With Fear or Without

61- Hours in Minutes

Ambrose cleared his throat, recapturing their drifting attention. "The three of you will have the weekend. After that... we'll contact you and see."

That was it.

There was so much he wasn't telling them, Cleo was sure of it. He was trying very hard to hide it, hide his concern, his suspicions. As angry as it made her, Cleo was too exhausted to care. The thought of spending the weekend at home, in her own bed, was enough to make her stay quiet and follow his lead when he began to lead them down the main path.

Just before they started off, Remie stopped Cleo with a hand on her arm. With the others a bit ahead, Cleo turned back.

"I'm gonna stay here," Remi said, nodding back towards Nolan.

Cleo just nodded back.

Remie searched her face, unsure of what she was looking for. She took a deep breath. "Thank you. You probably saved my life tonight. All of our lives."

Cleo was speechless.

Thankfully, Remie was fine with doing the talking. "Don't be too hard on yourself. I know that's a habit of yours," she said with a small smile.

Cleo nodded again. She couldn't understand why she was so dazed. Maybe it was the fact that she wouldn't be coming back here tomorrow, to train with Remie. Maybe she was caught off guard by Remie's gratitude because Cleo did blame herself. She blamed herself for allowing the Veil Breakers to fall into Maedrian's hands. And here Remie was, thanking her for it.

"I'll see you soon, okay?" Remie's smile grew, but it was still weak, an echo of her usual bright one.

"Yeah. Okay."

Remie ushered Cleo towards the moving group, where Andy and Charlie hung back to wait for her at a distance. With that, Remie and Cleo parted ways.

Cleo dragged her feet across the stone as she walked, hanging her head and searching the ground for the rightful glow that always lined the walkway. It was reappearing, if agonizingly slowly. She wondered what would become of this place. This place which had housed members of the Goldari rebellion for so long. She wondered what would happen to the people who had made their lives here. It seemed cruel to uproot them, even if it was to bring them back to the rest of their people.

As they walked, Cassian jogged to catch up with his father. They spoke back and forth in hushed whispers, exchanging cautious smiles and tentative glances. Cleo thought about what their story might be. It made her realize all over again how little she knew about him- about any of them. About the world she was entangled with.

She thought about how they lied to her. How they kept something so big hidden from her all this time. Cassian, Nolan, Remie. Hours ago she was so sure they were her friends. But now that she knew the truth, the one they kept from her... she didn't know anymore.

Memories resurfaced; that lunch that had been full of laughter, each training session and every conversation they had over the week. It all felt tainted now, that lie hovering over it like a layer of dust and grime.

Cassian and Ambrose escorted the trio all the way to the double doors, the same ones through which they had traveled to Cenilorn hours before. Minutes before? Cleo was still puzzled about the way time worked here. She tried not to think about it too much.

Ambrose stepped to the side to let Cassian do the honors, with a very noticeable look of pride at his son. Once Cassian got it started, Ambrose turned back to the trio.

"I expect we'll be meeting again soon," he said curtly.

The ground rumbled lightly as the doors swung inwards to reveal the darkness. Except, this time it wasn't veiled in its usual gold- it was rosy like in Cenilorn. Cleo didn't fully understand it yet, but she felt like that was the sign, the last straw that told her the rebellion was finished.

The trio stepped up, shoulder to shoulder in front of the looming doorway.

"Thanks again, you guys," Cassian said, a sheepish smile creeping across his face. "It's the second time you've saved my life."

"You still never told us how you got caught in the first place," Andy pointed out.

Cassian chuckled bitterly. "Yeah, it's... that's a funny story."

"We'll see you soon, right?" Cleo asked him.

He glanced over at his father, then back at her. "Yeah, of course. We'll all talk soon, I promise."

Cleo nodded, glad that he got the silent question she had asked. But the answer also made her nervous. When he was finally able to comfort them all about the lies, she really didn't know how she would react, what she would say or think.

With their final goodbyes exchanged, the trio stepped through the darkness. Cleo closed her eyes as she felt the cool film washing over her, wondering if that was the last time they would be in the rebellion base.

They all emerged just outside their usual spot outside of school, the night sky just covering the last rays of the setting sun as the arched doorway disappeared behind them.

Cleo glanced at her watch. "It's 7:20," she said to no one in particular. "You'd think I'd be used to this by now."

"You'd think," Andy said.

"I'm starving," Charlie complained. "I could really use some food and some normalcy right about now."

"Agreed," Andy said, scanning the blocks around the school where the shopping center was still bright and bustling. "Let's find somewhere to sit down."

And so, their long, long night was condensed into about fifteen minutes. In their ragged and muddled party outfits, they trudged across the street. There, they ate and discussed the night's events; the twists and turns, the fear and relief. Some subjects were more delicate than others, but they were all still raw and painful.

They decided to focus on devising a plan. A plan on how exactly to explain to their parents why they were traumatized and wearing very messy, very fancy clothes.

All in a day's work.