"What are your terms?"

Melmarc remained on top of Ariadne. He had his hand on the small of her back but his eyes on Naymond.

"Death works." His voice was still.

Beside Naymond, his mother's expression cracked.

Well, that's something, Naymond thought. But he wasn't new to this. Not everybody that had spoken with War during his time working under her had been very cooperative.

Naymond shook his head. "Alternatives exist," he said simply. "What is your intention? Why death?"

Melmarc's gaze moved down to Ariadne. He did not look as if he was thinking, simply as if he was looking at her.

"She is not a beneficial problem," he answered, returning his attention to Naymond.

Naymond clasped his hands together on his knees. "She can be made beneficial."

"Explain."

"She listens."

"Not to me."

"But to me." Naymond cocked his head to the side. "And I listen to you."

"I want a flower by the end of this conver—conversion rates are inex…"

Melmarc paused, frozen like a broken machine.

Naymond looked at his mother but she shook her head. He waited, following her lead, did nothing.

Melmarc frowned. "I want an octopus before the end of this talk you are having with me for her."

Naymond frowned as well. That was a Madness thing. He had spent enough time around the Oath to know it. Madness used simple words. He even replaced words with their explanations.

Is this why?

Melmarc had wanted to say conversation and the sentence had suddenly digressed. Conversation had become conversion. Then he had stopped himself. Adjusted. Then he'd spoken very much like his father.

Yet, he was here negotiating as he had done once upon a time in the portal to save a Delver. The combined mentality of two Oaths.

Naymond wasn't sure how worried he had to be about it.

"Done," Melmarc's mother said, answering him. "Octopus before the end of the conversation."

Naymond had planned on negotiating that. Where were they going to get an octopus before the end of the conversation. She definitely wasn't moving to get anything and he couldn't leave the negotiation.

Negotiations between Oaths are ever changing. Deal with it.

"Control has been established," Naymond said.

Melmarc shook his head. His eyes were suddenly sharp. "Not control. Candor."

"Whatever you do," his mother said to Naymond. "Do not lie to him."

Naymond kept his surprise from his face. Negotiations were all about bluffs and slipping in undetectable levels of deceit. Now he was expected to succeed without lying.

"Am I going to be alright?" Melmarc asked.

Naymond didn't answer. Despite how completely normal his tone of voice was, something told him that the question was for his mother.

"Yes, dear," Aurora said in a soft tone. "You're going to be fine."

Melmarc nodded, then moved his attention back to Naymond. "What are your terms?"

"Her release would be a good start," he said, slipping back into the negotiation without missing a beat. "Anji for starters."

Anji looked from Naymond to Melmarc. He looked as if he was in some level of discomfort. When they'd come in, he had been lying on the ground clutching at his shoulder and ankle. Now, he just looked like he was pulling through.

"Anji has done nothing wrong," Melmarc said. "He was never to be punished."

Good, Naymond thought with a sigh.

"Alright, Anji," he said encouragingly. "Come take a seat."

Anji got up with some level of confusion on his face. He remained obedient, crossing the distance with slow steps. Naymond patted the spot next to him on the couch and Anji sat down.

"What's happening?" he asked.

He was still in his larger form, wearing nothing but his expandable underwear.

"Maybe revert back to normal and stop looking like you're trying to be a threat," Naymond answered.

The boy shrunk down gently and slowly. In a matter of seconds, he was back to his normal size. Aurora looked at him but only for a moment. Her attention returned to Melmarc.

"He was fun," Melmarc said, then frowned at himself. "I didn't mean it that way."

Naymond nodded. "Anji's fun sometimes. Most times he's more of a stick in the mud. But he can be fun."

Anji's look of confusion was only growing.

"Was Anji a trade?" Naymond continued.

Melmarc shook his head. "Passerby."

"Alright, then what do we have to do to get Ariadne."

"Nothing."

"What about her punishment?"

"Death might be… much," Melmarc conceded.

That was a good thing. He was showing leniency.

"A slap," Naymond suggested.

Melmarc paused, thought about it. "My strongest slap."

"That will be fi—"

"No," Aurora interrupted. "That will not be acceptable."

Melmarc's brows furrowed. He looked at his mother. "Should I release her?" he asked.

Something in the way he spoke the words rubbed Naymond the right way. Was he asking for permission? Was he making some type of request? Ultimately, one thing was certain: if Aurora said yes, then Ariadne would be free.

Aurora took a very intentional step back. "Mr. Hitchcock is the negotiator in charge. I am merely consulting on the matter."

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It took a moment before Melmarc replied with a nod.

Naymond could not believe what was happening. He knew deep in his bones that Aurora did not want her son killing anybody. This had been her chance to stop it, so why was she negotiating when she knew that she could just give a command and have everything sorted out. In fact, she could've taken Melmarc down the moment they'd rushed in, saved the others.

