It had taken no small amount of self restraint on Crow’s part to refrain from buying himself another drink. He’d wanted to, he’d wanted to a lot. But saner heads prevailed. He had just struck his sister, practically unprovoked and when neither of them was using magic. The last thing he ought to have been doing in the world was drinking.

As much as he hated to think of Ethi, of what he’d done to her, Crow found it far easier to do so in light of how he’d acted towards Astra. With Ethi, at least, he had reacted rather than acted. With Ethi he’d betrayed a traitor. There was no such mitigation with his sister. Astra had been so concerned for him that she’d attacked Unity, and Crow had repaid her by hitting her and lying about it. Being sober with such knowledge was no worse than he deserved.

“Are you still sulking?”

The question came from Crow’s right, and he turned to meet Unity’s eyes as he answered it.

“I’m not sulking, Unity. I’m giving some actual thought into the effect my actions have on other people, you might want to try it some time”.

The artificial apparently didn’t care about the acid lining Crow’s words, or simply did not notice. His answer was just as cheerful as his first sentence.

“Eclipse, how are you not over that yet? Are you forgetting about her trying to strangle me to death? You could’ve suplexed her and it would’ve been less than she did to me, you don’t hear me whining about it”.

Crow’s face burned, he wasn’t sure whether it was embarrassment at being so evidently transparent or simply annoyance that Unity hadn’t left him alone since he’d first joined him a quarter of an hour ago. Both emotions felt as though they were eclipsing everything else in his head, after all.

“Shut up Unity”. his voice came out a little louder than he’d intended- and out of the corner of his eyes Crow saw a few people glance over at their table. They were probably expecting another scuffle like the one with Astra to break out, and Crow had to struggle to control his own volume as he continued. “Why are you even still speaking to me? Don’t you get it? I don’t want anything to do with you, not after what you did. Leave me alone”.

He turned away from the black haired boy, though he could practically see the image of Unity’s grin melting into a glare just from the sound of the voice which accompanied it.

“Okay, you know what? Fuck you.”

Crow glanced back, shocked at the sudden shift in Unity’s tone. The boy continued in spite of Crow’s stupefaction.

“I didn’t make you do anything, you know that right? Ethi tried to stab you in the fucking back, something I prevented myself.”

Unity raised the hand that had been wounded by the edge of their former teammate’s spear as he said that, the hand that had been wounded in place of Crow’s spine.

“I warned you about her immediately. Do you remember that? Remember what I said about not trusting her? Granted, her betrayal was more than even I could fully predict from a single piece of racism, but let’s not act as if I kneecapped her out of nowhere. That bitch made the first move, and you gave her a second chance”.

He took a breath, apparently having emptied his lungs forming words from the air they held.

“You chose to abandon Ethi, so did I. Frankly she deserved it, but even if she hadn’t it was your decision. Now if you want to be angry at me for stitching you up when it might have killed you, fine. If you want to be angry at me for constantly fucking with you for no reason, fine. But I am fucking sick of being blamed for things I haven’t even done.”

There was a note of emotion behind Unity’s gaze, and Crow suddenly felt a flood of guilt as he realised that the artificial was right. Seconds passed between them in silence, and when Unity made no efforts to continue speaking Crow decided to do so in his place.

“I’m sorry”, he needed to fight to get the words out- so held back by stubbornness were they. Unity’s expression softened, and Crow continued.

“You’re right, you’re no more to blame for Ethi than I am. I was just… well I was just using you as a target, I guess blaming myself was too…”

“Rational? Reasonable? Logic-”

Crow cut Unity off, feeling a smile come on as he did so.

“Hard. Eclipse, and here I was thinking you’d be less of an asshole to apologise to”.

Unity’s grin made its reappearance.

“Well, we can’t all be as perfect as the Gemini, eh?”

He spoke casually, carelessly even. As though the words held no more weight to him than a fistfull of air. And yet there seemed an ocean of emotion hidden behind them. A question suddenly burned inside Crow, and he couldn’t help but ask it.

“Are you really Unity Eden, the Faction Founder’s kid?”

Unity frowned, staring at Crow as though he were asking what colour the sky was.

“Yes, I told you ages ago. My parents were Zora and Xia, Founders of the confusingly named Xion and Zoric Factions of the Unixian Alliance. They…”

His expression darkened just a shade.

“They made me”, Unity finished weightily. Crow was suddenly not sure of what to say, however the artificial’s demeanour quickly returned to normal as he resumed his look of utter perplexion.

“Why did you feel the need to ask me that?”

