The second floor of Prulla General Goods smelled like wet wood and rust.
Sable sat against the wall, watching Bang test each floorboard with his boot before committing weight. The red-haired lunatic moved with the careful precision of someone who'd learned structural integrity through trial and error—probably by falling through floors.
"Okay, this spot's good." Bang tapped a section near the intact window. "And this one. And—" *crack* "—NOT this one." He stepped back. "We stay near the walls. Weight distribution. Simple."
"You know about weight distribution," Sable said flatly.
"Spent ten days in sewers last year's Rain. You learn stuff." Bang was already clearing debris. "Like how rats always know which tunnels are stable. Very educational."
Second chirped from Sable's pocket. The bird hopped out, landed on a relatively dry crate, and immediately started preening.
Bang watched him for a moment. "Your bird's very clean for something that lives in your coat."
"He has standards."
"Respect." Bang pulled out the two cans of beans. Set them on the floor with the reverence of religious artifacts. "Okay. Food situation: we got beans. Problem: no can opener."
Sable looked at the cans. At Bang's face—genuinely troubled by this obstacle.
"You have explosion powers," Sable said.
"Yeah."
"You can make things explode."
"Yup."
"With your feet."
"Correct."
"And you're concerned about opening a can."
Bang blinked. "Oh *shit* you're right." He grabbed a can. Set it on the floor. Raised his boot. "Okay so—gentle kick—just enough to—"
"Wait—"
**BOOM.**
The explosion was smaller than usual. Controlled. The can launched upward, spun three times, and landed perfectly upright.
Intact.
"Huh." Bang stared at it. "That didn't work."
"Because you can't *punch down* the force—"
"No no I got this." Bang picked up the can. Held it. Concentrated.
Thirty seconds passed.
"Are you trying to—"
"Shhh. Focusing." Bang's face was scrunched up. "If I can kick outward maybe I can kick *inward*—"
"That's not how—"
**BOOM.**
The explosion erupted from Bang's palm.
The can *disintegrated*. Beans sprayed everywhere. Across the floor. The walls. Bang's face.
Silence.
Bang stood there. Dripping. Covered in beans.
"So," he said slowly. "That's new information about my Grace."
Sable pressed his hand over his mouth. His shoulders were shaking.
"Are you *laughing*?" Bang sounded genuinely surprised.
"No." Sable's voice came out strangled.
"You are! You're laughing!" Bang pointed at him with a bean-covered finger. "This is a *breakthrough* and you're *laughing* at me!"
"Your face—" Sable couldn't finish. The image of Bang's expression—concentrated, determined, then *surprised*—replayed in his mind and he made a sound that might have been a laugh or might have been something breaking.
Second chirped. Hopped down from the crate. Started eating beans off the floor.
"See?" Bang gestured at the bird. "Second gets it. Protein is protein."
"You just discovered you can explode things with your *hands*—"
"Yeah! That's *huge*!" Bang was grinning now. Wiping bean paste off his face. "I thought it was just feet! This changes *everything*! I could—" He stopped. Looked at his hands. "—I could give people *handshakes* and blow them up."
"Please don't."
"No I'm not gonna actually do it. But I *could*." Bang found a relatively clean rag. Started wiping himself off. "Man. A whole year thinking it was just kicks. What else can I do? Can I headbutt explosions? Elbow explosions?"
"Try the elbow thing on the second can."
"Hell yeah." Bang grabbed the remaining can. Set it down. Got into position. "Okay so—same principle—just focus the energy—"
"Maybe aim *away* from yourself this time."
"Good call."
Bang pressed his elbow against the can's lid. Concentrated.
**BOOM.**
The lid punched clean through. Beans intact inside.
"*YES!*" Bang pumped his fist. "WE EATING GOOD TONIGHT!"
He grabbed a cracker from the bag. Scooped beans. Shoved it in his mouth. Made a sound of pure contentment.
"Oh man. *Oh man*. I forgot how good food is." He scooped more. "You want some?"
Sable's stomach twisted.
He nodded.
Bang passed him the can. Sable ate. The beans were cold. Metallic. The best thing he'd tasted in days.
They sat there. Two survivors in a half-collapsed building. Eating beans with crackers while black rain hammered the roof.
After a minute, Bang spoke. "So like—your Grace. What is it?"
Sable's hand stopped mid-scoop.
"I mean you don't gotta tell me if it's like, secret." Bang was eating casually. Not looking at him. "But I'm just curious. You fought good earlier. Took down that flying thing. You got *something*."
The lie came out smooth. "Truth detection."
Bang perked up. "Oh shit really? So you can like—tell when people are lying?"
"Sometimes."
"That's sick. So if I said—" Bang's eyes narrowed playfully. "—I hate beans. You'd know I was lying?"
