to the present, leave a _____

The night proved eventful—one drink turned into another, and soon Lucian had to help Zane and Shay make it the rest of the way back.

“Ugh… I miss home,” Shay groaned, stumbling over his feet. “Y’know, I was always the… light of the party, just fucking around. Used to juggle some hammers. Chug a glass for each one I dropped. Should’ve done it again, those guy’s would’ve loved it…”

“Yeah, that would’ve been awesome,” Zane said. “Next time?”

“Next time. Uh. Hey, kid, I got a question.”

“Yuh?”

“Do you still hate me?”

Zane laughed, slumping over Shay’s shoulder. “You piss me off all the time, but it’s part of your charm. Better than getting pissed off at this—stupid, shitty world.”

“Shitty piece of shit world!” Shay threw a fist in the air, and Zane followed him. Lucian clasped his hands in front of him and sighed.

“You guys… remember, tomorrow we have another meeting. We need to prepare ourselves—especially you, Zane.”

“I knowwwwww.”

“I’m sure you do. Maybe I can make some hangover cures tomorrow morning.”

Zane laughed, patting Lucian on the back. “You’d make an awesome housewife. In another life…”

“Um—thank you.”

If only Zane’s mind let him black out now.

—————————————

Morning light pierced through the thin curtains and roused his blurred consciousness. Zane blinked, adjusted to the world amidst his blistering headache, the weight in his limbs, and the bright blue eyes staring back—

“…What.” Zane rubbed his eyes. Lucian’s mother loomed over him unblinking, holding a kitchen knife she hid behind her back when she noticed he wasn’t completely out of it.

“Good morning,” she said. “Breakfast is ready. Please, wake up, before you can’t anymore.”

Zane bolted out of bed, threw his clothes on and hurried downstairs. Forget hangover cures, Lucian’s creepy mom jolted the life back into him without much effort.

“Hey, am I up late?” Zane called as he rushed down the stairs. Shay groaned a greeting between mouthfuls of food while Lucian waved.

“No, you’re fine, you’re fine! You’re only a little late, but with everything that’s happened, I thought you deserved the rest.” Lucian patted the seat next to him; Zane took it, stretching out. “Um, I made breakfast. This time it’s not rotten, I promise.”

“And it’s delicious,” Shay said before shoving more bacon down his throat. “Told you adding a lil pepper to the egg makes a world of a difference.”

Lucian smiled. “No, thank you for helping. I’m surprised you’re doing so well, after all the drinking last night.”

“Eh. I’m hardy.”

“They say Dwim has livers of steel,” Zane said.

Shay huffed, crossing his arms. “Hey, stereotyping.”

“Sorry, sorry. Hey, pass me some bacon.”

The trio chowed their way through most of the food, but one plate laid off to the side, carefully prepared. “Effie said she wanted to meet us at our inn today,” Lucian said. “Um. Last night. We managed to give out all the fliers, so we’re hoping for some decent turnout today.”

Shay tapped a paper on the table, which depicted a drawn diagram of the warehouse, its doors alongside places for the audience.

“We’ve been drawing up a battle plan too,” Shay said. “Just in case some bozos try to pull something again. We’ve gotta be ready to fight ‘em off and show those fools we’re not here to mess around.”

“Oh, agreed,” Zane said, pounding his fists together. “I—”

The door opened, the light bell jingle accompanying an equally ringing voice. “Good morning! Ooh, something smells delicious.”

Effie made her way to the table and ate her breakfast without another word. It was kind of incredible how the mere presence of food lured her in just like that. Zane had to give some props.

“You like it, don’t you?” Lucian said. Effie gulped her eggs and gave him a thumbs up.

“Gold star! Ten gold stars! No, make that a hundred!”

“Thank you!”

Zane cleared his throat. “So, the plan for today. Enjoy your food, but we’ve already drafted some ideas. Mostly security details, in case another fight breaks out, but I’ve got an idea of what I wanna say.”

“Oh… neat.”

Effie pursed her lips, and Zane wondered. Before, she revealed something—a sliver of silence, discomfort. And Zane wasn’t stupid. He saw it again, and this time, he refused to let it pass. “Hey, something wrong?”

“What? No, everything’s fine! Awesome! It’s just sooo hot outside, and everything’s sooooo busy, and this foods sooooooo good! What’d you put in it, Lucian?”

“Um—”

“Actually, no, wait, lemme guess!” Effie laughed. “This is gonna be so fun. Okay, first guess: salt!”

Lucian frowned. “Do people not put salt in their eggs?”

Enough of this—Zane slammed a fist against the table. “C’mon, stop doing that. If you wanna beat around the bush, then do it somewhere else. Otherwise, you can talk like an adult and tell us what’s up.”

“Um…” Effie looked down, hands buried in her lap.

Shay shook his head, tapping his hammer against the table while giving Zane a look. “Listen, I’m not making these plans ‘cause I wanna beat people up,” Shay said. “But we gotta. We can’t let those thugs push us around like we’re putty they can mold to be whatever the hell they want.”

“I’m not saying you can’t, I just don’t, like…” Effie sighed, planting her elbows on the table. “I guess I’m just like, nervous. Is that so wrong?”

“Nervous? We’ll take care of them. Just focus on your group.”

“I guess I feel bad. You know, like, those people are probably just being hired to get a job done, they don’t really care about my group. When has violence ever gotten anyone anywhere?”

…Zane thought of a number of instances where violence got him somewhere he needed to be, but it didn’t seem to be the best time to bring them up.

So, instead— “I get it, but—at the end of the day, people’ll make the choices they do. They’ll hurt people, they’ll hide behind help, and they won’t stop ‘till you give them actual reasons to. We’re not causing problems for the fun of it. We’re doing what we can to stop more violence.”

Zane held a hand out.

“Trust us. We wanna keep you and your friends safe. Work with us, ‘k? And if you have any problems, just talk to us. Please.”

Effie took a deep breath. She looked anywhere but Zane, before slumping over the table.

“I—yeah. I’ll try. I promise.”

A promise.

That’d be good enough for now.

“Trust me,” Shay said, “I’m a lover, not a fighter. Can’t say much about these two though.”

Lucian and Zane shot out of their seats. “Hey!”