David happily smiled while sitting on the wooden stool at the west gate and watching Welt and Cain play cards on the wooden crate. After a month of heartache, he felt like progress had been made in mending his broken relationship with his wife, and almost all of the credit belonged to Arthur.

Normally, Arthur would wake up early and clean the interior of the walls and the top, so until the task was done, David decided there was no need to bother him. If anything, they could talk during the patrol.

Yet his eyebrows were raised in curiosity as Paul and Mark stood before him. Paul glared at David with both arms crossed before his chest, while Mark simply frowned as the air suffocated from the tension. Unlike the previous confrontations, which were somewhat nonchalant, the atmosphere surrounding the men sent a chill down the spines of those nearby. Even Cain and Welt placed down their cards and turned towards Paul and Mark, who approached them.

"Do you have something to say?" David clicked his tongue, showing a visible discontentment with their sudden appearance. He said, "If not, then why don't we stay out of each other's way?"

"Well, we were wondering if you knew anything about Arthur's disappearance. He hasn't returned since last night, and no one has noticed until this morning." Mark responded simply, but unlike before, a trace of anger lingered in his voice.

"Arthur? That's impossible. He should have returned to the barracks." David answered with a hint of surprise while recalling the events of last night. Before he went to bed, the window Arthur was peering through was already closed. At the time, it was safe to say Arthur had gone home.

"He didn't; that's why we're here; even his siblings are worried about him. According to Raph, Arthur didn't come back last night." Mark sighed tiredly as he rubbed his eyelids with his index finger and thumb. He already knew that David wasn't the type of person to abandon a child on the streets, but it was worrying that Arthur didn't come home.

"Do you know where he could be?" David worryingly asked while rising from the wooden stool.

"If we knew, why would we ask you?" Mark's expression was dumbfounded, and David scratched the back of his head with a slight smile.

"Ah…right, my bad." While fastening the scabbard to his waist, David looked at Welt and Cain and asked, "Will you guys help me look for Arthur?"

"Eh?" A sound of surprise came out of Welt's mouth as they all stared at David, who was the first to make a move.

"What?" David looked back at them and calmly added, "You guys don't have to come if you don't want to. We still need someone to guard the gate."

"No, it's not that, it's just…" Cain examined the area around David and noticed that not a single flask of wine was in sight. It was unbelievable for them, but at the moment, it was clear that David was sober.

"It's just what?" David asked, a hint of curiosity lingering in his eyes. Seeing no one reply, he dropped the matter. Instead, he turned towards Paul, curling the end of his mustache, and extended one hand, causing Paul to freeze.

"What the fuck?" Mark's eyes widened in shock as similar reactions surfaced from Welt and Cain.

Both of Cain's hands were on his head, rustling through the countless strands of hair in disbelief. His body violently shook back and forth as Welt grabbed onto both sides of his white shirt's collar out of habit. At this point, Mark had also grabbed onto Cain's shoulders and shook him with Welt as they all stood there flabbergasted.

"I'm sorry." David's sudden apology made the three gasp, and their collective astonishment sent ripples through their bodies. It seemed like a miracle had occurred, and they were the first to witness the historic event.

Paul crossed both arms in a visible defiance to the outstretched hand and said, "For?"

"You dick, you're really going to make me say it?" The audible cue of David clicking his tongue and the dissatisfaction written on his face portrayed the bitter emotions bottled within his heart.

"Of course." Paul answered as if it was second nature and calmly added, "It's the least you should do after the trouble you've caused."

David swallowed his pride because he knew that Paul was right and spoke with the utmost sincerity in his voice. "I'm sorry for being an asshole to you guys for the past month. I know this isn't enough of an apology, but I need to start somewhere."

A wide smile grew on Paul's face as the corners of his lips curled upwards, revealing a pair of bright white teeth. The sound of their hands clapping, followed by the firmness of their grip, echoed in the area as Paul said. "Welcome back, brother."

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The visible excitement by Cain, Welt, and Mark exploded in the moment as they huddled around Paul and David. Countless days have passed since the two had fought, and the awkward atmosphere created by the conflict drove nails into the coffin of their relationship. Yet, despite the odds and how unlikely it seemed for David and Paul to patch their friendship, it finally happened.

"Yes! That's why I'm talking about guys!" Cain slapped both David and Paul's backs at the same time and happily exclaimed. "Finally, we can go drinking again! I didn't want to say this, but Welt…you make an awful drinking buddy."

Mark stared at Cain with absolute disgust and annoyance as the muscles on his face contorted. "You fucking idiot."

"I second that." Welt smacked the back of Cain's head with one hand as a thud resounded throughout the area. In a slow and deliberate motion, Welt shook his head as a silent gesture to his disapproval. "You don't ask someone who's finally sober to go drinking when a day hasn't even passed."

"Actually, since a few minutes ago, technically, a day has passed." David's quick correction made Cain grin excitedly, but upon seeing this, Welt brought his hand back through the air to strike him again.

"Alright, fine. If we're not drinking, we should at least grab dinner together sometime after work." Cain made this new suggestion while rubbing the sore spot on the back of his head.

"That won't happen for a while. I want to spend more time with Stella." David's face showed firm denial as he stepped back from the three troublemakers hovering around him and Paul.

Even Paul's jaw nearly fell to the ground when he heard this. The entire incident started with the conflict between David and Stella, so to hear that their relationship was healing was astonishing.

Cain wrapped an arm around his neck and asked, "Does that mean everything's good and Stella will visit again?"