What was happening? What was she trying to do? Even now, as she stepped back, he saw pain on her face. She did not want to do what she was doing.

"Slapping is not on the table," Melmarc said with some finality. "If it is not the strongest slap, it will not suffice. I will break her spine."

"Please, God no," Ariadne cried. "I'll stop, please."

If her pleading and sobbing affected Melmarc, he did not show it. He did not even react to the sound she had made. It was as if she did not exist.

"What part of being quiet do you not get, Ariadne?" Naymond asked calmly. "Be quiet while I negotiate your release."

Ariadne's voice was suppressed to quiet and fearful sobs.

Naymond returned his attention to Melmarc.

"A broken spine is not something a person can come back from," he explained. "It is not a punishment. Punishment implies that you want the person to…" his words tapered off. He had almost lied. "My apologies, I went tangent. Punishments justly fit the level of the crime."

"She tried to harm me greatly," Melmarc said simply. "So, I will harm her greatly."

"Did she attempt to break your spine?"

Melmarc shook his head.

"Then breaking her spine does not sound equal."

"Anji had me in a hold that could've crushed me," Melmarc explained.

"But it did not," Naymond pointed out. "When you hit someone big and strong, you have to hit harder than when you're hitting someone smaller. Not because you're trying to kill them but because you're trying to leave an impact."

"He wasn't trying to break me," Melmarc said, following Naymond's logic. "But he needed that much force to subdue me."

"Correct."

Melmarc moved his hand from the small of her back to one of her shoulder blades.

That was a good thing.

"Then I'll remove her arm," Melmarc said.

Naymond paused, startled. "Remove? By 'remove' what exactly are you presenting."

"I will grab it," he looked down at the arm, "and tear it off."

"Do you have the strength to do it in one go?"

"I do not."

"Then that is excessive." Naymond shook his head.

This was worse than negotiating even with Madness. At least Madness was mad. He knew what he was dealing with. Melmarc was as unreasonable as he was reasonable. Madness in this position might not have released Anji. In fact, Anji could've even played a part in the negotiation.

"You have your octopus," Aurora said suddenly, holding up her phone with a picture of an octopus on it.

Melmarc opened his mouth as if he wanted to object but didn't. Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He looked at it before returning it.

"She will not lose her spine," he said simply.

Had she sent him a picture of an octopus? Was that her interpretation of his request? And how had he accepted that?

She's married to Madness, he reminded himself. If there's anybody that speaks madness in this world, it's her.

"I'm having fun," Melmarc said suddenly. "Maybe we should just…"

His words trailed off. He stood up. The entire room fell silent. It was eerily similar to how a gathering of Oaths fall silent whenever Madness did something different.

Melmarc placed his foot on Ariadne's back and looked at the kitchen. "Is there food?"

Naymond and Aurora looked at Anji.

You guys better have good food in this house, he mouthed at the boy. It just might save Ariadne.

Anji nodded.

"Yes, there is food," Naymond told Melmarc.

"That works." He moved his foot to Ariadne's shoulder blade and pressed.

Naymond came halfway off the chair, but he wasn't fast enough. Ariadne's shoulder blade broke under the force of Melmarc's foot. The crack filled the room, followed by her piercing scream and sobs.

Melmarc took his leg off her back, walked up to the chair, took his duffel bag from beside the couch.

"Thank you for talking with me," he told Naymond, as if they had been talking about the weather to pass the time, and walked over to his mother.

He stopped in front of her, standing with his head slightly bowed. "Am I going to be punished?"

He sounded like the child that he was now. Gone was the person Naymond had been talking to. It was eerily worrying. And his fate on this world was tied to him.

"Depends," she said to him, voice stern. "You'll tell me what happened when we get home, and we'll see."

Melmarc nodded.

Ariadne remained on the ground, crying and wailing. She tried turning but it only made her cry out more. Naymond sat where he was, watching the entire thing. Ariadne wasn't a good person. She wasn't necessarily evil, but she wasn't good. She was the kind of bully that only took things far enough.

He'd told her a few times that the key to being a good bully was picking your opponents. He hadn't taught her to be a good person because she was not his kid. It wasn't his job to teach her. Her not being his kid wasn't the only reason. She was also not a kid. She was over twenty years old, old enough to be responsible for her actions.

Drawing a deep breath, he looked at Anji. Anji had a question on his lips. Naymond's response to the unasked question was a finger pressed to his. Anji needed to remain silent.

"If you need us, Mr. Hitchcock," Aurora said from behind him, "we'll be sitting in the car for fifteen minutes. Then we'll be driving off."

