After being captured in Alexandros’ chambers, Kayde is led down into the dungeon beneath the manor. He looks around anxiously, checking each of the cells lining the walls to see if Xander is there with him. Instead, he only finds other cyborgs and people from the desert.

“Well this sucks,” he comments to himself, once he is in his cell, out of earshot of anyone else. He waits a couple of seconds before putting on the ring he had hidden up his sleeve when the guards confiscated all his possessions.

He notices the guard on routine patrol coming by, “Hey! Hey! Help me! A cyborg put me in here!” The guards walking by rush over to his cell, perplexed to see a confused villager in there instead of the android they had locked up minutes ago.

“How did he do this to you?” One of them asks, concerned that they might be in danger right now.

“I don’t know, one second I was walking the streets, then a cyborg grabbed me and I ended up here,” Kayde explains in a panicked tone, lying straight through his teeth.

One of the guards grabs his keys and opens the door to Kayde’s cell.

“Can you take us to where he knocked you out?” He requests wanting to track down Kayde before the king has their heads for this.

“Yeah, of course,” Kayde starts leading them outside. On his way he notices his bag after they are on the next floor up. Suddenly the man leading the guards outside disappears. Kayde grabs his bag, finding the needle. He knocks out all of the guards with swift pokes to their necks.

It is then that a man walks into the room, one that Kayde recognizes.

“What is going on here?” Godric, a priest that was there when Xander was captured, asks seeing three guards passed out on the ground.

Kayde, always the opportunist, pokes him too, dragging his body to the window making his escape back into the sewers and out of the city.

“That is not who I expected you to come back with,” Gwendolyn notes when seeing Godric over Kayde’s shoulder.

“Look… things happened… I would be dead if the guards weren’t really stupid. Now let’s get the hell back to the lab,” Kayde explains, still shaking from the events that played out earlier this evening.

They return to the laboratory under the shroud of night, carrying along with them Godric, the priest Kayde was fortunate enough to snatch after being captured himself following his confrontation with the king, Alexandros.

Gwendolyn and Lunette bring Godric inside and Kayde stops as he sees Fore. He leans down and picks up his friend, embracing him like he never has before.

“Are you okay?” Fore asks him, able to feel the trembling of the arms that are holding him.

“I don’t know…” Kayde responds shakily, not used to dealing with fear.

“I used to believe in what we were doing, but up until now we’ve been… no I’ve been too reckless. I just want all of this to be over with so we can get out of this place,” he adds, venting to the only one he feels he can.

“We can go now,” Fore suggests, wanting more than anything for Kayde to stop feeling so afraid.

“No, I can’t. I’ve come this far… if I left I would be betraying everyone. I’m sorry, even though I feel this way… I can’t go,” Kayde declares, tempted by Fore’s offer.

“I have to go inside now, hopefully, once we are through with this guy we’ll be one step closer to wrapping things up here,” Kayde puts Fore down and walks inside to join the others.

He opens the door to see Gwendolyn and Lunette.

“Hey, they’re in there,” Lunette points him towards her bedroom. Inside he sees they’ve already got Godric blindfolded and tied up in the chair in the middle of the room.

Just as Kayde enters, Drakthar takes it as the signal to wake up Godric, he does so by punching him across the face as hard as possible, maybe not the wisest move if they want information out of him, but satisfying nonetheless to assault someone who was there when Xander was taken.

“Fuck, that hurt! Is that any way to wake up a person?” Godric bitches as he does his best to realign his jaw.

Drakthar rips the blindfold off Godric.

“That was a mistake,” Godric smirks, switching with Kayde who is next to the door. Before he can take a step further he finds himself back in the chair, staring up at Kayde who is once again standing by the door.

“What the fuck is this?” Godric is shocked as to how he ended up back there. He turns from side to side eventually finding Oswald and Alwin, the latter waving at him, his face plastered with a smirk.

“Traitors! This is where you were? How could you abandon your posts and join up with such rogues?” Godric spits at them.

“Pretty easily, never was really too fond of posts. I mean, they are just kind of standing upright, most of them aren’t even supporting something, kind of pointless if you ask me,” Alwin banters back at him.

Godric cracks a smile in spite of himself, “You are right, I should have expected this from you, but not you Oswald. Your family is going to suffer because of this you dumbass, you understand that right?”

“I know, but I don’t plan on being gone for long,” Oswald looks down, ashamed that the repercussions of his actions could affect his family.

Godric looks around the rest of the room seeing Drakthar, Kayde, and Kali, “Well if it isn’t an abomination, a mindless brute and a lovely lady. How are you doing?” He addresses Kali.

She punches him across the face, neither amused nor flattered by his greeting.

