on the deck, out in the void of the nightsea, Erick with Klaus sleeping in his arms as the ship approached to dock. Lights that marked islands twinkled out in the distance. Erin pulled her hood over her head as it came close. It was time to say goodbye.

"You're sure we'll be okay?" Erick asked, looking between her and the ship as it descended toward them.

"They'll take care of you." Erin looked at the ship. "You can even help them out if you choose."

"Safety first," Erick said, adjusting Klaus in his arms.

"There's no such thing as safe," Erin and Alex said it at the same time, and they shared a look.

Despite everything Alex had said, she knew he had more in common with the Revolution than not. Even if he refused to join, he took actions that consistently aligned with what they wanted. There was a reason that her assignment was to watch over him and Sayed and report on their movements.

"But I am sure you two will be grand." Sayed stepped forward, patting Erick on the shoulder. "Your tales are far from over."

"Just one step in a veering fate," Jean added, looking out over the deck with his arms in his sleeves. "If we hadn't chanced upon you here, who knows what would have happened."

Who knew, indeed? Erin thought back to Tartarus. It had been a nightmare of constant surprises, one after another. She had come out of it better than Wen once she had recovered from the delirium of her technique. Wen had taken two direct hits from Captain Grayson, and the bruise on her jaw was still a little swollen.

All in all, she was just happy to have gotten out of there when they did.

The destruction of the base, the commander's defeat, and everything else had been too much to process. Like the rest of the crew, she had no idea what Alex had been thinking. He had put them all at risk to do that, and his reason why didn't make sense. All of that effort to avenge a person who wanted to die. If he had failed, they would have all been captured.

She wasn't the only one to yell at him over it, but the problem was how calmly he accepted it. It was like yelling at a brick wall, except the brick wall agreed with you. What was she supposed to do with that?

It took hours of flight between Aherlow and the meetup point for everyone to calm down. While everything wasn't smoothed entirely over, they could all at least work together.

Maybe that would be enough.

Four cloaked figures stood on the flat deck of the fishing barge as it stopped beside the Nighthawk's deck. They were of various sizes, but Erin couldn't see their faces. She didn't need to. The fact that they had come with the appropriate call sign and code was enough. Two figures lowered a plank across, and one of them crossed. Though she kept her hood up, her voice was cold.

"We're here for the cargo," she said, motioning the way across with one arm.

"Right." Erick looked back at them, adjusting Klaus in his arms. "Thank you, Erin. Goodbye, everyone."

"We'll grab a drink if we meet again." Alex waved.

"And we will have such tales to tell on that day!"

"You'll find your path."

"A parting is not the end. Safe travels, friend!"

Erin waved with the rest, but the figure didn't leave. Instead, she approached Erin, a paper in her hands. Erin took it, and the woman nodded before returning to the plank. She stopped to speak to Alex before leaving.

"Thank you," she said. "We heard you took down Tartarus. With the fall of Shining Crown last week, the Empyrean is getting weaker."

"I didn't do it for you." Alex smirked.

"It doesn't matter." She shrugged. "The ends are the same, regardless of the means. Thanks to the actions of outlaws like you, we're moving forward with plans we thought would take decades to come to fruition."

Erin frowned. That would be the first she had heard of it. It was also the first she had heard of Shining Crown. It was the key island that bordered the First and Second Quadrants. That it had fallen must have taken an army.

"Wait." Erin held up an arm. "How do you know it's fallen?"

Tweet.

"It's all over the WDP," the woman said, looking across the ship's deck. "Bring one of the papers over."

She whistled, and one of her crew came over with a rolled-up newspaper in their hand. They handed it to Erin before crossing again with the figure. The plank was pulled back over without ceremony. No words were exchanged as the ship floated away and back the way it had come.

"That didn't sound good," Alex said as he approached Erin, hands in his pockets. "What's it say?"

They gathered around her, waiting for her to unfurl the newspaper and read it. Erin obliged, looking over the main headline on the front page. Massive black letters sprawled across the top right below the name of the paper 'World Daily Post.'

Erin hesitated to read the words. Her throat went dry. The first two words were enough to paralyze her. She felt like if she spoke the name into the world, she would call the person onto the ship. His yellow eyes burned into her mind.

Wen saved her from it.

"'The Butcher' Destroys Shining Crown," Wen said before squinting. "Subtitle: How will the Empyrean respond?"

"Oh," Alex said, his eyebrows raised high.

"That monster." Sayed clenched his fist.

"I've heard of him," Jean whispered.

Artur, on the other hand, said nothing. His eyes were locked on a page on the back of the paper. As Wen read the article out loud, Erin watched his face go pale.

