It didn’t surprise Ethan at all that when he came down stairs for breakfast, that Miguel was the only person awake the next morning. Sam had still been in a bad mood when he’d returned from wherever he’d gone the night before and had gone straight to his room. Leah had only come out briefly after he and Alera had gotten back from their short dinner, but she’d looked worse than Ethan had ever seen her.
I hope Daniel comes back soon, having another friendly face would help Leah and stop us from constantly having to waste money on the auction house. He assumed David had left already to go buy a replacement shield and helm.
“Morning boss,” Miguel greeted him warmly as he removed several items from the guild bank, storing them in his own inventory. “You sleep alright?”
“Still getting used to having someone new in my bed,” Ethan rubbed sleep from his eyes and grinned at his friend. “Are you heading to the auction house?”
“Yeah,” Miguel nodded grimly. “We just aren’t having much luck with sales. It would help if the raid clan would have some more wipes, but they’re just so damn good.”
Ethan chuckled dourly in response. “I’ll tell Arianna we need her to start telling people to die more often.”
“Are you going to see her today, then?”
“That’s the plan,” Ethan nodded and headed towards the kitchen. “I’m going to ask Sam to go with me, see if he has learned anything new that she could help with.”
“Sam’s already gone,” Miguel jerked his head towards Sam’s bedroom. “He left right before I got back this morning.”
Even though there had been no outwards threats against Tara and the Greenbriar, Miguel was still spending most nights at the inn with his partner. On the nights they had been extra late returning from the tower, Miguel had not even bothered to come back to the guild hall.
“Shit,” Ethan swore as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “Doesn’t matter, I still need to talk to Arianna. What time do you think you’ll be back?”
“I shouldn’t be gone for more than a couple of hours,” Miguel shrugged as he adjusted the strap of his bag. “Oh, we got another person interested in a first floor run, you want me to set that up for today?”
“Yeah, might as well,” Ethan said. There was always the chance that a rare or epic item could drop in the Tower that would make their gold issues disappear, but the promise of nearly a thousand gold was preferred. “Give us a more relaxing night after yesterday.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Miguel nodded. “I’ll send out the word to Sam and David if you’re about to take off.”
“Dude, that would be great,” Ethan grinned at him, grateful as always that Miguel would always be by his side. “Oh hey, how’re we looking on gold?”
“Not going to lie, boss.” Miguel ran his fingers through his thick, black hair. “We were better off before I sent David out with three grande."
“So we’re at like,” Ethan did a quick mental calculation based on the number that David had told him the night before. “A little over two?”
“Yeah, close to three,” Miguel frowned and looked at the floor briefly before back to Ethan. “Getting the floor run tonight will help, but merchandise just isn’t moving.”
“You think we’re going to hit ten thousand in time?”
“It’s going to be close,” Miguel said sadly. “But as long as we don’t wipe or if we can get lucky, I think we’ll make it.”
“Keep me informed,” Ethan took a sip from his mug. “Sorry I’ve been a little distracted recently, I’ll do better.”
“‘Man you got nothing to apologize to me for,” Miguel smiled at him as he crossed the room. “I’m happy that you’re happy.”
“Thanks, bud.”
“I mean it,” he placed his hand on Ethan’s shoulder. “I feel like we’ve all looked to you to get us through this hell, and maybe some of us have forgotten that you’re just a person, too.”
“Coming from anyone else, I’d think that was an insult,” Ethan smiled at his friend.
“Ethan, you know what I mean,” he dropped his hand back to his side. “You do an amazing job of keeping us together, but at the end of the day, you’re trapped with us, just trying to get home. Sam needs to remember that he’s not the only one who has a life outside of this place.”
“Thanks, Miguel,” he nodded towards the bag across Miguel’s chest. “You better get that listed if we’re doing the first floor tonight.”
“Will do,” he readjusted the thick strap of his bag. “Why don’t you take Alera with you to see your sister, kill two birds with one stone as it were.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you need information but if you’re serious about her, shouldn’t you at least introduce her to the only blood family you have here?” He gestured with his chin towards the upstairs where Alera was sleeping.
“That’s not actually a bad idea,” Ethan rubbed his chin as he pondered the suggestion. “Let the guy, and everyone else, know we’ll do a night run for the mount. That worked better for us than trying to do it during the day.”
“Will do,” Miguel nodded as he moved for the door. “Have fun with your sister, don’t let her eat Alera alive.”
After Miguel left, Ethan hurriedly made enough breakfast for three people. He wasn’t sure if Leah had eaten, or even come out of her room since they got back from the Tower, but he wasn’t going to let her starve herself. It wouldn’t do for them to rescue Tae-Won if she was barely hanging on to her own sanity.
“Hey, K, breakfast!” He shouted as he knocked on her door. “French toast and sausage.”
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After a few moments of no answer he shrugged and went to wake Alera.
As always, she was completely splayed out over their shared bed, her usual line of drool soaking her pillow.
“Hey beautiful,” he leaned over the bed and kissed her lightly on the cheek. “Breakfast.”
“Unh,” she groaned and rolled over. “Need more sleep.”
“Sleep later,” he gently poked her side. “We’ve got plans today. I’m taking you with me to see my sister.”
“Oh good,” she sat straight up, looking panicked. “I get to meet the fabled Arianna, leader of the entire raid clan.”
“Technically she just leads them in combat,” he sat down on the bed next to her and out his arm around her. “Junpei is the actual leader.”
“That’s not better,” she groaned again and ran her fingers through her tangled blonde hair. “Can I at least shower first?”
“If you want a cold breakfast,” he smiled and got off the bed. “We’re doing a mount run tonight so we don’t have a lot of time.”
“I’ll be quick,” Alera said, hugging her pillow tightly against her face.
