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03 OCT 34AE, 1015

12 days before Operation Cliffhanger

Camilla must have been seriously distracted when she stumbled into the training room that morning. That was the only explanation for why she forgot to lock the door behind her, and how she didn't even notice until Jordan snuck in a few hours later. But by then, the damage was done, and Camilla wasn't rude enough to kick him out even if she was annoyed by his presence. Besides, Jordan seemed desperate enough to earn some sympathy from Camilla, and he promised to be so discreet that she wouldn't even know she was there.

"Don't you have your own assignments?" Camilla asked, trying to pull Jordan's curious gaze away from the bucket of water in the middle of the room. "I thought you and your brother were gathering supplies from all your connections."

"We are," Jordan agreed. "We got the first delivery today, and we must have taken inventory at least three times, but my brother insists on counting it again. And he'll probably want us to check it again after that." He let out a forlorn sigh. "I'm pretty sure he's having work withdrawals."

"And you have to hide out here?" Camilla asked. "There's absolutely nowhere else you can go?"

Jordan shrugged. "I'm pretty sure he's scared of you. Or, he at least tries to avoid you." The next time he met Camilla's gaze, he made his eyes wide and put on a slightly pouty face. "So can you help me?"

Camilla raised an eyebrow but managed to stifle an exhausted sigh. As much as she didn't believe he wouldn't bother her, she let him stay, and watched as he made himself at home. He wedged himself into one of the corners of the room, took out his phone and a pair of earphones, and in seconds he was entranced by whatever he was watching on his screen.

After ensuring he was settled, Camilla initially had a hard time finding her focus again, and it took her several minutes before she could concentrate on the task at hand. Not that it made a difference though, and no matter how hard she tried, she still couldn't make her abilities work. All she was trying to do was heat a bucket of water, since she grew tired of freezing her hands off, but she couldn't even do that.

Whatever AJ had shown her hadn't helped, especially since Camilla had no idea what it meant. If anything, it made Camilla even more frustrated to have to relive a compilation of her life's "greatest hits," as if she didn't have enough to worry about already.

AJ had said she would show Camilla what was keeping her abilities from working, and all Camilla got were snippets of the times she was filled with fear, anger, or pain. So if AJ was implying that Camilla was the problem, then Camilla wanted a refund; what was the point in going through all that trouble to tell her something she already knew?

"Damn it," Camilla mumbled, and she directed a frustrated kick at the water bucket in front of her.

Thankfully, she learned her lesson from having to clean up from the first day and she reigned in her kick enough to only give the bucket a gentle nudge. Except the dull thud that her foot made against the bucket and the feeble ripple in the water that followed seemed to irritate Camilla even more, and she scoffed loudly, almost ready to lash out at the inanimate object.

It wasn't until that moment that Camilla remembered Jordan was still in the room. She quickly spun around, ready to glare at him into silence if necessary.

But when she faced him, he wasn't paying her any attention. In fact, he was so enamored by his phone that he had completely slumped down the wall at some point. He was essentially lying on the floor, leaving his head as the only part of him that was still touching the wall.

He must have felt her piercing stare because he looked up a second later, his face blank. While he took one look at the bucket in front of her, his eyes didn't linger there, and he took out one of his earbuds the next time his eyes found her.

"Did you want to watch?" he asked simply as he straightened his posture, as if he had no idea Camilla was just about ready to beat up a bucket of water. Or maybe he knew, but he just didn't care.

"Sure," Camilla answered before she even realized what she was saying.

But her mind was too tired to think, so shuffled over to Jordan and accepted his offered earbud when she sat down next to him.

"What are we watching?" she asked, only seeing a colorful animation paused on Jordan's phone.

"One of my favorite anime," Jordan explained, then side-eyed Camilla nervously. "You're not going to call me a nerd, are you?"

"No?" Camilla replied, a little confused. "Unless you want me to?"

Jordan pondered her words for a moment before shrugging.

"I suppose it can be endearing sometimes," he acknowledged before shifting his posture a little, and he slowly began to slide down the wall once more. "Better get comfy; once you get into it, you're not gonna wanna leave."

Camilla doubted that, but she still managed a slight huff of laughter at Jordan's exaggeration. Regardless of whether Jordan's show was actually good or not, Camilla was too tired to think, and she let her mind become entranced by flashy colors, catchy music, and fictional stories as her frustrations slowly slipped away.

Camilla was so distracted that when Jordan spoke up an indeterminate amount of time later, it took a moment for Camilla to notice.

