Cursing his own stupidity, Vincent pushed the window open, grateful that his room was on the first floor. At the last minute, he turned and grabbed his uniform jacket from the floor, cursing himself for what he was doing. It was stupid enough that the younger man had decided to sneak out, but probably even more stupid that Vincent had decided to follow him. He had to know what was going on.

Spencer wasn't difficult to find. It was easy to tell that he was still learning his way around the place. He hid at the edge of one of the dockhouses, squatting behind a bush. Anyone patrolling the manor wouldn't be able to see him, but if they were coming from behind like Vincent was, he would be seen within seconds.

While Vincent had the forethought of bringing his jacket with him, he hadn't remembered to bring his boots, and trod through the dirt in thick woollen socks. It made it easier to sneak up on Spencer, who had all his attention on the manor and not enough on what was going on around him.

"What are you doing out here, Spencer?" he whispered as he ducked down behind him.

Spencer barked out a curse and spun, knocking his shoulder into the wall of the dock house. "What the fuck, Vince?" he hissed, his lips pulled up into a sneer. "What are you doing here?"

"I asked first," he replied, trying for a cheeky grin, but all he got was a glare in response. He sighed, the smile dropping from his face. "I saw you sneaking around. I wanted to know what you were doing."

"I'm learning," Spencer said but didn't give him anything more than that.

There wasn't much to see past the bushes and the dockhouses. People patrolled the grey wall that blocked them off from the manor, staring out into the distance but not seeing the two people huddled in the bushes nearby. Behind them lay the ocean. Small waves crashed onto the beach and filled the air with the calming smell of salt water.

Vincent should have left it at that and walked away, but his own curiosity was too much. "What have you learnt so far?" he asked.

"I thought you weren't interested?" Spencer asked. Gone was the cheerful and joking tone Vincent was used to, replaced with something serious, something angry. He was supposed to be the one that snapped, that got fed up, not Spencer.

"I'm sorry," he whispered before he could stop himself. Spencer had never apologised for stealing from him, but Vincent would apologise for questioning him once when he had no real reason to. "I haven't known you to care so much. I'm sorry for making you angry. I'm interested, I just... This isn't any of my business. I just want to get in and get out."

This time, Spencer laughed and a spark of relief hit Vincent's chest. "It's none of mine either, but isn't this who we are? What we do?" he asked and there was so much seriousness to his voice that Vincent didn't know what to think. "I don't know what I'm going to do with the information I get, but I just want to know. It will make life a little easier if I know why things are the way they are."

"Even if you can't do a thing to change it?"

"Even then," Spencer answered with a shrug. "Sometimes it's better to know... Are you going to come with me?"

He could have easily said no, walked away and left Spencer to do whatever he wanted to do. They had never worked together before, unless you counted the first time they met, but Vincent stole from him not long after that, starting their constant fights and arguments. But he didn't want to walk away, even if it meant sticking with Spencer for who knew how long.

In the end, he sighed and nodded at him. "Are we going into the manor?" he asked.

"This time."

"This time? How many times have you snuck out already?"

"Every night since we arrived," he replied, grinning smugly.

Vincent sighed again, but couldn't say he was surprised. After everything he had heard over the last few days, it made sense that Spencer would be sneaking around as much as he could. "Lead the way then," he said. "Tell me what you've learned so far too."

But, of course, he wasn't going to get any answers out of Spencer without pushing for them. "Aww, look at us, finally working together," he said, clasping his hands together. "Who would have thought, huh?"

"Not in the mood, Spencer," he replied, letting out a short gasp when the other man grabbed his wrist and pulled him from the safety of the bushes. He kept his mouth shut as they darted over to the wall and down towards the ocean.

"A guard just passed by so we should have about five minutes before the next one shows up," Spencer said as they ducked around the corner of the wall, his hand warm against Vincent's wrist. "They keep people stationed at the back gate during the day but not at night, probably to monitor shipments into the manor or something. I don't know for sure."

He must have been watching for hours over the last few nights if he knew so much. It should have crossed Vincent's mind to scope out the manor for escape routes in case things went wrong or hidden places where he might be able to steal things without getting caught, but he'd been too distracted by everything that had happened to bother. Anyone else would have called him a terrible ranger.

"Have you been watching them every night?" he whispered, an embarrassed blush on his cheeks.