“Sorry, I read the room wrong, I meant to say an abomination and two mindless brutes,” he japes, spitting some of the blood pooling in his mouth onto the floor.

Now that everyone in the room has had the opportunity to display how witty they are, Drakthar takes his opportunity to stand over Godric grasping his collar before growling, “Where is Xander!”

“Nice, really scary, but with all due respect, why in the hell would I ever tell you that?” Godric responds, maintaining his composure in the face of such relentless fury. Drakthar grabs the bottom of his chin, forcing his mouth open. With his free hand, he grabs a hold of one of Godric’s teeth and rips it out from its roots.

“Oh come on man, you are going to ruin my perfect smile,” Godric smiles back up at him displaying the new gap in his teeth.

“If you don’t want it to get worse, I suggest you start talking,” Kayde advises him from the back.

“You know, you guys confuse me. Why do you care so much about a selfish guy like Xander anyways? He’s only ever been a self-righteous fuck who only cared about himself. What is he to you?” Godric asks, truly curious to know how people could act like this on his behalf.

“To some of us he is merely a comrade, to others, he’s become family. You said he was selfish, maybe he used to be… but the Xander we know isn’t like that at all, it would seem he is a different person now. So we are asking you where you guys are holding ours,” Kayde responds, not letting him sully Xander’s name in his presence.

“You still don’t get it, I’m not telling you shit. You might as well kill me like you did Mila and Ulla,” Godric tells him, not afraid to die to keep Xander from ever seeing his friends again.

Oswald’s eyes go wide learning of Mila and Ulla’s death. He was promised there would be no killing. Alwin notices Oswald’s reaction and grabs his arm pulling him from the room before he confronts Kayde and the others in front of Godric.

Once Alwin closes the door behind him Oswald goes off, “They said there would be no killing. I didn’t agree to this”.

“What’s going on?” Lunette perks up after seeing the two friends come out of the room arguing.

Oswald goes directly up to Gwendolyn confronting her, “Did you know?”

“About what?” Gwendolyn asks, taken aback by Oswald’s characteristically aggressive attitude.

“You guys killed Mila and Ulla, we weren’t supposed to kill people anymore,” Oswald points out angrily.

“I know… I was there when Drakthar killed them. It was before we met you. I know it’s not what you want to hear, and I’m sure it sounds like an excuse, but we didn’t know about any deal, if we knew we wouldn’t have done it, I promise, but… I’m sorry if they were friends of yours,” Gwendolyn explains to him, her tone slowly turning from defensive to apologetic.

“No, they weren’t my friends... but still, they didn’t deserve to die,” Oswald sits down on the couch, his head falls into his hands, filled with a defeated feeling.

Gwendolyn sits down next to him and wraps an arm around him, showing her more empathetic side, “You’re right… I’m sorry, I really am”.

“Wow dude, look, a super hot chick is all over you. I mean she’s like a nine, no a ten, nine is too low even though she isn’t my type,” Alwin rips the heaviness right out of the moment, instead, replacing it with a feeling of awkwardness.

“Alwin, she’s with the guy that we’re trying to get back,” Oswald replies, flustered by Alwin pointing out what was going on.

“I’m sorry if I gave off the wrong impression, I was just comforting him because of what happened, I only have eyes for Xander,” Gwendolyn backs off, not wanting anyone to misunderstand.

Alwin lets out an elongated, “Sure…”

“I’d knock it off if I were you,” Gwendolyn stands up and points a finger angrily at Alwin.

He puts his hands up, “Sorry, just messing with you and Oswald, don’t mean anything by it”.

Back in the other room, Godric continues to antagonize his captures, “I don’t know what you’re all planning here, but let me assure you, not a single one of you will ever see Xander again”.

“No, we will. I’ll search through every building and cellar in that entire city in order to find him,” Drakthar states confidently, sure of his ability to find his friend.

“You have no clue what you are up against, you won’t ever get the chance to search. Now that everyone is on high alert, if we find someone sneaking around like that, they’ll be taken out,” Godric threatens, believing there is no way they will ever be able to overcome the organization that stands between them and Xander.

Drakthar breaks Godric’s arm out of nowhere, not giving a single warning nor moment to expect it.

“Then you’ll have to break, just like your arm did,” Drakthar notes as he walks out the room.

Interrogations begin; Drakthar, Kayde, and Kali trade-off using their own techniques to get where Xander is out of Godric. They continue on for weeks, that eventually turn into months, leading to nothing except making the man they have locked up look more haggard and decrepit day after day.

After another failed attempt at coaxing out information, Kayde slams the door behind him starting to get frustrated that they are still getting nowhere with this.

“Kayde, I know Godric is an asshole, but even he doesn’t deserve to be treated like this,” Oswald begins to appeal to him.