"I mean, you don't have to talk about it, of course," Jordan stammered when Camilla turned to him. "But you know that. That you don't have to talk about it. If you don't want to. You're a... strong, independent woman that doesn't listen to anyone. I think."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You can do what you want," Jordan continued. "I meant... like hobbies, not people. Well, people too, I guess. Like... Elsie? Only if you want, of course."

Camilla sighed softly. "Thanks, but I didn't hear your original question."

"Oh." Jordan clamped his mouth shut and turned back to his phone, but it was clear his darting eyes weren't actually watching anything.

After a minute of silence, Camilla played along, facing the tiny phone screen once more. She didn't like to be pressured to talk, and she wasn't about to put Jordan through that either.

"It's just..." Jordan eventually whispered, "what you mentioned a couple months back... after the Alliance broke you guys out... I just wanted to say that if you ever want someone to talk about that with, I can listen."

It was Camilla's turn to remain silent. She remembered her confrontation against Senior and how she released emotions she never intended anyone besides her to know about. It wasn't one of her proudest moments, and the fact that she had been able to use her abilities then and not now made the memory even more frustrating.

But she knew that wasn't what Jordan was referring to. After all, hadn't Minyoung questioned her about the same thing a lifetime ago?

"The drugs?" Camilla asked, and as she continued to watch the vibrant animation, her vision was unfocused, more concerned with the chaos within her mind.

Still, she saw Jordan nod slowly beside her. "I'm not sure how much you know about me, but... I can kind of understand. Sort of."

Camilla paused. "Just what the news said. And... Minyoung did threaten me a little a while back, but that's it."

Jordan chuckled lightly. "He's harmless. Throw some candy at him and he'll be distracted for at least an hour."

"And you're any better?"

"Absolutely not."

After they shared a small laugh, silence returned.

"What happened to Minyoung was... one thing, yeah," Jordan eventually continued. "There was someone else too... Someone that wasn't as lucky."

As Jordan's voice began to waver and his phone began to shake in his hand, Camilla reached out and helped him hold it steady; Jordan inhaled deeply.

"One of my bandmates... People gave him stuff to make him more... 'appealing,' or whatever." Jordan scoffed, but it was more sad than bitter. "They couldn't tell that he was amazing all on his own. And I blame those people—not him—for what happened to him. He just... wanted to be happy. I can't blame him for that. I just... I just wish we could've been happy together."

Camilla felt her breath catch in her chest. If Jordan was implying what she thought he was, it definitely wasn't what she expected, and no news report could've prepared her for such an admission. She knew he had lost a friend to an overdose; she hadn't expected the late singer's story to relate so closely to her own, especially considering how close she had been to death not long ago.

"Don't get me wrong, I love—I mean, I like Mack," Jordan hurriedly continued. "I like Mack. Definitely like. Like, a lot. Now. But back then... I guess I thought what I had with... him would be stronger than anything. That together, we could do anything. Even if no one else could know."

When Jordan sniffed, Camilla felt her own heart ache. Is this what Elsie had to endure when Camilla was gone? Is this what she would've been like if Camilla had never returned?

Without thinking, Camilla shifted towards Jordan, just enough so their arms touched. The movement surprised Camilla more than Jordan, and he didn't hesitate to rest his head on her shoulder, a feat only possible with his tall frame already so close to lying down.

"What I'm saying is that whatever those people made you do—whatever you're struggling with now—it's not your fault," Jordan said, his voice surprisingly steady. "It's their fault for putting you through all of it, and you're just doing what you can to overcome it. That on its own makes you strong; that's what makes you amazing. And you should be proud of that. I know Elsie is."

After a moment, Camilla nodded; the small phone screen was now a blur to her teary eyes, but she kept her focus on it anyway. "Thank you. And... you should be proud of yourself too—for making it through that."

Jordan let out a soft, short laugh. "Thanks. I had help though. Minyoung, of course—he got me here and out of that mess. And Elsie too. She may not have known me yet, but she was willing to fake date me all because she was friends with Minyoung. I don't know where I would be without them."

Again, Camilla nodded. "Me too. But just Elsie though; I think Minyoung would rather not know me."

This time, Jordan's laugh was stronger. "He'll warm up to you eventually. Maybe. With enough sweets."

Camilla couldn't help but chuckle as well. And in the silence that followed, they both continued to watch Jordan's phone, allowing themselves to be lost in fiction for a moment longer.

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04 OCT 34AE

11 days before Operation Cliffhanger

Ian Juneau was back, his consciousness fully returned, along with most of his memories.

