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It was a relief to hear Garovel joking around again, Hector felt. After what the reaper had told him about his past earlier, Hector was glad to hear him sounding like himself again. ‘Has anybody else found anything yet?’

‘Nope.’

‘Ugh.’

‘Don’t worry. Capaporo has to be close. Voreese said so. She wouldn’t lie. And if she did, well, that’s great, too, because then I’ll get to give her SO much shit about it later.’

‘Somehow, that doesn’t alleviate my worries.’

‘Mm. Sounds like your problem.’

‘How close is close, anyway? Isn’t that kind of a vague term?’

‘I’m sure we’ll find it sometime within the next twenty-four hours.’

‘Aw, shit...’

‘Hey, at least you’re not Diego. I’m sure he’s gonna be feeling miserable, soon.’

Hector sympathized. He wasn’t entirely without pain himself, at the moment, as his own numbing had worn off already. He’d more or less gotten used to this level of bodily discomfort, so it wasn’t hindering him too terribly. It only felt like he had three or four broken ribs and maybe a few gunshot wounds here and there. It probably wasn’t nearly as bad as what transfiguration users had to deal with. That shit looked like it hurt.

‘Maybe I should’ve let Manuel borrow the Scarf, after all.’

‘No, Hector. I feel bad for Diego, too, but the Scarf is probably your greatest secret, right now. The fewer people that understand how it works, the better.’

‘I guess so...’

‘And besides, he’s not wearing armor, so it wouldn’t look nearly as good on him.’

Hector didn’t respond, but he couldn’t help smirking, either.

‘By the way, have you talked to Emiliana again since we got back?’

‘Oh. Uh. No, I haven’t...’

‘Presumably, you told her that you were in the middle of fighting the last time you spoke, right?’

‘Y-yeah...’

‘Maybe you should tell her you didn’t get eaten.’

‘Ah... I mean... I’d kinda prefer to wait until I know Marcos and Ramira are safe.’

‘Why? Just tell her you’re alright real quick. It’s not that hard, is it?’

‘Er, she’s, uh... she’s not the easiest person in the world to talk to...’

‘You mean because she’s a girl, and you’re you?’

‘Actually, no, that’s not it. It’s more because she’s just, uh... well, I don’t know if she and I are going to get along very well...’

‘...Are you serious? The two of you are fighting?

‘N-not exactly. I don’t know.’

‘Hmm. Well, even so, she must be worried about you.’

‘I don’t know about that. If she was really worried, she could use her Shard to call out to me, and I would hear her. But I’m not, so...’

‘Oh, don’t be a fuckin’ baby. Just tell her you’re alright real quick. It’ll take two seconds.’

‘I...’ He supposed Garovel was right. ‘Alright, fine. Gimme a minute.’ He reached inside his armor for the Shard and then called out to her with his mind.