With Rue and the carriage missing, Zeke begins to panic. He looks around frantically, yelling for Rue but no answer.
“What the hell is going on?” He runs back to the Inn. He spots an assistant.
“HEY!!!” He shouts.
“How can I help you, sir?” the assistant responds.
“Have you seen the girl with long red hair?” Zeke asks, tapping his finger on the desk.
“That beautiful girl! Yes, she left about an hour ago.” Zeke grabs him by the collar and pulls him close.
“Was she with anyone? TELL ME!”
“S-She was with another man,” he replies, terrified.
“WHAT DID HE LOOK LIKE!!!”
“H-he was tall with black hair and a mole on the chin,” he answers, on the verge of crying.
“THAT DAMN MAYOR!” Zeke quickly rushes to the Mayor's office. He breaks all the doors he approaches without lifting a finger. He spots the Mayor and yells.
“MAYOR!”
“Oh, Zeke boy, I thought you left town already? Where’s your pretty companion?”
Zeke walks close to the mayor and slams his hands down on his office table.
“You tell me? She was with your butler last!”
The Mayor looks at Zeke, confused.
“What do you mean?”
“She was last seen with YOUR BUTLER!” Zeke repeats, throwing chairs at the wall. “Where is she!”
“Now just a minute, Zeke boy. I haven't seen my butler all morning. He should be here any minute if you’d like to wait?”
The Mayor tries to calm Zeke down.
“I’m not a patient person, Mayor,” Zeke glares.
“Five more minutes, he’ll be here to answer your questions,” the Mayor pleads.
Zeke agrees to wait 5 minutes but no longer. As time passes, the butler is a no-show.
“Tik-tok Mayor, if he doesn’t come, it’s your head,” Zeke aims crystals at the Mayor.
“L-Let me radio h-him p-please!”
Zeke points a finger gun at the mayor.
“Make it quick,” he says threateningly. The Mayor tries to radio his butler but no answer.
“Joris! Joris, are you there?” Static noise comes from the radio. “Joris, where are you?” he begs.
“Times up,” he says with a wicked look in his eyes. Zeke gets ready to throw the crystals until-
“My apologies, my lord,” Joris replies over the radio. “I ran into a bit of trouble.”
“Joris, I need you to tell me where you are.” The Mayor demands with a shaky voice.
“Are you alright, sir? Did something happen?” Joris asks innocently.
“Haha,” he laughs nervously, “No, Joris, everything is fine. I was worried that something had happened to you.”
“Something did happen, sir,” Joris pauses, “I…quit.”
The mayor is shocked in disbelief.
“Joris? What’s gotten into you!” He continues, confused. Joris laughs hysterically like a madman.
“Don’t you see, my lord, you're in a corner with the Dauntless boy because you ordered me to kidnap his companion,” he says tauntingly. The Mayor turns to Zeke pleading.
“He’s lying, Zeke boy, d-don’t listen to him! Please don’t listen to him.”
Joris laughs over the radio. “Goodbye, my lord.” he hangs up the radio call. Zeke walks up to the Mayor slowly, eyes glowing red with bloodlust.
“You will tell me where he is, his favorite foods, his favorite color, EVERYTHING!” Zeke shouts with heka, beginning to burst out.
“I-i will tell you everything!” his voice starts shaking, “His family is involved with the lawless. I-i took h-him in like he was my o-own,” the Mayor starts crying.
“Go on!” he points a sharp crystal at him.
“His parents died y-years ago-” BANG! Suddenly the Mayor's body flies back and drops to the floor. Someone from the outside has been watching them.
“DAMMIT!” Zeke yells. “A sniper?!” BANG! BANG! BANG! More shots fire at Zeke, but he evades all of them. He runs out of the Mayor's office and scopes outside to see where the shots came from.
“From this angle, it looks like the bullet came from…t-the Inn! Are you kidding me?!” He shouts, disappointed in himself for not realizing sooner. Zeke runs back towards the Inn.
“SHIT! He saw me!” the Inn owner says, panicking. He desperately runs inside and locks the doors. “He can’t be that strong, right?”
BOOM! Zeke bursts through the window and locates the Inn owner.
“AHH,” he screams for his life and tries to run.
“You killed the only person who could’ve told me about that mole face, and now you’re gonna tell me EVERYTHING!” Zeke's black heka starts to form around him. He raises his hand and lifts the Inn owner up without touching him. His eyes glow red, and he throws the Inn owner to the ground.