**[Truth Evasion: ACTIVE]**
**[VERDICT: FALSE]**
"You actually hate beans," Sable said flatly.
"WHAT." Bang looked genuinely betrayed. "No I don't!"
**[VERDICT: TRUE]**
"That one's real."
"See? I love beans. Beans are great. Beans are—" Bang stopped. "Wait can you actually tell or are you just fucking with me?"
Sable took another bite. Said nothing.
"Aw man you're fucking with me." Bang laughed. "That's good. I respect that. Keep a man on his toes."
Second hopped onto Bang's knee. Chirped. Demanding.
"Oh yeah you want some too?" Bang offered the bird a bean-covered cracker.
Second pecked at it delicately. Selecting individual beans. Eating them one at a time with the discrimination of a food critic.
"Your bird's picky," Bang observed.
"He has opinions."
"Respect." Bang watched Second for a moment. Then looked at Sable. "How long you had him?"
"Three weeks."
"Found him in the Dredge?"
"Yeah. Drowning. Wing broken. Saved him."
"And he just—stayed?"
Sable thought about those mornings. The bird coming back. Demanding food. Choosing him over survival anywhere else.
"Yeah."
"That's cool." Bang's voice went quieter. "Loyalty's rare down there."
They ate in silence for a while. The rain was lessening. Not stopping—just transitioning. The viscous black drops becoming more water-like.
"So," Bang said eventually. "Grace. How's that work anyway? Like the whole—" He gestured vaguely. "—Rain gives you powers thing. What's the deal?"
Sable looked at him. At the genuine curiosity in those silver eyes.
"You got Grace last year," Sable said carefully. "And you don't know?"
"I know it *happened*. Don't know the *why*." Bang shrugged. "Was too busy not dying to ask questions."
"Fair."
Sable organized his thoughts. Six years of medical training trying to structure information logically.
"The Rain brings two things," he started. "Grace and Curse. You can't have one without the other."
"Curse being the monsters."
"Yeah. Torrent-borns, Droplings, Deluges. All of it." Sable took another bite. "Grace is humanity's answer. Our chance to fight back. You get it from surviving the Rain. But it's not random."
Bang leaned forward slightly. Listening.
"Your Grace is rooted in you," Sable continued. "Fragment of who you are. Deep down. What you need. What you want. What you *are*." He looked at his hands. "Someone who needs to protect people might get defensive abilities. Someone who needs to destroy might get offensive ones."
"So I got explosions because—"
"You wanted impact. Power that couldn't be ignored. Something *loud*." Sable met his eyes. "That sound right?"
Bang was quiet for a moment. Then grinned. "Yeah. Yeah that's—" He laughed. "That's exactly right. Man I just wanted to *matter* you know? Be something other than invisible."
"Well. You're definitely not invisible."
"*EXACTLY.*" Bang's grin widened. "Mission accomplished."
Second finished his beans. Hopped onto Sable's shoulder. Settled in.
"What about borrowed versus—" Bang struggled with the word. "—the permanent kind?"
"Bestowed," Sable supplied. "You get Borrowed Grace first. Temporary. Seven days after the Rain. Then it fades."
"Yeah I remember that part. Sucked."
"But if you accumulate enough karma—good or bad—before it fades, it becomes permanent. You become Bestowed." Sable paused. "That's the threshold. First real power."
Bang nodded slowly. Processing. "And the karma thing—that's just—doing stuff? Good stuff, bad stuff?"
"Yeah. But it's not about intentions." Sable's voice went flatter. "The system doesn't care *why* you do things. Only *what* you do. Kill someone to save your family? Still murder. Still counts as sin."
"That's fucked up."
"That's the system."
"But like—" Bang gestured with a bean-covered cracker. "—what if you gotta kill? What if there's no other way?"
"Still counts. The Rain doesn't do nuance." Sable looked at the cracker in his own hand. "You murder, you get sin. You save someone, you get virtue. Simple math."
"So you could be a total piece of shit but if you like—helped old ladies cross the street enough—"
"You'd get virtue karma. Yeah."
"And then your Grace would—what? Change?"
"Evolves. Fits your karma alignment once you reach Bestowed." Sable took a bite. Chewed. "Bad karma means your Grace becomes fitted for—" He stopped. Searched for words. "—applications that work better for morally questionable situations. Good karma, opposite."
"So like. My kicks. If I got bad karma, they'd become—"
"More destructive. Less controlled. Designed for killing instead of just surviving."
Bang was quiet for a long moment. Looking at his hands.
"You're Bestowed," Sable said. Not a question. An observation.
Bang's eyes flicked up. "Uh. Yeah. Maybe? Probably."