“That’s why you are going to make a good king Oswald, but right now a certain amount of force is going to be needed to get what we want,” Kayde compliments him while also quickly dismissing his plea.

“I would have thought you could tell by now that he is never going to break like this. You need to change your strategy, adjust to the situation and find a better way to move forward,” Oswald urges him to find another way.

“You don’t think that’s what I’ve been doing this whole time! It’s hard being the person who has to figure out what we are going to do, being the one people depend on to make the decisions that determine whether we succeed or fail!… no, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to yell at you. That’s not very like me; none of this is very like me. You’re right I’ve just got to think up a new solution is all,” Kayde snaps before apologizing, horrified at what the pressure and stress of everything has done to him.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I have an idea,” Alwin speaks up, having been content napping on the sidelines up until now.

“Those rings of yours, they are modeled off other people right?” He asks Lunette.

“Yup, why are you asking?” Lunette replies cheerily.

“Hey Taken stand next to Oswald for a second,” Alwin orders, already knowing his plan. Gwendolyn listens and stands next to Oswald and eyes them, noticing Oswald is a good inch and a half taller than her.

“No that’s no good, what about you Kayde?” Alwin moves on to the next person. Kayde stands next to the two of them not sure what is going on.

“Damn, too short,” Alwin comments about Kayde.

“Hold on,” Alwin walks over and stands back to back with Gwendolyn.

“Who’s taller?” He asks them. Drakthar, the only one who is towering over them with an angle to check tells them, “I can’t tell, you look the same”.

“Perfect, hey Lunette could you help me out and whip me up a ring that makes me look like taken over here?” Alwin requests, having something nefarious in mind.

“I can do that, Gwendolyn come with me,” Lunette takes Gwendolyn to the corner of the room where she has set up a temporary workstation while Godric is being held in her room.

“So what are you going to be doing disguised as her exactly?” Kali asks not sure what is going on.

“Seduction,” Alwin winks back at her.

“Oh if that’s the case do you want me to scan her in naked?” Lunette asks having overheard his response to Kali’s question.

“No, what she already has on is fine,” Alwin shuts that down for everyone’s sake, not wanting half of them to die at Gwendolyn’s hands today.

Two days later, Godric is slouched down in his chair like usual, scabs, bruises and dried blood all over his body. The pain aches, but at this point, he’s resolved to never give these bastards what they want.

He watches as someone he hasn’t seen for over half a year enters the room.

“It’s you, Gwendolyn right?” He asks, remembering her from the city when they captured Xander.

“So you’re the woman that finally made Xander interested, I can see why. The guy is literal scum, but I can’t knock his taste at all,” Godric starts to make eyes at her. Alwin, who is disguised as Gwendolyn throws up a little in his mouth before resolving himself to do this.

“What do you even see in a guy like that? I never understood the appeal,” Godric questions, thinking this as good a time as ever to ask. Alwin pauses for a moment, unsure of what brought Xander and Gwendolyn together.

He finally decides to come up with something, “I don’t know, he was always very brave, and talented. The way he acts cold and distant sometimes is also why,” deciding to mention the only things he can remember about Xander.

“Ha, I don’t think those are good reasons. I mean shouldn’t the guy you are so in love with not be distant? I mean I can see how a guy can make a girl interested with that, but… to be years into a relationship and for that to be the case doesn’t sound too… good,” Godric points out, trying to drag Xander’s name at every opportunity.

“I think you might be right,” Alwin admits, catching Godric off guard.

“Oh yeah? Why is that?” Godric inquires, wanting to know what she means.

“The time away is starting to make me rethink things. I can barely remember his face, I should be able to remember at least that if I love him so much right? But I can’t. I’m struggling to remember why I was still with him in the first place,” Alwin starts to put doubts out there so Godric thinks there is an opening.

“You know, you’re very interesting,” Alwin tells him, trying to move forward with his plan.

“How is that?” Godric asks, amused, and excited.

“You have been tortured for an entire month and yet, you remain unshaken. A man who can endure that sure is extraordinary,” Alwin lets the compliment escape his lips in a soft tone he has rarely seen Gwendolyn use, all the while thinking there is no way this works.

“I’m glad you find me so interesting,” Godric starts to flirt back with him.

“You know if by chance you want to take me up on my offer this time, we can get out of here and we can talk more out how interested we are in each other,” he suggests, wanting more than anything to steal something of Xander’s.

“I would, but they are too strong. They would track us down and bring you back,” the one disguised as Gwendolyn tells him.

“Wait, I could give you a drug we use, it makes people appear to be in like comas and stuff, if I make them think I killed you I could probably get your body out of here,” Alwin quickly adds, setting out his bait.

