{LUKA'S POV}
Of all the places for two assassins to lie in wait, a closet is not the most roomy option.

"Ooooo." Executioner wolf-whistles. "I remember this mission. You were so dashing!"

"Shut up." I try to readjust my position. No matter what move I make, I'm still pressed against Executioner's body in uncomfortable ways. I never should've followed her into the closet that day. She... toyed with me too much.

I'm almost relieved when the target enters his room, pulling off his tie after a long day at work. If only we weren't here to kill him.

I jump out of the closet, scaring the man. He cowers and begs for his life. There's a gunshot and the target falls, a hole in the center of his forehead.

I turn to Executioner, who hasn't lowered her smoking gun yet. "Why do you keep doing that?"

"We both know you wouldn't kill him again, even in a dream. You think you're so far above murder now." She flutters her eyelashes angelically. "I'm just moving things along nicely."

A platoon of Rune Knights marches into the room, swords and staffs at the ready. His security team, which secured the outside but not the inside.

"What fun you and I had!" Executioner empties her cartridges into the squadron, knights dropping like flies. She croons, "Come back to me, Cremator. You were a perfect assassin. You're so pathetic now. Nobody will ever love you, except for me."

"Stop it! They don't need to die!" I try to shield the Rune Knights, but her bullets pass through me like smoke. "No more needless death!"

"They're getting in your way. You should kill them." Executioner whispers in my ear. "You want this dream to end, don't you? Kill them!"

I'm sick of this. Executioner, the Rune Knights, the serial killer... it seems like everyone is out to get me. I lift my arms, preparing the same spell I used back then. I just want them all to go away.

"No!" I bolt upright, breathing heavily.

I can't say it isn't a satisfying thought, to go out on my own and hunt down this damn murderer.

They've had it out for me specifically and I want revenge. It would be so much easier to work solo. But that would be abandoning the first rule of being an assassin: I don't get to choose who lives and who dies. I just follow orders.

I can't believe I even considered bringing Cremator back from the dead.

"Geez, Luka!" Sylvie is leaning over the bed. "You were having a nightmare. You woke me up too."

That's a lie. Sylvie is such a deep sleeper, I dragged her all the way from Magnolia to Hargeon. She must've been awake, looking after me as I slept.

The bowl of ice water on the bedside table with towels in it indicates that she was wiping my sweat off and keeping my temp down. Now that I think about it, I haven't overheated recently.

I can't bare to look at her. I'm too disgusted by myself to meet her concerned gaze.

"You remembered something." Sylvie states matter-o-factly. "Talk to me."

I nod, taking a shaky breath. "Executioner and I were completing a mission. Our target was a high ranking officer in the Rune Knights. After I finished the mission, we were pinned down by an platoon of knights. It was a massacre for them. She... she was tempting me to go back to being an assassin."

"You won't."

"How could you possibly know that?" I've done nothing to earn such absolute trust.

"Because I know you, Luka. You won't go back to being an assassin." There isn't a drop of doubt in Sylvie's voice. She has complete faith in me.

I lean against Sylvie's chest, wishing I had her confidence. Executioner is dead. Whatever she says is actually coming from deep within my subconscious. I'm the problem, as always.

Whatever this moment is gets ruined by a knock on the door. It's midnight and we're in the East Forest. Sylvie and I look at each other and narrow our eyes.

"I'll go." She whispers, stepping in front of me, her eyes glowing with magic power.

I grab her wrist. "No. What if it's dangerous?"

Sylvie smiles reassuringly over her shoulder. Sometimes I underestimate how strong she is. "I can defend myself just fine, thank you. Besides, I'm not the one suspected of double homicide."

Sylvie straightens her back and walks confidently to the door. I slink closer despite her warnings to stay out of view. She opens it a crack.

"Hello, Miss Fullbuster."

"Hello, Mister Knight."

I peak out a window and see the pale uniform of a Rune Knight. Terrific.

"You're wanted for questioning regarding a case of multiple linked homicides. If you would come with me, please?" He asks politely.

She crosses her arms defiantly. "And if I wouldn't?"

I crane my neck to see his face through the window. As soon as I see who it is, I'm by Sylvie's side in an instant. I push myself between her and the knight, shielding her from view.

The Rune Knight was offering his arm to her, the same way one offers to escort a noble lady. I slap it away. The contact is brief and burns so cold it feels hot. Then my hand phases through his.

"Luka, what the hell?!" Sylvie shouts indignantly. I don't care, pushing her back further into the house.

"Pardon him, Miss Fullbuster." The knight says, smiling widely. "Luka's shocked to see my face—"

His smile keeps widening and widening and widening, until his face splits open at the corners of his mouth. Sylvie shrieks in surprise.

"—because he's the one who melted it off." The dead knight's voice sounds much more maniacal now.

"Oh my Mavis!" Sylvie gags.

I reflexively shoot out a fireball, shielding Sylvie's eyes. My aim is erratic, but the ground around the dead knight bursts into flames anyway. This isn't my inferno magic. The fire is silvery white. Rather than heat, it emanates a bone-chilling cold.

"How are you here?" I snarl. "Who sent you?"

"You don't remember me? How dare you live on like you did nothing wrong!" The knight whines like a child, his flesh slowly sloughing off his bones. "How dare you not suffer like me, bastard!"

His charred skeleton crumbles before us and disappears, revealing that it never existed in the first place. The knight was just an illusion. A dream; or rather, a nightmare from my past.

The world begins to spin.

"Luka!" Sylvie catches and lowers me to the ground slowly, before glaring up at the remains of the Rune Knight. "What did he do to you?!"

The last thing I see is her face above mine, warping from the blurry vision. I fall back into Cremator's life. Back into my former role as an assassin.

"Welcome home." Executioner whispers in my ear.

I stumble away from her as my dream changes location. This is... a memory so old I nearly forgot. A memory from my first few days as a Scythe.