"Not the first night. I walked around New Feridian then. I wanted to see what it was like," he replied, trailing off as if he thought Vincent was going to say something. When he didn't, he shot him a look and picked back up again. "It's quieter than I thought, but it's pretty. I don't think I've seen this many people in one place before."

Vincent had a few times when he was a child, but he just hummed in response, not sure what to say. He didn't care much about the city, it wasn't somewhere he wanted to stay, but there was something nice about hearing Spencer talk about it. Maybe it was because he didn't have to listen to him tease him for once.

The back gate, a wrought iron set of bars, was unguarded when they reached it. It faced the ocean, which still raged against the shore. The noise would be the perfect thing to hide the sound of the gate opening. Spencer dropped his wrist and checked over his shoulder for anyone watching. Vincent peeked through the gate, but wasn't able to see much. They would have to hope that no one was coming around as they entered.

Unlike the front gate, the back one didn't squeak and squeal as Spencer opened it. There was no one on the other side and with a grin, Spencer moved to let Vincent pass. He barely took two steps into the grounds of the manor before a hand grabbed his wrist again and he froze, waiting for someone to catch them.

"Where are your shoes?" Spencer asked. Vincent could have laughed at how silly it was, but he would give them away.

"Is that really important right now?" he asked, but all Spencer did was squeeze his wrist in response. "I left them in my room. Besides, it's easier to sneak around without them out. It's not as loud."

Spencer raised an eyebrow at him for a second. "Whatever. I'm not helping you if you cut yourself on something," he said and pulled him towards the manor. It wouldn't be long before the guards came back around and they had to get somewhere where they wouldn't be spotted.

They moved around the side of the manor, but Vincent had no idea where Spencer was trying to take him. The only lights came from the second floor, where Governor Thompson and the few others that lived in the massive house were getting ready to sleep. Despite Spencer's loud stomping, they should be able to do whatever it was he wanted to do without being heard by anyone.

After a few minutes of crouching under windows and behind Charlotte's wilting rose bushes, Spencer pulled him to a stop below an unfamiliar window. After checking that no one was watching or inside the room, Vincent slowly pushed the window open. He gritted his teeth at the noise it made and prayed that no one was nearby to hear it. The guards were surprisingly lax considering Nicholas's insistence that they were the best out there.

Spencer climbed in first and Vincent waited below the window for a few tense seconds, waiting for an all clear. "Come on," came a hushed hiss above him. He pushed himself through the window, and used Spencer as a crutch to get back on his feet.

The room was dark, but the light from the moon was enough for him to see the desk at the end, surrounded by fully furnished bookshelves. There was a soft rug in the middle, two loveseats on either side of it, but not much else in the room. Little trinkets covered the desk and the shelves, things that could have easily been sold or given to the poor. They were useless little things.

"Where are we?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"I think it's the Governor's office, that's what I was aiming for anyway," Spencer replied, as he walked over to the desk and picked up a small wooden block. "No, it's her advisor's. That's close enough, I suppose"

"I guess," Vincent muttered, not paying too much attention. It didn't surprise him that the Governor's moody advisor had so many valuable, but useless belongings. People struggled to survive while those at the top held things that could feed them for weeks.

The sound of papers shuffling and drawers being opened filled the room, far too loud in the silence of the night. Spencer was silent as he flicked through papers, inspecting them as if he was actually able to read them in the dark. When he caught Vincent watching, he gestured for him to come over and handed him a stack of papers.

"Remember where you take things from," he said as if he hadn't just handed him papers without telling him where they came from.

"What am I even looking for?"

"Anything interesting."

Even with vireen, it was too hard to read the papers in the dark, but it was easy to tell that they were letters of some kind. They probably held information regarding what was going on in Ilsania, but there was no way they could read them without stealing them and no way of stealing them without alerting Nicholas. Theft had to be smart and safe, they couldn't get caught.

He handed the papers back with a shake of his head and Spencer placed them carefully back on the stack at the end of the desk. With pursed lips and far too much curiosity, Vincent pulled open one of the drawers. The top held only more papers that they would have to come back and have a look at during the day. The second was almost the same, except tucked right at the back was a cloth-wrapped lump.

There was a familiar feeling to it as he pulled it out of the drawer. Spencer stopped flicking through the papers on the desk and watched as he unwrapped the soft cloth. It was a rock or a metal, hard and cold. From what he could see, there was nothing special about it, but it wouldn't be tucked away in the back of a drawer if it wasn't important.