“Now you are speaking my language, god how sweet would it be to show Xander how his woman fell for me,” Godric starts to fantasize out loud.

“No, you couldn’t let him know this happened,” Alwin turns away playing up a more bashful side, he’s ninety to one hundred percent sure Gwendolyn doesn’t actually have in her at all.

“It’s okay, we could go see him together, that would really get to him. I’d love to see the look of despair on his face,” Godric starts to smile for the first time in a month.

“I’ll get you out of here, but I don’t want to do that,” Alwin continues to refuse in order to make Godric want it all the more.

“No, we are going, you head straight there after you knock me out I won’t have it any other way,” he digs his heels into the sand.

“Fine, let me prepare the drug,” Alwin starts to dip the needle in the substance to make it seem like he is actually going through with this.

“Great, before you prick me, head to the outer ring of the city, there will be an old shack that looks like it was burnt down. Once you enter it you’ll find an underground hallway which…” he stops in his tracks.

“Before we do this, prove it to me that I can trust you,” Godric demands, knowing he has already said too much.

“Nah,” Alwin pulls off the ring revealing himself.

“Fuck! Are you serious; I didn’t even get seduced by her, but by this idiot,” Godric starts to berate himself.

“I had to do it, that woman would have never come in here and pulled that off convincingly, she’s too in love with that guy. Sorry though, outer ring burnt shed, sounds good to me. Too bad you started thinking with your dick instead of your head. Can’t fault you though, it’s been a month you're probably not in the best headspace right now,” Alwin starts to mock him.

“You fucker…” Godric starts to respond before Alwin walks up to him and pricks him, after all, to shut him up. He exits the room to find a bunch of eager faces peering back up at him.

“You can find him under a burnt shed, outer ring of the city,” Alwin doesn’t waste any time in telling them.

Gwendolyn is the first person to thank him, giving him a quick hug before starting off towards the city. Kayde, Drakthar, and Kali follow after her leaving Oswald, Lunette, and Alwin at the lab.

“We’ll enter through the sewers, they’ve seen what I look like with the ring on so we need to stay as much out of sight as possible,” Kayde explains as they jog towards the city.

The four of them emerge from an alleyway near the edge of the city, all of them in disguise. They walk briskly around the outer wall of the city looking inwards to see if they can spot the burnt shed Godric mentioned.

Finally, they spot it. Gwendolyn begins to rush towards it, but Kayde grabs her arm, seeing two guards across the way monitoring it. Kayde goes invisible, easily and silently dispatching the two of them. He does a quick sweep of the area before deciding it is all clear.

“We’re good, let’s go,” he emerges in front of the others. They don’t waste a second, heading straight down through the cracked wood and ashen mess before them. Amongst the rubble they find a hidden passageway, and Drakthar lights a torch illuminating their path forwards.

“I’ll go out in front, scout it out. If I run into anyone, I’ll come back and report it to you,” Kayde tells them to stand firm, not wanting them to jeopardize their one chance. He moves on ahead eventually coming to a room where Juliana and two guards are waiting, looking at a screen of Xander sitting in a cell. He slowly creeps out of the room to inform the others.

“He’s up ahead, but so are two guards and Juliana. I’ll take her out first, then I’ll give you guys the signal to rush in and finish the others,” Kayde lays out the plan, going invisible again.

He walks up behind Juliana and pricks her with the needle, Lunette’s toxin laced in as always. He whistles while slitting her throat. He knows Oswald said no killing, but this one is personal. He drops Juliana’s lifeless body to the floor as he turns to see blood splatter all along the opposite walls, painted by no other artist but Drakthar.

The last guard turns only to see an arrow enter his skull, his body collapsing to the ground with a faint thud. They survey the room looking for where they are holding Xander, eventually walking to the other end of the room around the corner and find a door.

Gwendolyn bursts through it, her eyes fixating on what she has been longing for. On the other side of a glass wall is Xander, paler than she remembers, staring right back at her with a confused look.

“You’re new,” Xander comments, looking up at a woman he has never seen before. Hearing his voice again immediately pushes Gwendolyn to tears.

“I’m sorry, did I say something wrong?” Xander starts to apologize, not wanting to upset this woman he just met.

Gwendolyn opens the glass door to the cell before realizing why he is so confused. She rips the ring off her finger, Xander for the first time realizing who she really is. He gazes upon her face; it’s as beautiful as he’s imagined it for all these months.

He stands, accepting her into his arms, silent tears starting to make their way down his face as well.

“Don’t ever leave me again,” Gwendolyn gets out through her tears of joy.

Xander puts his hand up against her face to check if she is really there before telling her, “I won’t. I’ve missed you so much. I’ll never leave you again”.