Silence accompanied them as they walked back to their house. No one dared to start a conversation even when they entered inside. They were all exhausted and overwhelmed with how the events turned out. Only Isabel seemed to be in need of conversation but she knew better to not say a word. Furlan's facial expression convinced her about it. If she saw the serious structure only on Levi's face she wouldn't care, he was always serious and cold on the surface. With Furlan things were usually different, so it spoke for itself. She didn't even dare to look at Sophie who was clearly still in shock, processing through the events.
"Let's go to sleep" Furlan whispered, caressing her back. She slightly nodded and followed him to their room leaving Levi and Isabel alone. As soon as the door shut Isabel sat on a counter and observed Levi as he was making himself tea.
"Make one for me too" she said.
"No"
"Eh? Why not?" she pouted her lips and crossed her arms in response.
"It's rare and it's not cheap. Find it for yourself" he said as he poured boiling water into a mug.
"Fine" she growled and got back on the floor, walking away to the couch. She jumped on it with a loud noise and covered herself with a blanket. It was her place to sleep, they didn't come up with another bed for her yet so it had to be enough for now. She didn't complain though, it was far better than what she had before. Levi sat on the armchair next to her and placed his mug on the table. Isabel looked at it curiously.
"Don't even dare" he said like if he read her mind. She got slightly offended and grunted silently but listened.
"Can you at least bring me something to drink?"
"Tsk, you were in the kitchen. You could do it yourself"
"Bro!" she cried out and started arguing with him whether she should get up or he should make an exception and bring her a drink. Their little argument got interrupted by Furlan who quietly left his room.
"Hey, guys?" he said, making them stop talking and look at him with question in their eyes. "Sophie has trouble to fall asleep" he explained, brushing his hair awkwardly. "I thought that maybe a drink would help. Would you mind bringing something in?" he asked and immediately regretted doing so when he saw Levi's eye roll. "Or forget it. I can do it myself" as he headed towards kitchen Levi stood up.
"No, go to her. She needs you. Here, take it" he handed him his mug and Furlan blinked a few times in surprise. "What are you looking at? I didn't spit in there"
"No, no" he quickly said as he took a mug from him. "I just...thank you" he ended the sentence, looking at his friend who nodded at him. They weren't now as close as they used to be so the fact that Levi gave his own beverage to help Furlan comfort his girlfriend meant a lot. He took a mug and got back to their room, closing the door behind and Levi sat back on the armchair.
"And you didn't want to share it with me" Isabel shook her head, acting offended to make fun of him, but didn't continue when she saw that he didn't respond to that. He was deep in his thoughts. "What are you thinking about Levi-bro?"
"I'm thinking how we're going to explain that to Ben" he sighed, massaging his temple, it was helping him to relieve stress.
"Oh, that will be hard"
"Yeah, no shit?" he rolled his eyes and got back to thinking. He was trying to come up with an explanation but he was failing and even with Isabel's help he couldn't make a good excuse which started to worry him about Ben's possible reaction to the news.
﹡﹡✹﹡﹡
When they headed for a meeting with their boss next morning to bring the news to him they were in sepulchral mood, kind of afraid of Ben's possible reaction. Even Isabel was slightly worried for that confrontation, not knowing what to expect. When they got to the south part of the city where he usually was they were leaded to his office by his guards. He was sitting by his desk not doing anything, clearly waiting for them. Sophie bit her lip in guilt thinking about that delivery. How could they possibly explain her behaviour? She was thinking about that a lot in the last few hours, trying to predict Ben's reaction and prepare a good response to any possibile words from his side. She hoped that he'll react in a way that she thought about, otherwise she'll be caught off guard, cornered and without any idea how to save Furlan, Levi and Isabel from Ben's anger. They have never seen him angry though. That's why it was hard to predict the train of events. It would be slightly easier if Levi agreed to let her talk, but no. He wanted to tell Ben about it himself, he was downright adamant about it, only making it harder for her.