Word on his miraculous recovery spread across the hideout quickly, and Camilla was almost certain the move was intentional. There was no better way to boost morale than a real-life feel-good story, and their pseudo troops definitely needed the encouragement. Evidently, there had been multiple confrontations between the Alliance and Exodos members while in training, and they sorely needed a common motivation to rally behind. Thankfully, Ian's news did the trick.

As happy for the Juneaus as Camilla was, Ian's recovery didn't affect her very much. She hadn't known Ian like some of the Alliance had, and their only shared experience where Hester messed with both of their minds wasn't something Camilla wanted to advertise.

So when Mack asked her for a favor and had her sneak some food to the Juneau siblings in the infirmary, Camilla didn't think she was the best candidate for the job. Unfortunately, she was also the only candidate since everyone else had their own assignments to attend to, so she had begrudgingly agreed.

The infirmary surprisingly had a few more patrons than normal, courtesy of those who injured themselves during the training sessions. Thankfully, the only people around Ian's bed were AJ and Quentin, both of them acting uncharacteristically chipper as they filled their brother in on everything he missed over the years. Quentin's enthusiasm was especially interesting to see since Camilla had only ever seen him as a nervous newbie at the Games, a bitter presence on the warfront, and a petulant child around the hideout.

It was Quentin that spotted Camilla first, and he immediately glared at her with a suspicious look that Camilla coldly returned.

"Camilla!" AJ greeted peppily as she cut off their staredown. "Mack sent you?"

Camilla glared at Quentin one last time before nodding at AJ, then handing her two small, discreet cardboard boxes that Mack had expertly stuffed with food. "He mentioned something about a request for something better than canned soup."

"Soup?" AJ repeated, confused, as she set the boxes on her brother's bed. "I just asked him to get me and Q some lunch while we were here. Unless..."

Her eyebrows furrowed, and she spun around towards Ian who was curiously inspecting one of the boxes.

"That was you, wasn't it?" she accused Ian.

"Never!" Ian quickly responded, and while his voice was extremely rough and faint from disuse, he was obviously feigning innocence.

"Because you know you shouldn't be eating solid food yet," AJ continued, suddenly sounding like a stern mother. "You have to ease back into it; ask Camilla. She knows."

The last thing Camilla wanted at that moment was to be dragged into their family feud, but she kept her mouth shut and her presence to a minimum.

"Yes, mom," Ian said as he nodded impatiently, obviously familiar with this behavior from his sister, then nudged his chin in Camilla's direction. "But shouldn't you be thanking her?"

AJ let out a long, restrained sigh, then slid the boxes to the foot of Ian's bed before glancing at Quentin.

"Watch him, okay?" she ordered, then turned back to Camilla. "Thanks, by the way. No one gave you a hard time, did they?"

Out of the corner of Camilla's eye, she saw Ian gesturing to her by moving his hand in a circle—keep her talking—then whispering to Quentin. In response, Quentin quickly nodded, and while he kept a wary eye on AJ, he began to quietly rifle through the boxes.

"I think a couple people wanted to stop me," Camilla answered. She wasn't very good at thinking up things on the spot—Elsie was probably better at improv than she was—so she tried her best to talk slightly slower than normal. "They seemed to back off when I glared at them, though."

AJ's light laughter was a little unnerving, but Camilla didn't comment. Behind AJ, Quentin had found a small piece of meatloaf wrapped in several layers of napkins, and he passed it over to Ian's grabby hands.

"They're scared of me too," AJ said. "I don't know what the big deal is though, taking food out of the cafeteria. It's probably just Senior trying to enforce the Org's militaristic regime wherever she goes."

Camilla merely hummed in response. Ian had already almost finished off the meatloaf, and he was about to move on to the mac and cheese in a cup.

"I can't wait to get back out there, though," AJ continued. "In the real world, I mean. Although, whatever politics is left will probably force us to become guardians again somehow... or they'll arrest us all."

Camilla hummed again. Ian looked like he almost choked on something and was attempting to quietly cough it up while Quentin tried to coax it out with his abilities.

"But whatever," AJ shrugged. "They can try what they want. As long as I have these two brats with me, I'll be good."

AJ turned back around with a grin, just as Quentin successfully held up the macaroni noodle that Ian had choked on. In the silence that followed, the Juneau siblings' joy slowly faded, and the brothers' eyes dropped guiltily under their sister's furious glare.

"Thanks for the food, Camilla," AJ said, her voice now eerily calm and her eyes still focused on her brothers. "But could you leave now?"

Camilla began heading for the door immediately, happy to stay out of their impending quarrel.

"Just don't kill them," Camilla muttered.

"I'm not making any promises," AJ replied smoothly.

And the sound of startled yelps and stern lectures accompanied Camilla's exit.

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