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Set some time soon after Rise of the Evening Star

⟢ the discussion is about Vanessa/Warren, but features Dale & Warren ⟣
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When Warren sees Vanessa in that tower, his reality shatters. The glass fragments fall tthe floor and everywhere he goes, he gets splinters. Dale shows up to pick up the pieces.

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Warren Burgess was a man of many faces. Of course, mostly he presented as the happy, go-lucky goof that tended to put his marks at ease. Sometimes, when he looked into a mirror, he saw all the fragments of all his covers splintering the glass like spider cracks.

For each cover, he pulled from some part of himself and soon every part felt like stretched out taffy. Sometimes he couldn't go on. He thought of quitting the Knights and finding himself again. Maybe at Fablehaven with his brother or move back to the old family home.

But, then he'd think of who would miss him.

Vanessa.

Somewhere between their second and their hundredth mission together, he had fallen hard.

She had seen every mirror fragment and still basked in the light of his disco hall identity. It had felt real. It had felt true.

Of course, none of that held water anymore. It had all been an illusion. Smoke and mirrors. And she sat in the Quiet Box where she couldn't trick some other dumb, hopeless man.

The anger, the shame, the guilt, the sadness. He felt close to drowning.

When Warren had seen Vanessa in that tower, his reality had shattered. The glass fragments had fallen to the floor and everywhere he went, he got splinters.

When he heard a Greenday song, he froze. When he saw some sick car on the highway and the first thought was of how much Vanessa would like it, he felt like throwing up.

Warren couldn't decide which perspective was worse. If it had all been a lie, the entire time, and she had tricked him. Or if truly had been real and he hadn't been enough for her to slam the brakes on betrayal.

One sparked fury and the other soaked him in a sea of depression. He couldn't put out the fires and he couldn't swim to the surface. He was suspended.

Dale found him, that first night of safety.

Stars twinkled above the cottage roof, and Warren kept watching them, even when footsteps arrived next to him.

"You couldn't have known," Dale said.

Of course not. Vanessa had been good at what she did. Always had been. That's why their missions had always succeeded. She wore covers like a second skin. Almost as well as Warren.

"Yeah." Warren threw a plastic grin his way. "I think that was the whole point."

Dale placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay to miss her."

Warren stared ahead. For her, it has been a little over two years. For him, the last time he saw her felt like last week.

He remembered the promises they made. He remembered the look she gave him. The desperation she had held for him to stay and not go on the solo mission. Maybe it had been long enough for her to forget, but it wasn't for him.

Warren felt like the new Vanessa was the imposter and not the old. He kept wanting to rip off the mask, but it was already gone.

He turned to articulate some part of this into words, but as soon as he saw Dale's face and Warren opened his mouth, his voice caught and he crumbled. Dale pulled him into a hug. He wrapped his arms around his brother and squeezed.

He missed her. He really did.

That was the crux of it, right?

Vanessa could do the worst, most horrible things in the world and Warren would still be longing for their nights and days together like a blind fool.

He floated between so many flavors of grief and he just couldn't fucking breathe. His sobs broke through, racking his body and he couldn't remember the last time he cried like this—no, he could.

The freaked-out cries driving Vanessa to the hospital.

He breathed out, a rattling sound and pulled away.

Dale looked through him. "That bitch."

Warren laughed, a wet sort of sound.

At least he still had Dale.