Her heart was pounding really fast as she looked at Ben's calm eyes and lips curled in a light smile that he always had when they were coming in. It was because they never let him down before. It felt like if they were about to crush his trust, his faith in them. What if he's going to fire them? Or...punish them? He might seem as a gentle, sophisticated man but he could be ruthless, tasks that he was giving them were proving it very well. She wasn't the only scared one in the room. Furlan and Isabel were also afraid, moving their feet nervously like if they wanted to storm out of the room. Ben was their guarantor of peace. He was the one that was paying them, making their stomachs full and never once he overused his power nor was horrible to them. Letting him down felt like if they were betraying him, like if they were ungrateful. They were ashamed of their own failure. Of Sophie's failure and their too slow reaction to that.
"So? Will you finally say something?" Ben broke the silence and looked quickly at all of them before he stopped at Sophie's face. He usually was focusing his eyes on Levi, so the fact that he made an exception from that was suspicious, making all of them more nervous. "I'm waiting" he almost chuckled but a slight tone of impatience was palpable in his words.
"We burned the warehouse down" Levi slowly said after he cleared his throat. When he spoke Ben moved his sight at him, but quickly got back to Sophie again making her really uncomfortable.
"And?" he asked after.
"We killed almost everyone" as Levi said it his eyesight moved to the ceiling almost like if he wanted to roll his eyes, except he didn't. He was fighting off his own frustration. He crossed his arms which only sharpened the effect.
"Almost?" he raised his eyebrow in question.
"Yes, one person got away and-"
"I know" he interrupted him as he stood up and walked towards them with his hands in his pockets. They parted their lips in surprise. What does it mean that he knows? He knew the whole time and still stressed the hell out of them?! Was that his punishment? They had a lot of questions in their minds but none of them got verbalised because Ben continued. "One of Reginald's messengers paid me a visit early in the morning. I considered killing him but then he told me what happened last night. How our friend" he pointed with his head at Sophie and she blushed in embarrassment. "spared one of his guys. Torren if I remember correctly" he continued. As he mentioned that name Sophie felt unpleasant twist in her stomach. Furlan clenched his fists and Levi spluttered quietly which made Ben smile more. "As I can see you two are not very happy with her decision, am I right?"
"They're not" Sophie quickly said before anyone made it to speak. "It's my fault. I'm sorry. If someone has to be punished it should be only me" she stopped to the front with her head down, ready for a scold or even a punch, but Furlan grabbed her by her arm and made her come back next to him.
"I can fix it. I'll kill him even today" Levi offered.
"No need to do that"
"What?" all of them asked at the same time confusedly. They thought that they misheard him.
"Apparently Reginald got moved by her mercy. He wants a truce" he made a pause to check the look on their faces. They were shocked and it seemed like processing through his words would take them more time. He chuckled seeing that and continued. "He believes that you proved that we can trust each other and restrain our killing instincts. He thinks that will make us stronger and will help to take down other businesses in here. I agreed to that"
"What? You want us to cooperate with them?" Furlan asked loudly, gritting his teeth. He couldn't believe it, it was making him furious especially seeing the fear that was building up in Sophie's eyes.
"With all due respect...it's stupid" Sophie took the floor, gathering their attention. She didn't know if she should be the one to tell since she was responsible for keeping Torren alive, but someone had to say something. "I know Reginald. It doesn't seem to be like him"
"Yeah, I agree with her. That scumbag is definitely planning something" Levi backed her up.
"Who do you think I am? An idiot? I know it as well" he said and now they seemed to be even more confused.
"Then why did you agree for that truce?" Isabel asked.
"Because that's the best way to take them down. Reginald is throwing a party tomorrow. To celebrate our agreement as he said, but I know he will make his move at that party. I'll make my move too" he explained and he was satisfied with their facial expression. The look of admiration that spread across their faces was priceless. "I'll have my people to kill Reginald, but I want you four to make sure that the party will go on peacefully. You'll make sure that no one from his side will come close to me, is that clear?"
