Luka had been aware of the texts from Alice, but reading them would be a gesture, an acknowledgment of regret. Answering them was unthinkable. Anger was no longer the obstacle, but rather guilt. He almost certainly had the means to save her, but did not currently have the confidence to use it, nor the leverage to get close enough. It was a spell patched together from assumptions, theories and far too much faith and he had no way of testing it.

Anyway, he currently had a more pressing issue to attend to. The warnings were undeserved, but nevertheless appreciated. He could see enough from his notifications to get the gist. The Academy was planning an attack on the hospital, and she wanted him to get out. He wasn’t there, and hadn’t even known where Garrett and his Rogues had headed after the farm became compromised, but he was close.

Apparently, Garrett hadn’t guessed that Luka had compromised that location as well.

When he burst inside, the darkness lit green and blue around him, as a couple of guards were startled by his arrival. These guards weren't wearing masks, and looked at him with suspicion.

"Are you going to stop me?" he asked, watching their glowing hands. He had picked the gun back up before leaving Quinn's, even though he had his magic back. It had been a strange instinct, knowing he was walking into something uncertain and wanting all the help he could get. He reached behind him to slip his fingers around the handle. The magic sunk back beneath the skin of the Forger and the Fighter, and they let him pass. He walked by more guards, but no one else tried to stop him. Someone in a fox mask — possibly the fox mask — turned a corner, and Luka grabbed him by the sleeve, letting his magic rise to the surface as a warning. "Where is he?"

"Upstairs," Fox Mask growled. Luka released him and headed for the stairs.

As "upstairs" was a bit vague when coming off the first floor in a four story building, Luka stopped on the second floor landing and took a look around. He could see light, and followed it into what had probably once been a library. There were still books on the shelves, and scattered around on tables. Garrett was sitting on top of a metal desk. It had been dusted off, and the debris removed, giving it an odd sense of purity. Like it had been caught in the eye of the storm, untouched by the destruction of time. He had a computer stacked on top of a couple of books, scrolling through a spreadsheet of numbers and graphs. The ground crunched under Luka's feet, and Garrett turned to face him. Luka got close enough to be pretty sure it was statistics on the spread of the virus, before Garrett pushed the screen down.

"Luka," he said warmly. "What a pleasant surprise."

Lewis stood at his shoulder, clearly fancying himself the right hand, but Garrett paid him no attention. It was very possible he had been, or even still was, that important to Garrett. He was a Healer, and Rogue Healers were rare, but there was still that tension between them.

They didn't agree, specifically on Luka's involvement. Lewis leveled his eyes on Luka, and kept them there. Luka could only assume he had lost the argument once more, and wasn’t happy about it.

"The Council is coming for you," Luka announced. "They're done playing. They're getting ready to storm the place."

Garrett leaned back on the table. "Ah, so they finally decided to act? Great," he said.

"Great? They outnumber you. They will take you down, and then they will proceed to torture the cure out of you."

"I have it covered," Garrett said. He reached for Luka, and placed a hand on his arm. "It's very sweet of you to warn me, though."

Luka flinched, stepping back from the table. "This is serious," he said. "They're on their way here. Now."

"Well, then I suppose you have a decision to make."

"What decision?" Luka asked. All he could focus on was some imaginary countdown in his head, and it was like having the virus all over again. He didn't know exactly when the Agents would show, but he knew it was sooner rather than later.

Garrett faced him and caught his face in his hands. Luka froze. "You cut ties with your friends the moment you let that Agent go, Luka. So, you can stay by my side, or you can turn your back on all of this. Either way, we're fighting."

"No," Luka said. "You can't."

Garrett smiled. "And yet, I am."

"Garrett," he was desperate now. "The only thing this will destroy is you. Everything you have built will die."

"Will it? It's set in motion, Luka. It can't be stopped."

"What exactly do you think will happen? You die, and the Rogues will rise up? I think you're flattering yourself."

"I think you're making the mistake of thinking revolutions are about individuals."

Luka shrugged off his hands, and took several steps back. "You're delusional."

"If you want things to change, Luka, you have to be willing to suffer the consequences."

"Do you want to die?" he asked, watching Garrett's eyes. They didn't change, nothing in his expression did.

"Want to and willing to are different things." Luka still expected an expression to flicker across his face, but the gray eyes were unchanging. Maybe that was exactly why Luka felt sympathy for him for once, because of the mask he was wearing. Not quite as obvious as the animal masks on his henchmen, but all the more powerful for it.

"Don't sacrifice yourself," Luka said.

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"Why not?" Garrett asked. For once he wasn't smiling.

"Matt's life wasn't worth all this. Neither is yours." Luka's words finally triggered a response in his expression. A flicker of surprise, nothing more. He didn't say anything, and Luka had no idea if he had managed to change anything.

"I need to go before the Agents get here. You should do the same."

He didn't leave the same way he came. If the Agents were going to storm the building, they were going to be covering all the exits. All the exits on street level, anyway. He took the stairs up to the fourth floor. He wasn't sure there was roof access in this building, but jumping from a window was just as efficient, as long as he could see the Agents. He walked the dark, decaying halls of the building. The fourth floor seemed empty of people, and he slowed down, taking his time searching the rooms for an appropriate exit. He didn't have a proper internal map of this building, which was another mistake, but headed towards the back. He stepped into a room, and the door shut softly behind him. He turned and faced a figure standing in the dark doorway.