“You will tell me where she is. Maybe I’ll let you live.” Zeke says with an ominous smile.
“Cough. Cough. He took her to a lawless Daunt base! I forgot the name, Fallen Angels. O-or Shadow? I don’t remember!!”
“Thank you for your cooperation,” Zeke smiles. “You’re free to go.” As soon as the Inn owner runs to the door, all he hears is “CRYSTAL DEMOLITION!” explosions around him go off, and he's blown to pieces.
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
“This is all my fault. I got her caught.” Zeke punches the floor. “DAMMIT!!!” Zeke makes a difficult decision and calls Cora of Lost Haven.
“WHAT! I need to tell Captain Owen ASAP!”
“Wait, before you do, is there a way you won’t tell Owen? She’s my responsibility. It's my fault she got captured. I should be the one to bring her back. I called you to help me locate the base.” Zeke says, regretting telling Cora.
“That’s a risky game you’re playing, Zeke. Regardless, I must tell Captain she's also Lost Haven's responsibility.”
“Sigh. Fine, I’m in Rosepass Town. Just let me know what I can do to help.”
“This is a different side of you, Zeke. I’d like to see more of this side. HA. Don’t worry about Rue. We’ll get her back.” Cora responds, trying to reassure Zeke.
Zeke recalls his brother calling out to him.
“Zeke,” his little brother says, laughing and running to Zeke.
Zeke remembers how his brother used to smile and hug him every day.
“You’re right, mom. I’m useless,” Zeke says, closing his eyes and lying back.
It’s now 2:45 pm. A maid finds the Mayor's lifeless body. She screams, and guards swarm in the office.
They immediately inform the Great Council of the tragedy. The Great Council sends Lost Haven to clean up after their associates' mess. Outside the Mayor's office, the townsfolk are in chaos, concerned about the situation.
“Stay calm, folks. The Great Council is sending over a Dauntless association to help us out,” One guard informs the people.
“But what about the Mayor?” One townsperson asks.
“Is he alright?” Another townsperson asks.
“WHY WON'T YOU TELL US!” The next townsperson shouts to the guards. All the townspeople begin to panic. Owen and his team walk up to where the Guards are.
“Everyone! It’s okay to be scared and afraid. But don’t cause more of a ruckus in front of your children. They need you now more than ever. Imagine how scared they’ll feel if they see you act like this,” Owen says, attempting to calm the townspeople.
“For now, return to your homes and stay strong for your town. We will keep you updated throughout our stay here.”
“Thank you so much.” One townsperson says gratefully. The townspeople clear out murmuring amongst each other as they leave. Owen asks the Guard to explain in detail what occurred. The guard tells him everything and shows the footage on a crystal that was captured.
After watching the video, Owen quickly makes his way to Zeke. Zeke’s at the Inn, waiting for Lost Haven to pull up. Owen’s the first to appear. He angrily opens and slams the vehicle door. Zeke stands up and walks towards Owen.
“Owen, I-” Zeke attempts to explain himself but is interrupted. Pow! Owen punches Zeke harshly in the face.
“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING??!!” Owen shouts with veins popping from his forehead. Zeke hits the floor hard and stays silent.
“Why would you bring her to a 2-3 star mission? SHE'S BARELY A ROOKIE!!”
Zeke sits up on the ground, his head down, disappointed in himself.
“I-” Zeke tries to speak, but Owen continues to yell.
“I’m not finished! I asked you to watch over her. To take CARE OF HER! Do you know what you have done, ZEKE?! The council is on their way now!”
Zeke stands up, not looking anyone in the eyes. Elliot and Cora step out of the vehicle. Elliot rushes to Zeke and grabs him by the jacket.
“HEY! Don’t ignore our captain!” Elliot yells.
Zeke pushes Elliot's hands away.
“Get your hands off me,” Zeke glares at him. Elliot goes in for a punch, but Owen grabs him.
“That’s enough! We can’t fight each other while our comrade is in danger.” Owen says to them both. He walks over to Zeke and says calmly,
“We’ll talk more later. For now, you need to tell us everything. Start from the beginning.” Zeke sits on the ground and tells the events from Goldcross to Rosepass. While Zeke finishes telling the group what happened, two men from the council approach them. Coincidentally it’s the same councilmen who tried to take Rue the first time she arrived at Lost Haven.
“That’s enough.” Councilman One, named Rae, says. The two walk over to the group.
