Three hours later
Alice's crying had stopped. Not because the pain had gone away... but because she simply had no more strength to continue. The suffering remained there, only asleep, hidden beneath a thin layer of exhaustion.
She sat down for a few minutes, listening to the silence, trying to convince her own body to react. Finally, she took a deep breath, wiped her face with the sleeve of her shirt, and stood up.
In the backyard, she found Hanna sitting at the table, leaning over the laptop, her brow furrowed and her fingers nervously tapping the keyboard.
"What are you doing?" Alice asked quietly. "That laptop is mine, you know?"
"I know. I'm just trying to locate that building… since you kindly made off with the phone that had the coordinates," Hanna replied, struggling with the cursor on the screen. "Damn… why is this so difficult?"
Alice stepped closer, looked at the screen for a few seconds... and gently closed the laptop. Hanna stared at her with a mix of impatience and surprise.
"I know where that building is... I can show you," Alice said firmly.
Hanna stood up, resting her hands on the table.
"So why the sudden change of heart, huh?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at Alice.
Alice looked away, taking longer than she wanted to answer.
"I said I wouldn't risk everything I built for someone I barely know… and I still think that. But… I promised to help Arthur. And, as much as it annoys me to admit it… I care about him. I couldn't just leave him behind." She paused, weighing each word carefully. "But my life is still the priority. So, if we're going to do this… we do it cautiously. No mistakes."
Hanna looked her up and down, unsure what to say. She didn't know whether to judge her again... or simply agree. Finally, she just took a deep breath and sat back down.
Upstairs, Arthur was regaining consciousness. His body still felt like lead, and every movement sent a wave of pain that forced him to breathe deeply. It felt as if someone had sewn his joints together with barbed wire.
He sat on the edge of the bed, feeling intense pain all over.
"Hanna… Alice...? Damn..." he murmured, his voice dragged.
It took him a while to stand, leaning on anything he could find along the way. When he reached the living room, he didn't see anyone... but heard low voices coming from the backyard.
There, he saw Alice and Hanna talking and felt a pang of surprise mixed with some relief.
"I never thought I'd see you two talking without a knife to each other's throat..." he commented with a half-smile, leaning on the wall to keep from falling.
"Arthur! You should be in bed, not wandering around!" Hanna scolded, grabbing his arm and forcing him into the chair at the table.
Arthur felt relieved to see Hanna and Alice okay. Deep down, there was a strange sense of gratitude—for knowing that almost dying hadn't been in vain, after all.
"Could you maybe be a little less strict?" he said, trying to lighten the mood.
Arthur turned to Alice, noticing her hesitation to look at him.
"Alice, are you okay?" Arthur tried to get up, worried, but Hanna firmly pushed him back, preventing him from overexerting himself.
A silent pang pierced Alice's chest. Arthur didn't even know what she had said, and yet... he spoke with so much care. For now, she chose to stay quiet, letting the moment pass without further conflict.
"Idiot... of course I'm fine. I'm a mercenary, remember?" she said with a crooked smile, hiding what she was really feeling.
Arthur smiled in agreement, relieved to know the incident hadn't affected any of the three of them too much.
"So, what were you two talking about before I got here?" he asked, straightforward as always.
"We're making a plan to invade one of Humans Upper's headquarters. We managed to track down the location of one... and the idea is to grab everything we can from there," Hanna said without beating around the bush.
"Hm... I don't think that's the main headquarters. I doubt they'd leave something like that so exposed. And we're just going to walk in with our chests out? If it's as easy as it looks... it's probably a trap," Arthur commented, now more reserved, his gaze suspicious.
"Most likely, this facility has some kind of security system that will detect us as soon as we get close... and then, we'll either be killed or captured," Alice said, resting her fingers on her chin as she tried to visualize a way to carry out their plan. "That's why the best thing would be to clear the area before going in."
Arthur sighed and placed his hand at his side, trying not to show too much of the anxiety he felt.
"Well... if we're going to invade one of their bases, let's do it right," Arthur said, firmly leaning his arms on the table. "I'm not going to sit around while you two come up with some crazy scheme."
"Urgh, you complain too much, Arthur. You'd rather lie there doing nothing while the men of the house handle everything for you?" Alice teased, raising an eyebrow with a smile.
"At the moment, I wouldn't say no to that offer," Arthur replied, mocking Alice.
Alice let out a weak laugh, unable to hold back. It wasn't sarcasm or mockery. It was... genuine. Something inside her calmed down a little, even if she didn't want to admit it.
"We'll need more than courage to get into that building. We need strategy... maybe even help," she said, taking back the laptop.
"And new clothes," Arthur added, looking at his own body still stained with dried blood.
"A shower would be good too," Hanna said, scrunching her nose.
"You two are unbearable," Alice commented, rolling her eyes.
The atmosphere wasn't so tense anymore. There were still hurts, open wounds... but, at that moment, they all seemed to breathe the same air... a little lighter, a little more determined.
They knew what they were about to face could be worse than last night. But, for the first time... they were in it together, even if with their own reasons and doubts.
Arthur looked up at the night sky for a few seconds before going back inside. The wind blew softly, carrying the distant sounds of the city. He knew that calm was only a pause... but, for now, it was enough.