Despite the fact that the rest of the afternoon had passed without further tension, Nina’s mind had never lulled into a false sense of security. Svanda may have shared a couple of surprisingly normal conversations with Reina over mundane subjects as they made themselves comfortable in the Westworks, but while it had seemed as though everything was back on the path towards normality, Nina knew that it wasn’t to be. She didn’t think that anyone had really bought Svanda’s façade either if she was being honest, but she’d also come to understand that it might just have been part of the plan. Being able to see the bigger picture for once was a nice change, but despite her apprehension over what was to come, Nina was intrigued to see where things would go.

On the surface, Svanda looked as though she was trying to hide her frustration. A wry smile, a curt nod, and a couple of polite words helped her breeze through the afternoon, but her wistful attitude suggested that she was only going through the motions. Even Nina had almost been fooled into believing that she was simply waiting for an opportunity to dump her feelings out away from prying eyes, but the earlier discussion between the two had allowed her to remain grounded. Svanda wasn’t just buying herself time to plot out her next course of action, she was also buying herself space to do so through the sympathy from the rest of the group.

Nina had spent the entire evening wondering about what conclusion Svanda would reach in the end, but surprisingly she ended up waiting for far less time than she thought to get her answer.

“Nina.”

Opening her eyes, Nina frowned. Why was it so dark?

“Nina.”

“What?” she croaked, waiting for her eyes to adjust. It was pitch black in the bedroom save for the small clock which sat on the dresser, but the soft red light from the display was enough for her to see that Svanda sat at the end of her bed.

“Get dressed, let’s go.”

Nina groaned as Svanda stood up before taking a glance at the clock. Ten minutes past one in the morning wasn’t exactly her favourite time to be getting out of bed, and so for a moment she considered ignoring Svanda’s request. Even just a few more hours of sleep would have been enough, but the jacket suddenly landing on her face told her that Svanda wasn’t about to take no for an answer. It was time to get up, apparently, and while it wasn’t what she wanted to do, at least it would be the first step on the path towards the answers that she had been looking for.

“What are we doing?” she asked as she pushed the covers off, stifling a yawn as she swung her legs out of the bed. “Why so early?”

“Keep your voice down,” Svanda hissed, slinking over to the door before pausing. Nina realised that she was listening for any hints of disturbance in the hallway, but the brief moment of silence that followed seemed to be enough to satisfy her concerns. Clicking her tongue as she turned back to see that Nina still sat on the bed, she jerked her thumb towards the remaining pile clothes in the darkness.

Shrugging off the chill before standing up, Nina paused. The fact that the lights were off told her that Svanda’s plan hadn’t been approved, and being carried along with it before she knew the finer details was troubling. It was true that she agreed with Svanda that they should be able to do what they could to help out, but at the same time she didn’t want to put herself at odds with Reina’s wishes. Which one of them was the rock and which one of them was the hard place she didn’t know, but right now she was stuck between them which left picking a side an inevitability.

“Alright,” she said softly before reaching for her clothes. It seemed like she wasn’t going to get any answers before they made it outside to begin with, and as a result she was left with little choice but to follow Svanda’s lead. At least having so few possessions worked in her favour for once, and before she knew it she was slipping out into the hallway and heading for the door. As she had predicted, the apartment was silent. A single light remained on in the kitchen, but that was usual so the pair crept through the living area before quietly unlocking the door.

“So?” Nina finally asked after they had traversed the hallway and stepped out into the cool night air. It wasn’t the most concise question, but anything out of Svanda’s mouth right now would be welcome. She was already doing a lot by putting herself this far out without even knowing what she was getting herself into, and Svanda should have known it. She at least deserved an answer or two, and if she didn’t get one, she would seriously have to reconsider what she was about to do.

Seeing that Svanda planned on ignoring her question, she sighed before following her down the deserted footpath. The Westworks may have been a shell of what they usually were due to Rucille’s latest experiment, but the lack of activity around them was nevertheless unsettling. Street lighting could only do so much when there was a rolling storm above them which seemed more out of a fantasy novel than anything else, and even just a few cars on the road would have gone a long way to making the place seem more human.

At least it wasn’t raining.

“We’re heading for the mountains,” Svanda said abruptly as she fished a piece of paper out from her pocket, wedging it between two fingers before showing it to Nina. “The clans are the only people who can help us now.”

Nina frowned when she saw the paper which Svanda held. She hadn’t seen it out of the envelope before, but it wasn’t hard to tell that it was their written pass for the Westworks. How she managed to pinch it out from under Reina’s nose without her realizing was another question that she would have to ask eventually, but for now there were bigger fish to fry. She’d been warned enough about the clans already over the past few days, yet now it seemed as though she would be voluntarily delivering herself to their doorstep. Even Reina had said that it was futile, and without trying to discredit the others, Nina didn’t think that anybody else would have a better grip on the situation than she would. Did Svanda even have a plan, and if she did, why couldn’t she have told Reina?

“Reina can’t follow us,” Svanda continued as she slipped the paper back into her pocket. “They’ll be stuck in the Westworks, either until we return or until the quarantine is lifted. She won’t like it, but it’ll give us the breathing room that we need to do things properly. I want to stop this for good, and I know that you do too.”

Nina forced out a nod as she watched Svanda punch some details into a small phone. Organizing a car, if what she saw was correct, and the brief moment or space allowed her to consider her options. It was clear to her that Svanda was a lot more invested in the entire situation than she was, but at the same time she still wanted to help, to ease her guilt over the entire situation if nothing else. Maybe not as extreme as visiting the Daerx Clan to beg for assistance, but unfortunately it was becoming obvious that there would be no middle ground on offer. Nina was either going to have to pull out right here and risk damaging her friendship with Svanda, or she was going to have to push through with things and instead risk her relationship with Reina.

And if it wasn’t already too late to decide, there certainly wasn’t much time left.

“Car will be here in a minute,” Svanda said as she pocketed the phone, looking over her shoulder as though she suspected that Nina would run. “It’ll be a long ride, but it’s unavoidable. The roads through the mountains aren’t very direct.”

“Okay,” Nina replied out of instinct. It was more of a reflex than anything, but the one word had practically signed her up for the ride. She wasn’t exactly used to saying no to Svanda, or even anyone else in the group now that she thought about it. It was part and parcel of being the newest member, she had always thought, but her unwillingness to fight was now having bigger implications than they had ever had before. Not that she was that displeased, however. Just uneasy. She was out here because she had wanted to make something happen in the first place, but their course of action was quickly becoming unpalatable. Was it worth it?

She didn’t know.

Rounding the corner so that they were out of sight from the house, Svanda finally stopped before casting a glance towards the sky. Nina came to a halt beside her, and under the lighting from the lamp above she finally had a chance to examine the woman’s face. Well the part that wasn’t under the mask at least, but the first thing that Nina realised was that Svanda’s eyes were narrowed as she stared ahead of them.

Following her gaze, Nina’s eyes came to rest on a solitary figure that was resting against the wall. With a foot up against the concrete and the glow of cigarette lazily hanging out from the depths a black hood, the figure turned in their direction before blowing out a thin cloud of smoke and revealing a face that Nina certainly hadn’t been expecting to see.

“Isn’t this interesting?” Saela asked as the flicked the rest of the cigarette into the gutter before jamming her hands into her pockets. “Something tells me that Reina would just love to hear about this.”