Crow spent several seconds trying to think of a polite way to answer, then gave up and decided to simply be honest.

“I had a hard time believing someone with your reputation could be… like you”.

Unity stared at him.

“What do you mean like me?”

Crow shrugged, suddenly not liking the topic of conversation.

“You know the expression jerk with a heart of gold?”

The artificial nodded.

“Well, I guess you’re like a screaming, brain-damaged pile of misogynistic, severed butcher anuses with a heart of gold-platinum alloy that’s studded with diamonds”.

Unity stared at Crow, and Crow stared back. It was several seconds before the artificial broke the silence between them.

“Wow. Way to bring down the fucking hammer Crow”.

Crow’s ability to hold back his grin gave way, and a moment later it turned into laughter. Unity joined him, the two of them howling just as loudly as they had previously been shouting. It was, perhaps, a harder laugh than had been warranted.

The sort of laugh two people shared when they were releasing half a week of pent up tension and bitterness. A relieving laugh.

After at least a minute or two, the burning in Crow’s lungs was enough to let him stop and catch his breath. Unity joined him immediately after, though when he spoke it was still in a struggling voice and interrupted by momentary chuckles.

“I think that might be the first not-nice thing I’ve heard you say to anyone”.

“Yes, well, it’s been a spiritually taxing couple of days”.

The smile slowly flickered away from Unity’s face, and the artificial licked his lips as though contemplating whether to say what he was about to. In the end, it seemed he decided he would.

“Crow, look… Come and join me at my table”.

Crow felt his own brow crinkle in confusion.

“What?”

“You heard me. I haven’t known the people I’m sitting with for long, but they’re good for a laugh and don’t give a shit about… well, about me being a faulty prototype. They won’t give a shit about your reputation either, and I think you need some people to talk to right now”.

Unity seemed anxious, his face creasing as he waited for a response. Crow disagreed with him, of course. He didn’t need to talk to people, he didn’t need to do anything but remain alone with his guilt and thoughts. But despite this, he couldn’t quite bring himself to tell the artificial that.

“Alright”, he replied. Trying, but probably failing, to keep his reluctance from showing. “Lead the way”.

Crow had almost forgotten about the table of black-eyed people until Unity led him back to them, and seeing them for a second time made him wonder how. The whites of their eyes simply did not exist, at all. Instead they were as dark as a melted shadow, dark enough that Crow couldn’t make out anything of the moisture or tiny blood vessels which were visible on the surface of a normal person’s. They had pupils, or at least he thought they did, and yet those appeared as pricks of light- the sole reflective part of the visual organs, isolated glints in a sea of liquid pitch.

They all seemed friendly enough, grinning from ear to ear and greeting Unity and Crow with an obstreperous round of chuckles and whooping. And yet there was something about those eyes that made them hard to look at, infusing each glance with a pricking of his spine. By the time he had taken a seat next to Unity Crow had resigned himself to simply not meeting their gaze, however rude it may have seemed.

Unity wasted no time in making his own special brand of introduction.

“So I told you all about Crow, ignore his reputation- he’s about as dangerous as a toffee apple”.

The black-eyed people seemed to find this funny, but for Crow it was simply confusing.

“What reputation?”

Unity turned back to him at this, grinning wider than Crow would have thought possible as he answered.

“Oh that’s right, you don’t know do you?”

“Don’t know what?”

There was another round of laughter, and Crow’s face burned as he suddenly felt extremely self-conscious. Unity only intensified his infuriating smirk. Just when Crow was about ask again, one of the men sharing their table spoke up.

“Ah come on’ Uni’y, there’s no fun in torturin’ the kid. Show ‘im!”.

Crow wasn’t sure how he felt about being called a kid, but before he could dwell on it Unity sighed- still remaining clearly amused- and got to his feet.

“Alright”, the artificial capitulated, “I’ll go and get Adelina. I suppose you can all use this chance to get to know one another a bit better”.

He had gotten to his feet and left before Crow could think to do so much as offer to accompany him. He watched Unity walk away, then quickly turned to rest his eyes on one of the others as they spoke.

“Your eyes are pretty”.

It was the girl speaking, the only one of the group who looked around his age. He was stunned for a moment by her appearance. She had a strong beauty about her, rugged and self-assured yet not so far as to be rough. Her hair was nearly as dark as her eyes, and she wore it barely past her ears. Ordinarily the sight of her would have done little to take Crow aback, and yet her face bore no small number of scars- some small, some large and deep, all running over different parts. It marked her complexion no more than her companions, rather she had relatively little compared to them, and yet on one as young as her it seemed entirely out of place.