It wasn't until later that she could read it. 'Grim Aegis Loses Man at Arms.'

Beep. Beep.

Commander Milton opened his eyes in a white room, an incessant beeping ringing in his ears. He was sitting in a reclined position, and his legs were splayed out on a long, flat surface. It took him a moment to recognize it as a hospital bed. He tried to swallow, but his throat was as dry as a desert. Even his blinks felt like scraping sand across his eyes as he struggled to produce tears. It was like his entire body had been left in the sun to turn into a husk.

"You're awake," a woman said nearby.

Commander Milton looked down and saw a dark, uniformed woman sitting across from him in a chair, one leg up, while she looked over a file balanced on her long legs. It took him a moment to recognize her, though her rank and name should have been the first thing on his mind. She was far above him in the Military Police, after all.

"Don't try to speak." Adhira Arya, 'Chief of the Sky,' pushed one lock of long black hair away from her face before reaching across to a small table and picking up a clear glass of iced water. "Drink this first."

Commander Milton reached out for the glass, but his right hand didn't respond. Ignoring that, he took it up with a weak left hand and brought it to his lips. The water coursed down his throat like a new spring, washing away the dryness in a cascade down to his stomach.

Cough. Cough.

He pulled the water away after one long gulp before taking another drink. After a few moments, he noticed something wrong with his balance. His right arm was gone, nothing but a bandaged stump at his shoulder.

Ortega had taken his arm.

He thought he would be angry, but it was really his hubris that had caused it all. He had underestimated Ortega. He had wanted to keep the outlaw's intrusion under wraps, and now he had lost his arm. He handed his drink back to Chief Adhira.

"I suppose you've learned what happened on Tartarus," Commander Milton said, looking away.

Slap.

"Captain Drake and Captain Grayson filled me in on much of it." She closed her folder. "Many of your recent decisions and expenditures have come to light due to the event."

Milton grimaced. He was going to lose his command, but that wasn't surprising. That was one of the many reasons he had wanted to keep the intrusion quiet in the first place. If Ortega had just gotten in and out, he could have covered it all up without a panic. There would have been nothing to report to the higher-ups. Now that it was all out in the open, and he had lost, losing his command was a given.

"If it weren't for Shining Crown and the lockdown of Grim Aegis, you would have been the most important thing on my plate." Chief Adhira laughed, and Milton turned to look at her smile. "Then Tempered Blade went dark last night."

Milton was many things, but he wasn't an idiot. Three of the four key islands had problems. A chief wouldn't have come for him specifically. She was going to Grim Aegis to check on what was happening on the island. She would be taking a dreadnaught with her, and he was likely in the infirmary on the ship.

"The message is coming home to roost," Chief Adhira said. "And I'm short on strong competent soldiers. Shining Crown fell to Lucien, and I don't know what's happening at the other two dark islands. Sarruma is going to Tempered Blade for me, and I've sent an expeditionary force ahead to Hardened Greaves."

"You're not going to demote me," Milton whispered.

"I should." Adhira leaned back, putting her fingers together with a scowl. "I should have you hanged after. However, right now, I need every able-bodied soldier ready to take on whatever we find on Grim Aegis."

Milton's throat was suddenly dry again. Never in the history of the Empyrean, except Burning August, had they faced an island's fall. Sure, warlords would take islands for a time out in the Fringes, but those weren't officially part of the Empyrean. It didn't matter who controlled some random island on the far side of a quadrant. However, key islands were one step away from the Twelve Kingdoms.

"They're running for a way out," Milton said, gulping down the lump in his throat. "After all these years, they finally have a way out of the cage. Should we be surprised that they'll burn it all down to escape?"

"It's our job not to let them." Chief Adhira didn't look him directly in the eye.

She was lying. It was their job to minimize the damage to the nobility and ensure humanity's pure blood survived. Losing a few worlds along the way could be repaired in the long run. However, that was how they at least needed to appear to keep people from actively overthrowing the islands with the invaders.

"So, here's my offer to you," Chief Adhira said, leaning forward. "Help me find out what's happening and stop what we can. If you do that, we'll skip the execution. I might be able to find a ship for you to command delivering the mail."

Milton frowned. Death or servitude. Usefulness or ignominy.

All of his plans would be for naught. He would never command a base again, and the massive information network he had built would be nothing but a blip in the history books. However, Milton would get to survive. If he found Ortega along the way, he could repay the favor for his arm.

"I'll do it," Milton said, clutching at his bandages with his left arm.

"Good." Chief Adhira stood before walking away. "Now focus on recovery. You're useless to me as you are now."

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