Only when the door opened and closed did Naymond move.

He looked behind him, confirming that they were, in fact, gone. Once that was confirmed, he turned to Anji.

"Go get the painkiller from your room."

Anji got up from the chair and rushed off to his room very quickly.

As for Naymond, he moved over to Ariadne.

"Alright, kiddo," he said to her. She was still sobbing, eyes red and rheumy with tears. "Just a little longer, Anji's getting you some real pain killers. Once that's done, we'll get you sorted right up."

He made sure not to touch her broken shoulder blade as she cried into the floor. In fact, he made sure not to touch her at all.

It wasn't long before Anji returned. He had something that looked like an EpiPen in hand. Naymond took it and held it up. There was a space in it that showed a blue liquid. There was more than enough in it.

"Alright, you'll feel a lot of pain but only for a split moment." He wasn't sure why he was explaining it to her. She knew how the painkiller worked.

He drove the pen into her waist. Ariadne let out another very brief scream, then went quiet.

Everyone settled down after that. Anji disappeared again, off into his room. He was back in less than five minutes wearing a simple blue shirt and a brown pair of combat pants.

"What just happened?" he asked, coming to sit on the ground next to Naymond.

Ariadne was sobbing on the ground, still lying with her face to it. Naymond knew that she felt no pain anymore. She was probably just getting the rest of her tears out of her system. He wondered what her first reaction would be when she was done.

"What just happened," Naymond muttered, repeating Anji's question. He turned and smiled apologetically at the boy. "You faced a problem all the money in the world couldn't pay you to face."

It was the only answer he could give. Talking to Melmarc had been like talking to War and Madness at the same time. Aurora certainly hadn't helped in the way she had the authority to. The question was whether she was teaching him how to deal with Melmarc or if she was teaching Melmarc how to deal with him.

Maybe she was seeing if I would be able to be useful to Melmarc.

The Romanians were still a problem he had to deal with. But after the Romanians, what was going to happen?

He still needed to be here. He had thrown his lot in with this world… for now. He had to fight and work for what his goal was supposed to be.

Melmarc being how he was now wasn't going to help matters.

At least you learnt something.

It was his only consolation. The next time Melmarc ended up in a situation where he needed to negotiate, he would not be bringing terms. No. Melmarc was not like his mother. Only a part of him was.

You did not negotiate with Melmarc, you simply talked him out of the most dangerous options. That was the only way. You either did that, or you stopped him yourself.

"FUCK!"

Naymond cocked a brow at Ariadne when she screamed.

"THAT FUCKING BASTARD!"

Anji gave him a look. Naymond shook his head at the boy. Anji was not to interfere.

"I take it you're done with the tears," he said.

Ariadne pushed herself up to her feet. Her eyes were red, and snot trickled down her nose. She wiped the snot with the back of her hand but did nothing about the tears on her cheeks.

"He'll pay for this," she snarled like a feral cat. "He'll fucking pay."

Her eyes were fixed on the door—the exit.

Naymond got up from the floor and stood patiently next to her.

"How dare he?" she fumed. "All I did was play a harmless prank and he had the audacity to do this to me? To leer at me like some fucking pig?"

Naymond only watched. I guess this is my fault.

In not making her better, he had allowed her to get worse. Again, she was not his problem or his responsibility.

"When I'm done with him, he'll beg," she swore.

Anji rolled his eyes.

"Go call the healer, Anji," Naymond instructed casually.

Anji held his phone up. "I've got my cell right here."

"Make the call in your room," Naymond said, shooing him away with one hand.

Anji looked from him to Ariadne and back. He shrugged and walked off.

"Thank you for coming for me," Ariadne said to Naymond when Anji was gone. "I always knew I could count on you. Everyone keeps treating me like I'm nothing but a problem, but you understand me. You don't judge me for who I am."

Naymond nodded absently. He checked on Anji, confirmed he had slipped off into his room. [World of Insight] told him that he had.

Once that was confirmed, he gestured for Ariadne to come closer with his finger.

"Here's what's going to happen," he said as she obeyed.

When she was close enough, he did what he was supposed to have done ages ago.

He slapped her.

His hand crossed the short distance between him and her, and the back of his hand cracked against the flesh of her cheek. Hard.

Ariadne staggered to the side. She paused, hand on her cheeks for a while. Silence filled the room. Naymond breathed in it. The sound of his breathing was loud until he was heaving.

It took a moment before Ariadne finally dropped her hand from her face and looked at him.

"Nay—"

"WHAT KIND OF WASTE OF SPACE ARE YOU?!" Naymond grabbed her by the neck and shoved her into the wall. His face was contorted in rage completely unbridled. "DO YOU LEARN NOTHING FROM YOUR STUPIDITY?"

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