"You got your Grace last year. You've used it enough to destroy—what, four pairs of boots?"
"Yeah." Bang scratched his neck. "These are the fourth pair. They don't last long."
"Which means you reached the threshold." Sable leaned forward slightly. "Ten thousand karma. How'd you do it?"
Bang's smile faltered.
Just for a second. Just enough.
Then it was back. Full force. Painted on.
"I don't know. Just woke up one day and could kick shit permanently. Pretty cool, right?"
**[Truth Evasion: ACTIVE]**
**[VERDICT: FALSE]**
The sensation was subtle—like a tuning fork resonating against bone. Sable's borrowed Grace from Kade humming beneath his consciousness.
Bang was lying.
Not about being Bestowed. About *how*.
About what he'd done to accumulate ten thousand karma in seven days while hiding in sewers with rats.
Sable studied him. The manic grin that didn't quite reach those silver eyes. The way his shoulders had tensed. The careful deflection wrapped in enthusiasm.
*What did you do, Bang?*
*What are you hiding?*
But Sable understood hiding things. Understood that some questions had answers people couldn't say out loud. That some thresholds were crossed in ways that didn't bear examination.
He'd killed three men one hundred thirty-eight times to reach his.
Who was he to judge?
"Fair enough," Sable said quietly.
Bang's shoulders relaxed. "So anyway—what happens after Bestowed? There's more tiers right?"
The subject change was obvious. Deliberate. Bang giving himself an exit.
Sable took it.
"Paragon," he said. "Bestowed plus two Facets."
"What's a Facet?"
"Secondary ability. Aspect of your Grace. You get it by hitting another karma threshold—another ten thousand, either direction. Then you align with one of the Seven Sins or Seven Virtues. That gives you your first Facet."
Bang's eyes lit up. "So like—I could make my explosions BIGGER?"
"Depends which Facet you align with. Someone who picks Wrath might get more destructive power. Someone who picks Pride might get more control. It shapes how your Grace evolves."
"That's sick." Bang was genuinely excited now. "What are the options?"
"Seven Sins: Wrath, Pride, Envy, Greed, Gluttony, Sloth, Lust." Sable paused. "Seven Virtues exist too but I've never met anyone aligned with them. Everyone in the Dredge went Sin."
"Why?"
"Because good karma doesn't keep you alive down there." Sable's voice was flat. Matter-of-fact. "You survive by being ruthless. Efficient. Willing to do what needs doing. That accumulates sin whether you want it to or not."
Bang processed this. "So like—Upper City probably has Virtues?"
"Probably. But I've never been up there.
"Huh." Bang fed Second another bean. "What's after Paragon?"
"Anointed. That's someone who survived five Rain cycles as a Paragon while accumulating more karma. Much stronger." Sable took another bite. "That's what the Knights hunting us were. Minimum Anointed-rank."
"And after that?"
"Sovereign. Thirty times harder to achieve than Anointed. Then Transcendent—hundred times harder than Sovereign. Only a handful exist. Some are probably myths."
"Damn." Bang whistled. "Long fucking ladder."
"Yeah."
They sat in comfortable silence. Second had fallen asleep on Sable's shoulder. The rain was definitely lighter now. Thinning toward the end of the first wave.
"You think she's okay?" Bang asked quietly. "The kid you mentioned earlier."
Sable's throat tightened. "She made it to the defense house. That's—" His voice caught. "That's what matters."
"You gave her your pass."
"Yeah."
"That was—" Bang searched for words. "That was good. Like, genuinely good."
"Wasn't good. Was necessary."
"Nah." Bang's voice was firm. "You could've kept it. Used it yourself. You chose to give it up. That's not necessity. That's being decent."
"I'm not decent."
"The bad karma thing is really messing with your head, huh?" Bang leaned back. "Like—okay yeah maybe you did bad stuff to survive. But you also saved a seven-year-old. Gave up your only safety for her. That's who you *are*. Not what some cosmic system says."
Sable wanted to believe that. Wanted to believe one good action could balance against everything else.
But he'd killed the orange-haired man. Left him to Droplings. Heard him scream.
He'd beaten Rheena's skull to pulp. Efficient. Thorough. Without regret.
He'd learned to die and come back like it was a game.
"You don't know what I've done," Sable said quietly.
"Don't need to." Bang's voice was simple. Final. "My guy says you're good. And my gut feeling is always right.
Something in Sable's chest cracked. Not broke. Just—shifted.
Second chirped softly in his sleep. A small sound of contentment.
Bang stood. Walked to the window. Looked out at the lessening rain.
"Your bird's smart," he said suddenly.
Sable looked up. "What?"