"Not exactly, but we're working on it." For a moment, an awkward and difficult expression painted across David's face, but it was a satisfying answer to the other four. They each patted him on the back in encouragement.

"What are you clowns doing?" Carl said while brushing his gray hair to the side with one hand. The first thing he saw was all the present western guard members gathered together, and if he learned anything from the past, trouble always followed.

"Carl! You missed it! David apologized to Paul, and his relationship with Stella is also patching up!" Cain excitedly spoke as Paul was firmly placed into a headlock.

Seeing Paul's unfazed appearance, Carl could deduce that the headlock had no effect on him and that he was simply playing along. When he arrived in his office this morning, a guard from the eastern gate was waiting for him, and to his surprise, Arthur was locked in their holding cell. The plan was to have one of the guards pick Arthur up, but with how well they were getting along, that probably wasn't necessary anymore.

Carl's chest rose and fell as a weary exhale escaped his lips. An uneasy feeling crept up his spine while recalling the past few days' events. Tucker's sudden leave of absence and the missing leaders of the slums weighed heavily on his mind. If it wasn't for his incompetent son, who ignored the balance of the slums. Then, he wouldn't have had to personally strike a deal with them, but that was now broken.

I'll deal with it later. I should pick up Arthur for now.

Carl rolled the fabric of his sleeves, folding them upwards until they were a third of their standard length. "I'm going to get Arthur. He's currently with the eastern guards."

"Ah…" They all suddenly realized that they had completely forgotten the reason Paul and Mark had come to them in the first place.

"Should we accompany you, sir?" Welt asked, retrieving the staff that was propped against a nearby wall.

"No, I'll be fine on my own. Just don't break anything." Carl stared directly at Paul, the main culprit behind the majority of the property damage to their facilities. The guards saluted Carl as he walked past them, but after a few steps, the sound halted. "That reminds me...try not to cause any trouble while I'm gone. Also…make sure Raph and Claire don't go missing as well."

"Leave it to me, Captain! I'll make sure those brats don't leave my sight." Cain released Paul from his makeshift headlock and dashed to the barracks, leaving behind a small cloud of dust.

"I guess I'll watch over Cain to make sure he doesn't do something stupid," Welt walked dejectedly, shoulders sagging as he followed Cain's trail.

"Well, you guys are crazy if you think I'm going to be on gate duty, so have fun, you two." Mark pressed his index and middle finger against his temple before gesturing to the air and slowly walking backward. Once he was a safe distance away, he turned around and dashed after Welt and Cain.

"Ha…not a day goes by without something happening." A deep exhale left Carl's body as Paul and David nodded in agreement. With one hand waving in the air and another in his pocket, Carl began walking to the eastern outpost and said, "I'll be back in a few hours. If Tucker shows up, tell him to wait for me in my office."

"Sure, take care, Captain." Paul returned the wave as David sat back on the wooden stool.

.

.

.

"For the last time, I wasn't doing anything suspicious. I was just looking through someone's window, that's it." Arthur protested the accusations by the guards as one of them pulled their blue strands of hair.

"Luther, relax…" Max grabbed Luther's shoulder and attempted to comfort the distressed soldier who had spent the entire night trying to extract information from the boy before them.

"This runt is making me go insane!" Luther roared as both palms slammed onto the wooden table, causing the paper and pencil to bounce momentarily in the air.

"I'm making you insane? You're making me insane!" Arthur mimicked Luther's actions as a loud thud sound echoed in the room, with the tabletop objects bouncing into the air. "What kind of adult makes a kid stay up all night in this damp room?"

"If you had just gone to sleep, we could have questioned you in the morning! Why are you even still awake and full of energy?!" Luther's sudden question caused Arthur to sit back down in silence, but after a brief moment, Arthur shrugged both shoulders as if he didn't know.

Seeing the fairly quick response, Max rubbed the dark circles beneath his eyes and threw himself back into his chair. With an arching back and a fatigued body, Max scratched his dense eyebrows with one hand. "Just leave it be already, Luther; the kid said he works for the Captain of the West Gate, so they'll come to pick him up."

"That's even more of a reason why we need to find out what he was up to! The number of disappearances keeps increasing each day!" Luther gritted his teeth in frustration, with both hands tightly gripping onto the armrest of the chair.

"Disappearances?" Arthur tilted his head to the side as a look of confusion surfaced. He had no clue what they were talking about since he was training or wandering around most of the day.

"Yeah, I guess there's no harm in telling you, but recently, some of the citizens have been disappearing in the eastern region," Max responded with a weary expression. The sleepless nights had burdened his body as he struggled to keep both eyes open. "We thought that maybe you were up to something because so far, you're the only person we've encountered that late at night."

"I'm being completely honest. I was only outside David's window because I was trying to help him fix his relationship with his wife." Arthur placed one hand over his heart and tried to answer their frustrating questions again, but Luther scoffed at him.

"Right, how many other houses have you peered through then? Surely you've helped other couples fix their relationship since you've done it before." A scrutinizing gaze fell upon Arthur from Luther; the armrests on the chair crackled as they crumbled into dust. Before Luther could utter a word, the wooden door creaked open as a tall, muscular man with gray hair walked in. His hair was neatly brushed to one side, and despite his calm demeanor, anger shimmered in his eyes.

"I've heard enough." The calm voice betrayed the anger within him. Carl had allowed the eastern guards to continue their interrogation because of the eastern Captain's plea, but after witnessing such unprofessional behavior. He couldn't stand it anymore.