Crow realised he was beginning to stare, and quickly dragged his focus from the old defacements- forcing a reply from himself.

“Uh, thank you. I made them myself”.

The moment he was finished speaking, he wished he’d put more thought into what he said- or even simply kept his mouth shut. Much to his surprise, however, the girl laughed. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Crow plastered a smile on his face and continued.

“My name’s Crow, oh but Unity already told you that. Uh, what are your names?”

The woman among them answered first, and the way her previously rowdy companions bit their tongues at the first syllable to escape her lips conjured an image of her physically pushing them aside in Crow’s mind.

“Me name’s Yasmin, this is Reece, Ryan and Amelia”. Gestures accompanied her words, a finger pointing to each of the others sat around the table as their names came up. Yasmin had a fierce presence to her, and though there was no aggression in what she said it seemed entirely reasonable to Crow that those she motioned to sat in silence.

It was only when the woman leaned back and made it clear she was finished that speech came from them once more.

Reece piped up first, his voice gravelly but surprisingly high in pitch.

“Alright there Crow? Now that introductions are out of the way, your drink’s looking dangerously empty. You need a refill?”

Crow shook his head slowly, picking over the question forming in his mind before speaking only after deciding what to do with it.

“Ah, no thank you. I’m trying not to drink too much since I’ve heard alcohol does… uh, strange things to people”.

This elicited another, lighter laugh from the table. Crow didn’t like that one, it made him feel like a child among adults again.

The one called Ryan took a swig of his own drink before speaking.

“Fair enough, only reason we’re drinkin’ so much is cause it’s the only way we can laugh at this unfunny cunt’s jokes”.

He pointed a thumb to Reece as he said that, who responded in kind with his middle finger. Crow felt a smile creeping onto his lips as the two began to bicker. They reminded him of him and Astra.

His amusement was smothered by the cold cloud of regret as it passed over him, and he turned to the girl his age- eager to continue talking before he lost his composure entirely.

“So, you’re Amelia? That’s a nice name, I don’t think I’ve ever heard one like it before”.

The girl’s reply was cut off as Unity dropped down into the seat next to Crow, a grin splitting his face from ear to ear. Crow knew the boy well enough to be immediately suspicious of this.

“What are you smiling about, Unity?”

The artificial only beamed wider, leaning back in the old oak chair as he answered.

“Oh you’ll find out soon, Adelina’s coming over to give you a run-down. I think you’ll find it very enlightening”. At that, he turned to the black-eyed people sitting opposite him. “In fact I’m sure we’re all dying to see your reaction”.

The men and woman grinned, though began to stand- something which elicited an immediate decline in Unity’s expression. Crow noticed the girl- Amelia- remained seated, though the artificial spared hardly a glance for her. Yasmin drew his attention onto her as she offered an explanation.

“Sorry Unity, we told ye we’ve got te be out a’ Bermuda fer a bit”.

Unity scowled.

“Can’t you stay a few more minutes?”

“Nah, we’ve scheduled te meet with a mate of ours an’ it’s pretty time sensitive. As in, a matter a’ life an’ death”.

There wasn’t the slightest hint of humour in the woman’s voice, and Crow actually believed she was serious for a moment. It wasn’t until the three black-eyed people had already made their way from the table that he realised it was simply a joke.

As much as their early leave annoyed Unity, Crow found it quite relieving. Whatever it was he was about to find out, he wasn’t anxious of doing so in front of several strangers. Not with how amusing Unity seemed to find the prospect of telling him at least.

Still seemingly annoyed, the artificial turned his attention to the only remaining one of the black-eyed group.

“Why are you sticking around, aren’t you invited?”

Amelia’s face immediately fell from quiet amusement to complete annoyance. The sort that built up over months at the quickest.

“I’m not”, her voice suddenly sounded a lot deeper- all cheer having been drained from it. “I don’t want to go anyway though, they’re just going to talk about a stupid meeting my uncle was in”.

Unity grinned, smelling weakness and taking visible relish in the unsheathing of his verbal weaponry.

“I completely understand, people are always holding meetings about me but not even considering asking for my input. Granted in my case they’re actually missing out, but the principal is the same. Sort of. Actually probably not, since it’s unreasonable when they bar me”.

The black eyed girl seemed to consider this, then replied quite flatly as though she were speaking to a small child.

“But you’re really unstable, they probably barred you so that you wouldn’t blow the building up or start eating parchment”.

