Sometimes, Anarchy Is Best ~~ Shadows

12.) Alastair

Alastair could barely even process that Rune knew where Dio was and was going to lead them to him. The information hit him like a truck, knocking any potential questions out of his mind in favor of the emotion that enveloped him.

As Gray explained to Rune who Dio was for him, he felt a pang in his chest. He was so much more than that, he thought to himself, but didn't voice such things. It occurred somewhere in the back of Alastair's mind that Ewe had never met Dio, only Gray and Archer – though Archer only knew Dio for a very brief time before he left.

Alastair's gaze shifted to Archer subconsciously, and he attempted to knock himself back into proper thinking – can't have himself full on crying after all – by wondering where his questionably adopted son had been. He'd disappeared with Rune, and came back with this whole story of rescuing her himself. Alastair had his doubts, that's for sure. Clay had given him the key to Rune's cell and he'd just snuck in while the cameras were down? It was oddly specific and a very large coincidence.

Still, he had no way to prove the story was untrue, and Rune seemed on board with it, so he wouldn't question it. He'd zoned out of the rest of the conversation, which was good because it seemed to have been relatively short. Just more of Rune explaining that she couldn't show them where Dio was, she just knew what direction to go.

Which, if Rune wasn't a literal fucking bird, Alastair would have called immediate bullshit on. It was the most stupidly plain of traps, and he knew better than to fall for it. But then again, she was a child and clearly seemed genuine and afraid to share this information. I wish she'd tell us why she's so scared to tell us. We've healed her and taken care of her, Archer went on a solo mission for her, and I mean, I was kind of an ass at first, but I've made sure she's okay now.

Right?

He waiting for things to settle down a bit more before speaking up again. "I think we should all go to bed, yeah? We can talk about this and decide where to go and what to do in the morning, but it's late and no one is working right running on nothing."

Archer shrugged. "I could never sleep again as long as I'm being fed." he argued nonchalantly, earning a scoff from Ewe in response.

"Ya literally ate a 50-count bag of pizza rolls last Friday an' came up to me after an' asked what was for dinner. I think we're past feedin' and into shovelin' food into an endless pit."

Archer rolled his eyes, grumbling something under his breath, but Alastair didn't bother interjecting. Let them banter, he thought, it's good for them after a couple days apart.

He got up from his spot, nodding to a tired but amused Gray in the doorway as he exited the room, heading towards his own. The halls were long, but nothing Alastair wasn't used to. It was simply a well-tread path on his way to where he really wanted to be; his bed. He closed the door behind him, collapsing onto his bed with a soft sigh. He knew he'd need to get up in just a minute, to change and maybe shower since this may very well be their last night in the base, but he just... needed a minute to lie there. So much had happened in such a short time, he felt like he was barely in control of himself, going through the motions of dealing with one problem then the next.

Somewhere inside himself he knew he had to multitask. He had to do and think about multiple things at once if he wanted any chance at coming out of this upright. Yet he couldn't bring himself to. Time and time again, over and over, through every problem no matter how big or small, it always ended up with Alastair only accepting them in a neat line. But this wasn't a neat line, this was a massive clusterfuck of issues he didn't know how to deal with.

There were so many questions he had that he simply didn't know how to answer. Why did Rune know where Dio was? Was that why Clay and Carson wanted her? She'd given the information to them easily, why did Carson still need her so desperately? There was no way she'd cracked so easily for them and refused to talk for them. Maybe they just didn't believe her. He barely believed her himself, those paranoid idiots would never give her the time of day.