Thea was exhausted. She had been traveling for hours and now that she finally arrived in the little village that was apparently Vetori's hometown, she found out that she would be walking the rest of the way and wasn't too pleased with that.

The bus dropped her off just outside the town, and according to the driver, there was no public transportation within the town because it was rather tiny and old.

She looked down at her watch. Just past six. She had been traveling for nearly eleven hours.

At least she was almost there, so she took a deep breath and started walking.

At first, she felt like she would be fine, seeing as the sun was still up and she felt like she had plenty of time to visit the family and leave. She hadn't imagined anything could go wrong if she just went in, spoke to the family and then left right after. She didn't have to talk to anyone else or draw any attention at all to herself. Just in and out... and back to the Capital before anyone even realized she was gone.

However, as she continued to make her way into the town, she felt a sense of discomfort rise in her, her instinct trying to make it clear that something was very wrong. She tried to deny it at first but she knew soon that she couldn't deny it forever. This wasn't going to be as easy as she anticipated because she soon realized that this wasn't a normal town.

The town that Vetori had sent her to was a rebel town... or a Crows Nest, as most people referred to them as. It was a town where most of the original residents had been chased out and in its place all that was left were, for the most part, Crows. There were plenty of these little rebel towns scattered all around the Elorian Province... even on the Aiverian side too... all of them home to various divisions of Crows, as different from each other as they could get, but the one thing that they had in common was that they were dangerous.

Especially for women.

She kept her eyes straight as she walked, trying to look confident, but saw from the corner of her eyes, the embrasures that ran along the base of many of the otherwise normal homes. From them, all it took was a quick glance to see the glint of the eyes that looked out at her, or even the guns that were pointed at her.

She swallowed back her fear.

How did she find herself here, of all places?

As a rebel town, it was quieter and emptier than any normal town would be, and though there were certainly people out, the vast majority of them were men.

Crows.

All of them were probably Crows.

That was the thing about the Crows... they weren't an organized military, so they walked around in regular clothes. You never knew who was a Crow and who wasn't... and that was exactly why so many young Elorian men suffered.

The State would rather choose to assume all Elorian men were Crows than try to figure it out for certain. It was why so many normal men, and in some cases women, were killed during the Civil War simply because they were accused of being a Crow. It was also why so many locations were shelled indiscriminately during the Civil War as well, the State not caring whether or not civilians were there too.

And here she was, in the middle of a town that was overrun by them.

The men eyed her as she walked by, some simply turning as she passed and others even rudely catcalling as well. It angered her, knowing that these were supposed to be the men who said they were fighting for them... but really they were all just a bunch of overgrown boys who got their hands on guns. So many of the Crows in Abureth were almost exactly the same, being a bunch of boys who seemed to simply join just to feel the thrill of being a part of a rebel force, not really knowing anything about the struggle or the cause the Crows once fought for.

It was why she was always so angry that her brother joined this group as well.

It was why she disliked the Crows so much.

But what was more important right now was what she was going to do next. She knew now that she was in a Crows Nest... whether she was here to help Vetori or not, she was already in way over her head.

She could turn around now. She could walk back towards the bus stop. But even if she did, the problem at this point was that she didn't know when the next bus would come. How long would she need to stand there waiting for it? This wasn't like the city, where there was a set schedule.

The second option was that she could keep going. She was already here... she was already in deep. She could go to the family, tell them and then leave. She could even just start walking down the route of the bus instead of waiting... the bus would show up eventually, right? When it did, she could just flag it down.

Yes.

That's what she would do.

Thea was Elorian... these men wouldn't hurt her... right? As rowdy as some of them may have been, they were her people. She was one of the people they vowed to protect.

So she took a breath. She would be fine, and she continued to walk, holding tightly onto her small suitcase. She walked down the quiet streets, ignoring all of the people, including the muffled voices of hidden Crows coming from the embrasures, and just kept looking straight ahead. She pretended that she was meant to be here. She pretended that she knew what she was doing.

Finally, when she turned a corner, her eyes widened at the sight of an older woman. Thea let out a breath of relief, walking over to her quickly. "Ma'am," she called, pleased that she was seeing someone who looked normal.

The woman looked at her, an expression of confusion washing over her face the second she saw her.

"Hi... I'm trying to find someone and was hoping you'd help?" Thea pulled the address out of her pocket and showed it to the woman. "Could you please let me know where I can find this house?"