He slipped it from the cloth and was only able to touch the cool lump before a familiar thrill shot through him. His hand clamped tightly to the small rock as his legs shook, struggling to hold him up. It was so familiar, but so much stronger than anything he was used to, strong enough to make him feel like he was flying and falling all at once.

"Vincent," Spencer hissed next him, a hand on his shoulder. "Vincent, what is it?"

"Vireen," he said in a choked breath. It was so much more powerful than anything he had ever smoked or eaten. But it shouldn't be possible. Vireen was a plant, not a metal or rock, but the feeling was exactly the same, just stronger. There was nothing else it could possibly be, nothing else that could give him the same high, the same power.

Spencer went to snatch it from him, but noises outside the office door made them both freeze. Even though he was on a high, struggling to get a grip on the magic flowing through his veins at merely a touch, he was lucid enough to wrap the rock back up again. He was tucking it back into the draw when the voices drifted towards them.

"I'll be retiring in a few minutes, ma'am," Nicholas's gruff voice said. "I forgot about a couple of things. I'm going to sort them now."

The Governor replied but she was too far away for Vincent to hear. Shutting the drawer as quietly as he could, he grabbed Spencer's hand and pulled him back over to the window. Internally, he was cursing, but he could still feel the vireen pulsing through him, even though he was no longer touching the rock. He couldn't focus it on anything, not like he could when he smoked it. There was too much.

He was through the window in an instant, Nicholas's voice following him. Spencer stared at him with wide eyes, looking far younger than he ever had before and Vincent helped him climb out, pulling him close as they ducked below the windowsill once again. He reached up to close the window, but light spilling into the room made him duck back down.

Footsteps thudded towards them and Vincent held tight to Spencer's arm, anxiety mixing with adrenaline and his overwhelmed senses. Everything was heightened, like when he had smoked vireen, but so much worse. He could hear every creak in the wood as Nicholas walked through his office, feel the itchy material of Spencer's jacket tormenting his fingers, he could see better in the dark, see just how wilted to roses before him were.

It also meant that he could hear where the guards were. The way back to the gate was clear, their only issue was leaving the bushes without being heard by Nicholas. If they waited until he was gone, then the guards would see them huddling in the bushes. The Governor may appear nice when he was working with her, but he had the feeling she wouldn't take too kindly to known criminals sneaking around her house.

He didn't want to take any chances. He placed a finger to his lips and pulled Spencer by the hand once again. Every brush against the bushes was loud in his ears, but it was a windy night and the noise could easily be passed off as the breeze. Within seconds, they were back against the brick wall and heading towards the gate, feet pounding against the dirt.

There was no shadow at the window as they ran, no one came to close it, but the light bathed the garden ominously, as if even the air itself was waiting for someone to find them. Somehow, they had gotten away without issue, but there was still a tense rock in Vincent's stomach.

Spencer pulled away from him to open the gate, panting hard. Trying to push through all the noises around him and the sound of the waves in the distance, it wasn't until the last second that he heard the footsteps on the other side of the wall. "Spencer, wait," he hissed, but it was too late.

The woman on the other side of the wall let out a gasp when Spencer nearly crashed into her. "What the-" she yelled, a hand reaching for her gun. Her eyes widened when she caught sight of Vincent behind him and she let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, you're guards. Are you coming off patrol?"

"We are," Spencer said, glancing back at Vincent in concern. "Sorry for scaring you, it wasn't our intention."

The woman said something, waving at them dismissively, but Vincent struggled to hear it over everything else. He mumbled a half-assed apology and walked off towards the dormitory building again, hoping Spencer would follow him. Footsteps pounded after him all the way to his window, where he climbed in and collapsed onto his bed.

"Vincent," Spencer whispered, but it sounded like a yell. "Are you alright?"

He shook his head. "I have never been this high before," he answered.

"Are you sure that was vireen?" Spencer asked, but all Vincent could do was shrug. He had no idea what it was, but it felt terrible and amazing all at once. One touch and he had never felt so powerful but also so overwhelmed.

He glanced over at Spencer, who was leaning against his windowsill and watching him in concern. A smile pulled at Vincent's lips, but he didn't know why. Maybe it was the thrill of the vireen, the thrill of almost being caught, the questions racing through his mind. Then his vision began to swim and there wasn't enough time to warn Spencer before everything fell to darkness.