"It is"
﹡﹡✹﹡﹡
"I don't like it at all" Isabel said the next evening as they were preparing to leave their house. The party was soon to start and they were expected to be earlier before Ben and Reginald will arrive. "And we can't even bring our ODM gears!" she cried out.
"Me neither" Sophie said while she was looking at the knife in her hand. Not only she had that night to tolerate people that she despised so much, but also she had to use the knife that she was so disgusted by, still picturing the blood on it from the first time she used it. They all caught that look on her face. If they had more time Isabel would go with her to the market and steal some other tool that she could use instead, but they were in the undeniable hurry. She didn't know that someone else took care of that problem. Levi reached his hand into his pocket where next to his own knife was completely new one. He stole it from the market stand on their way home that ill-fated night when she spared Torren's life. He thought that it could cheer her up, make her less miserable so he took a few steps towards her but just as he was about to tell something Furlan got by her side. Of course he did. Levi couldn't help but roll his eyes. He wanted to give her that knife anyway, but stopped when Furlan took Sophie's knife into his pocket and replaced it with his own.
"I figured that maybe you would like to switch them" he smiled at her. "It's been used before though"
"Clearly" she lightly laughed and pecked his lips. Levi shoved his knife more into his pocket. So she doesn't need a new knife anymore. He turned around to not look at their disgustingly affectionate moment and headed towards the door.
"Oi, we need to go" he grunted and got outside. He walked ahead, not taking a single look back. He didn't want to interrupt these two again. Soon Isabel joined him in the front. "Love idiots are coming too?" he asked her.
"Yeah, they just a few steps back. You can see yourself, you know? It won't hurt your neck to turn around" she rolled her eyes, copying his way of behaviour.
"Tsk, brat" his reply only cheered her up. Her enthusiasm was sometimes exhausting, but it was helpful in the nights like this when they had a job to do and that one required a great amount of focus and fast response time. They got to the high building placed in the exact centre of Underground. It had five floors and was really wide. Light was coming from the insides which meant that the party holder was rich enough to afford a proper lighting for the event. Some may thought that candles were cheap, but not in the Underground. In this place nothing had a steady price, merchants were coming up with their prices randomly, usually it was dictated by how their buyers were looking. If they seemed rich the price was really high, if they looked poor...well, the price was still high but it could be lowered down through the negotiations that often took a shape of threatening or counter trade.
They got inside and took a look around through the people's faces. No signs of any mercenaries that they used to know. Nono of these people even looked like assassins hired to kill. This place was filled with casual guests for now. "Let's go upstairs. Ben told that the main party will be at the second floor" Levi said and they all followed him there. The ballroom in there looked different, people in there looked different. They were definitely involved into shady bussinesses judging by the topic of their conversations and familiarity of their faces. Soon they caught in the crowd Reginald's guards. "Let's straggle" he commanded and they nodded. They planned their setting last night to make their job easier. Isabel took a place next to the window and leaned on the wall just like if she was uninterested when in reality she was thoroughly watching every movement in the hall. Levi took his place next to the main door that were leading to the only exit from this room - the staircase. Sophie and Furlan pretended to be just another guests and took a place in the middle of the dancefloor and started dancing, copying movements of the other pairs while subtly looking around. Furlan fought for them to have that position tonight strongly. She seemed to be so down in the last two days. He figured out that one positive accent, even during job, may improve her mood and he was right about that. She smiled softly in the way he adored so much and it caused his own smile. He couldn't help but peck her lips. She encouraged him to deepen their kiss which he eagerly did. He was afraid that after meeting Torren she would be hesitant about affection but thankfully that didn't happen. She didn't see a reason to be hesitant about it. It was Furlan, her loving boyfriend that would never hurt her in any way. He was making her bad thoughts disappear like if he was the greatest medication in the world. She still sometimes trembled under his touch though, but she was decided to fight it off. Whenever he was kissing her lips she was positive that she is capable of it.