The older woman looked at the paper before turning and pointing to a house just down the road. "It's right there, child."

"Thank you," Thea smiled graciously. "Have a lovely day–"

"What on earth are you doing here alone, love?" the older woman asked, lowering her voice. "What business would a girl like you have in a Crows Nest?"

Thea let out a nervous breath. "Just here to pass on a message... that's all."

"Well here's a word of warning," she said. "Don't get involved in these kinds of things. Go home."

Thea didn't know how to respond to that, so she simply smiled. "Thank you again."

Without saying another word, Thea continued towards the home, trying to ignore the feeling of the eyes of the older woman following her.

When she arrived at the home, she stood outside of it for a moment, wondering if maybe she should just turn around now. She should do as the woman said... as Milo and Luana and even Rue had said. She should not get involved.

But she had already come so far, and she had to do this. She had to help Vetori. She was so close to proving that she was not a traitor to her people. All those strangers who were influenced by Adrien were wrong, and this was her only way to prove it.

Right then however, almost with impeccable timing, Luana's words danced in her head. Maybe this has more to do with you trying to convince yourself of something.

No.

That wasn't the case.

Closing her eyes tightly, she pushed the thought away before opening them again and hitting her fist against the rickety black metal gate that separated her from the family whose lives she hoped to improve with the news she had.

It was a solid five minutes before someone came and opened it, and the one who did was a young man who had a thick cigar dangling lazily between his lips. He was handsome, with black windswept hair and well grown facial hair, including a mustache that was curved up at the sides. He wore blue jeans and a black button up shirt and looked rather put together, fit and clean.

He also looked rather troublesome, having a rifle hanging over his shoulder while he looked at Thea, puffs of dense, light gray clouds escaping his lips and hiding his face momentarily behind it. It didn't take her too long to see that he was another Crow.

"A woman," the man said as he pulled the cigar from his lips and looked her up and down, his voice was confident and deep. "But not one we ordered, I'm sure." His breath was smoky as he spoke. "You don't look like a whore."

She held back a grimace and instead smiled, not wanting to cause any potential trouble. "I'm looking for Vetori's family? Vetori Kayne."

"Vetori?" He looked genuinely surprised. "My little brother? I haven't seen him in years."

Her eyes widened.

"Were you friends with him?"

"Oh, no," she started, though she was thrilled to see that it was his brother. "We...are just acquaintances."

"Are..." he said, watching her carefully. "So he's not dead?"

Thea smiled as she shook her head.

He watched her for a moment, taking another drag of his cigar before he continued. "Well, come on in," he finally said, stepping over and unlocking the gate before pulling it open. "The rest of the family would be thrilled to meet an acquaintance of our long lost brother."

"Oh... I don't know–"

"Come on now," he used his hand to gesture to come in. "We don't bite. Let me get you a coffee or a tea."

Thea hesitated. "I'll have to be quick though... I'm expected somewhere after this."

"Of course," the man said. "I'm Kinny, by the way. Your name?"

"Vi," she lied. She knew not to give him her real name, keeping in mind what Luana and Milo had told her about the news passing and people eventually questioning where it came from.

"Vi," he repeated as he guided her into the home. "A fake name. Smart girl."

Thea felt uneasy the instant she stepped into the home, not just because the man knew she was lying but also because, well... this home wasn't really a home. It wouldn't take a genius to know that no family lived here. It specifically didn't have a mother's touch.

Instead, she was reminded mostly of one of those frat houses back in university. It was a total mess and there was barely any furniture. Instead there were a few sofas and all the surfaces were covered with beer bottles and guns. Well... she never saw guns when she was in university, but the picture here was certainly similar.

Vetori's family wasn't here.

"Have a seat," Kinny said as he tossed his rifle onto one of the sofas like a toy. The movement made Thea more nervous than she already was, making it clear to her that this man didn't think of her as much of a threat at all. Though, of course, that wasn't surprising.

"I think I should go–"

"Have a seat," he repeated, a little more sternly. "Allow me to be a good host... we don't have many guests that often, let alone women who look like they're from the city."

Suddenly, as she took her seat, a couple more men appeared into the room, walking in with looks of intrigue on their faces as they eyed Thea.

All of them were Elorian boys.

All of them were Crows.

Not... a family.

"Who's the girl?" One asked.

"Looks like she's from the city."