“Sure,” Ethan smiled as he went back downstairs.
Movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention as he descended the stairs.
“Leah?” He called to the door just as it slammed closed.
“K, open the door,” he said gently as he knocked on Leah’s door. “I need to talk to you.”
Half a second later, the door swung part way open. Leah stood there, still in her pajamas, looking like she hadn’t slept at all. “What do you want, Ethan?” She said sadly.
“I just wanted to check on you,” he tried to push the door open wider, but she held it firm. “We’re all worried about you.”
“Ha,” she barked out a hoarse laugh. “I’m doing fucking terrible, Ethan.” Leah ran her fingers through her greasy red hair. “I can’t sleep, I’m so worried about Tae-Won. I couldn’t get my roots spell out, almost killed David last night.”
“Hey, hey,” he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into a hug. “No one blames you for that, we all know this is worse for you than anyone else.”
“No, you don’t get it,” Leah pulled away from him and shook her head. Ethan could see tear steaks down her cheeks. “Every night since I opened that box, I can’t help but imagine what they’re doing to him. I just keep seeing that grey finger with his ring still attached. My husband is missing and I can’t do anything for him.” She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself.
“I send him messages constantly, hoping that he can still see them, hoping that they didn’t take his other eye, so he knows that I’m coming for him.”
“Do.. do they go through?” Ethan was stunned, he hadn’t even thought to send messages to Tae-Won.
“Sometimes,” Leah shook her head. “Other times they bounce back saying that he’s not in a town.”
He thought about what she had just said. If the messages are getting through to him, then they have to have him in a town at least part of the time!
“But he never responds?”
“No,’ Leah shook her head, staring at the floor.
“Then you’ve got to have hope,” Ethan put his hand on her shoulder. “Wherever they have him, he’s got to be seeing your messages, even if they’ve done something to where he can’t answer you.”
“Yeah, but what if they’ve like, brainwashed him to hate me or something?”
“Leah,” he squeezed her gently. “Kim Tae-Won would have literally moved across the planet to be with you, before following you into a game where we all got imprisoned. There is nothing those assholes could do that would turn him against you.”
“Thank, Ethan,” Leah attempted to smile, but the weight the situation pressed down on her.
“Listen, we’re just doing a first floor run tonight,” he said. “Why don’t you take the night off and stay home.”
“But what about-”
“Get some sleep, eat a real meal,” he cut her off, “and take a shower.”
“You sure?” she asked.
“Yes, you’re starting to turn into the smelly kid.” He grinned at her. “We’ll be fine for a quick run, Miguel can handle the healing.”
“Hey, I thought you said there was breakfast?” Alera asked as she bounded down the stairs, interrupting Ethan and Leah’s conversation.
“On the counter,” Ethan said over his shoulder. “There’s coffee too.”
“Cheers,” Alera thanked him as she prepared her plate.
“Like I was saying,” Ethan turned back to Leah. “You take the night off, we can handle it.”
“I just feel bad about this,” she sighed. “It’s my husband that is being held ransom, if I had just said anything at the trial, maybe we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
“Leah, we’ve been over this,” Ehtan closed his eyes and shook his head wearily. “We were screwed before we even set foot in the courtroom, Kalinda and Paul made sure of that.”
“Alright, alright,” she finally consented. “I’ll stay here tonight.”
“Good,” he nodded and smiled at her. “Get some rest.”
He hugged her again and turned back towards the kitchen where Alera was quietly eating her cold french toast and sausage. Since they weren’t heading into the Tower until the afternoon, she had dressed quite casually. Even in a somewhat baggy sweater, that Ethan was sure was his, and linen pants with her mid thigh boots, he couldn’t help but think how beautiful she was. She’d eschewed the intricate braids that Ethan still wore after his time in Skaro in favor of the twin plaits that he’d first seen back in Grassmere.
“What was all that about?” She pointed with her fork to Leah’s, once again, closed door.
“She’s going to take the night off while we do our run,” Ethan looked back towards Leah’s room. “She isn’t doing well.”
“No, she isn’t,’ Alera chewed on her bottom lip as she stared at the door to Leah’s room.
“She’ll be better when we get Tae-Won back home,” Ethan sat down on one of the barstools next to Alera. “Hopefully Arianna has found something we can use.”
“Speaking of you sister,” Alera shifted uncomfortably in her seat, “do I need to dress up or anything?”
“What?” He smiled. “Why would you?”
“I dinnae,” she pushed around her remnants of French toast on her plate with her fork. “She’s your sister and the raid coordinator. I feel like I shouldn’t show up looking like a slob.”
“What you're wearing will be fine,” he leaned forward and kissed her on her forehead. “I’m going to go change while you finish.”
“Thanks for breakfast,” she still looked uncomfortable to Ethan as he got up from the counter.
He threw himself back onto the bad when he got up to their room. He knew he should be getting dressed, but he needed a moment of peace before he launched himself into what was already looking like a stressful day.
With a sigh, he sat back up and swiped his hand in the air. An ethereal keyboard appeared in his vision. After another sigh he began typing with trembling hands.
Whisper to Tae-Won:
Hey Tae-Won, I don’t know if you’re going to be able to see this or not. But we haven’t forgotten about you. We are doing everything we can to find where they’ve taken you and I promise, we are coming for you. We’re all keeping an eye on Leah, she’s having a rough time, but she’s incredible. Be strong and hold on. We’re coming.
Ethan rewrote his message almost a dozen times, unsure of how to sound positive as his friend was possibly being tortured even as he got the message. His hand shook as he hit send.
He unconsciously held his breath, unsure if he’d get any sort of message. After nearly a minute of no response, he released the air in his lungs. With no system message of Tae-Won not being able to receive messages, he could only hope that his friend had seen it.