Memories

LXXII

WIRES 

'We talked about making it
I'm sorry that you never made it
And it pains me just to hear you have to say it'

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Thalia only left Kevin when he was asleep. He'd cried and asked what had happened to Dean. Apparently the two had also been close when Kevin was at Evermore. Thalia told him that Dean would be alright. That he had Dan and Gracie with him, and Abby was helping him recover from his injuries. Then Kevin had nodded, asked Thalia to stay with him, and fallen asleep against her shoulder. 

She went downstairs to find that everyone was listening to Renee explain the situation, like Thalia had just done with Kevin, though it seemed they were having a slightly different conversation. More focused on what had happened and how they'd gotten Dean out of there instead of the consequences and what they meant for Neil, Thalia and Kevin in particular. 

Thalia thought of Jean then. Would he still be included in whatever Ichirou would be planning? She thought she'd try and give him a heads up, just in case, so Thalia headed outside to the patio and dialed Jeremy's number. Despite it being late at night for him, Jeremy picked up quite fast.

"Hello? Jeremy Knox, long time no see," Thalia began. There was a short laugh from the other end of the phone.

"Yeah, I haven't seen you since you rejected my offer to join the Trojans," Jeremy said. "What can I do for you, Thalia?" Thalia was surprised that he wasn't wondering about what had happened last weekend. He didn't ask her about if it was true, that she was the daughter of the Butcher of Baltimore - which was how she'd expected anyone to respond to her telling them her name now - but instead immediately focused on what Thalia was calling him for.

"I was just wanting to check up on Jean. I didn't know if you'd heard yet," Jeremy made a sound of confusion. "Okay. Is Jean there? I'd like to speak to him." 

"Uh yeah. He's just in the other room." Jeremy said. "I'll go get him." There were footsteps and Jeremy knocked on a door, then opened it. "Jean, Thalia's on the phone. She wants to talk to you." Jeremy said in French. Thalia's eyebrows slowly rose and a smirk grew on her lips, despite the situation.

"Tell her I'll talk to her in the morning," Jean's voice was quiet, obviously being far away from the speaker. "Just come back here so we can keep watching the movie." he was speaking in French, which Jean was aware that Thalia knew, but must have thought she couldn't hear.

"Jean, come on," Jeremy said. "It'll take five minutes." Jean groaned but shifted and then he was speaking into the phone.

"This had better be good, Warden," Jean grumbled in English, walking out of the room and closing the door behind him.

"Actually, it's Josten. I had it legally changed on the weekend." Thalia corrected him.

"Oh yeah, how'd that go down? Are you and Neil alright?" Jean asked. Thalia hummed.

"Yeah, we're fine. A little worse for wear, but Nathan's dead, which is good." Thalia said. "But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. I wouldn't interrupt a movie night to talk about my dead father," she said. Jean huffed. "Only Riko's."

"No," Jean said in disbelief. "No, Kengo can't be dead."

"He is, Jean. Riko beat Dean pretty badly. Renee and me went to get him and Gracie and Dan." Thalia explained. "He's okay now, but my guess is that Riko's still not mentally stable. He might keep hitting his teammates until he only has nine players." Jean was silent, obviously taking in the information. "You okay there, bud?"

"You're lying." he said. Thalia sighed.

"It'll be on the news soon enough. Then you'll believe me. Just take it easy, okay? I'll get your number from Kevin so I can keep you updated if Ichirou decides to get in contact with us." Thalia said. "And I expect you to do the same. Okay? Alright, go back to Jeremy now. Let him help you through this, Jean. You'll need it." Thalia hung up the phone and walked back inside.

Dan hobbled down the stairs with her suitcase, Matt following her with both his and Allison's. Thalia waited for the two of them to get to the bottom before passing them and going back into her and Kevin's room. Neil looked up when she entered. She didn't expect him to be in there, but Neil stood and put a hand on her shoulder when he passed her out of the room. Thalia knew he was probably comforting Kevin, which meant he was awake.

"Hey, you alright?" she asked Kevin, turning on the light. He groaned and pulled the covers over his face, but Thalia closed the door and walked over to him. "Come on, Kevin. You need a shower, and we both need to pack our things." He groaned again and Thalia rolled her eyes, pulling back the covers. Kevin shielded his eyes with his arms but Thalia pulled them away and kissed his nose. "Come on." she tried pulling him up by the arms but her own ached too much so Thalia let him sit up on his own. 

She headed over to her things and packed them into her suitcase, and shuffling around told her Kevin was doing the same. "So you're not going to have a shower?" she asked. He hummed. "Andrew won't let you in his car."

"He let a bloody and bruised man into his backseat not too long ago without even knowing he was bloody and bruised," Kevin said. "He'll get over it." Thalia rolled her eyes and finished packing. Kevin took both of their bags and headed down the hallway, down the stairs. Thalia picked up his rubbish and followed him.

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They made a stop at Abby's on the way back, and Dan called out so she knew she had guests. Abby and Wymack were sitting at the dining table, clearly just having finished lunch. Kevin walked down the hall after Abby so he could see Dean. 

"Neither of the others have left his side since he got here." Wymack said. Thalia nodded and sighed.

"That's Gracie and Dan for you." Dan looked at Thalia quickly before realising she wasn't talking about her.

"Consensus?" Wymack said.

"They can stay here until he heals up, then after that it's up to them." Dan said. Wymack nodded in agreement. Thalia narrowed her eyes.

"What if they joined us next season?" she spoke up. The whole team looked at her. "Well, I mean, they're not going to go back to Evermore, and there's only so many Ravens I can send to Jeremy."

"Wait, you're how Jean got to the Trojans?" Nicky asked. Thalia shrugged. 

"He tried to recruit me last year. I said no. He gave me a card with his number on it and told me to think about it." Thalia explained. "I never did until it was necessary."

"The board knows Neil and Thalia were coming back today," Wymack said after a moments silence. "They want to talk with the two of you as soon as you returned." Wymack looked between the two. "Have you returned?"

Thalia and Neil shared a glance and then looked to Wymack. "Yeah. We're back."