"She's a friend of Vetori's," Kinny said as he walked into the kitchen. "Present tense. Keep in mind."

"Acquaintance," Thea corrected.

"Vetori?" Another asked. "That kid's dead, no?"

"Apparently not," Kinny responded, his voice echoing in what was probably a relatively empty kitchen. After a moment, he returned to the living room area, a mug in his hand. "You're lucky, we just put the water to boil."

Thea took the cup from him with a nervous smile and watched as he grabbed a chair and turned it so that he was sitting in front of Thea. "So," the man said, leaning back with one leg over the other. "Vetori is alive."

Thea nodded. "I came... to let his family know," she said, not looking the man in the eye. "That he's alive."

Kinny stroked his beard, tilting his head to one side. "You hear that boys... our little brother is alive."

Thea realized now that this man wasn't really Vetori's brother, also realizing now that Vetori wasn't being honest with her. She felt a rush of panic, but also confusion.

Why would Vetori lie to her? Why would he send her to a Crows Nest? Or maybe he wasn't lying... or at least, hadn't intended on it. Maybe this was his home, but it had been taken over by these Crows. That would certainly make more sense. "His parents..."

"Vetori's parents died in the Civil War, years ago," he said. "He didn't tell you that? We're his family now."

Thea narrowed her eyes.

He had lied to her.

But still... why?

Kinny kept his eyes on her. "Vetori was captured by the State when we bombed the Southern Danyo Fort at the Old Border two years ago..."

Her brows rose, fear overwhelming her. These were the very men who bombed the fort at the Old Border....the Old Border, a lazy name given to the old border between Eloria and Aiveria, the border that existed before the Aiverian State invaded Eloria and took over.

Now, that border was lined with State Military barracks and forts as a means of protecting the line and maintaining control, seeing as it was a prime target for Crows to attack, and two years ago, a well equipped division of Crows had bombed the main fort that lay at the southernmost point of Danyo, along the Old Border. Though a dozen or so State Soldiers were killed, it ended off as a State victory because most of the Crows involved were captured or killed.

Including Vetori.

She remembered hearing about this on the radio. She remembered everyone around her tensing up, wondering if this was the start of another Civil War... everyone began preparing for the worst.

But the State regained control quickly, and no matter how many Elorians wanted freedom, most knew that the State's decision to not start an all out war was a gift from the gods. Everyone knew the Crows were nowhere near ready to fight again, and though she had gotten to this Crows Nest with ease, thanks to Vetori's direction, the State was still looking for where the Crows in charge of organizing that bombing were hidden. The General had mentioned that to her too.

It seemed though that the State often overlooked tiny little towns in the middle of nowhere.

Why would they not?

What threat could a group of Crows existing so far away from actual civilization pose? Plus, there were hundreds of little towns like this... no, thousands. Even on the way here, the bus had stopped down the road from the entrances of dozens of little towns, many of which may have been Crows Nests.

Though this proved advantageous to the Crows, this was exactly the problem and the reason why the Crows were so weak. All of these nests were isolated and were divisions of their own, often not communicating with each other and in some cases, even fighting one another. There were so many Crows, but their numbers meant nothing when they fought and disagreed with each other like this.

And that was exactly what happened two years ago. An individual division of Crows attacked, lost a large number of their men and retreated, now trying to recoup their numbers... probably planning another attack eventually.

Another attack that would surely fail because they would do the exact same thing they did the first time, going in as one puny division fighting against the entire State. But this time, the State may not be so nice when deciding to not start an all out war because of it.

And here she was.

Sitting in the middle of this.

"Are you hearing me, Vi?" Kinny called. "If Vetori was captured by the State... well there's no way in hell he'd come out of there alive." The man leaned forward, resting his elbows on his legs and his chin on the knuckles of his hands which were knotted together. "Which means... you've got a source on the inside."

She let out a shaky breath.

"Do you have a source on the inside?"

"No," she said. "I just came... because Vetori wanted me to tell his family that he's alive."

"Vetori's blood has been dead for years. We are his family," he said. "If he sent you here then that means he knows you'll be useful to us."

Vetori had lied to her.

She trusted him and he lied to her, the thought making an anger boiling in her. But just then, the General's face appeared in her head.

She was exactly the same.

He had trusted her and she lied to him.

She shook her head. No. "I'm not. I'm just here to help Vetori pass on his message."

