“Yeah, you’re not going anywhere without us.” Vee promptly denied, narrowing her eyes at Graam before he could possibly leave her behind, Jak and Myra in tow. Carefully picking Rehn up, Vee slung the cat girl over her shoulders and stoically stepped into the shark’s path, daring him to refuse her as their eyes met.

“Heh, fine with me.” Graam smirked right back. He had been hoping to take Rehn with them. A teenage girl with her newly awakened arc? Leaving her alone was just a recipe for guaranteed disaster.

“And I want to know where the Abyss you’re taking us first.” Vee added.

“Yeah, where are you taking us actually?” Myra wiped away her tears and put on her best smile. She and Jak, startled out of his brooding thoughts, had watched the whole interaction from the side.

A complicated look crossed Graam’s face, of amused approval mixed with grumbling annoyance and pained exasperation.

“My shop, but I got some friends with a safer place for you. Me. Us.” Graam stated quickly, starting to feel more and more restless the longer they stayed in place here. It was only a matter of time before the Guards would arrive and then things would become decidedly more complicated than he would like.

“I… look, I can’t really say anymore. Just trust me, okay?” Graam begged impatiently. “And we really need to get going already!”

“… Fine.” Vee sighed in reluctant acceptance.

He breathed in relief as Vee accepted his words as good enough, taking the lead towards the now crowded alleys without hesitation. Even with the growing torrent of rain people from the vent slums had started to gather around the ruins, some were climbing over the rubble to help or did their best to move the more dangerous pieces out of the way.

Graam cocked his head towards the roof tops and gave Ruth a accusing look for making him deal with this all himself. She just tilted her head innocently to the side, washing herself clean of any fault.

Jak followed his motion and blinked as he saw Jenny held up by a dragon mare sitting lazily at the edge of the roof. His little sister had her arms crossed and did her best impression huffing aggravated, meaning pouting cutely with puffed up cheeks. A relieved chuckle escaped him as he saw her safe and unharmed. Myra and Vee shared his reactions as amused looks crossed their faces. Unnoticed by all, Rehn’s snoozing form let out a quiet snort as well as her Third Eye had flitted back to the group a while ago.

“You two really trust this big guy, huh…?” Vee turned towards Jak, poking at Graam with her thumb.

“…Yeah.” He nodded after a second of silence. Though he was starting to wonder what exactly Graam was actually involved with if he had his Arc unlocked. Arc. That power that had been pushed into the deepest and most secretive, criminal parts of Ebenerz since the Kerzen König’s reign.

“I trust him, too!” Myra chimed cheerfully in in defence of the old shark. And she remembered exactly what her gramps had always said about him! “My gramps talked a lot about some fat, drunk shark who was a bit slow but had a big enough heart… he supposed.”

She blinked awkwardly after finishing her words and sheepishly rubbed her neck as she threw Graam an apologetic grin. Said shark had slumped forwards at her words.

“Well, that’s not exactly nice but typical of that old guy…” He grumbled good-naturedly and sighed.

“You’re not shaking us off.” Vee assured him, her amused look replaced with a cocky smirk.

“Heh, didn’t dream of it.” Graam chuckled

“Heh, fine with me.” Graam smirked right back. He had been looking for an excuse to get Rehn with them anyways. A girl with her newly awakened Arc? Leaving her alone was just recipe for guaranteed disaster.

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He did however hesitated when he noticed that Mina was clinging to Jak’s side. His eyes flitted over asking to Jak and Myra. The question was received and Jak nodded. Myra shook her head. And Graam sweatdropped as he knew they were voicing the same opinion. Don’t leave her behind. Let her come with.

A question that had been noticed by another person as well.

“You’re leaving?” Hailey asked as she approached the group from the side. Her face was soaked by not just the rain but also the tears that had ran dry by now. She looked haggard, though nobody thought that exact word.

Without even thinking about it, Jak flitted behind Graam out of sight.

Graam silently nodded at her question. Words were exchanged and while Hailey was less than enthused, she couldn’t find it in herself to separate Mina from her friends. No, she knew that right now friends were the most important thing for the young girl.