Levi scolded himself for agreeing to let them take that position. Not because he was envious about their dance, they deserved that little moment of joy no matter the circumstances, but because he was in the position where he had a good look at them. He would love to move his sight to somewhere else but he couldn't. It was his job to look exactly in that direction because no one else was. He hated that. His eyes were involuntary stopping at Sophie. She looked like she usually was, all of them were, but something about her moves were making him want to observe her more. Stupid idiot, he can't stare at her. It's weird, it's creepy and definitely out of place, not to mention that it was taking his focus out of their job and he couldn't afford that to happen. But how could he look away? She was there catching his attention, smiling so lightly like if she wasn't worrying at all. He knew the reason of that. Furlan. His friend was indeed making her happy. He felt that pain chest that he usually had around her. He was sure that it was out of hatred. But was it? He didn't feel hatred towards her right now. No, he felt...he didn't actually know what he felt. Protectiveness? Was that it? It could be. Recently he saw her more broken side because of all the things that she had experienced in the past which had to be bad since it was written on her face so precisely. He started caring for her and he couldn't deny that. It was making him feel bad. No, he was feeling bad because of what he did. She was there with Furlan, trying to forget about all of her trauma caused by men. And he was invading that sensitive process with his fucking lust. How the fuck could he jerk off to her moans? It was still haunting him, planting his mind with guilt. Was he softer to her because he was trying to make up for it? Probably.
His inner monologue got stopped as a few of Reginald's workers entered the space. He recognized them immediately from the time when they used to work together. They slightly nodded at each other and approached him. "Oi, Levi! Didn't see you in a while. Glad that it's not in a bad circumstances" one of the guys laughed and stood next to him. Levi frowned as he spotted it, he didn't like that at all. He would prefer to have him somewhere far so he could watch him. When he was standing like this he didn't have a full view of him which could affect badly his response time if he made an attempt at him.
Furlan saw that and his body tensed, he gently squeezed Sophie's body to let her know that she should focus. Her eyes landed on Isabel who was still standing alone, but some men were getting close to her. She saw that too thus she prepared her knife. She was glad that they didn't have to wear dresses like other guests but at the same time it was giving him disadvantage. That's how you can spot a mercenary at a party like this. They're not dressed fancy so that they can attack at any moment. It was placing them in a spotlight. That's why they knew which men were working in the same trade as them, their outfit was giving it away. Now men clothed in a similar way to them were heading towards Isabel so she changed her location and blanded into the crowd. It was a smart move but at the same time it made Furlan, Sophie and Levi worried. They lost her out of their sight. Soon Reginald entered the place. Not long after that Ben came in too.
"My dear guests!" Reginald smiled as he spread his arms like if he wanted to hug his whole audience. He made his way to the centre of the room, pushing all of the people into the corners, including Sophie and Furlan who placed his hand on her waist to not loose her out of his reach. They were still very well seen by Levi but he forced himself to watch Reginald who now invited Ben to join him by his side. Levi instinctively clenched his fingers on his knife's shaft, ready to take it out at any time. "We're gathered here today to celebrate! Celebrate newly found friendship that hopefuly will last long!" he raised his glass of wine and encouraged Ben to do the same. He was hesitant at first but quickly smiled and joined him, tapping his glass with his. Everyone else did the same except from all the merceneries gathered inside, it was now the time to count their number. Sophie was quick at it, she spotted five other people on their side that were supposed to take down Reginald. Unfortunately, she noticed that there were much more man on Reginald's side which they didn't expect to happen. Ben was winning his fight with him for the last few weeks, killing Reginald's men every single day and now he had there about twenty men, probably well armed and ready to attack. That's a great advantage above them and they didn't expect that. It made Furlan sweat in stress, Sophie noticed it and quickly squeezed his arm before she put her hand into the pocket to grab a knife. He did the same. They split into two directions, together they were more visible. "Let's drink!" with these words people emptied their glasses and Levi's heart pounded hard as he was preparing himself for the worst possible scenario. But nothing happened. People cheered, including Reginald and Ben. It baffled them. Sophie was heading towards Levi while Furlan was looking out for Isabel. She exchanged a look with him and he shook his head expressing how much he's puzzled with that surprisingly friendly atmosphere. It wasn't adding up even though everything seemed to be fine. And just when Sophie was about to join Levi's side and Furlan found Isabel standing close to Reginald something happened. "Sorry it only lasted ten seconds" Reginald said to Ben and quickly pulled out a knife and shoved into his chest. Ben's eyes wide opened and his lips parted like if he wanted to say something, but no words made it out. His face grimaced in excruciating pain and his knees got weaker. Reginald grabbed him and put down on the floor. It all happened within few seconds not giving anyone time to register it properly. People started screaming and spreaded into smaller groups, some of them jumped straight to the window and the rest ran to the stairs.
