Cassian had changed the bandages during the night. Riven could tell by the way the wrap sat tighter against his shoulder, not sloppily knotted like before. The satchel hadn't been moved either. It was still tucked between the bench and the wall, right where he'd wedged it.
He sat up slowly with stiff movements. Across the room, Cassian was crouched near the floor panel again, poking through the small stash he kept hidden underneath. He pulled out two ration packs and tossed one in Riven's direction without looking.
"Eat," he said. "It's terrible, but it helps."
Riven caught it, peeled it open, and took a bite. Salt, protein, something synthetic beneath it all. It settled in his stomach like sand.
Cassian sat back against the wall, chewing through his own bar. "You look like you're ready to dodge a punch even in your sleep," he said casually.
"I don't usually sleep around people."
"Clearly..." Cassian smirked, wiped his fingers on his pant leg, then glanced over again. "Since we're apparently not murdering each other today, I might as well ask... what do I call you?"
"Riven."
Cassian gave a short nod. "Cassian."
That was it. No handshake, no extra talk. Just names, traded like coordinates, the very bare minimum for moving forward.
They ate in silence after that. The air felt heavier, but not hostile. Cassian licked his thumb and folded the empty wrapper like he didn't want to leave any trace behind.
"Those people yesterday," he said. "Pet and the others. That wasn't your ambush, just so you know, that was mine."
Riven glanced over, waiting for more.
"Tess, the woman with the blade... she used to run assignments for a fixer in Sector Ten. I was part of it for a while. A long while."
There was no guilt in his voice, just the truth of it. Like it was something he'd already run through in his head a hundred times.
"Pet was probably running jobs for her now. Wouldn't be the first time she used street rats to bait the hook."
His voice trailed off like the thought had more weight than he wanted to deal with right now.
Riven's fingers tightened around the satchel's strap.
"Sorry about the stabbing," Cassian added dryly.
"You didn't stab me, you don't have to apologize for that."
"Yeah, but I might've if I hadn't shown up late. It's hard to say, really." He gave a slow shrug. "Things move quick in places like that."
Riven studied him a little longer. He noticed the way he talked like nothing mattered, but still remembered names and details. Like he wasn't proud of what happened, but had stopped apologizing for it a long time ago.
"You planning on walking out today?" Cassian asked.
"Yes."
"Where?"
Riven didn't answer right away, he was still weighing it. Pet had seemed useful until things turned, and there was nothing to suggest Cassian wouldn't end the same way.
Cassian leaned his head back against the wall. "Right. I should've guessed. One secret per meal."
Riven took another bite, chewing slowly to buy time. The ration didn't taste like much, but it had dulled the ache in his gut.
"I'm looking for a place called Stillwater".
Cassian didn't react right away. "Is that what, like... a zone?"
"An old facility. Something to do with water control, maybe regulation. It's been off-grid since before the collapse."
Cassian gave a quiet breath through his nose. "You've got a talent for chasing trouble..."
Riven didn't answer. He wasn't arguing the point, he already knew it all too well.
"There are rumors about it being true..." Riven added. "It was tied to the southern loop, near one of the spill dams."
"And you thought Pet could get you there?"
"He'd heard the name... I guess I trusted that too easily..."
Cassian pulled one knee up, resting his arm across it. "Let me guess. You've been wandering for months, chasing whispers, trading what little you have for directions that change every time you follow them."
Riven didn't respond. He wasn't ready to admit Cassian was right, even if he was.
The satchel pressed against his leg, but its weight was familiar now, like an extension of his spine. He kept it close because the thought of someone else doing so made him anxious.
Cassian noticed the glance. "Still not telling me what's in there?"
"No."
"You planning to?"
"No."
"You carry it like it matters more than that place you're looking for."
Riven didn't answer that, he wasn't even sure how to answer it to himself.
"So if Stillwater's the end," Cassian said, "what are you actually looking for now?"
"Something to activate it."
Cassian watched him more carefully this time, all the playfulness gone from his expression. "What is it?"
"It's a personal project."
Cassian gave a short laugh under his breath. "Sounds like the kind of project that gets people killed."