"Second. He's—" Bang gestured. "Like, *smart* smart. Been watching him. When we were running earlier, he was scouting. Calling back warnings. Timing it perfect." His silver eyes fixed on the sleeping bird. "Normal birds don't do that."
Sable's chest tightened. "He's been through a lot."
"Yeah but like—" Bang crouched down. Watching Second carefully. "I lived with rats for ten days. Watched them constantly. They're smart—problem-solving, social hierarchies, communication. But they're still *rats*." He looked at Sable. "Second's different. He thinks like—like a person thinks. Planning. Reasoning."
"Some animals mutate," Sable said carefully. "From the Rain. It's rare but it happens."
"Is that what happened to Second?"
Sable thought about the transformation. The massive form. The talons that punched through armor. The shriek that killed light.
The thing Bang hadn't seen. Couldn't know about.
"Maybe," Sable said.
Bang nodded slowly. "Well. Whatever he is, he's yours. And he's keeping you alive. That's good enough for me." He stood. "I won't tell anyone. For real."
"Thanks."
"No problem." Bang sat back down. Grabbed more crackers. "Though I gotta say—you collect weird stuff. Smart birds. Mystery powers. Bad karma." He grinned. "You're like a walking disaster."
"Noticed that."
"It's kinda cool though."
"It's really not."
"I mean you're still alive. That's pretty cool."
Sable didn't have an answer for that.
The rain stopped.
Not gradually. Just—*stopped*.
One moment: soft patter. Next moment: silence.
Both of them looked up.
The sound of the city without Rain was wrong. Too quiet. Like the world was holding its breath.
Bang stood. Walked to the window. Looked out.
"Vein's closing," he said.
Sable joined him. Through the broken glass, the grey sky was visible. The massive scar across reality—the Ashen Vein—was knitting itself shut. Slowly. Like a wound healing in reverse.
"Hour and a half," Sable said. "That's how long the first wave lasts."
"Next one's in—"
"Nineteen hours. Maybe less."
Bang nodded. "Time to move then."
"Yeah."
They stood there for a moment. Two survivors. One barefoot with ruined boots. One with a burnt arm and a bird. Both exhausted. Both alive.
"You're gonna find her," Bang said. Not a question. A statement.
"Yeah."
"Cool. I'll come with."
Sable looked at him. "You don't have to—"
"I know. But like—" Bang grinned. "You saved my ass too, plus you seemed cool. Least I can do is make sure you don't die on the way to House Seven."
"The Blackwater—"
"Fuck the Blackwater." Bang's grin sharpened. "They come for us, I'll kick them. Problem solved."
"That's not—"
"It's a *great* plan." Bang was already gathering their supplies. The cracker bag. The empty bean can. "Plus you need someone to watch your back. You do that thing where you overthink everything and walk into walls."
"I don't—"
"You absolutely do. I've seen it. Multiple times." Bang pulled on his ruined boots. "So yeah. I'm coming. Deal with it."
Sable wanted to argue. Wanted to tell him it was suicide. That staying together made them more visible. That Bang could just disappear into the sewers again and survive.
But the words wouldn't come.
Because part of him—the part that had spent four years alone in maintenance tunnels—didn't want to be alone anymore.
"Okay," he said quietly.
"Sick." Bang clapped his shoulder. "We find your kid. Get her safe. Then we figure out the rest."
"The rest being—"
"I don't know. Food probably. More beans. Maybe actual shelter." Bang was grinning. "One problem at a time, man. That's the secret."
"That's a terrible secret."
"It's *working* though."
Second chirped. Agreement.
They headed for the stairs. The building groaning softly around them. Outside, the city was silent. Waiting.
Defense House Seven was eight blocks north. Through streets still flooded with black water. Past corpses and Torrent-born remains. Maybe past Blackwater patrols.
But Ellaya was there.
And Sable had promised.
At the doorway, Bang stopped. Looked back at him.
"Hey. Real talk. You think we can actually make it?"
Sable thought about the odds. The distance. The threats. The reality that they were two Bestowed against a city full of things trying to kill them.
"No idea," he said honestly.
Bang's grin widened. "Good enough for me."
He kicked.
**BOOM.**
The door exploded outward. They stepped into grey daylight.
The streets were empty. Quiet. The black water still ankle-deep but not rising.
In the distance: movement. Shadows. Things that had survived the first wave and were waiting for the second.
And somewhere—eight blocks north—Ellaya.
Sable looked at Bang. At this lunatic who'd saved him. Who'd shared beans. Who'd decided one good action defined a person more than a hundred bad ones.
Who was hiding his own threshold crossing and didn't judge Sable for his.
"Let's go," Sable said.
Bang's grin was pure confidence. Pure stupid optimism.
"Hell yeah."
They started walking north.
Toward whatever came next.
Together.