They sat with their legs folded underneath them and their hands over their knees, for the exception of Lilla. Dan held her. Against all advice and common sense, Jarl sat up with them as well. They were barely able to persuade him to rest his back against the wall.

“I—” Jarl began.

“Apologize for getting hurt and I’ll hurt you even more,” Yen calmly said.

“Ha!” Jarl said, daring to laugh. “I could still beat you.”

“And I can beat you both with one arm,” Nico said, laughing as everyone gave him a disapproving look. “It was a good one,” he mumbled, feeling a bit bitter, though the cheerful sounds Lilla uttered made him feel better.

“Nico?” Jarl said, his smile slowly fading.

“Can’t sense anything, though there might be someone with a concealment skill.”

“Can’t do anything about that. Yen?”

“We got 129 Energy under Tinisha’s name in the bank,” she said.

“Do you think they know?”

“No,” Nico said, recalling the manual. “They like to push people to get loans when they’re desperate. It makes their ‘help’ much kinder in comparison to the Deep.” The threat of monsters was only secondary to living outside the walls.

The first was the fear of the Deep. It appeared centuries ago, devouring all life that did not cower within the walls. The stories of its origins ranged from it being a misfired weapon to God’s divine punishment that will trap the souls of the unworthy in eternal suffering. No one has really figured out what it was yet, and Nico suspected they never would. After all, without the Deep’s fog to make monsters, Rankers couldn’t live like gods.

“We got that much going for us,” Jarl said. “As for how we’ll get out of this bind…any suggestions?” He leaned in towards Lilla. He kissed her on the neck and tickled her with his nose. “And since we start with the cutest,” Jarl said in baby talk, “go-ahead Lilla!”

“Ah!” Lilla said, flailing her hands up. She caught both sides of his face, the burnt and unburned, and reeled him in. She even tried to wrap his legs around him.

“Very well said, Lilla, very well said,” he said, rubbing his cheek against hers. “You have me won over a thousand times.” Jarl looked up to Dan. “And you, big guy?”

Dan shook his head. Ever since they’d adopted him three years ago, Dan never voiced his opinion in important matters, but Nico thought he would at least do so here. Jarl thought so too. He paused, probably wondering whether he should push for an answer.

Jarl turned to Yen. She shook her head.

“Dan passes. Uhan?”

“I’ll become a Ranker,” Uhan said.

“Dad’s father tried, mom tried, and Nico tried. We’ve wasted so much Energy trying to become Rankers,” Jarl said. “What makes you different?”

“I’ll enter the Gauntlet and win a Blank Memory Card like Nico,” Uhan said, ignoring his question. “I got to quarter finals last year. If I get a good skill from it, then I might have a chance at becoming a Ranker or even winning my match in the 42nd Game.”

Ah, so that’s why he shaved his head. There was a lot of pulling and tugging at that age. Nico found that out the hard way.

“Risky, but I like the confidence. What do you need from us?”

“I need Nico to teach me,” he said.

“We’ll see what he thinks of that.” Jarl moved on. “Yen?”

“I have nothing,” Yen said, which was a lie and a half.

“Nico?”

Nico took a breath. He didn’t think this was going to go over well. “Give me a few days to figure something out.”

“And Uhan’s training?”

Dude. Jarl had raised Nico, but even after all those years, he couldn’t figure out whether Jarl was dense or consciously oblivious whenever it suited him. He fully knew Uhan wasn’t good enough. “His chances aren’t good. A week isn’t enough to get from quarters to winning finals.”

“But that’s what you did,” Uhan said. “If you could do it, why can’t I?”

“I’m not saying you can’t, of course you can, I’m just saying the chances are—”

“Let me try at least,” he said, thumping his chest. “So many Rats make it. I can make it. I’ve been training for this. I can do it.”

“No, you can’t,” Yen said plainly.

“You too?” Uhan said, turning towards Yen with a hurt look. “You think I can’t do it either?”

“You’re 16-year-old kid with no training or talent for hunting monsters or men. The only shame is in acting as if you were.”