Kinny smirked. "Do you have your identification card, Vi?"

"No," she responded, maybe a little too quickly. She couldn't show them that... it had the State Seal on it. If she showed them, they'd know she worked for the State.

One of the men stepped forward. "Let me get it from her–"

"Hey!" Kinny shouted, causing Thea to jump in her seat as Kinny held a hand up and glared at the Crow who approached her. "We don't want to scare her, man," he said. "Step away."

The man seemed surprised but did as he was told.

Kinny looked back at Thea. "She's one of our girls," he said. "She's one of us."

"I'm... not a Crow." Thea said. "I'm sorry, I can't help you."

"You are Elorian," Kinny responded. "You're one of us, so you're a Crow. A Little Crow, but still a Crow nonetheless."

Little Crow? Thea thought. She didn't really know what he meant by that. Maybe that she was young? But he was hardly that much older than her. "I can't help you," she repeated. "I'm sorry."

"If you're not one of us then you're against us, Vi," he said. "So what, are you a traitor to your own blood? An ugly Muddy Crow?"

Thea felt her hands shaking and it didn't help that she was still holding the mug of untouched coffee. "I'm not a traitor... and I have to go," she said, setting the mug aside and getting ready to get up. However, she felt the hand of one of the Crows on her shoulder, keeping her seated.

"You know I can't let you leave, Vi," Kinny said. "Do you realize what kind of a difference having an insider source could make to this effort? We could finally beat those sons of bitches."

Thea looked down at her hands, feeling the eyes of all of those men on her.

She was trapped. There was nowhere for her to go.

She had no way out.

Her vision started to fade as her heart pounded in her chest. Suddenly, she was in that corner again. Suddenly, Adrien was standing between her and the door.

She was trapped.

He had control over her.

No.

She wasn't there anymore. That was years ago.

Right now, she was somewhere far more dangerous, surrounded by men with rifles in their hands and anger in their hearts.

She shut her eyes as tightly as she could, trying to push the thoughts away, trying to distinguish between reality and a bad memory. Now was not the time for this. She had to get out of here.

"Listen, Vi–"

Click.

He cut himself off at the sound of a gun cocking, the same sound causing everyone to look in his direction.

Thea held her breath.

At first, Thea thought that maybe she was dreaming, mostly because she was baffled and everything seemed to be going in slow motion. Maybe she had passed out already and this was a dream. But as every other Crow in the room grabbed their guns and rifles at the exact same moment and pointed it in the direction of Kinny, she knew this certainly wasn't a dream.

It was General Killian.

Somehow, he was here. And he had a gun pressed against the back of Kinny's head.

He was here.

The General was here.

He was standing there, behind Kinny, in regular clothes, brown trousers and a white button-up shirt, a gun pressed against Kinny's skull.

"Woah, woah," Kinny held his hands up. "Don't shoot... any of you."

General Killian kept his eyes on Thea, and though his green eyes were cool and his expression was icy, his glance was burning into her.

He was angry, of course, and it hurt her... physically. She knew she deserved it, but seeing him look at her like that, it hurt more than she ever imagined it would.

"It seems we were so focused on the girl that we didn't notice she brought a friend," Kinny said. "Who, might I ask, is holding a gun to the back of my head? Horrible manners, really... you could have at least told me your name first."

The General didn't respond, but it seemed like he didn't need to. "It's... it's Killian," one of the men said, lifting his rifle up a tad bit higher and getting ready to shoot. "The half breed General."

Kinny's brows rose as he too kept his eyes on Thea, a small smile gracing his lips. "Traitors. The lot of you."

"Get up," the General ordered, his eyes on Thea, and though he was looking at her, it took her a moment to realize he was talking to her. When it hit her though, she stood instantly.

Some of the men turned their guns towards her, startling her into letting out a little yelp, but the General snapped, "if any of you move a single muscle I will happily blow out the brains of your leader and have this place raided by the State within a matter of moments."

Kinny smirked. "You led him to us," he said to Thea. "You traitor."

She didn't look at him.

"Get behind me," the General said.

She picked up her suitcase, moving quickly, and made her way to the General. When she was behind him, the General pushed his gun into Kinny's head. "You now, up. And keep your hands where I can see them."

Kinny stood, hands up.

"And the rest of you, unload the guns, drop the bullets and throw the guns aside, now."