"I don't need you to believe in it," Riven replied, already irritated with himself for feeling the need to defend a choice that had been his from the start.
"If I'm risking a knife in the ribs walking next to you, I'd like to know whether it's for a power cell or a religion."
"It's neither."
That was all Riven was going to give him.
Cassian stood and brushed off his hands. "Alright."
He let it go, but something in his expression had changed, he was no longer treating Riven like a passing curiosity, but like something more. On the other side of it, Riven weighed the fact that Cassian hadn't lied about the ambush. That didn't make him safe, but it might make him useful. And Riven was running out of better options.
Cassian paced once along the wall, checking the door out of habit. He was restless.
"Do you ever consider doing this with someone?" he asked. "The hunt, I mean."
Riven adjusted the satchel strap without looking up. "I had someone... before. But it didn't last."
Cassian turned toward him. "Dead?"
"Gone."
He leaned against the wall near the doorframe, arms crossed. "You're not good at asking for help."
"I don't need it."
"Right," he said. "Which is why you nearly bled out in a brothel alley."
Cassian changed his weight from one foot to the other. "I'm not saying I want in on your secret mission. I'm just saying... if you're walking in that direction, I might as well go too."
Riven watched him for a beat. "Because?"
Cassian gave a tired shrug. "Because I've run out of bad ideas. Yours doesn't look any worse than the rest, I guess."
He wasn't lying. He looked like someone who had put off too many decisions and had finally run out of road.
"I had chances to leave," Cassian said. "But I never really took them. I figured I could avoid the mess and stay out of it all. But the mess found me anyway."
"And now you want a clean exit, is that it?" Riven asked.
"I want any exit."
He took a step forward. "Look, you don't talk. You move like a guy who calculates things five steps ahead, but you keep walking into places that want to bury you. So here's the offer: I help keep your head down, you help keep me fed. You've got direction. I've got eyes."
Riven considered it. His shoulder still throbbed beneath the wrap, and his muscles were tight from sleeping cold. He could survive alone, he always had, but alone meant longer risks, fewer angles covered, no one to absorb the unexpected. Cassian, on the other hand, was irritating, but not incompetent.
"I don't need a handler," Riven said.
"And I don't need to get stabbed over someone else's satchel." Cassian smiled. "We're even."
"You don't get to ask about it either," Riven said. "Not what it is, not what it's for."
"Done."
"And if that changes, if you even start looking at it differently, you leave. Immediately."
Cassian gave a small nod. "That's real warm of you."
"I'm serious."
He raised his hands in a self-defense simulated pose. "I heard you. No questions... scout's honor!"
The smile lingered for a second, then slipped away as they both settled into the silent understanding that, for now, they'd be walking the same road.
"Alright. So. If we're doing this, any idea what you're actually looking for? Not the facility, the stuff in your satchel, I mean."
"Something to activate it," Riven said. "Signal, fuse, key... I don't know. The readings are partial. The system won't boot until the right input is there."
"Old tech?"
"Yeah, pre-collapse..."
Cassian nodded slowly, thinking. "There's a place... an old relay substation, half-collapsed. People say it makes weird noises during the night. It might be nothing, but it might be something too."
"Where?"
"East ridge, past the blackout arc."
Riven straightened. "Show me."
Cassian's grin returned. "Thought you'd never ask."
But they'd barely taken a few steps when Riven slowed. A faint warmth was pushing through the strap of the satchel, low but steady.
Cassian noticed right away. "What is it?"
Riven slipped the satchel off his shoulder and crouched moving the flap aside. The metal edge of the core inside was faintly warm to the touch. He opened the satchel just enough to see it. The core's surface, round, dark metal, marked with worn circuit lines, gave off a slow, pulsing glow. Like a heartbeat.
Cassian leaned slightly over his shoulder, catching a glimpse. "Is that normal?"
"No."
Neither of them moved for a long moment. Riven stayed crouched beside the bag, watching the soft light fade and rise again. Cassian stood just behind, silent, eyes fixed. Eventually, Riven closed the flap and got to his feet.
"Let's go".