“We’ll take it over from here.” Councilman Two, named Liam, states.
“Now hold on, gentleman,” Owen begins to say until Rae cuts him off.
“We have orders, you see.”
Rae shows a paper to Owen.
“We’ll be taking over since you,” he looks at Zeke, “couldn’t follow one rule.”
“Wait a damn minute,” Elliot says, walking over to Rae, “Why are you guys even here?”
“That information is classified,” Rae says, keeping it short. Elliot walks over to Owen and asks,
“What’s going on here, Captain?”.
Owen’s heka begins to pour out because of how pissed off he is.
“You and your Lost buddies can go home now,” Liam says, smiling. Zeke stands up with his black heka starting to pour out.
“You think I'm gonna sit here and let you boss me around?” Zeke looks at them with bloodlust.
“Zeke, take it easy. These are councilmen,” Cora says, trying to get Zeke to calm down.
“I got her into this mess, and I'll be the one to get her out. Not you untrustworthy freaks.”
“We’re untrustworthy? I should say that to you. Your brother trusted you, didn’t he? Your parents and now an innocent girl have all trusted you. All because of you, they’re gone.” Rae taunts Zeke and stands very close to him. Zeke attempts to attack Rae, but Elliot tackles him and pins him to the ground.
“Hey! Calm down!” Elliot holds him down. Zeke breaks free and charges at Rae.
“ICE CAGE” Cora yells as he puts up a cage over Zeke to keep him from attacking the councilmen. "ZEKE, STOP NOW!!”
Owen is distracted by the letter the councilmen gave him to notice Zeke attacking. Zeke again breaks free easily and charges at Rae.
“CRYSTAL DEMOLITION!” He yells with massive explosives surrounding everyone on the scene. BANG! BANG! Liam shoots Zeke with sage bullets before Zeke’s explosions can go off. He’s hit on his shoulder by one and falls to the ground. He screams in agony from the sage bullet. Everyone is stunned that one shot took Zeke down.
“THAT'S ENOUGH!” Everyone pauses. “Let’s get out of here, Lost Haven. We’re done,” Owen says, giving up.
“You can all leave but him,” Liam says, pointing to Zeke. Owen glares at the councilmen like sharp, poisoned daggers. “I apologize for my advocate here. Please let him off with a warning. He’s just worried about his comrade.” Owen pleads as calmly as he can. Rae walks up to Zeke and kicks him while he's on the ground, weak and bleeding from getting shot.
“I’ll let it go this one time. Only because I love to see, weak people crumble,” he says, kicking Zeke.
“AAAAHHHHH!!!!” Zeke screams in agony.
The Lost Haven members glare at Rae with all their heka bursting out. Nash speeds in and stops Rae.
“Thank you, sir. I have to treat my patient now,” he says coldly, staring at Rae.
Lost Haven packs everything up and heads back to their base in Ovidinia. On the way back, Owen drives the vehicle, and Cora is in the passenger seat. Nash operates on Zeke, with Elliot sitting next to him. Nash takes the bullet out and finishes stitching him up.
“What kind of bullet is that? I’ve never seen one like that before,” Elliot asks, examining the bullet.
“It’s a sage bullet—one of the strongest in the world. The Council started to infuse an herb called sage into weapons to have more power. People with heka, especially those who get theirs from the angel's trumpet herb, can be killed with one shot. Some will become weak and pass out if it doesn’t kill them instantly.” Owen explains.
“So that’s it. The council is even more afraid of the lawless Daunts, so they create a powerful weapon that can kill in just one shot. How delightful,” Cora says sarcastically. Zeke wakes up and sits up quickly.
“You need to lay back down!” Nash demands.
“Where are the council jerks?” Zeke asks, wanting a round two.
“They’re gone. Now listen to your Doctor.” Elliot tells Zeke.
“Where are we? Where are we going?” Zeke asks impatiently.
“We’re heading back, kid,” Owen informs him. “Nothing else we could do there except watch you die.”
Zeke lays back down and turns his head away from everyone.
“Owen, listen-” Zeke begins to say, but Elliot cuts him off.
“We’re not giving up. So don’t you dare even say it?”
“Damn right, we’re not,” Owen smiles.
“We wouldn’t be Lost Haven if we couldn’t save one comrade,” Cora adds.
Ha. Dumbasses. Zeke thinks to himself as he covers his smiling face with his arm.