The next morning filled the living room with a warm light. It looked larger and even more glorious than the night before.

Finn and Lena were sleeping on each end of the C-shaped couch, their toes touching beneath two down blankets.

Indistinct words were spoken, and although Finn was slowly waking up, he paid no attention to the whispers he was hearing faintly, nor did he bother to open his eyes to see where it was coming from.

Lena was dreaming on the other side, her head buried in a pile of pillows. Never had she slept more comfortably.

"Finn," someone murmured and shook him awake.

Dreamy, he opened one eye and glimpsed at Blake, who was standing between the coffee table and sofa. Finn's eyes jumped open and his body twitched from the surprise it suffered.

"Blake?" Finn said with a raspy voice. He considered that he was still dreaming, but he noticed that Lena was asleep not far and lowered his voice immediately. "What are you doing here?"

"I told you I'd come by," Blake whispered. "I sent you a message but you didn't answer."

"I don't have my phone. It's still on Pluviam. What are—How did you get in?"

"What do you mean? I know your password. You know that! Are you even awake yet?"

Blake slapped Finn lightly. Finn groaned and grabbed a pillow as a shield.

"What time is it?" he whined into the soft cushion while feeble pain was striking his legs occasionally. He could have never imagined being sore just from walking.

"It's eleven in the morning. And I think this is the first time I've witnessed you sleeping, since—well—at least since last year."

Finn removed the pillow from his face and tried to offer a smile. "Do I get a prize now?"

"I brought breakfast, does that count?"

Finn's eyes dove down to Blake's hand. On a paper bag, Finn discovered the name and logo of his favorite bakery. Thrilled, Finn nodded. He folded the blanket, his eyes bound to Lena. He envied how peacefully she was sleeping.

"You'll have to explain to me who she is," said Blake, shyly expressing his concerns.

At breakfast, Finn and Lena explained what they had been through together. They told Blake everything; how, after they had broken into Pluviam's mission control building, they were forced to steal a ship and flee to Demeter.

When Kassiopeia was mentioned for the first time, Finn felt the weight sitting on his shoulders, dragging him down, and yearned to tell Lena about the planned execution. He kept his mouth sealed while Lena talked about their journey as if it were a story from her books.

"Arrakis was going to shoot me, but Finn threw himself in front of me and scared him off!"

She was very enthusiastic about the heroic acts, making Finn blush across both cheeks as she told Blake about his feats.

    Blake was sitting opposite her on the long tall table. He listened, his ears glued to her every word. He got used to Lena's personality before the story found its ending, and when she spoke her last sentence, "We made a deal with the devil and took his spaceship to get here," she finally breathed and waited for a reaction.

The room filled with silence, for what felt like an hour.

    "Wow," Blake said, gaping at them both. "So the passengers never died?"

    "And you told me I'm crazy," said Finn, proud to admit that he had been in the right all along.

    "Are—are you sure though? I—" Blake stammered. "I mean——wow. And that other guy is still out there? Won't he try to come to Kepler?"

    "Arrakis doesn't have a ship and can't show himself in public. He'll be arrested for shooting my father!"

    "Have you heard from him?" asked Blake. "I'm sure he's worried sick. He knows that you're here right?"

    Finn didn't answer. He solely shook his head sideways. His look dropped down.

    "You have to tell him that you're here! They're probably looking for you!"

    "Lena mustn't be seen," Finn emphasized, "Didn't you listen? They want her dead!"

    Blake had never seen Finn so obsessed, not even the night when he called him after having found a signal in space. His mind was stuck with thinking and he realized that their story never answered a certain question.

"So who sent that signal?"

Finn and Lena exchanged looks of uncertain meaning.

"We don't know."

"So let me just summarize this; You don't know who sent the signal, you don't know where the lost ship is, you don't know where the passengers are, and you don't know why KSP would do all this, to begin with? And on top of all that, you haven't got an idea of how to proceed?"

"But we know they're alive," said Finn, upset. "All of the passengers are prisoners somewhere on Boreas!"

"You have no proof! You've broken the law too many times to be pardoned! I'm not fighting your argument, Finn, I'm telling you the outcome. If you start telling people what you've done, they'll call you mad and lock you away! If you're lucky! You've got too many crimes on your records; break-in, theft, kidnapping!"

"Kidnapping?"

Blake gestures at Lena. "You helped another criminal escape. You're in so much trouble. What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't thinking! For once in my life, I was acting! And yes, I admit it, I've made many mistakes. But does it count for nothing that we would have died at every turn if we hadn't made the choices we made?"

"No," Blake shook his head frantically, "Not in our court it doesn't."

