“Are you okay?” Levi asked softly, as Irene clung to him later that night. He held her close, wishing he could think of anything to say that would be comforting. He was out of practice at this kind of thing. Not that this situation had ever come up in the first timeline. How did you comfort someone when you both knew things would only keep getting worse?

He could at least be present.

“I’m scared,” Irene whispered. Her breath trembled as she inhaled. “I know you told me about it, all of it, but…” she trailed off into silence.

“Now it feels real.”

She nodded against his chest, legs shifting as though she wanted to curl up as small as possible. “I can’t fall apart. I’m the only one who can keep you all alive.”

Levi drew a slow breath, the true depth of this confession staggering him. He’d always thought of Irene’s class as supplemental - useful, but more important as a path for her to increase her level and grow more capable of surviving, not an essential part of his own survival. He’d lived the last time, and he’d survived so far this time. Sure, he’d thought she could help keep Peter safe, but she’d do that whether she was level 1 or 100.

“You don’t need to take that upon yourself,” he told her in a fierce whisper. “I can look after us. It doesn’t have to be your burden too.”

Her arms tightened around him. “I could say the same thing to you.” Her voice had lost its tremor, steel showing through.

“No one else can do what I can. No one else knows what I do. No one else remembers.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to do it alone.” She made a sad, half-choked laugh. “We promised to share everything, remember? If you can take half of my responsibility, then you have to let me take half of yours in turn.”

“But you—“

“No buts,” she interrupted firmly. “I am going to pull myself together, and we are going to save the world. Together.” Then her momentary strength seemed to seep out of her. “After tonight, I’m not going to let it slow me down again.”

“Did it slow you down? I didn’t know.”

“I froze up. Assess gave me too many things and I couldn’t decide which one to start with, it was too much, and I was afraid he was going to die right there in front of me. If Peter hadn’t rushed in, given him a healing potion, snapped me out of my fugue…” She shook her head. “I can’t do it alone either. But I can do better.”

“We can both do better.”

“Are you sure this is the right way to go about this? I don't know if Cassandra's type of people are really right for this kind of life. I thought I was ready, but I really, really wasn't. There's nothing you can do to prepare for something like that."

"No, there's not. But they deserve the chance to fight to defend their world. We can't take that away from them just because we want to protect their innocence." Levi's voice came out colder than he'd intended. But if he had to make the choice for his wife and his son, he couldn't justify changing his mind now.

If he wanted to protect his family, then he had no call to go leaving other people's families without the methods to protect themselves. "Cassandra is right. We need to get as much information to as many people as possible and these are the sort of people who will know how to best spread that information."

"But how many will survive?"

"More than would survive if left until the invasion appears to start training them."

Irene shivered. "Right. The invasion. Because all this is just the gentle prelude."

"It is."

"I find it hard to imagine the kind of destruction you told me about. Whole cities, whole counties, just... burned to ash?"

"It's a miracle we lasted as long as we did, truly," Levi said, voice haunted. "We got very lucky. None of the invasions hit the truly major population centers until the fourth wave, and by then people had dispersed enough that the hit wasn't... well, it was still absolutely devastating, still cost millions of lives, but it wasn't as many millions as it would have been if it had happened a few years sooner."

At least not in the US. New York City's portal in the fifth year had been bad, but it could have been so much worse.

"Is there any way to stop it? Or is it just going to be another fight against unstoppable, inevitable odds?"

Levi shrugged. "that was never my department. The tacticians and commanders did all the deciding, I just went where they pointed and stabbed what was in the way."

"So it could be we're just slowing down the inevitable."

"Better to slow it down than give up and die."

"I hate this," Irene said, and her voice finally broke as he felt damp tears drip onto his chest. "I hate what we have to do and I hate what it's doing to us, and I hate that it's necessary and I don't want any of this."

He held her closer, arms wrapped protectively around her, and rested his cheek against her head. "I know. I wish we didn't have to either. But I will never regret the chance to do it right this time."

"And doing it right means we'll be there with you."

"Yes. I'm not trying to push you aside."

"Good. Because I'm going to be there beside you whatever happens. Until the very end."

"And I'll do my very best to prepare you for that day when it comes. But tonight, we need to sleep. We'll have a long trip in the morning."

"Oh, no, that's right, we'll be driving all day." She raised her head, staring at him pleadingly. "You can help me turn on the destroying-vehicles option, right? Make it so I don't have to go?"

Levi chuckled. "You're getting high enough level it might be risky as it is, so you can take the excuse if you need it. Why do you not want to ride?"

"I am so tired of sitting in a small enclosed space for hours. I'd much rather run with you."

"How's your stamina?"

She bunched her lower lip against her teeth. "I have 3 in Spirit, so 129."

"Plus four per minute? That won't be nearly enough to keep up." Levi had

"What about a bicycle?"

"What about it?"

"If the problem is speed, and I can use stamina to be stronger and more endurant, can't I just ride a bike? They're not electronic, so mana has no reason to accumulate."

Levi considered a minute, but it wasn't a hard decision. He did remember bicycles being popular, back before there was enough road damage and failing infrastructure to render them either inefficient or impossible to find. "Excellent idea."

"That's a good start, then. Will we be keeping the whole group together, or...?"

"Gordon and Laurence agreed to start the secondary recruitment loop. We'll swap places in a couple weeks, our paths come pretty close to intersecting so we can trade out then. Cassandra said she could cover everyone's admission costs, but they'd rather get started recruiting as soon as possible."

"Makes sense, I guess. Laurence is enthusiastic enough for both of them, and Gordon should be able to keep him out of trouble."

"But who'll keep Cassandra out of trouble?" Levi asked. "You?"

"Peter," Irene answered without hesitation. "I've made my conditions for this trip clear to her, and if she expects to continue traveling as a family she'll prioritize his safety and well-being above everything else." She rolled over onto her back, tugging an arm free of Levi to flop it across her eyes. "There is going to be so much packing to do. I'm not ready for this."

"At least it's not a dungeon," Levi offered, trying to lighten the mood.

Irene only groaned. "I think I might prefer the dungeon."