"Lewis, wasn't it?" He asked, even though the only doubts he had about the kid’s name was whether it was his first or last name, which didn’t even matter. The red glow of magic brightened up the room, and Luka’s breath caught as he felt the pressure on his heart. He stumbled to his knees, clutching his chest. His heart was beating too slow and too hard, trying to pump blood through his veins, trying to keep him alive, despite Lewis fighting him. His own magic was trying hard to take over, but he grunted and pushed it down until it just barely kept him conscious. He reached for the gun at the small of his back. He was trembling with effort, but managed to point the gun in Lewis' general direction.

"Really?" Lewis said. "A gun? I know you can do better than that."

Luka wondered if Garrett had sent him, if this was the price he had to pay for leaving, but it felt more personal than that. Lewis had resented him from the moment they met, maybe because of his magic, maybe because of the way Garrett treated him. Even if Luka had no interest in taking his place, it would seem like he had finally decided to rid himself of his perceived competition.

"I can, but I'm not interested in becoming a Blood Mage," Luka said, his teeth clenched around the words.

Something flickered in Lewis' eyes, when he realized that Luka wasn't going to let the attack on him slide, that this fight could have a fatal end. A brief flicker of fear, before it became determination.

"Well, I am."

Luka felt the pressure and the pain of Lewis pouring more of himself into the attack. He could continue fighting back, but it was bleeding his magic as fast as it was Lewis'. In the end, it would come down to who was stronger, who was bolder. Luka believed he was, but he wasn't willing to bet his life on it. Lewis was desperate and reckless, which might just weigh higher in the end. He allowed his magic to flare up, to steady him, as he curled his finger around the trigger, and aimed the gun more carefully at Lewis’ chest. He wasn't a great shot, and the magic was a strain on his concentration, but it was close range.

"The second you pull that trigger, I release the Soul Eater," Lewis said.

Luka cocked his head, his finger tightening on the trigger. "Don't you know who I am? I can handle a Soul Eater."

The sound of the shot echoed through the building. It was deafening, all consuming, swallowing up all his other senses, his functions. He anticipated the Soul Eater, barely able to focus his eyes on Lewis, but watching him for any sign of activity anyway, for any whisper of the dragon within him. Nothing happened. How long did it usually take? Did he know?

He finally blinked, as sound returned to him, movement too. Blood pooled around Lewis, reminding him of the passing of time. He needed to go. Not only were the Agents coming, but now Garrett's people would be coming for him as well.

When he opened the door, a line of mages in animal masks were standing quietly, calmly along the wall. Luka should have sensed them.

He looked back at Lewis, bleeding out on the floor. He didn't understand what this was. Was Garrett still testing his loyalty? Hadn't he let him go?

"Was this another test?" Luka asked, when none of them made a move against him. His hand was shaking, maybe his voice was too.

He had felt responsible for people dying before. He had been blamed for their deaths.

He thought maybe it would have prepared him for this, but killing someone was different.

Killing someone cut deeper. He felt vaguely sick.

"No." Garrett appeared around the corner, walked up to Luka and took the gun from his trembling hand. Luka felt hollow, numb, and he let him. Garrett clicked the safety on, and tugged it at the small of his back.

"I admit, I was interested to see what you would do."

"You knew," Luka said. He was struggling to focus on the conversation. His eyes kept flickering to the dead body.

"I knew Lewis felt threatened by you, and refused to let it go. I knew he was too ambitious for his own good. It was more or less inevitable that he would do something."

"Was this the outcome you hoped for?" Luka asked, even though he didn't want to know. If he said yes, Luka had once again done exactly what he wanted. If he said no…

"No.“ His eyes lingered on the body, but his expression was blank. ”He should have known better. Of course, it also leaves me a Healer short."

"No," Luka said, recognizing the request beneath the statement. "I need the gun back."

Garrett raised an eyebrow.

"It's not mine," he explained. He consented and handed Luka back the gun. Luka accepted it, his hand almost steady now. He stepped past him to get out, but Garrett stopped him with a hand to his chest. Luka didn't have it in him not to flinch away from the touch.

He turned towards his people. "Anyone else want to make a stand?" He paused for a count of five seconds. "No? Then get back downstairs and greet the Agents."

Once the last of them had vanished around the corner, Garrett turned back to Luka. "He really did pick the worst possible time, didn't he?"

Luka said nothing. He couldn't look away from the body. He usually had no problem with blood, but now it made him want to throw up.

"Come on," Garrett said, patting his chest lightly.

Luka followed him out of one room and into another, smaller room. It was impossible to tell what it had once been. It was the same as the rest of the building, falling apart and decaying. The walls were painted with graffiti, symbols and letters that meant nothing to him.

Garrett pointed to one of them, a bird. Something like a crow or a raven, if he had to guess.

"That one leads to a street a couple of blocks away."

Luka looked at the wall, then at Garrett. It was possible to create similar connections to the transit systems between buildings, but the connection was artificial and difficult to maintain. The reason it worked between stations, was because it fed on the transient magic of travelers. Everyone were always going somewhere, a set destination in their minds. Setting up artificial connections in buildings had none of that, and fed in larger part on the traveler, only becoming easier to travel by as the link was used. As he reassessed the graffiti on the wall, he realized there were links to several locations. The tombstone could easily be the farm he had been taken to. The skull and bones, he guessed, was for Mutiny. There were also a small forest of trees, a chess piece and the Academy crest.

"Why?" Luka asked, as he lightly touched the wall by the silhouetted bird.

"You're useless to me right now," he said.

Luka kept looking at his hands, expecting to find blood, but they were clean.

"You've really never killed anyone?"

"Not like this," Luka said.

Garrett shook his head, but Luka couldn't tell if it was from disappointment or something else. He didn't care.

"Go," Garrett said. He didn't stay to watch Luka, but walked out of the room. Back to his people. Towards his own demise.

Luka activated the gate and was gone.