JACE

"What am I going to do?" I mutter as I put my key into the lock on my front door, pulling my key out once it unlocks and pushing the door open.

I put my keys back into my pocket before taking off my shoes and walking into the house, looking around the corner to find Misa setting dinner plates in the kitchen and my father sitting on the couch, filling out papers on the coffee table.

"Oh, there you are," My dad says upon seeing me enter, "Misa told me you left early again and I was beginning to get a bit concerned as to what you've been doing all the time. You've been leaving early quite a lot lately."

"Um," I rub the back of my neck, "Yeah. I keep going out into the city to find information. I didn't think I was really causing a problem."

"No," He waves it off, "No, you're fine. And I invited Misa to dinner, as you can see. You two haven't been able to spend much time together and I figured it'd be nice to have her over."

"Yeah," I nod and glance over at Misa, who watches me almost as if she knows what I've been up to.

"And I meant to give this to you earlier, but you weren't around," My dad says, bringing my attention back to him, and I notice that he's holding a pile of white envelopes tied together by a worn, tan string, "These are items concerning your newest mission."

I walk over to my father, who hands me the letters, and I glance down at them and see that they're all addressed to Clattonia.

"What are these?" I ask.

"They're letters from your target to her daughter that were intercepted. She's been trying to send her daughter letters for years, but we've collected them all," My father says.

"You what? Why would you do that?" I raise my eyebrows in mortification.

"What's the problem?" My dad raises a brow at me and his green eyes search my blue ones suspiciously, "They could contain secret information or conspiracies constructed by Myfanwy to Clattonia. Is there a problem with doing what you believe keeps your country safe?"

"No," I say carefully, "It's just..."

It's just inhumane. And sure, you want to do what's best for your country, but don't be a tyrant about it. Whenever you start stripping away freedoms and the things that make us who we are and what keeps us grounded, then you become just as bad as the people you're trying to protect us from. But I know that I can't say that, not to him.

"Just what, Jace?" My dad asks expectantly.

"Nothing," I shake my head, "Nevermind."

"You don't have a real backbone..." I clench my fist as Reece's words run through my head and I glance off to the side, scoffing silently to myself.

"If you say so," My dad shrugs and goes back to filling out papers.

"Come on boys, get along," Misa chides from the kitchen as she stirs a pot of mac and cheese, "Sometimes I'm the adult around here, I swear."

"Says the girl who haphazardly runs across streets," I shoot Misa a sharp look as I walk into the kitchen and she rolls her eyes at me.

"Whatever," She says and sticks her tongue out at me.

"Is there anything I can help with?" I ask.

"Yeah," Misa nods in the direction of the fridge, "Could you stir the lemonade I made? I want to make sure that it's properly mixed. I put it on the bottom shelf in the fridge."

"Sure," I nod and head over to the fridge, opening the door and grabbing the pitcher of lemonade before kicking the fridge shut with my foot.

I walk over to beside Misa and set the pitcher down on an empty space beside her and grab a spoon from out of one of the drawers and begin to stir the lemonade, mixing the ingredients together. Beside me, Misa stops stirring the pot of mac and cheese before grabbing a bag of powdered cheese and adding it to the cheese that already came with it that she finished stirring in.

"Geez," I glance over at her as she dumps the powder in and begins to stir the mac and cheese again, "Overkill much?"

"Shut up, it tastes good. If you don't want any, then you can make your own food," Misa huffs.

"I--"

Behind me, the microwave timer goes off and Misa whirls around to go to the oven and she pulls out a tray of garlic breadsticks.

"Dinner is ready," She says and my father glances over at us as Misa butters the breadsticks.

"You know, you would do well to marry someone like her," My father nods towards Misa, "She's a hard worker who has good morals and she's great at cooking too."

"Aw, no need to flatter me, Mr. Athens," Misa waves off the compliment but smiles nevertheless, her black ponytail swooshing around as she gets dinner settled by moving the pot to the table, placing it on a pot holder, and leaving the tray of breadsticks on the counter.