Though Crow would have liked to ask about the difference in her accent compared to those of her companions, he was far too fascinated in the way Unity’s smile fell as he stared at the girl. She just continued looking at him the same, blank way. The artificial quickly recovered, plastering his standard grin back on and opening his mouth for another assault.

“Yes, well I thought it might be the instability too, but they were still letting women in, you see”.

As inexpressive as Amelia had been at the first jibe, she was just as explosive in her reaction to the second. Her face immediately went from confused and patronising to tear-jerkingly amused, a grin split her lips as her shoulders heaved up and down with each bellowing laugh.

Crow glanced at Unity, and found the boy was already looking at him- a perplexed, almost pleading expression having taken the place of his grin. Their attention snapped back to Amelia, however, when she managed to force out a few strangled words.

“Y-You said something really sexist, with nothing else to add to it!” She paused, a particularly strong fit of laughter seizing the power of speech from her for several seconds. “That’s amazing, I’ve never met anyone that funny!”

Turning back to Unity, Crow was amazed to see that, for the first time since he’d met him, the artificial was at a complete and utter loss for words. Of all the different reactions he’d undoubtedly prepared for Amelia to have, genuine amusement was apparently not among them. Crow’s own mouth began to turn upwards, and a few seconds later he joined the black eyed girl in an attack of uncontrolled giggling.

Unity, for once, was the only person at the table who didn’t join in the laughter. And after it died down to subdued chuckles, he stared at Crow and snapped.

“You’re easily amused today”.

For a moment Crow worried he’d genuinely angered the boy, but he realised it was as much a show as anything- just the natural, petulant annoyance which came from being the sole member of a group not to get in on a particular joke. He grinned.

“What’s wrong Unity, can’t handle being the punchline for once?”

Unity muttered something under his breath, and Crow was about to push the matter and needle the artificial just a little bit more. He trailed off into silence at the approach of Adelina.

It had been only one or two days since he’d first spoken to the vampire, but it somehow felt like far longer. Crow imagined that was down to the hectic nature of how he’d spent that time, going from one near-death experience to another had more likely than not thrown his ability to track passing hours into disarray. Regardless, the moment he saw that wicked smile once more he was reminded of their conversation.

Barely more than a day, but even if it had been a decade there was no way he could ever have forgotten that grin. Those teeth, the tips just visible through her slightly parted lips, were entirely transparent in what they had been built to do. Their owner couldn’t have been a greater contrast if she’d tried- appearing outwardly affable and friendly, wearing a warm smile in spite of her corpse-like pallor and the ominous chill her presence sent running down Crow’s spine.

“Gentlemen”, the woman began- seeming to glide over her words. “It’s wonderful to see you again, and may I express my congratulations at your performance? First place is no easy feat, nor was defeating the highest value enemy on the stage”.

Something about the way she said that made it seem like she’d somehow been hoping to see them fail, and yet there was no visible change in her disposition. Could Crow simply be imagining it?

“Do you have to talk like that?”

Crow turned to Unity, and was amazed to find the boy didn’t seem even remotely phased by the woman. The same could not be said for Adelina, whose tranquil face was suddenly marred by the slightest frown. The artificial continued.

“We get it, you’re a big, scary vampire. Just talk like a normal person, okay? Eclipse!”

Adelina didn’t say anything for a moment, then she returned to her original expression.

“Mr Eden, you wanted me to recount the current state of the betting pool to you and your friends?”

That unsettling smile sprouted back up as Unity answered.

“Oh yes, please do. Crow here is extremely interested in how our team’s odds are”.

Crow had expected the woman to pull out a notebook, or at least a piece of paper. Instead she merely paused, seeming to concentrate for a second as her eyes became distant- then snapped back into focus.

“Sorry for the wait”, she purred, “let’s begin. I imagine it will surprise neither of you to hear that your team currently has the best odds out of the entire Sieve, your winning the first round and defeating that necromancer had already bolstered public perception of you- the fact that you’re on the side of Gemini Menza only adds to that. Really, I’d almost say the numbers are a bit worse for you than I’d have expected when one considers the famous Unity Eden and a user of the Eye of Chronos are also among you”.

Unity made an impatient gesture.

“Yes yes, we’re all very impressed with ourselves, hurry it up”.

A flicker of irritation washed over the vampire’s features, then she set them back to normal so swiftly that Crow almost doubted he’d seen the look at all. He glanced at Unity again, promising to give him a tongue lashing for taunting a vampire, of all things.

“Among the individual contestants, Gemini Menza has, predictably, the best odds out of your team- and the Sieve as a whole. You’d need to place fifty stars on her in order to win even a single moon.