They turned towards Uhan. With a nod he settled. He tried to keep a poker face but he struggled. He glared ahead with clenched teeth, then jumped up. He glared at Nico for a split second before he made his way towards the window. He pushed on it using both hands until the rusted metal pushed back. It opened to an alleyway with a long drop. They were on the third floor. Two meters across of them was another Living Block. Their neighbors glanced at them curiously before shutting the curtains. Uhan stepped out, catching the ladder on the side of their window, and climbed up.

“Wow,” Jarl said. “He’s so moody.”

“That was your fault,” Nico said.

Dan got up. He went to pull down the window, but struggled under its weight. Nico stepped behind him and pulled it down.

“Anyways,” Jarl said. “Here is my idea—They won’t let us leave the city with Energy we take out on a loan. So I say we take the loan, combine it with our reserves, and buy a decent Memory Card for Uhan. You guys then leave with him. Even though we’ll be blacklisted, I heard the 5th City treats its Rats better. The Iron House won’t have much power there to mess with us. With Uhan being combat ready, hopefully you guys can figure out something there.”

Yen looked towards Nico, exhaustion seeping through her visage. Guess I got this one. Though in all honesty he hardly knew where to begin and where to end.

“We shouldn’t have taken in Lilla,” Dan said, holding her hands within his. His voice was quiet, almost whisper like. “You should leave me behind too. Yen can find work or marry into a richer family.” He looked at Uhan’s spot. “And we should make Uhan a Hunter. If he comes back injured, then we should let the Syndicate take care of him, but then none of us are left.”

Silence. Lilla’s crying broke it. Jarl reached across, taking her in her lap. “You could have just said no,” he mumbled.

“Yeah,” Nico thought, swallowing a bitter lump. “You didn’t even mention how I could be of any use. I mean, come on, think of something!”

“I’m sorry.”

“Oh, not at all,” Jarl said, scratching his head. “Please keep— I mean, not that, but—"

Yen placed a hand on Jarl’s shoulders. “We know our options. Let’s continue this discussion after thinking it over.”

Jarl sighed. “More sleep?”

“Would you like to play ball?” Yen said.

“Would love to,” he said, handing Lilla back to Karl as Yen helped him get to his feet.

s, he felt Yen standing above him.

She carried Jarl’s hand axe with a tight hold. Nico had his own, but it was closer to a hoe. The one Yen carried glistened silver in comparison. Like most weapons made nowadays, it was made of monster bone.

“Go talk to him, I need to stay with Jarl.”

“I don’t want to.”

“He joined a cult,” Yen said.

Nico stopped tying his boots. So it wasn’t for fighting. “Which one?”

“The one that commands him to do as they say or he and everyone he loves will suffer an eternity of pain.”

“That’s all of them, Yen, including the cities.”

“The one that says their book or city is the only true one, while everyone else is a fraud.”

“Oh, yeah that’s—Nope, still all of them.”

“The Suns.”

Nico sighed. So his brother gets burned, and his first response is to join a cult whose main power fantasy is setting their enemies on fire? “Good for him.” He stood up and walked past her. “Paradise awaits!”

“Talk to him,” she said, clutching his wrist.

“If I’m going to do anything, it’s not going to be talking. God will, through my fist, and against his nose.”

“Really?” Yen said, deadpan.

“No, it’s really just me—but the sucker will never know!” Nico said, chuckling.

“Try.”

Nico sighed. “You know why he’s doing this. He’s hopeless and thinks some freaking super power is his only way out. He can’t handle the fact that his suffering is meaningless, and bad people get to live happy lives while he lives his miserable one—household affairs are your responsibility.”

“And your brotherly responsibilities?”

“I’m down for disowning him,” Nico said, only half serious. “Look, let Jarl do it. Uhan doesn’t exactly like me, and I need to get back to work.” And quit it for something better and smarter. It was honest work, which meant it wasn’t enough.

“He’s been living in the Gauntlet more than he’s been living here—does that sound like Jarl? Did he shave his head like Jarl did? He’s trying to even fight like you. His body is in a permanent state of healing. For every bruise that heal two replace it.” She shook her head. “He idolizes you.”

“Shave? I didn’t shav—oh fuck you,” Nico said. “He’s trying to be better than me. That’s different.”

“And what have you done to return his attention? You’re no better than a monthly Energy delivery system. That’s why you should have a conversation with him. How many times would that be? The third? Or dare I say the fourth?”

