The break period ca around the sa way it always did, without ceremony and without explanation. Movent windows opened, schedules shifted, and the prison settled into one of those stretches where nobody was in a hurry but nothing was actually relaxed. Xavier used the ti the sa way he used everything else in this place, by doing sothing that looked ordinary on the surface and wasn't.
But today, he put in a request for a call.
It didn't bounce around the system or sit pending the way it did for most inmates. The approval ca back almost imdiately, clean and quiet, the kind of response that ant soone higher up had already flagged his na. A short while later, an officer escorted him down a different corridor and into a private communications room that felt more administrative than punitive.
Xavier sat down, glanced at the terminal, and keyed in a number from mory.
The call rang, but here was no answer.
He waited a second, then called again. It rang longer this ti before dropping without response. The officer standing near the door watched the screen and shook his head slightly.
"People usually don't pick up interplanetary calls," the officer said. "Tariffs hit hard. Network providers charge extra. Most don't want the bill."
Xavier didn't react outwardly. Inside, he smiled.
He called again.
The connection went through imdiately.
"Hey," Angel said.
Xavier leaned back slightly in the chair, posture relaxed, voice casual. "You sound busy."
"I was," she replied. "Then I wasn't."
He knew exactly what that ant. The first call had sent her moving. By the second, she had already wiped traces, rerouted paths, and locked down anything that could point back to her. Then, she was waiting, which was why she picked up so fast.
Even so, Xavier kept his tone light and unimportant. He didn't lean into anything that mattered.
"It's ," he said. "Xavier."
There was a pause on the line, short but deliberate. "I know," Angel said. "Where the hell are you, and why aren't you picking up your phone."
"The phone's probably broken," Xavier replied. "Might've lost it. Hard to tell."
"That's not an answer."
"I'm on Jupiter," he said. "In prison."
Although Angel was aware that Xavier would be on Jupiter, she didn't expect him to be in a prison. Sure, he could have called Angel before, but he knew that it would still take days, if not weeks, to get his call request accepted by the prison managent.
However, now that he had the supervisor Arlen dancing on his finger tips, all his plans could move smoothly.
Angel let out a sigh. "You always say things like that like they're no big deal."
"It's not," Xavier replied. "I need you to pass that along. Whoever needs to know, should know.
They talked after that, but nothing that mattered on paper. Jokes. Old stories. Complaints about people who annoyed them. The kind of conversation that sounded like a waste of ti to anyone listening and ant everything to the two people having it.
The screen flickered halfway through a sentence.
And the call cut abruptly.
The officer glanced at the tir and shrugged. "Ti's up. These calls cost us too."
Xavier stood without argunt and followed him back through the corridor. The prison swallowed him up again like nothing had happened.
Later, he found Klatos and Rin in the common area, trays already in hand. Lunch slled marginally better than usual, which wasn't saying much.
Rin looked up as Xavier sat down. "You look pleased."
"I handled sothing," Xavier replied.
Klatos tilted his head slightly. "Good."
They ate without rushing, blending back into routine, three inmates doing exactly what the system expected them to do.
anwhile, sowhere in another country on Jupiter.
Requiem and the team had rented three rooms.
Requiem had taken one room and left shortly after, saying he needed to do sothing and not waiting for anyone to answer. Viola and Requiem's daughter stayed in another. The girl had fallen asleep quickly, still dressed, body giving up before her mind could catch up. Viola sat near the window with two devices in front of her, already deep into calls she didn't want to be making this early.
Reva and Lyra shared the third room.
Lyra had finished her bath and lay stretched out on the bed, damp hair spread across the pillow, eyes open but unfocused. She hadn't complained about hunger. She hadn't joked. She hadn't even paced the way she usually did when she was restless. She just stared at the ceiling and let ti pass.
Reva was still in the bathroom.
The water in the tub had gone lukewarm, but she hadn't moved. She sat there with her knees pulled in, ceremonial dress discarded on the floor like it didn't belong to her anymore, staring at nothing and thinking too much. The silence wrapped around her tighter than the steam ever had.
In the other room, Viola was mid-call, voice low and controlled, when her secondary device vibrated. She glanced at it, saw the number, and didn't break her sentence. She tapped the screen, routed sothing internally, and kept talking like nothing had changed.
"Yeah," she said on the first call. "I'll follow up. If you hear anything, don't wait."
She ended the call, slid the two devices together, synced them with a quick motion, and then answered the incoming one.
"Angel," Viola said.
Angel didn't waste ti. "What's going on?"
"We landed on Jupiter this morning," Viola replied. "Still settling in. I'm reaching out to so old contacts, seeing who's still alive and who still answers calls."
"And," Angel said, already knowing there was more.
"And we're low on funds," Viola added. "Without Xavier, everything's harder to manage. Reva's barely holding it together. Lyra's worse than she looks."
Angel was quiet for a mont. "Xavier called today."
Viola froze. "What?!"
"He's alive," Angel said. "He's on Jupiter."
Viola's control snapped. "Then why the hell didn't he call us?!"
Her voice rose enough that the girl in the bed stirred and frowned in her sleep.
Angel didn't interrupt. "He's in prison."
Viola stood up so fast the chair scraped against the floor. "What do you an prison? How? Why?"
"I don't know," Angel said. "He didn't say."
Viola dragged a hand through her hair. "Which one? Which country? Which city?"
"He didn't say that either," Angel replied. "He's probably being watched. He kept it light on purpose."
Viola stopped pacing. "So he's just sitting there."
"No," Angel said. "If you know him, then you know this isn't accidental. If he didn't want to be there, he wouldn't be there."
Viola let out a long breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "That sounds like him."
"It does," Angel agreed.
"I'll inform Reva and Lyra," Viola said. "At least they'll eat. Maybe sleep."
Call if anything changes."
The call ended.
Viola didn't waste ti. She moved straight out of the room and into the next one, not bothering to knock. Lyra looked up as soon as the door opened.
"He's alive," Viola said.
Lyra sat up imdiately. "Where."
"Jupiter," Viola replied. "In prison."
Before she could say anything else, the bathroom door flew open. Reva ca out barefoot, hair damp, eyes wide and sharp like she'd heard only what mattered.
"You're sure?!" Reva said.
Viola nodded. "Angel heard it from him directly."
Reva didn't ask anything else. She crossed the room in two steps and grabbed Viola's arm. "Why didn't he call?"
"He will," Viola said. "When he's ready."
Reva let go slowly, breath unsteady but real for the first ti all day. Lyra watched them both, saying nothing, but the tension in her shoulders eased just enough to notice.
"I can't believe it!" Reva clenched her fists in anger and frustration. "When I see him next ti, I will make sure he feels what I felt this entire week!"
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