A feeling of excitement began to build in Crow’s chest. He’d known the Gemini was powerful, everyone did, and even with her being a year younger than him it was reassuring to have such a magical powerhouse on his team- finding out after the first stage had certainly taken the edge off his meager winnings. Still, to think she had such good odds as one to five thousand.

His train of thought was interrupted as Amelia spoke up from the other side of the table.

“The Gemini is that dumb one who kept getting herself beaten up, right?”

Before Crow could fully process what the girl had said, the vampire shook the air with a gentle laugh.

“Oh my, that is a new one. I’ve heard many descriptions and impressions of the Gemini’s performance, but yours is certainly… shall we say, distinct”.

For the first time since meeting her, Crow felt that the vampire’s emotion was genuine. Her voice still lined with amusement, she continued.

“Of your team, you actually have the third best odds, Mister Tempora”.

Crow couldn’t suppress the surprise on his face, and the vampire betrayed nothing of her own feelings on the matter. Unity was far more forthcoming, as he almost choked trying to suppress a still obvious laugh. It became apparent to Crow that he was probably about to find out what the artificial had been giggling about.

“Though, after the Gemini there is quite the drop-off in your ratings”.

He should have expected it, but the disappointment still washed over Crow. Of course he wasn’t a popular bet, he’d spent half the stage being pummelled by another contestant even while they practically tutored him. He was lucky to even be rated where he was. At that, it occurred to Crow that there must have been a reason for bets in favour of him being more popular than those for Unity or Xeno.

“Uh, Miss Adelina, what are the odds for the rest of our team?”

He managed to keep his voice from waving, though somehow that didn’t make him feel any stronger in the sights of those crimson eyes.

“After Gemini is your sister, who is quite a popular one in the betting pool. She is followed by you, then comes Mister Eden and finally Xeno Warper”.

Crow’s relief at not letting his team down was undercut by the utter dread at how poorly his teammates must have performed to be less popular bets than himself. Unity, in particular, concerned him- someone as famous as the child of the Faction Founders would have had to make a shockingly big fool of himself to undercut that.

Apparently unable to bite his tongue any longer, Unity interrupted Adelina just as she opened her mouth to speak once more- blurting out his thoughts in a half-shout.

“Okay now tell him about his reputation!”

There was just barely enough time for Crow to register what Unity had said and then frown in confusion before the vampire sighed, her voice dripping with the same exasperation Astra’s had after so many of her victories during her and Crow’s sparring matches. He pushed thoughts of his sister from his mind, once more focusing heavily on what the vampire was saying to distract himself.

“Very well. Bets in favour of Mister Tempora’s victory tend to cite his, hm… shall we say, “nature”, as the reasoning”.

Crow glanced at Unity, feeling his own face grow red and hot as the artificial displayed his teeth in a boyish grin. Stifling his annoyance, he turned back to the barkeep.

“What kind of reputation?”

The woman gave a smile which resembled Unity’s, though not quite so unrestrained and with considerably sharper denticles on display.

“Oh, my apologies” she began, unapologetically, “I had assumed you were already aware. It would seem that your actions regarding your teammate in the first stage, as well as your disregard for your own injuries during the second, have caused many to view you as somewhat of a… ah, I suppose “bad boy” would be the most accurate term for it”.

Crow wasn’t able to hide his shock, and Unity didn’t bother to hide his amusement- practically shaking the building as he howled with laughter. It was all Crow could do to gather his thoughts enough for a question. Though he didn’t think even he really needed an answer.

“Uh, what do you mean specifically by bad boy?”

“Oh I can answer that!” Unity eagerly cut in, and the relish was clear on his face as Crow met his eyes. “You see, my dear Crow, the Sieve’s monitoring mystics don’t transmit sound very well- even with Manamis and Cutaris specialists working by the hundred- so a few things were lost in regards to context with Ethi”.

With a sinking realization, Crow just managed to force his words out in a trembling voice.

“W-what things?”

“Well, to name one off the top of my head, your reasoning for leaving her. It seems the current theory is that she broke your heart with her betrayal, causing you to string her along instead of attacking her on the spot in order to make her loss sting as much as possible”.

There was a new bout of laughter, this time from Amelia. Looking over his shoulder, Crow could see the girl practically folding over with laughter. He was about to ask her exactly what she found so funny, but his attention was pulled back to Adelina by the magnetic draw of her voice.

“Look on the bright side, there are plenty of contestants who work very hard to be as misjudged as you are”.

Crow stared at his feet, barely managing to make himself mutter.

“Could I please have another drink, Miss Adelina?”