Page 102 of Fallacies

“Yes, seriously.” I drag a chair to the center of the room and gesture for her to sit. “Illusioning yourself as someone they recognize is better than trying to sneak around the Estate as someone they don’t.”

“I disagree.” Lucina folds her arms across her chest. “What if someone she knew wants to talk to me? What about her relationships? Her personality? I mean,” she gestures an arm to the dead Rogue, grimacing at her corpse, “I don’t know anything about her.”

I nod, gesturing across the room. “But he does.”

From the corner, Nix smiles, hooking his thumbs into the sides of his padded vest.

Lucina’s shoulders deflate. “You want me to sit here and memorize this girl’s corpse? While Nix tells me everything he knows about her life?”

“Yup,” he and I say in unison.

She shakes her head, stomaching another look at the Rogue. “This is fucked up.”

Phoenix’s smile drops to a frown. “Yes,” he says.

"Well,” Lucina throws her arms out, voice dripping in sarcasm, “at least you’re aware?” Swinging her attention back to me, she rolls her lips together, scrubbing a hand over her face as she relents, “Fine. I’ll do it.”

“Great.”

Lucina passes me, pulling her sleeves up to her elbows. She shoots a glare in Phoenix’s direction, then plops down in the chair.

“Alright,” I exhale, turning towards the stairs. “I’ll be back in a little with dinner.”

Lucina gags at the mere mention of it. “Pass.”

Phoenix smiles, settling against the far wall.

“Lucina,” I plead with her, “you have to eat somethi⁠—”

“Callan, how many times have you seen me puke?”

I don’t reply.

“Exactly.” Lucina grimaces. “Even the strongest of stomachs couldn’t eat after this.” She gestures to the gory scene before her. Lifeless limbs, the portion of the Rogue’s wrists that she tore trying to free herself from her shackles, the red around the yellow in her eyes…

Phoenix clears his throat, forcing my stare to break. “Bring two plates,” he asks of me. “I’ll eat Cin’s.”

Lucina gags. “I’m going to vomit.”

Yeah, and I might too. “We’ll talk about it later,” I compromise, shooting Nix a warning glare as I turn to leave.

A few hours later, and the sun is setting just over the horizon line, the air is cool enough that Easton starts a fire. Devon strengthens the illusion he has around our camp, keeping us and the flames hidden.

He and Hunter came back not too long ago and confirmed that they didn’t find anything suspicious, but I opted to still leave at dawn. Rogues are more active when the sun goes down.

Pax coordinated dinner, warming up some of the food that May packed for us. She sent us off with two days' worth, but we will take shifts to go back for more.

It was my decision to stay out here the entire time Lucina is in Streatham. We don’t know how long it will take her to get in and take down the ward, and I want to be as close as possible if something happens and she needs us.

Not that I would even fucking know if something happens. Not unless it’s dark out and she’s able to send an SOS to me through a godsdamn star while she’s being captured, tortured, or killed.

Forcing in a deep breath, I grab a plate of food, snatch Cin’s jacket from her bag, and make my way to the bunker.

The hinges on the hatch squeak as I enter, the glow of the lanterns still flickering across the stone walls.

“No, no,” Phoenix reprimands. “Like this.” I make it to the bottom of the stairs in time to see him fixing his face into a sort of bored smile. “Alesi,” he says, the name rolling off his tongue as if it’s his, the edges of it curled in some sort of mimicked accent.

Lucina huffs, blowing a strand of hair out of her face.