"I told you not to take me here," said Lena, her voice nearly breaking.

"How do you suppose you can get away this time?"

"I don't want to get away!" Finn shouted to silence Blake and Lena, and before he could restrain his emotions, words came tumbling out, "I just want her safe! I don't care about myself."

Neither Lena nor Blake made a sound, and Finn was just as quiet now.

"I know how to fix everything," Lena slowly said under her breath after a few endlessly long seconds had passed. Looking at Finn, she added, "But you won't like it."

    He sensed it by her look that she could be right with her assumption.

    "I'll come forward," she said and could see Finn's lips moving. He was biting his tongue to keep his objections to himself. "I'll tell them that I forced you to take me here. That I threatened you. They'll believe it. They'll forgive you."

    "And kill you," he interrupted, unable to bear the thought. He rose from his seat at breakneck speed. "That's not an option."

    Blake was shrinking in his chair, watching the two argue over each other's safety until Finn suddenly stopped and turned to Blake.

    "Wait a second! I do have proof!"

    Hesitantly, but surely, Blake's expression transformed into a twinkle of hope. "Great! What is it?"

    "It's a photograph!"

    "You took a photo? Of what?"

    "I didn't take it," Finn explained, "I found it. Actually, Lena found it within the bunker. It belongs to a passenger, and Robby—a resident of Westlake City can confirm that! It proves at least that the black hole incidence is made up."

    "It's a start," Blake said, optimistic, "Where is it?"

    Finn searched his pockets, but when he realized that he wasn't wearing the same pants from the day before, an expression of panic crept onto his face.

    "Don't tell me—" Lena began.

    "I don't have it." Finn sank back into his chair and exhaled half-done words of anger. "But—" his voice gained confidence again, he slowly went on, "we could blame Arrakis."

    "Blame him? How? What for?"

    "Well—We can say he tried to kill us before we even broke into the building on Pluviam. That's an easy lie and Nathan would maybe vow for that. My father, too. And Hajo. And we only stole that spaceship because we thought Fortem had left us to be murdered. And we only flew to Boreas, because Arrakis kidnapped Lena. That could be believable. And then we ran away from the healing lodge to capture Arrakis because obviously he's dangerous. So—If he hadn't tried to kill us in the beginning, we wouldn't have had to run away. After all, the worst crime was shooting my father, and in that, we have no fault. The good thing is that KSP doesn't know the whole story. They only know what they've seen; us breaking in, us running off, us going to Kepler."

"And how do you explain breaking in, and going to Kepler?" Blake asked, looking more frightened than Lena.

"Arrakis forced us. He wanted the information about A154 and made us break in because I was a KSP member. A good reason for his going to Boreas later on. He knew the location and was eager to leak the truth. And after that, we came to Kepler with his ship! To lead KSP away from him, away from Boreas. He would have killed us otherwise. Killed my father, too, so we did it to save the others. It could make sense, could it not?"

Finn clenched his fists. The sound of blaming Arrakis was a melody playing in his ears. He wanted justice. He wanted revenge.

"Arrakis would pay with his life," said Lena weakly.

"Are you defending him?" Finn asked and looked at Blake for support.

"No. Arrakis is guilty of many things, but if we use him as our free ticket, his blood will be on our hands."

    "She has a point, Finn," Blake interfered, "his death would be on you. That burden could kill you just as much."

    "I highly disagree! He has shot my father! He hit Lena! He held a gun against my head and grinned from pleasure. His death is his alone."

    "Finn!" Lena gasped.

    "Tell me I'm wrong! He beat you up, strapped you down, locked you in, and left you to rot! Look at your wrists! He did that!"

    Blake caught a glimpse and not a moment too soon; Lena rolled down the sleeves of her hoodie to cover the scars.

    "He did that to you?" Blake asked, irked, and greatly shocked. From what he had heard, he knew what Arrakis had done, but seeing it on her skin left him feeling numb. "That's not okay! How have you forgiven him?"

    "I haven't! But choosing our lives over his makes us hypocrites! How can I make the decision that somebody else is worth less than me? I want no one to be hurt anymore. There is already too much suffering in the world."

Finn faltered beneath her fierce glare. " What am I to do?"

    "Nothing. Let's not do anything. We'll wait it out and when—if—we don't have any other option, we can still make Arrakis our scapegoat. Maybe KSP will let you off the hook without our plea."

    "That's not a terrible idea," Blake said to Lena, "Arrakis has proven himself to be KSP's enemy. He might be their main focus more than you guys. It's possible that they are already blaming him for all this mess. They are searching for him, right?"

    "I hope so," Finn said, pondering the question of where Arrakis may be or what he could be doing during that very moment.