Nyx's grin returned, slow and knowing, like she'd been waiting for me to say it.
"Smart choice, little mouse," she purred, pushing off the wall and striding toward the long table cluttered with maps and old papers. With a sharp whistle, she called the others over, but they didn't look surprised. If anything, they looked… prepared.
The scarred redhead—Tallis, I overheard someone call her—leaned over the table first, spreading out a weathered map of Hotaru's southern coast. Nyx grabbed a chipped mug from the edge of the table and slammed it down on a point marked Black Cove.
"There," she said plainly. "The Black Cove Market. It's underground—built into the old smuggler tunnels beneath the southern cliffs. Hidden entrance here—" she tapped twice on a spot labeled Fisherman's Hollow. "Looks like a storage shack from the outside. Nothing special. But once you get past the gate, it opens into a whole network of caverns."
She traced her finger in a looping path through the tunnels drawn on the map.
"Most of the merchandise is kept here." Her nail tapped a large, circular chamber. "Heavy guard presence. Electrified gates. Reinforced bars. You won't be getting through those unless you've got clearance… or one hell of a distraction."
Another woman—a lean, wiry type with short silver hair—tossed a small, blackened piece of paper onto the map. It was a burned ledger page, barely legible.
"Confirmed buyer list," she muttered. "High rollers. Navy-backed brokers. Even a few nobles from the Grand Line. Word is, they're expecting someone big to make an appearance in person."
Nyx didn't bother hiding the disgust twisting her mouth. "We burn the ledgers, destroy the stock records, and kill the lights before the auction starts. But someone has to trigger the breach at the main gate—set off every alarm in the place."
I felt her eyes flick toward me again, like a knife digging between my ribs.
"Someone like you."
I glared at her. "You're asking me to draw their fire."
"I'm telling you it's the only way you and your sister get off this island alive," Nyx shot back, voice low and cold. "While they scramble to lock you down, we free the others and burn the operation to ash."
She leaned over the table again, planting her hands on either side of the map, her sharp gaze locking onto mine.
"You want to be prey forever, little mouse? Or do you want to bite back?"
The room fell silent. The weight of the plan settled in my gut like a stone.
This wasn't survival anymore.
This was war.
I didn't answer right away.
Nyx waited, eyebrows raising slightly like she expected me to snap back with something reckless. But I didn't. I just stared at the map—at the tangle of tunnels and false walls, at the circled auction chamber where children and strangers waited to be sold.
And I thought of Robin.
Of her shaking hands. Of the way she cried when she thought no one was watching. Of the way she clung to me like I was the only solid thing left in a world made of ash.
I couldn't make this choice without her.
I pushed off the table, standing tall despite the weight pressing down on my shoulders. "I need to talk to my sister first," I said quietly.
Nyx's jaw twitched, but she didn't argue. "Sunrise," she warned, tapping the map with two fingers. "That's your window. After that… we all burn with the rest."
I gave a tight nod, backing away toward the door.
"And Raven…" Nyx called softly, stopping me just as I reached for the handle.
I turned slightly, my hand hovering over the rusted latch.
She leaned back against the table, her dark eyes shadowed by the brim of her hat. "Don't run," she said, softer than I expected. "Not from this. You can't outrun them forever."
I didn't reply. Because I knew she was right. And I hated her for it.
I slipped out the door, heart pounding louder than ever as I moved through the empty alleys, retracing the now-familiar path back to the ruined shelter where Robin waited.
~×~×~×
She was curled up on the cold stone when I arrived, head resting on her arms, eyes half-lidded with exhaustion. But the moment she heard me approach, she lifted her head, blinking blearily.
"Raven…" she breathed, sitting up straighter.
I dropped to my knees beside her and pulled her into my arms without a word. She didn't fight it. She never did. She just held on tight, like she already knew something had changed.
And maybe she did.
I stayed like that for a long moment, just breathing her in, before I finally whispered into her hair. "Robin… I need to tell you something."
I kept my arms around her, waiting for the right words to come. They didn't. But she looked up at me anyway, searching my face with those wide, tired eyes.
"Something's wrong… isn't it?" she whispered.
I swallowed hard. "Yeah… it is."
Robin's lip trembled slightly, but she didn't pull away. She just pressed closer, like she already knew whatever I was about to say wasn't going to be good.
"There's… a place here. Beneath the island," I started, trying to keep my voice steady. "A market. A… bad one. It's where they sell people, Robin. Kids. Like us."
Her body tensed instantly.
"No…" she whispered, voice cracking.
I nodded slowly. "I heard them talking about it tonight. They've got another shipment coming in tomorrow. Nyx… she wants to burn the whole thing down. Free everyone before they get sold."
Robin gripped my sleeve, her knuckles white. "But… that's dangerous. They'll kill us if they catch us."
"I know," I whispered. "That's why I need you to understand. She wants me to be the one who sets off the alarms… to draw the guards away while they free the others."
Robin's breath hitched, and she grabbed my face suddenly, forcing me to meet her eyes. "No! You'll get caught! You can't—"
"I have to." I cupped her hands with mine, holding them tight against my cheeks. "If we run again… they'll find us. Sooner or later, they will. And I won't let them take you. Not again. Not ever."
Tears welled in her eyes. "But what if you don't come back?"
I pressed my forehead to hers, breathing through the ache clawing at my throat. "I will. I swear it."
She shook her head, her voice cracking into broken sobs. "You don't know that!"
"No," I whispered, pulling her into a shaking hug, "but I need you to believe I will."
Robin clung to me like she was trying to hold me together with sheer will. I felt her tears soak through my shirt, her whole body shaking.
"I don't care what happens to me," I whispered, holding her tighter. "But you're going to live, Robin. You have to."
She pulled back just enough to look at me again, her eyes swimming with fear. "I don't want to lose you, Raven…"
I swallowed hard, brushing her hair away from her face.
"You won't," I lied—because I had to. Because the truth was worse.
"We both walk away from this. Together."
The silence afterward stretched on, thick and fragile like glass. I kept my arms wrapped around Robin, rocking us slightly, listening to the steady drip of water somewhere in the ruins.
She didn't let go, not even when her breathing slowed again, not even when her tears finally stopped. She just pressed her face into my chest like she was trying to memorize my heartbeat.
I ran my fingers through her hair, slow and steady, like I used to when we were little—back when the world was books and candlelight, not blood and ruin.
After a while, her small voice broke the silence.
"Do you… remember them?" she whispered.
I blinked, surprised by the question. "Who?"
"Our parents… before everything."
I swallowed hard.
I did remember. Both through the fragments of this life—and the way I remembered having no one in the last.
I nodded slowly. "I remember… Mama's hands. The way they smelled like old paper and sea salt from turning pages all day."
Robin's breath hitched, but she nodded softly.
"And Papa's voice," I continued, closing my eyes, "deep and warm when he used to read us stories… even when he was tired."
Robin pressed closer, her voice smaller than ever. "Do you think… they'd be proud of us?"
I couldn't lie. Not about this.
So I whispered the only thing I knew was true. "They'd be proud of you, Robin. Always."
Her little fists clenched tighter in my torn blouse. "And you?"
I froze for half a breath before brushing my lips to her temple, my voice cracking as I whispered—
"They'd be proud of us both. I promise."
We sat there like that, in the dark, holding onto what little we had left. And for a little while… it was enough.