Night hours usually carried noise—arguments, clattering scrap, distant machinery breaking down. But this night?
Dead.
Still.
Like everything was holding its breath.
Gavin sat cross-legged near the entrance, taking first watch. Lux and Varik slept curled under the tarp, exhausted from the day. A blue flame dimly glowed in the metal crate, reflecting off Gavin's eyes.
" Gavin, what should we do about lux?" Varik asked somberly
"What are you saying?" "There's nothing to do, we continue on as always" Gavin replied his eyes still scouting the area
"Don't give me that shit, you know as well as I do what Lux is," annoyance lacing his voice.
Varik had been thinking about Luc and his outburst of power ever since it happened, though he may not have shown it.
"He's the same Lux as he's always been, a big crybaby who's up for the job when the time comes" Gavin replied with humor in his tone.
"There you go playing dumb, I'm serious right now, he could be a danger to himself and us without proper help." Varik asserted.
Suddenly the sound of movement broke apart their conversation
Gavin heard it first.
Footsteps. Soft. Too soft.
His muscles tensed.
He nudged Lux awake with a whisper. "Get up."
Varik prepared immediately. "Shit. How many?"
"Two. Maybe three."
The footsteps drew closer.
Varik grabbed his shiv. Gavin crouched low, ready to intercept.
A figure stepped into view. The tall Frostwalker from before—the same one whose wrist Gavin injured days ago. Two others flanked him. Bulag
"Evening, boys," he sneered. "Miss us?"
Lux's blood went cold.
Varik rolled his shoulders. "I knew you'd come back looking for round two old man. Didn't we rock your shit enough before?"
"Round one was cute," the Bulag said. "But now we're settling things for real."
Gavin stood, placing himself directly between the boys and their attackers. "You're making a mistake."
"Really?" one Frostwalker laughed. "Looks to me like we caught you asleep."
Gavin didn't let fear show. "Last chance to walk away."
"Or what?" they mocked.
Gavin didn't reply with words.
He moved.
Varik moved with him, two bodies coordinated from years of instinct.
The fight was close and dirty.
Gavin blocked the first punch with his forearm and countered with a quick strike to the ribs. A second right hook was coming from a muscular Frostwalker, Gavin weaved the hook and delivered his own uppercut sending the man flying back a few feet.
Varik dodged a swing from the left from a tall skinny Frostwalker and slashed the attacker's thigh to stagger him, then drove his shoulder into the man's chest and drove the shiv into the side of his shin.
The man screamed in agony.
Just as Varik removed the shiv from the skinny one's shin the remaining 2 tried a sneak attack but failed as Varik dodged their ateack and retaliated with slashes against each of the guys arms and thighs.
It seemed they had won, but Bulag who had a rusty metal pipe snuck Gavin and struck him in the ribs. Gavin fell to the floor in pain grabbing his side.
Vakir who was distracted seeing Gavin fall was also downed by an overhand hook from the muscular thug.
They began to stomp out the two boys relentlessly.
Until
Lux screamed, "Stop!"
Heat pulsed in the air.
Not explosive.
Not uncontrolled.
But enough.
A wave of warm pressure burst out from Lux, rippling across the space. The flame in the crate flickered violently. The Frostwalker beating Gavin recoiled, startled by the sudden warmth.
"What the—?!"
Gavin used the moment, yanking the man's arm down and slamming his elbow into the attacker's jaw. The man dropped instantly.
The other two backed off, faces pale.
"Fuck this," one said. "The kid's a freak."
Varik spit blood on the ground. "Took you this long to figure it out?"
The attackers fled, limping, cursing, but not daring another hit.
Gavin wiped sweat (and maybe blood) from his forehead. Lux stared at his hands, breathing hard.
"I didn't mean to," he whispered.
"I know," Gavin said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "But you saved us."
Varik sat heavily, wiping his shiv on the tarp. "We need to move shelters. Tonight."
Gavin nodded.
Lux looked up sharply. "We're leaving? But… where?"
"Anywhere safer," Gavin said. "This place is burned."
They packed what little they owned.
Outside, frost drifted through the air like dust. The cold bit harder now, like the world was punishing them for surviving the night.
The city felt different.
Watching.
Waiting.
Lux whispered, "Gavin… what if it happens again?"
Gavin's voice was solid. "Then we'll be ready."
But even he wasn't sure.
Lux's hands still radiated faint warmth.
And warmth always drew attention.