I sigh and carry the pitcher of lemonade over to the table and set it down beside the pot of mac and cheese while Misa grabs one of the plates and starts scooping out mac and cheese for herself.

"Too bad he's already got his eye on a certain girl," Asylum says as he walks into the living room, waving a stack of papers around.

"Oh?" I raise a brow at Asylum, "I do?"

Asylum smirks to himself as he walks over to my father and hands him the stack of papers.

"I got the papers you wanted me to dig up, although, I must say, I don't know what you'd want to know about the demographic in Shinjuku," Asylum says as he scratches the side of his head before adjusting his goggles.

"Thanks," My father nods towards Asylum, "And I'm planning a trip to Tokyo soon. I'll be going through Shinjuku and I just wanted to check on something. Could you look after my files while I'm gone, Asylum?"

"Uh, sure," Asylum nods, "And I'll be going now. It was nice seeing you guys."

"Please," My father waves, "Stay for dinner."

"I can't. I just came by to drop off the papers you wanted. I have to go to class. I'm still a college student, ya know," Asylum says with a slight smile before walking past us and waving to me and Misa by putting his index and middle finger together and flicking his wrist, "See you guys later."

"You're planning a trip to Tokyo?" I ask as Asylum goes out the front door.

"Oh, yeah, I meant to tell you," My father says as he glances over the papers Asylum brought him once more, "I'm going to Tokyo for a week starting next week."

"That's three days from now," I raise a brow at him, "And you forgot to tell me?"

"I would've told you eventually," He shrugs, "I just got busy with work. You know how it is."

"Yeah," I mutter and Misa looks at me sadly, "I do know how it is..."

***

Late at night while I'm in my room, I decide to call Asylum to see what his thoughts are on my mission and just what I should do. After a few rings, he picks up.

"Hello?" His voice comes through clear as I lie there in my bed and stare at the wall across from my bed as moonlight streams through the curtains.

"Hey, Asylum, can I ask you something?"

"You just did," Asylum chuckles, "But in all seriousness, what is it? I just got out of my classes and I'm heading home."

"It's about my mission," I start.

"Let me guess, it has something to do with your pink haired friend?" Asylum says, "Clattonia, is it?"

"Yeah," I nod to myself, "That's the one. Is that who you were saying I have my eye on?"

"Yeah," Asylum laughs, "I was just kidding though. But..."

"But?"

"Mhm," Asylum hums, "It just seemed to me like you really care about her whenever I first saw you two together. That's all I'm sayin'."

"Right, well, my mission is to neutralize her mother. You read her file, you know what happened."

"And I'm guessing that you haven't told her that yet, have you?" Asylum asks.

"No," I sigh, "I don't know how to go about it. I mean, it means that her mother is alive and around here somewhere. And I was given letters earlier that her mother wrote that were supposed to be sent to her, but they were intercepted in the mail. Her mom probably thinks that they all went through and that she just never wrote her back, harboring resentment towards her for leaving her whenever she was little. But even still, she kept writing to her all those years, despite never getting a letter back."

"Wow," Asylum breathes out, "That's harsh. Stopping letters from loved ones? Geesh. I'm guessing that you want to tell her about those too?"

"Yeah," I say, "Of course, but, where do I start?"

"She's not gonna hold it against you, ya know," Asylum starts, "Just tell her the truth. If you really trust her, you should know that she won't assume you're going to go through with it. She won't feel like you sold her out if you just tell her and be honest about it, man. At least, that's how I feel. It's not like you did anything wrong to begin with."

"I know, I just don't want her to think I'm actually going to do it or for her to feel betrayed," I say, "I don't want to lose her."

"You won't," Asylum says, "And I can't tell you what to do, but that's what I would do-- just tell her the truth and be straightforward about it. That's all. Anyway, I gotta go, good luck with that. Let me know if you need to talk about anything else. I'll be there to listen."

"Thanks," I smile slightly, "You're a real help."

"Would you say that you're my saint and I'm your savior? Your hero? Your knight in--"

"Okay, that's a bit much," I roll my eyes, "Don't get ahead of yourself, Prince Charming. I'll see you around."

"See you later," Asylum laughs before hanging up.