“Just… make sure she’s safe, okay?” Hailey’s eyes narrowed cold at Graam who nodded firmly, never looking away. “Good. Good… I’ll trust you on this. And you Jak.”

The others sweatdropped as Jak stumbled over nothing at her words. Awkwardly he kept himself hidden. Hailey sighed and after nodding towards the others she left back to her duties.

A short pause passed.

“Right, now we really have to go…!” Graam declared as they had lallygagged for far too long by now. His eyes were wide and he was honestly starting to become a bit paranoid as his walk turned into a fast jog, heaving a startled Rehn and Mina into his arms so that they didn’t slow them down even more.

Climbing over the rubbled, they reached the crowded streets in short order.

“Sorry! Coming through! G’day, ma’am.” Tipping his non-existent hat to a middle-aged chipmunk woman, Graam opened the way for the group of six through the increasingly crowded alleyway as more and more of the Slum’s inhabitants were checking out the source of all that chaos. Worried whispers and more louder shouting echoed through the air about evil Arc Mages and a ubiquitous grumbling about the inevitable annoyance that the City Guards would bring with them.

It was the amount of people on the street that allowed for Graam and the others to move through the crowd unmolested. After just a few steps into the crowd they had become a part of the mass and left only a few wondering where they had vanished off to when they escaped into an empty back alley.

“Niao.” With that strange greeting on her tongue landed Ruth gracefully before the group, a startled squeaking trailing after her as Jenny was carried along by the dragon mare’s surprisingly prehensile tail. The young woman continued to keep her impassive look on her face.

“Ah, hey Ruth. Came for the chaos, huh?” Graam replied with a sigh and rubbed his neck, gazing to the side in resignation as he softly shook his head. Gently he set Mina down while Vee took Rehn.

“Mh.” Ruth nodded idly, setting Jenny down on her feet as well and dusting the stunned fennec mouse off in a strangely motherly way with the bushy end of her tail. The moment Jenny shook her surprise off she immediately huffed and glared back up with an annoyed pout, crossing her arms.

“I don’t need your help…!” Jenny exclaimed, waving the tail away with flailing hands only for Ruth to amenably pull her tail back and ignore her promptly. Jenny couldn’t help but feel like she had just lost somehow.

Turning towards Jak, she leaped at him with sparking eyes.

“And you don’t leave me behind like this again! I… I wanted to help, too…!” Jenny cried out, hammering against Jak’s chest as her angry glare dissolved into teary sobs.

“S-sorry.” Jak awkwardly apologised as he rubbed her back, slowing pulling her into a warm hug.

Words that needed to be said laid on his tongue but he had no idea how to say them. He had been lucky to never really need them before.

Looking lost, he gave first Myra, then Graam and finally Vee a pleading gaze for help.

Before any of them could be of any help, however, Mina tackled Jenny from behind with tears streaming down her face while crying hopelessly.

“Uff…!” Jak exhaled wide eyed as he was suddenly buried beneath the two girls in his arms. Jenny looked like a slime caught in headlights as Mina hugged her tight from behind, face buried in her neck as she completely soaked her with tears.

“H-hey, what’s going on, Mina…?” Jenny asked with a tied up voice, shaky with tears. Confused she looked around. Someone was missing. “W-where’s Geen…?”

Her eyes flitted around the group but he was nowhere to be found. Again and again she looked around, but it didn’t take long until she was forced to connect the dots as pained looks crossed the faces of Myra, Vee, Jak… even Graam. Disbelief. Denial. Her head shook rapidly from side to side, eyes wide. No sound escaped her throat as she searched for words. Shimmering tears filled her eyes and then…

“UUUUAAAAAAAHHH…!!!” A heartbreaking cry echoed through the air as Jenny sobbed her heart out, clinging tightly to both Jak and Mina as the other girl’s cries joined.

Their heart’s ached painfully as they watched Jak hug them tight, unable to say anything to assure them. Only able to be there for them as they clung desperately to him, the only hold they felt they had left in this world.