Sophie was on their way and they pushed her to the front. Levi reached out for her to avoid her being trampled by the crowd. She caught his hand and saw how a man standing previously next to Levi leaned to the front with a knife in his hand, aiming at Levi. She felt an impulse coming through her body, awakening rage that she didn't even know existed. She quickly took her knife and threw it a man, it hit him in between his eyes and he dropped dead immediately. She let go of Levi's hand and drew the knife out of man's flesh. Before she even noticed someone attacked her but Levi took care of it, saving her as well. They got into fight with three men. The rest of them must have been attacking their other comrades including Furlan and Isabel. That realisation made both Levi and Sophie sick but they couldn't afford to think about it. They had to fight for their lives. One of the men jumped at Levi but he lowered his shoulder up making that man flew pass him and thus he fell down behind Levi who used that opportunity to finish him off with one precise stab. He raised his head and saw Furlan and Isabel running towards him. "Let's get the fuck out" Furlan yelled and grabbed Sophie's hand, urging her to run with him. They quickly got downstairs and left the building. Screams were still hearable from the inside which meant that the fight was still going on between the other members of opposite gangs who stayed inside. Of course Reginald was about to leak away and much to Sophie's hatred she saw how he was escorted by no one else than Torren.
That man ruined everything. Her sense of dignity, her security and body. Now he also ruined her source of profit. He took away her chance of survival, setting her progress in establishing decent life aback. He ruined everything. She felt how rage was boiling inside her. The impulse she felt before was still in there, not as strong as before, but it was still sparkling, pushing her into action. She ran towards him with her knife in her hand but Furlan grabbed her waist, picked her up and brought her close to his chest. She let out a loud, frustrated scream. "Let me fucking go" she yelled and flicked her knife in the air. Levi approached them and took it from her hand. "Give it fucking back! I'll kill the bastard" she cried out.
"There's no point now" Levi slowly said, enraging her. How could he said that? After all the things she had been through he had a nerve to say something like that?
"What the fuck are you saying?! You were the one mad at me for not killing him" she yelled again, even louder than before and her fists punched the air, desperately trying to reach Levi, but Furlan was holding her tight enough to avoid that.
"Levi's right" Furlan spoke softly.
"Yeah, Soph" Isabel agreed. "I would like to see them all fucking dead but there's too many of them and-"
"And Ben is dead. There's no point for us to still fight" Levi finished for her and she nodded. Sophie gritted her teeth, still ready for fight but she stopped kicking and moving in Furlan's arms, accepting the result of the night.
"I-I should've killed him. I'm sorry guys" she said weakely, putting her head down. She looked miserable like that. They all hated to see her so devasted.
"We'll kill him one day. I promise it to you Sophie" Furlan said close to her ear, tickling her skin with the air he exhaled. That made her realise how close he actually was to her. She moved her hands on his and squeezed them gently, letting him know that he can put her down. He did that and she sighed deeply.
"Fine. Let's fucking go" she said and they ran away. She turned her head back to gave Torren one last glare, hoping that Furlan will actualize the promise he just made to her.