When they didn't listen right away, the General pushed his gun harder against the skull of Kinny, his finger right against the trigger. "Are you testing me?" He shouted.

"Put the guns down you fuckers!" Kinny spat.

"If you shoot him, we'll shoot you," one of the Crows responded.

"And if you shoot me all of you are dead," the General responded. "I am the State Military, I don't need to tell you that, do I? Do you really want to try your luck?"

They didn't.

One by one Thea heard the sound of guns unloading and bullets dropping pathetically to the ground, clattering as they fell onto the wooden floor, rolling away before the empty gun itself followed. When the General was satisfied, he grabbed Thea with his free arm and walked right out the door with her, forcing Kinny out with them, the gun still against the back of his head.

When they were outside, Thea saw that there was an old car sitting right outside the gate and in the driver seat was Julian, though she could only really tell because of the size of him. He was wearing a hood, probably to cover his hair and eyes.

They were in the heart of a Crows Nest, after all.

"Get in the front," the General ordered Thea, and she did exactly as he said, quickly getting into the front seat next to Julian. The General then pushed Kinny into the back. "Where the hell are you taking me?" Kinny asked.

"Shut up and keep your hands up."

When the General got in and shut the door, he kept the gun pointed at the temple of the smirking Kinny's before he ordered Julian to go.

Julian pressed on the gas, hard, but only after nodding his head at the older woman who had told Thea she shouldn't have been here. Thea felt her heart sink as she prayed that the woman would be okay.

"Smart move," Kinny said as the car drove off, Crows running out after them with their rifles only to be stopped by the disarmed Crows who were in the house with Thea earlier. "You knew they wouldn't kill you so long as I'm in here... very smart."

"Be quiet," the General simply mumbled.

"So this whole Vetori thing," Kinny continued. "Was that all just some sort of ruse?"

It wasn't a ruse... she wasn't a traitor... but more than anything, Thea just wanted to disappear, especially feeling the anger of both Julian and the General radiating through her bones.

"You're taking me to prison too?" he asked. "So I can join Vetori?"

Neither Julian or the General responded to him.

Kinny laughed to himself. "I thought you weren't a whore... but you enticed me and trapped me all the same."

Thea closed her eyes, trying to fight back tears as she shrunk into the farthest corner of her seat, but only after seeing the car speed past the front entrance of the town.

After what felt like forever, and after listening to Kinny ask multiple unanswered questions, the car began to slow down to a stop. When she opened her eyes and turned to look behind her, she saw General Killian lean over Kinny, gun still at his head, as he pushed open the door of the car. "We're done with you.".

Kinny hesitated, but before he could say anything, the General kicked him out of the car.

Kinny fell hard into the dirt road, groaning for a moment as he rolled over.

"Keep quiet, don't mention what happened to anyone, and we won't come after you," the General said. "We know where you are now, if you decide to act up, I will find you."

Kinny looked up at the General, confusion covering his face. "What?"

"So long as you keep your mouth shut, we'll pretend this didn't happen."

"You're letting me go?"

With that, the General shut the door and Julian began driving again as Thea gawked.

"It'll take him at least an hour or so to get back to the nest."

"Are you sure this is the right thing to do, Sir?" Julian asked.

"If we take him with us we'll need to provide the State with a full explanation as to what happened. Everyone in that nest will then be either arrested or killed, including the civilians," the General said, rubbing his face with his hands. "If we kill him, we'd have killed the leader of a relatively prominent Crow division. The chaos that would ensue because of it would surely be large enough for the news to make its way to the ears of the State, and then when the state finds out we would need to provide an explanation which will then lead to everyone in that nest either being arrested or killed. Including the civilians."

Thea knew he wasn't explaining this to Julian.

He was explaining this to her.

"How long do I keep going east?" Julian asked.

"All the way," he said. "If these Crows are in line with Vetori, then they're connected to the bombing of the Southern Danyo Fort. That means they're smarter than they seem. The fact that they didn't immediately try to fight for their leader back means that they're certain that they could get him back and wanted him alive, so they're probably going to have men posted at all the nearest train stations to try and find us. Our best bet is to head East to Kiryu, lose them, and catch the train south from there."

"I... I'm sorry," Thea said. And though she wanted to say it loudly, it came out as a whisper.

"I hope you're happy with yourself," the General said, his tone and demeanor so cold that it sent a shiver through her. "I hope you're happy with this mess you've made."