“Urgh.”

“Urgh yourself up to the roof,” she said, donning the black cloak on him and wrapping his head with his faded brown scarf. The real miracle was that thing still being whole. He had it before he even knew how to fight.

Nico put on his fingerless black gloves. It was the second most expensive thing he had. It provided a superb grip for climbing when he tightly pressed it against a surface, but was slick smooth if he only lightly held something. He walked away from her towards the window, mumbling incoherent complaints until he felt her hand on his sleeve. “What now?”

She hugged Nico and spoke in a whisper that Nico had to strain his ears to hear. “Will they stop with Jarl, or do I have to worry about who’s next?”

“Doesn’t matter either way,” Nico said. “Not like we can do anything about it.”

“Right,” she said, nodding. “What gear do you need to start hunting those monsters?”

It took a bit for the words to register. She wasn’t talking about hunting the monsters outside the wall, though to her, they were probably all the same. “I fail to see how that would stop the Iron House from trying to get us killed.”

“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” she said, hugging him tighter. Her arms shook. “They hit us, we hit back. They burn us, we burn them. They ruin our lives, and we’ll ruin theirs. This is our pride, Nico. I want you to go out there and keep our family pride alive. I want you to spend the rest of your life making them regret taking your arm and burning our brother. Do you understand? We’re going to war. The Iron House against the Kin family.”

“And the kids?” Nico said, imagining it. He imagined going out there and killing all his enemies, and he imagined Yen getting burned for it. It was pretty easy, all he had to do was look at Jarl, or anyone else that fought against the Houses. The kids will end up going into orphanages, where they’ll be groomed to become hunters that will ultimately serve until either their bodies or minds break.

That was a future Nico was not willing to risk—at least, not twice. Though by now it might be too late. “Why did you let Jarl take in Lilla if that’s what you wanted?”

“Unfortunately for everyone else, I’ll burn this entire fucking city down before I abandon any of you. Do you understand?”

“Yeah Yen, I do. And no Yen, I will not. We need a better plan than kill the bad guys.”

She froze. She stepped back, looking at Nico as if he were a stranger. “You want to do nothing? Pray and hope they’ll leave us alone?”

“Killing people that serve the Iron House for revenge is worse than doing nothing.” Even if Nico did go with Yen’s way, it’ll take years of killing random, insignificant grunts until he became get good enough to get anyone remotely responsible, and even then, the financials behind it was far out of reach. He shook his head.

She shook her head back at him. Yen rarely acted up, she was always measured, even-headed, emotionally stable—and she made sure everyone else was as well. She knew someone had to do it, so she did it. That was her role.

Now, all Nico saw was disappointment and exhaustion. It made him recoil away from her, even before she spat vile on him. “You were a bigger man when you were a child, Nico.”

Nico took another step back. He didn’t bother hiding the hurt on his face or in his voice. Yen understood them more than they understood themselves. “Why would you say that?”

“My love is not unconditional,” she said, stepping after him. She pointed at him and poked him over his heart. “And you, Nico, should know I have no love for cowards.”

Nico slapped her hands away. He stood his ground, his teeth gritted. Behind Yen Jarl and Dan shifted. Nico spoke in a quick whisper. “That’s what fucking happens when you lose a sizeable portion of your body—you get smaller! Look, there is only one way we’re going to go with your plan, Yen, and that’s if the people behind me agree to toss away their life for it. Convince them, and I’ll do it.”

“You’re not serious,” Yen said, narrowing her eyes at him. “You want the kids to vote on whether we should fight to the death? You’re that scared of taking respons—”

“Their lives aren’t yours to decide.”

“They’re little kids, Nico, not little murderers. This is our decision to make.”

Nico walked away. He leaped onto the window and caught the ladder. “You’ve gone mad.”

“Said the kid that melted a Ranker’s skull in front of the world,” Yen said as he climbed out of earshot.

Nico climbed back, poked his head in, then quickly snapped it back as Yen’s mace took a sizable portion of the concrete off. He climbed out of her reach. They didn’t have anything that was worthless enough to throw at him. “And you’re still crazier!”

She slammed the window. She opened it, stuck her middle finger at him, then slammed it again.